What is an insurance agent? What are the benefits of being an insurance agent? And how to become an insurance agent?
What is an insurance agent?
Perhaps you’ve ever been offered a product from an insurance agent, and it required you to pay a certain premium for a certain period. Yes, insurance is indeed important like a shield that protects you from financial loss.
Insurance agent is a profession mostly needed especially in Indonesia. Although Indonesia has the world 4th largest population, insurance buyers are still small.
[Read: 6 Effective Strategies to Turn Your Debt into Zero]
Given the financial risks particularly in Indonesia that often experiences natural disasters, and other potential risks such as accidents on the road, or health problems, agent tasks are even more needed here.
Insurance agent is a profession that promotes and distributes insurance products. Say that a friend of you asked you to be an agent, therefore you’d be responsible to sell insurance products, and you’d gain some benefit from it.
5 benefits of being an insurance agent
Profession as an insurance agent can give you greater return. In Indonesia, it is one of the highly paying jobs. Maybe you wonder what are the benefits of being an agent. So let’s look at these 5 advantages of being an insurance agent.
#1 Sense of satisfaction
As an agent, helping clients to get out of financial problems can give a sense of satisfaction in you such as helping a client to prepare for medical treatment for liver problems, or able to see your client paying for child school’s fee.
#2 High income
Monthly income that can reach more than ten million rupiahs. A successful agent can reach even hundreds of million rupiahs per month.
[Read: 8 Simple Indicators To Show Financial Health]
#3 Bonus and award
Not only that, agents can get a bonus to travel abroad and achieve a prestigious award, if they reach a certain amount of selling. This is done by a company to increase its employee productivity.
#4 Flexible time
It is different with other employees in sectors such as banks or investment firms. Agents have a flexible working schedule and can possibly improve their career in a relatively short period (3 to 5 years).
#5 An update of financial knowledge
Agents can update financial knowledge from the clients. Besides, they can increase the communication skill when selling the product.
Potential for an agent insurance profession in Indonesia
If you seem to be interested in this job, you might ask what is the prospect of an agent in Indonesia? Here is some data on the prospects of insurance agents in Indonesia.
#1 Growing recruitments
In 2015, OJK targeted to recruit 10 million insurance agents. Insurance agents in 2017 reached 584.469 people and the number of insurance companies in Indonesia has reached more than 50 firms in 2018 according to data from AJJI (Asosiasi Asuransi Jiwa Indonesia / Indonesia Life Insurance Association).
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#2 Financial literacy
Indonesia society now is more open to financial products such as insurance and investment. This is due to the increase in financial literacy of the society.
#3 Number of middle class increase
Middle class in Indonesia has increased with consumption growth 12% annually since 2002 (World Bank). And many of them are the buyers or policyholders because they can pay for the premium.
From this data, we can conclude that the prospect to become an insurance agent in Indonesia is very high. It means you could be an agent that reaches more than 5 clients.
Challenges as an insurance agent in Indonesia
Probably now you already feel excited to be an agent because of the benefit and huge prospects in Indonesia. The focus of agents’ task is to sell the product. The question now, is selling insurance products an easy task? And will it last until 2 or 5 years later? The answer is no.
Selling insurance products is a challenging task because clients actually will buy the output or solution and not the product.
As an agent, if you focus on selling alone, the challenges are bigger. An agent needs to be a problem solver also, who provides solutions. He shouldn’t only sell packages of insurance but also recognize the clients’ needs and give proper solutions to clients.
How to be an insurance agent
This is all the steps you need to do if you want to be an insurance agent.
- Come to the insurance agent or the office.
- Sign up as insurance agent
- Join basic training as agent
- Join test certification as agent from AAJI
- Follow the rule from insurance firm
The rules for insurance agent
Here are rules for agent that you should know based on PP Number 73, 1992, Chapter 27:
- Every insurance agent can be an agent from one firm only.
- Insurance agents must have an agent contract with the insurance firm where he/she works.
- All acts of insurance agents related to insurance transactions are under the responsibility of the firm where he/she works.
- Insurance agents must give clear and credible explanations to prospective insured about insurance programs that are promoted and policy rules, including rights and obligations of the prospective insured.
[Read: How To Manage Money For Employee With Minimum Wage]
The good news is you can use Finansialku application to help you do your job more effectively.
#1 Information
In Finansialku.com, many new information about finance, insurance, and investment that you can find. Insurance agents could update information and knowledge from the education portal on the website.
#2 Counting
Insurance agents could use Finansialku application to help in the counting process, for example, to use the feature of education fund planner for children or the needs of life insurance.
#3 Financial topic
Life insurance agents also could learn online (through online course Finansialku) about financial topics, such as investment, emergency fund, and other topics.
By using Finansialku application, your job will be done more easily and fast. You can download Finansialku application in Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
What best investment for new agent
If you are a new agent, to become a successful agent is to be a professional. It means, he/she is not only good at selling but also at managing money.
For new agent, the best investment to make is to learn more and begin to invest a small amount in an asset. You need to learn more about personal finance, insurance product that you sell, and how to sell as a professional does.
Resources such as books, seminar, workshop, and online course (some can be accessed free) can help you. You also can watch videos of financial education from Finansialku youtube channel.
[Read: The Rise of Islamic Bond, Sukuk And Its Benefits For Investors]
If you closed your first sale, and got your first bonus, you need to begin managing your money.
No matter how small the amount, remember that if you are faithful with the small things, you’ll be given bigger things. If you don’t know how to manage a small amount, how can you manage the bigger one?
It is better for the first time to prepare an emergency fund to pay down urgent or unpredictable expenses and important things, such as machine problems, health problems, or buying medicines. Investment products that suit this purpose are saving, online deposit, gold, and mutual funds (money market).
Conclusion
Insurance agent is a highly paying job and has a good prospect in Indonesia. Besides, you can get and give satisfying benefits for yourself and other people as well.
You can watch this video to make sure your insurance company is enough for you.
Hopefully after reading this article, you are informed about insurance agents and can make practical steps to be an agent.
Tag this article to those whom you think are preparing to be insurance agents.
References:
- Melvin Mumpuni, S.T, M.B.A., CFP, QWP. 2019. 5 Investasi Yang Cocok Untuk Agen Asuransi. Finansialku.com – https://bit.ly/2UXMu3F
- March 23th, 2020. Insurance. Wikipedia.com – https://bit.ly/2wtMcYZ
- Melvin Mumpuni, S.T, M.B.A., CFP, QWP. 2019. Apa Itu Agen Asuransi, Keuntungan Menjadi Agen, Cara Menjadi Agen. Finansialku.com – https://bit.ly/2yRaeOr
- January 30th, 2020. Aspiring Indonesia: Expanding the Middle Class. Worldbank.org – https://bit.ly/2Vg1t8c
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