An Introduction to Insurance Sales

Insurance sales agents are the people who help their clients choose the insurance policy that will best suit their needs. They help not only individuals, but also businesses and families. There are many kinds of insurance agents, which handle different policies.

There are two kinds of insurance agents. The captive insurance agents work for a single company and sell only that company’s services. On the other hand insurance brokers represent many companies and sell insurance plans for all of them.

There are many types of insurance plans that a person can get, including life insurance, health insurance, property insurance, casualty insurance, disability insurance, and long-term care insurance. Depending on a person’s needs, he may have all of these insurance plans or just some of them.

There are several insurance agents in the United States. They number about 400,000 nationwide and most of them work for brokerages and agencies rather than insurance carriers.

So you think you have what it takes to become an insurance agent? The job requires you to have a degree in either business or economics with good working knowledge of the insurance laws of the state where you want to work in.

There is of course the question of getting a license to sell insurance. Agents are required to pass tests and take a few courses in order to master the art of selling insurance. Each line of insurance requires a different license so having a license for auto insurance won’t make you qualified to sell personal accident insurance.

Insurance agents who do particularly well tend to become store or branch managers. It also helps when the candidate has a pleasing personality, good communication skills, and charm, because these traits get the job done better.