Looking for a career that offers a big potential financial upside, a wealth of job opportunity, and the satisfaction of self-employment? If you enjoy forging relationships and are committed to client service (and can handle plenty of rejection), insurance sales could well be for you.ꦯ
Insurance sales may be the ultimate commission gig, with its practitioners fully dependent on their customers' premium payments. Convert more prospects. Get correspondingly richer. Repeat. At least in theory.
Key Takeaways
- Being an insurance salesperson is the ultimate commission gig because you're dependent on customers’ premium payments.
- 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Insurance sales typically don't pay very well at first, but, unlike with other occupations, the longer you stick around in insurance, the more income you can make.
- The best agents are the ones with respected industry designations, such as chartered life underwriter.
Selling Life Insurance Is Slow-Going at First
Like retail sales, customer service, and other lines of work with high attrition rates, insurance sales typically don't pay all that well at the outset of one’s career.
🌟 However, unlike those other occupations, the longer you stick around in insurance, the easier and more remunerative it gets, thanks to referrals and residuals.
It’s the sticking around that’s the hard part. According to PayScale, the average base salary for entry-level insurance agents is $40,782—not including any additional bonuses, commissions, and profit sharing—and you may not move up on the pay chart until mid-career.
Plenty of Opportunities
If you're serious about 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:ไselling life insurance for a living, here’s one positive. It’s a job seeker's market. Major insurers have watched their 🌞workforces dwindle from the heights of their late 20th century zeniths. Some agencies have gone from having tens of thousands of agents on the payroll to having merely a couple thousand.
Things changed with the advent of the internet. Thus, today's life insurance agents, though far fewer in number than they were a generation ago, have to specialize more than ever.
There might not be any sign in the window, but the agencies are hiring and will most likely consider you r𝔉egardless of what line of work you were in be𝔍fore.
It may cost money for an insurance company to train a new agent, but it’s still cheaper than paying a salary for what is, again, a posi꧟tion that relies almost exclusively on commission once the 🤪training period ends.
Important
A successful, late-career insurance salesperson could make more than $118,000 in salary, commission, and profit-sharing.
Be Prepared for Rejection
The job of a life i💮nsurance agent can be disheartening, at least at the start. The first lead you contact is going to say no. The second lead is going to say no.
Eventually, after you’ve shadowed the established agents in the office long enough (and have learned the stark differences between whole, t🦩erm, and universal policies), you make your first sale and garner the majority of the premi🎉um for yourself.
However, the returns do diminish. After the first year, the commissions may trickle. Expect to earn 2–5% commission throughout each of the policy's remaining years. Of course, by that time the idea is to have sold enough policies such that a small p💜ercentage for each of many contracts represents a comfortab🍸le dollar figure in total.
But the rejection a rookie agent has to deal with can be overwhelming. The agents who h❀ave the wherewithal, the patience, and the resources to ride out the unproductive stretches are the successful ones, without exception.
The Best Agents Get Certified
The best agents are the ones wi💃th the most, and most respected, designations, such as:
- Chartered life underwriter
- Fellow, Life Management Institute
- Certified insurance counselor
Dozens of hours of study and instruction, followed b𓂃y an exam, separate the less committed and less ambitious 💦life insurance agents from the ones truly devoted to the career.
Combine flawless ethics with real-world education—and a healthy dose of persistence—and there's no reason why you shouldn’t flourish.
What Should I Do To Start Selling Life Insurance?
Check with your particular state's insurance department or bureau. Essentially, to get started, you need to meet your state's pre-licensing education requirements, pass a licensing exam, and obtain a license and a National Producer Number from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Why Is Life Insurance So Hard To Sell?
It's hard to sell because it deals with the topic of death. That's something many people find difficult to consider or discuss. Furthermore, it's hard to keep trying to sell because agents find that they can't make enough money to support themselves.
Do People Still Buy Life Insurance?
Yes, for many it's still a primary way to ensure that loved ones receive some immediate financial support if the unexpected happens. Although a 2023 study showed a drop from 2011's life insurance ownership figure of 63%, 30% of Americans planned to buy it in 2024.
The Bottom Line
If entrepreneurship is your goal, there is plenty of such opportꦇunity for someone seeking a career in life insurance sales.
That said, it'll be tough going, especially at first. Agents have to have thick skin and be able to handle rejection. After all, they're all selling the same products, for the most part. So if client service and building relationships aren't your thing, you might want to pass on this particular job.