How to Become an Insurance Agent?
We wrote this article in order to show you the 4 most important steps so you can finally learn how to become an insurance agent.
It’s very frustrating to look for the right information to get into this profession and not find what you are looking for or just find fragmented information. Unfortunately, not everyone can help you by giving you the right guidance. We go through this process every day.
That is why we took on the task of compiling all the knowledge present in our minds since we went through these same procedures and we also got hold of the official government departments mentioned here, especially in the state of Florida.
At www.SegurosMedicosMiami.com, we are entirely dedicated to teaching you everything that will provide you a benefit and we hope that this article helps as well as all the others.
Discovering the Top Qualities to Perform the Job
The first thing you must define in order to know how to become an insurance agent is whether you have the “Burning Desire” to do this job. If you don’t, then we recommend that you forget this idea. Becoming a life and health insurance agent is a sales activity like any other. However, it has its specific characteristics which you should not ignore.
If you are one of those who prefer to develop an 8-hour job and guarantee a salary, this job is not for you. If you don’t trust your abilities and prefer to receive a fixed check every month, you are not in the right place.
Any sudden change requires a certain level of understanding. It has happened to all of us. Twelve years ago, it happened to me. I was working for a salary at a famous restaurant in Miami, and I thought I shouldn’t leave that place for the peace of mind of making $9 an hour. I struggled with the decision to retire. In the end, I did it and I have never regretted it. I almost quintupled my hourly salary in less than 2 years.
Being an insurance agent is a job that requires dedication, effort, and perseverance. It brings forth, to name a few qualities: being your own boss, you will be able to get up at the time you decide, work the days you prefer, earn what you want, take vacations when you want; BUT it can become dangerous if you lack a strong sense of discipline and certain organizational skills.
On the other hand, you must have a high sense of duty. The ethics and professionalism that you must maintain will result in better economic results for you and complete satisfaction for the clients. Internalize these words extremely well: The customer… That is the most valuable pearl for your future business. Treat people the way you like to be treated, each customer must feel unique and special.
Never lie, rather explain to the clients the advantages and disadvantages of each health or life insurance option. Detail the benefits and exclusions of the product the client wishes to purchase and you will create a friend.
You are going to earn a substantial profession and magnificent commissions, but in order to do so, you must keep the previous recommendations. How to become an insurance agent? Use all possible techniques to obtain the necessary leads or prospects to be able to sell. People need your work, but do it respectfully, intelligently and be constant.
If you have been involved in other types of sales, you know what I am talking about. In that case, it must be easier for you to start this profession. Yet, if you just start wanting to sell and you don’t do things as we recommend, you will not get the expected results.
Of course, all this is assuming that you want to get an insurance license. If you just want to start selling, you can do it right away, but if you are not certified to sell insurance, you will only be able to sell Discount Medical Plans or get to know what to quote for insurance or something simple like that. For these processes you don’t need any kind of license, you just have to go to each one of those companies and apply for a job with them.
This is a good clarification because there are people who call themselves Insurance Consultants or Insurance Salespeople and this does not mean that they have a state-approved license. Therefore, if you sell Health Insurance or Life Insurance, without appropriate accreditation, you are violating the law. The most advisable thing to do is getting your certification and -consequently- the portfolio of products to be offered to the client will grow.
Itemizing the essential qualities:
Discipline, Organization, Perseverance, Strong determination to work, Ethics, Professionalism, Respect and Sincerity with the Client.
If you have all the above qualities, it will not be difficult for you to be successful in your work as a Health and Life Insurance Agent, applicable of course to all branches of sales.
So, how to become an insurance agent?
The 4 Steps get and Insurance License
All you need is the knowledge of this industry: The Different Health Insurance and Life Insurance types and the Ways to Obtain the Insurance Agent License, a process I am going to list below:
1- ENROLL IN THE SCHOOL FOR INSURANCE AGENTS:
The first thing you must do to get your insurance license is to enroll in a school. This school must be certified by the state of Florida or the state you belong to in order to get a pre-license. All the contents are in English, so if you are not fluent in English it will require a lot of effort on your part.
There are an infinite number of Approved Schools in Florida to obtain the insurance license and in the United States, you can locate one in the place where you live. How to become an insurance agent? For Miami residents, I can recommend the one I attended and the address is as follows:
Dolphy Insurance School
917 SW 87th AVENUE
Miami, Fl, 33174
Phone: 305.883.8823
Then, You need to define what type of license you need. They can be:
License 214: Life and Variable Annuity Agents (Life Insurance and Variable Annuity Agents)
License 240: Health Agents (Health Insurance Agents)
We recommend that you do the first one, i.e. Life, Health and Annuity, as it is the most complete. The best part about taking this one first is that you only study once for all 3 licenses. The book is the same and the costs of the school and the exam are similar. Otherwise, if you only do Health and decide in the future you want to sell Life Insurance, you will not be able to do it since you only secured the Health certification.
