New_Life_Agent
New Member
- 1
I have been a life insurance agent for a few months, and I have some questions and concerns.
My Background: I was a salesman for 5 years and I know how to sell. I passed my insurance license exam in August 2009 and started selling life insurance in September 2009.
From September 3rd 2009 until December 10th, I sold 122 life insurance policies. Well, I should say "submitted" 122 life insurance policies because I have only been paid on a handfull of them. (8 so far)
The rest of them are a complete disaster. Some of them were declined due to health issues the applicant had, a few were approved with good rates, but over 100 of them were approved with higher rates than I originally quoted.
The General Agent that recruited last year me told me to call as many leads as I could, and give the the applicants the best rate for their age, minus 5%, even though there was no way they would ever get that rate, and regardless of the real rates or their health conditions.
I asked him why I should quote a lower rate than possible and he told me the following:
1. every other agent lies about the rates so I have to do the same or I can't survive because I will be undercut so I might as well "bait and switch them" HIS WORKs EXACTLY
2. submitting life applications is a crapshoot anyway because most applicants lie through their teeth about their or don't really know how unhealthy they are, nor do they care, so why should you? AGAIN, HIS WORDS EXACTLY
3. the ones that are approved at higher rates than quotes (basically all of them since I was quoting a rate that didn't exist) , after 3 to 4 months of underwriting, they will take whatever rate they are approved for because they don't want to start over from scratch with another agent.
4. always sell the plan and company that pays you the highest commission. Don't worry about the applicants needs, since next year, some other agent will talk them into another type of plan that is "better" which is Bs because they are all the same???
So I decided to question what he told me..........
I recently found out that he has over 25 new agents that started about the same time I did, and they arew ALL in the same boat as I am.
After further research, I have found out the following:
1. Over 85% of all active life insurance agents have been licensed for less than 6 months. After 6 months in the business, I still have no idea what I am doing. I guess that is why people overall just don't trust life insurance agents, because most of them are either lying, or are just giving out bogus information.
2. Over 92% of all active life insurance agents only sell for 1 company because they are either captive, or they just shoehorn all of their leads into the same company even if there is a better deal out there for the applicant.
3. The vast majority of life insurance agents are working on a part-time basis.
I finally spoke to a veteran agent that I met at the gym last month. He has been a life insurance agent for 10 years, and at first, he would not help me, but after a few weeks opf asking him, he took a few minutes and educated me. (I guess he felt sorry for me)
He opened up my eyes and shared with me why the life insurance business is so hard, and why I am part of the problem.
He told me that he spend half of his time with a new client reversing all the bad information that other bad agents gave them in the past. He said that is the hardest part of his job.
He also told me it takes at least 2 years of trial and error as a life insurance agent before you are competent, and in that 2 years, as you throw things up against the wall, you will really screw yor clients up because you will wind up selling them plans that are more expensive than they need to be,, you will mislead them, and in the end they may not buy any kind of life insurance because you "lied" to them, and now their family is screwed.
Wow, I am now $25,000 in debt, and I have messed up over 100 families because I didn't know what I was doing.
And no commissions coming
Any advice?
Am I going to hell for this?
Why are all the new agents lied to?
Thank you,
Chris D
My Background: I was a salesman for 5 years and I know how to sell. I passed my insurance license exam in August 2009 and started selling life insurance in September 2009.
From September 3rd 2009 until December 10th, I sold 122 life insurance policies. Well, I should say "submitted" 122 life insurance policies because I have only been paid on a handfull of them. (8 so far)
The rest of them are a complete disaster. Some of them were declined due to health issues the applicant had, a few were approved with good rates, but over 100 of them were approved with higher rates than I originally quoted.
The General Agent that recruited last year me told me to call as many leads as I could, and give the the applicants the best rate for their age, minus 5%, even though there was no way they would ever get that rate, and regardless of the real rates or their health conditions.
I asked him why I should quote a lower rate than possible and he told me the following:
1. every other agent lies about the rates so I have to do the same or I can't survive because I will be undercut so I might as well "bait and switch them" HIS WORKs EXACTLY
2. submitting life applications is a crapshoot anyway because most applicants lie through their teeth about their or don't really know how unhealthy they are, nor do they care, so why should you? AGAIN, HIS WORDS EXACTLY
3. the ones that are approved at higher rates than quotes (basically all of them since I was quoting a rate that didn't exist) , after 3 to 4 months of underwriting, they will take whatever rate they are approved for because they don't want to start over from scratch with another agent.
4. always sell the plan and company that pays you the highest commission. Don't worry about the applicants needs, since next year, some other agent will talk them into another type of plan that is "better" which is Bs because they are all the same???
So I decided to question what he told me..........
I recently found out that he has over 25 new agents that started about the same time I did, and they arew ALL in the same boat as I am.
After further research, I have found out the following:
1. Over 85% of all active life insurance agents have been licensed for less than 6 months. After 6 months in the business, I still have no idea what I am doing. I guess that is why people overall just don't trust life insurance agents, because most of them are either lying, or are just giving out bogus information.
2. Over 92% of all active life insurance agents only sell for 1 company because they are either captive, or they just shoehorn all of their leads into the same company even if there is a better deal out there for the applicant.
3. The vast majority of life insurance agents are working on a part-time basis.
I finally spoke to a veteran agent that I met at the gym last month. He has been a life insurance agent for 10 years, and at first, he would not help me, but after a few weeks opf asking him, he took a few minutes and educated me. (I guess he felt sorry for me)
He opened up my eyes and shared with me why the life insurance business is so hard, and why I am part of the problem.
He told me that he spend half of his time with a new client reversing all the bad information that other bad agents gave them in the past. He said that is the hardest part of his job.
He also told me it takes at least 2 years of trial and error as a life insurance agent before you are competent, and in that 2 years, as you throw things up against the wall, you will really screw yor clients up because you will wind up selling them plans that are more expensive than they need to be,, you will mislead them, and in the end they may not buy any kind of life insurance because you "lied" to them, and now their family is screwed.
Wow, I am now $25,000 in debt, and I have messed up over 100 families because I didn't know what I was doing.
And no commissions coming
Any advice?
Am I going to hell for this?
Why are all the new agents lied to?
Thank you,
Chris D
Last edited:
