What is the best way to recruit people to become insurance agents?
I recruit people for Farmers Insurance to become insurance agents. We train and help finance them to open their own insurance office. I’m doing this within a 30 mile radius of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
I use internet recruiting sites, newspaper and radio advertisements, career fairs, mail campains, cold calling, and current agent referals. I’m not getting as many interested people as I would like.
A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I recruited life insurance agents. As you can see from the answer of another poster you’ve got a lot of inertia to overcome. My most effective way to find candidates was to ask almost everyone I came in contact with this simple question: "Who is doing well but is unhappy in their current job?"
Just like asking for referred leads when selling insurance people would often say that they didn’t know anyone who wanted to become an insurance agent. I’d counter with something like "I know that and didn’t expect you would. I not looking for a person who wants to be an insurance agent. I’m looking for a person who is doing well but is otherwise unhappy and maybe thinking of making a change, someone who may have made a comment about wanting to go into business for themselves. How about some of the salesmen that call on you at your business……"
My second best source was career fairs followed by cold calling and newspapers. I made a goal to get five names a day. As you know this winnowed down pretty quickly. But, if I got an uninterested person who would at least talk I’d start the process above all over. My best agent came this way – a woman who was widowed at an early age.
Good luck to you. It is a tough but necessary job as you know.
Flyboy, CLU
July 17th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Well I see insurance as a necessary evil. I would not try to sell it to people.
Insurance companies think we are idiots…I am so tired of every year you deductible goes down $100 if you don’t have an accident….what good does that do me unless I use my deductible which means I have to have an accident..and voila..I lose that ‘benefit’
And life insurance….geez..I am betting I am going to die and you are betting I am going to live..and I don’t get to benefit from it any how.
Medical insurance..they cover what they want. Hey, I had an alternative a few years ago..where I pay $400 for orthodics – they would not pay for them or they pay for me to have surgery and I end up in pain for months. They bet I will pay for the orthodics – I did – rather then do through surgery even though the orthodics pretty much did the same thing. But I had to limp in pain for a few month while I saved up the money. They didn’t care, but I’ll bet the pain medication cost nearly as much as the orthodics.
When insurance is perceived as a good thing, I am sure people will apply.
References :
July 17th, 2010 at 11:37 am
A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I recruited life insurance agents. As you can see from the answer of another poster you’ve got a lot of inertia to overcome. My most effective way to find candidates was to ask almost everyone I came in contact with this simple question: "Who is doing well but is unhappy in their current job?"
Just like asking for referred leads when selling insurance people would often say that they didn’t know anyone who wanted to become an insurance agent. I’d counter with something like "I know that and didn’t expect you would. I not looking for a person who wants to be an insurance agent. I’m looking for a person who is doing well but is otherwise unhappy and maybe thinking of making a change, someone who may have made a comment about wanting to go into business for themselves. How about some of the salesmen that call on you at your business……"
My second best source was career fairs followed by cold calling and newspapers. I made a goal to get five names a day. As you know this winnowed down pretty quickly. But, if I got an uninterested person who would at least talk I’d start the process above all over. My best agent came this way – a woman who was widowed at an early age.
Good luck to you. It is a tough but necessary job as you know.
Flyboy, CLU
References :