How to become an insurance agent? School is not optional, it is mandatory. The state requires that in order to take the exam, you must first pass the school.
There are about 40 other licenses, besides the health and life insurance types mentioned here. If you are interested in other licenses, we recommend you contact the school or access the official website of the state of Florida.
The cost of the school can fluctuate between $250 to $300, maybe more, depending on the license you want to get. It is good to know that, in many cases, the price includes the study materials: Guides, Questions and Answers, Orientations to take the State Exam and the essential: The book of the corresponding edition for that year. For example, I studied using the 19th edition, and it should be on the 26th edition of the Florida Study Manual.
School Insurance does not take a lot of time, it is only a few hours a week, maybe 40 hours and you are done. You can do it on weekdays or 2 weekends, depending on your schedule.
Attending physical school is not the only option. You can do it online at certain authorized sites. I preferred to do it physically by attending a school with an experienced teacher. If you decide to do it self-taught online, it will be a little more complicated. However, should you choose this method, I recommend you to research on Google to get the knowledge of this pre-licensing to get your insurance license.
Even so, the knowledge provided by the School of Insurance is only the beginning of what you need to take the state exam. You will be required to make a great effort on a daily basis to acquire the knowledge by yourself by means of the Handbook or other study documents.
2- STAGES FOR THE PREPARATION FOR THE STATE EXAM:
This stage is decisive for the success of the exam. It is assumed that you already have the certificate of completion from the insurance school (Certificate of Completion) for having successfully completed the course. This document is very valuable since you must present it to the state as part of the documents to apply for the agent exam.
At the school, you will receive precise instructions on how to access the official website of the State of Florida to begin the process of submitting your documents and to be given the date of the exam. The approximate cost is $111.00.
Then you will be instructed to do the fingerprinting, a step which is required by the State of Florida. (Approximate cost of fingerprinting is $60) Remember I am speaking directly to you from the state where I reside. You should find out the specifications for other states in the USA. I imagine that the procedure is similar; nevertheless, it is necessary that you look for the specific information that corresponds to you outside the State of Florida.
How to become an insurance agent? It is important that you master the State’s websites to obtain the Health and Life Insurance Agent License. The information contained in these sites is official and can be of much help to you.
3- THE STATE EXAM:
When you have all the documentation required by the state and its financial department ready, you must request the date of the exam. You must have defined date and time. Try to make it suitable for you. Look for the best day and time where you consider you perform better, believe me you will need it.
Usually, the exam can last 1, 2 hours or longer. There are about 160 questions which will appear on the computer of the place you chose, according to your residence to take the exam.
It is important for you to know that if you exhaust the time given to you to take the exam, that is to say, one hour or 2 hours and you have not finished, the computer will be turned off, or better said, it will be turned off. Of course this is designed to give you enough time to answer all the questions. If you are a student you will not have any problems.The questions are not explanatory, they are multiple choice. That is to say, a question has 3 or 4 possible answers. It is crucial that you read well and mark the right one. Don’t think that you have to put the cross on the one that looks like the right one, you can’t go to the exam to guess. In any case, you are the one who suffers. If you fail, you can take as many exams as you want, but you will have to pay $100 every time you apply to take the exam again. Therefore, for your own economy, it is essential to pass on the first try.
The exam is not easy, but it is not impossible. It depends on the tremendous amount of study preparation you have done. Of course, the so-called answers tend to confuse you. What you have studied is not enough. Don’t think you know it all. There are 600 pages in the Study Manual, (the most important document you should study with) the book approved by the State and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and The Florida Department of Financial Services.
ORGANIZING THE STUDY FOR STATE LICENSURE
You may use the method that best suits you in order to study, but I recommend that you do it daily, with a strong emphasis on the word “daily”. There is a lot of content for you to take in and master to finish the different chapters. At the school, professionals will guide you in the best possible way so that you know what are the most important chapters or units and on which ones you should get deeper; since the answers in these chosen ones have more weight than in others.
There are exam simulators on the Internet, which the school will also recommend. When you feel somewhat confident in the content, take mock tests to see how your knowledge is progressing.
There are people who like to use flashcards, ie., each content or question on a separate card. There are others who “stick” more to writing and taking notes. Others, like me, like to make a summary on a large cardboard so I have all the content integrated.
The way or method you use is your choice, but the main issue is you take advantage of all the days before the exam. The more prepared you are the better for you. Don’t be overconfident. Even those who speak perfect English find it difficult to pass the exam if they haven’t studied enough. If you are one of those who have little command of English, you should study even more, since you have two issues to overcome: the content and the language.
