The word insurance originates from the old French verb ‘enseurer’. This literally translates to ‘assurance’, ‘pledge’ or ‘guarantee’. Over time, the insurance industry has had to become more sophisticated to address the differing needs of consumers, stay ahead of the competition, and define new products and solutions. The premise of this article is to outline how training can help increase insurance sales.
Selling insurance can be lucrative and the industry attracts many diverse people who sign up as agents. This has come with its own set of problems. For example, there are many agents on the field who are not employees of the insurance companies. These individuals are located in different places. They directly deal with end customers. They must be ready to address all the doubts and clarifications a consumer may have. These people need to be convinced that the insurance products are worth investing in. The customer interaction must be of a high quality. Sadly, this is not always the case.
These agents have to be at a level where they can successfully express the various nuances and details of the products they are selling. Insurance products are complex and new products are released all the time. Additionally, there are several government regulations and compliance which need to be explained carefully and clearly. Another aspect to consider is that agents must learn how to use complex tools/demos/calculators etc. to explain the numerical aspects, such as projected returns.
The state of the market is that there are many options available to consumers. This is especially true of fields like insurance where the benefits to the buyers from the policy they are purchasing are intangible or pegged to become visible at some time in the future. It’s hard to differentiate products from each other under that scenario. The decision to buy or not often comes down to the quality of the interaction with the agent.
That being the case, it should be crystal clear that training is of the utmost importance in the insurance field.
How does Training Increase Insurance Sales?
Training your insurance sales teams and agents can help them overcome the challenges we’ve listed out above. This will inevitably help increase your sales. Here’s how:
- Training helps enhance the interpersonal skills of your agents. This leads to a richer and more fulfilling person-to-person interaction between your agent and the potential client. Through effective communication, an agent can gauge the interests and motivations of the person they are speaking to and can tailor their pitch appropriately. For example – some people are more convinced by statistics and some people prefer stories. According to New Horizon Marketing, 63% of people remember stories while only 5% remember stats. Another stat shows that 70% of people make purchasing decisions to solve problems while 30% do so in order to gain something. It takes a trained person to be able to figure out who fits into which category and act accordingly. Furthermore, to increase insurance sales, it is important to win the customer’s confidence, which can be achieved when customers interact with well-trained agents.
- According to this study by Statista, the leading factor that influenced Millennials in the US to purchase a life insurance policy was “Ease of understanding”. This is a telling insight. As we discussed above, the world of insurance is extremely dynamic with new changes happening frequently. These changes are often complex and can be challenging to convey in a simple and effective manner to a potential consumer. If a person does not have good communication skills, they run the risk of confusing the prospective customer. A confused person will not be converted into a client. Worse still -the potential client may become suspicious of the product that is being sold to them. Training fulfils the important task of developing an insurance agent’s communication skills.
- There are numerous tools used to calculate the rate of interest, monthly returns, etc. that can be difficult for a layman to both understand and explain. Impact training that helps these agents become practiced in these tools can play a vital role in addressing the valid and invalid objections of prospective customers satisfactorily.
- Training comes with another important aspect: a review process. There are so many tools and techniques that are being implemented in the industry but not each and every one of them will be successful for a particular agent. A review process helps each individual efficiently assess the tools and methods that they are provided with or employing. For example, does your agent need to update their ‘phone voice’? Are they using too much jargon? Is that ROI calculator too complex to use or outdated? All these issues can be identified with ongoing training, and be used to effectively increase insurance sales.
E-Learning
Technology has consistently provided a cutting edge and the avenue for amplification to every sphere of life and business. The realm of training and education is no different. eLearning can play a similar role in the training of insurance agents. It can make the courses accessible to the agents located across locations. Using mechanisms like mLearning, they can access the content they need on-the-go. Context-specific content can help them address specific questions and queries. Interactivity built into the course content can help make the training more engaging and drive retention.
eLearning is also an excellent weapon in the task to increase the cadre of qualified agents, it is truly the only secret agent that can help an organization increase insurance sale. This provides a learning opportunity for different types of people, including students, stay-at-home moms, and those interested in learning various new topics. The more the number of good agents out there spreading the word about your products, the greater the sales.
Do you want to increase insurance sales? Then ensure you invest in a good insurance training program. And, don’t forget the role of eLearning!
At eNyota we believe in driving all business functions through effective training and development efforts. Our courses are top quality and our customers vouch for it, fill a contact form and one of our executives will get in touch with you shortly.
