If you’re considering becoming an insurance agent, you probably wonder whether selling auto insurance is worthwhile. The quick answer to your inquiry would be, yes, you can make an excellent living selling auto insurance. But how do you get your career started in this exciting field? If you’re ready to get started, read on for your guide to selling car insurance.
Obtain Your License
Every state has specific qualifications you’ll need to meet before you can sell car insurance. Luckily, these requirements aren’t too stringent. For example, you likely will only need to be a legal adult (18 years old) and have obtained either a GED or high school diploma.
Once you’ve met those requirements, you must obtain a license to sell insurance in your state. Again, each state has rules for what you must do to get the license, but almost all require a certain number of hours in a pre-licensing course.
This course will educate you on all the guidelines for selling car insurance in your state and other general rules for selling insurance. After you pay for and complete the pre-licensing course, you’ll need to pass the final exam.
Meeting the minimum passing grade on the exam and passing a background check will likely allow you to obtain your license to sell car insurance.
Decide the Type of Agent You Want to Be
There are two types of car insurance agents – captive and independent.
Captive agents work as salaried employees for a specific insurance company. They are provided with training, tools, support, and other services to help them do their job well. These agents will only be allowed to sell the car insurance policies that their company offers. They’ll receive a base salary for their work plus a fixed commission based on their sales.
Independent agents, on the other hand, are essentially small business owners. They are free to sell car insurance for whichever companies they can contract with and have the freedom to create their schedule and build the business they want.
A significant upside of being an independent agent is the earnings upside. The sky is the limit since you can build your client base however you want. You’ll also likely earn higher commission percentages from insurance companies when you make a sale. The flip side is that you won’t have the backing of a base salary.
Find Your Job
Now that you’ve decided what type of agent you want to be, it’s time to find a job selling car insurance. If you want to be a captive agent, this will require you to put a resume together and apply to insurance companies that are hiring. This process will be relatively straightforward.
The process will be more complex if you want to be an independent agent. First, of course, you’ll want to create a solid resume and build a business plan that will help guide you. This plan will serve as your blueprint for success and proof to insurance companies that you’re worthy of a partnership.
You’ll also want to build your client base through marketing, networking, and paid advertising. However, this process can take time, so many new car insurance agents will maintain a side job to keep money flowing.
There is significant earning potential in a career selling car insurance, but it may not come immediately. So, having something else to fall back on is a good idea as you start.
Refine Your Skills and Prospect
Finally, it’s time to prospect, prospect, and prospect some more. To build a client base selling car insurance, you must always collect leads and chase them down. Lead generation requires a lot of hard work, time, and dedication, as well as a lot of persistence. In addition, car insurance agents must be organized and stay on top of their prospects to execute sales. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time and providing the right service to the right people.
You won’t know the right place, time, service, or audience unless you’re constantly prospecting. As you do so, it’s also important to refine your skills. So first, take notes of the feedback from prospective clients who turn you down and those who sign on the dotted line. Then, review those notes and see if a common theme is holding you back.
Selling car insurance is a science, but it’s partly an art, too. Paying attention to how people react to the information you provide them and how you provide it will help you finesse your sales pitch over time. Then, as you do, you’ll become more successful at converting leads into customers.
Discover the Good Life
We hope you enjoyed this guide on how to start selling car insurance! As you can see, the path to success can be full of challenges, but the potential payback makes it all worth it.
At Good Life Insurance Associates, our experienced sales associates are here to provide support and training for both new and seasoned agents. To learn more about careers with GLIA, explore our business support services. Or, speak with a team member today about your journey to becoming an independent agent. Again, thanks for visiting our blog; we hope to help you soon!
Want to learn more about what it takes to succeed in insurance sales? Read our blog on effective lead-generation strategies for insurance agents.