How to become an insurance agent? Here are some practical advices:
- DO NOT study at all the night before the exam. You have had a whole month or 2 depending on the date of the exam. Do not study either in the wee hours of the morning either.
- Use the previous night to do what you like best and relax: watch TV, a movie, etc. What you didn’t learn in 30 or 60 days you won’t be able to learn in hours and nerves can be treacherous. I always used this method in my years of study and university. If you study at the last minute, your mind will stall and lead you to confusion. Go to bed early and try to rest.
- Get up with plenty of time. Make a strong breakfast. Calculate the traffic from your residence to the exam venue. It is important that you feel as relaxed as possible on the day of the exam.
- Take a few minutes to concentrate when you are finally in front of the exam. In your mind, review the notes you took the previous days, the extracts, etc. Think of yourself as a winner and successful person, visualize the money you are going to earn and put all your energy into the exam you have in front of you.
- Read each question carefully. Do not rush the answers. The exam, in many cases, is created to confuse you. A misinterpreted word within the context of the question or the answer can lead you to make mistakes.
- When you are not sure about a question, use the method of discarding those answers that you believe now are less accurate. Discard those answers and stick with the supposedly correct one.
- Be careful with absolute terms in the answers: “NO”, “All”, “Except”, “All of the above”…. . Usually, the questions are presented with 3 or 4 answers and you must choose the correct one.
- Pay attention to questions that are supposed to have 1 or more answers. There will always be only one answer, but they may give you one that is a little less accurate, almost correct, and then the other one that is completely right. Of course you should choose the latter.
- When you have been taking the test for an extended time, take a short break to breathe and look away from the computer screen.
- When you finish the exam, check the answers… However, be careful before you change any of them. You were supposed to have taken your time on each of them before and it is possible that if you are not sure now, you may end up changing the ones that are actually OK by checking again.
CONGRATULATIONS… because now you have obtained your license and you have become an insurance professional. Now comes another hard stage, just remember that there are no obstacles you cannot overcome: preparation for sales. How to become an insurance agent? No comes the last step.
4- GETTING READY TO SELL WITH THE DIFFERENT COMPANIES
Finally, you have your license and now you can sell. You are ready! Well, remember what I said before about the most valued asset you have in your business?: The Customer.
There are people who believe that we do the customer a favor, if this is your idea too, then I recommend you change it immediately. If you are respectful enough, sincere enough and you are encouraged by the fact of helping others… you will succeed. If, on the other hand, you only think about the money you are going to make, you are making a big mistake. Don’t think about the money. Work hard and strive to do things right and the money will come your way.
Always remember not to focus on the money or on a product you are going to sell. Look for the “focus” on the customer’s needs and I guarantee you a resounding success.
Those of you who read this article and are experienced in sales know what I mean. In this job, you are going to need immense amounts of encouragement and perseverance, that’s why I try to delve into the intrinsic qualities or the ones you must mold.
If you are one of those who are used to selling or those who spend a certain amount of time selling some plans that are not medical insurance, for which you do not need a license, you are moderately prepared to face sales. You only lack the knowledge of the different health and life insurance policies.
How to become an insurance agent? You can achieve your registration with each of the companies in 2 ways: one is to start working as an employee with an insurance agency and the other is to register individually with different insurance companies. The advantage of going to an agency is that they work with almost all insurance companies and it is easier for you to enroll.
Don’t worry about that, the agency receives commissions for your sales, but the important thing is that they don’t take anything from your commissions to pay the agencies, at least in most cases that I know of.
The process of finding prospects or leads, in most cases, is up to you to find them. Agencies usually do not offer the leads you need to sell, unless you decide to become a captive agent, which means that you are an employee or not for a given insurance company and can only sell for them.
This has its advantages and disadvantages as it closes the circle of possibilities to offer all products.
If you are interested in knowing how to promote your business and get the desired leads we can help you. We are insurance agents and we use marketing with good results on the Internet and in direct sales.
Therefore, the process of selling health and life insurance and becoming a certified and licensed agent is not that complicated. You need to become an insurance agent with all the intelligence you can muster and a great deal of sacrifice on your part.
It is true, it is hard work… But have you guessed how much sacrifice you have made locked down on a job and living on a salary of $7, $10 or $15?
How to become an insurance agent? Working as an agent will allow you to have your own time, have your own life and at the same time obtain good economic dividends. We earn absolutely nothing by making you become a Health and Life Insurance Agent. It is your decision and your future and now is the best time to take advantage of it.
In fact we can give you all the help you need and we are doing it first of all by revealing the keys to become a Health and Life Insurance Agent in Florida and the United States. At this time when countless people have become unemployed, perhaps this is the opportunity to provide you and the community with this article so that you can make that essential change in your life.
