How to Sell P&C Insurance from Home
There are many advantages to working from home. If you are looking to take advantage of this new trend by selling property and casualty insurance from your own home, there are certainly many avenues available to you.
No matter what is going on globally, there is always a need for many people to shore up their own insurance needs. Instead of meeting face-to-face, it is now possible to demonstrate and sell virtually any type of P&C insurance policy without even needing to see the client in a traditional fashion. Continue reading to enhance your efforts to sell P&C insurance right from the comfort of your own home.
Trends in Property and Casualty Insurance
Most insurance companies are making the underwriting and policy issuance process simpler and more streamlined. This means that the average client will have to answer less intrusive questions before getting coverage. Overall, premiums have become less expensive as well. This creates a meaningful and significant opportunity for agents today.
Working from home is cost-effective. It cuts out many of the traditional costs associated with selling insurance. When using technology and data that is readily available to complete the underwriting process, everyone benefits. It is simpler to complete everything online than it is to use traditional paper applications and processing.
The following no longer has to be done in person:
Paper applications can be a thing of the past.
Building schematics and photographs can now be done electronically.
Wet signatures are no longer required.
Hard copies of policies no longer have to be delivered.
This puts the agent in more control over the process. By being able to get information to clients more quickly, it is plausible to assume that more leads will be closed as a result. You will be able to spend more of your time selling and earning commission than you will completing paperwork and waiting for information to get back to you.
5 Things To Help You Sell P&C Insurance from Home
The efficiencies that have now been built into the underwriting process make it simple to use your home as your P&C insurance office. Many of the obstacles that used to exist when convincing clients about the importance of shoring up their insurance coverage are no longer a concern.
You can more easily work with them to close any inherent gaps in insurance that they may have so that they and their families are better protected. With this in mind, here are five things that you can begin focusing on in order to be a successful home insurance agent.
Set Up and Manage Your Office
Working from home has many advantages. To begin with, you will be saving a lot of money by not having to lease an office. However, you will have some equipment expenses to take into consideration. Here are some practical ideas to help you get ready to launch your home insurance office.
Get high-speed internet – Much of what you do as a P&C insurance agent will be done online. You will need to have secure connections with the insurance carrier, video conferencing capabilities, and much more. This all requires a high-speed connection that you may or may not already have available at home.
Ensure you have a comfortable desk – You need to have a large desk where you can spread out insurance manuals, paperwork, and much more. It should be organized to the point that you can easily access what you need when you are in a pinch.
Locate your office in a quiet part of the home – This is your business. Make sure that you operate it as such. You will need to have your office in a quiet area of the house that is free of distraction. This sets a professional tone that will help you become more efficient in the long run.
Have a fax machine and scanner installed and ready to go – You will still need to fax and scan documents on occasion. You do not want to be running out to an office supply store every time you need to complete one of these tasks.
These are just a few of the ways that you can set up and better manage your office. If you have worked in the insurance business before, you will want to think back to how your office was situated. Replicate that inside your home as much as possible. The key is to make sure that you have all of the necessary tools and resources that you need to do your job effectively.
Work for Multiple Insurance Carriers
You have options when it comes to deciding how you sell your P&C policies. Some agents opt to sell for just one company but do it from their home. Others will opt for a more independent set-up where they sell for multiple carriers at the same time. This will give you a certain level of freedom and flexibility that you need to really grow your business over time.
If you decide to work for multiple insurance carriers at the same time, you will want to make sure that you know everything there is to know about the policies that you are selling. This will allow you to make good decisions on behalf of your clients. It will also open up a certain stream of income that could become quite lucrative for you.
Make sure that you have all of the resources you need for each carrier before you start selling for them. It is also important that you abide by all licensing and certification requirements that are in place for independent agents. Ensure that you understand the requirements for each carrier before you agree to sell their policies.
Find Out the Level of Support Available from Insurance Carriers
This is an important part of selling P&C insurance from home. It can be lonely at times. You may feel as if you are on your own, but it should not be that way. Make sure that you explore the different support options that are available from the insurance carriers with which you contract. This is how you are going to get the answers that you need to the questions that are most pressing.
Many carriers will provide certain tier levels of support, including chat features online and telephone capability. Sign up for the type of support that you need in order to do your job effectively. If you find a carrier that really does not offer you any type of support, then you will want to think twice about selling policies for them.
Educate Yourself on the Type of Coverage You Will Be Selling
This is extremely important. Terms and conditions for insurance policies are constantly changing. The way that the industry is governed is subject to change as well. In short, you need to engage in a constant training program in order to stay on top of emerging trends in the industry.
You will also want to educate yourself on specific policies that you are selling. While it is not necessary that you personally carry every type of P&C insurance policy that you sell, it is important that you become an expert.
You will want to know answers to virtually any question that your clients might ask you. This comes from experience, but it also comes from education. Go to trainings, watch videos, and do not be afraid to ask questions yourself until you are confident in the products that you are selling.
Think About How You Will Physically Meet with Your Clients
While it is true that selling P&C insurance from home is more possible than ever before, there are still some things that you may not be able to do. One of those is meeting with clients. For one thing, some HOAs do not permit private clients to meet you at your house. For another thing, it just is not professional to do so.
You will want to think through where you want to meet your clients. If you feel comfortable, you can travel to your client's home. However, that is not always the safest way to approach a meeting unless you personally know the client.
One suggestion is to pay a monthly fee to a shared office space in your area. This will allow you to make use of a private office or conference room only on an as-needed basis. This will give you the professional image that you are looking for while keeping yourself safe at the same time.
Add to Your Stream of Income
In a day when many types of insurance may be in low demand, it is wise for any insurance agent to branch into the property and casualty sector. This is a way to add to your income during a time that might otherwise be difficult to find new clients. Working from home allows you to make up for the lost revenue that you might be experiencing due to a variety of factors outside your control.
Today, many insurance companies are making it easier than ever before to sell their P&C policies from home.
Knowing what your carrier provides as options is essential to your success as a home P&C insurance agent. Many agencies have provided many resources and technological tools to enable their agents to complete virtually everything from home, allowing more policies to be generated in far less time than would otherwise be possible.
Motivational Tips for Selling P&C Insurance from Home
Selling insurance from home certainly has its advantages, but it also requires a certain level of focus and dedication if you are successful at it. Now that you understand the possibilities associated with issuing P&C policies entirely from home, it is time to review some advice that will help you be profitable in the end.
Write As You Would Talk
It seems that many people in the world today have reverted to slang when writing. It is a new style of language that is informal and unprofessional. You will want to stay away from that tendency as you communicate with clients.
Insurance is a serious matter. Your clients will be coming to you because of your expertise and knowledge in the field. That will come through to them if you write your emails using only professional and grammatically correct language.
Get to Know Your Clients
It is important to know as much about your clients as possible. This will help you direct them to the type of policy and coverage amounts that are most applicable to their situation. It will also help you find common ground and to identify with them on a deeper and more personal level—agents who are able to do that find that they have an easier time of closing.
Never Stop Learning
No matter how long you have been in the business or how much experience you think you may have, there is always something new to learn. You will want to stay involved in networking groups as much as possible.
Working from home can separate you from other agents. You want to be proactive at staying connected so that you can learn from your colleagues and share certain best practices that can benefit you all. This is the key to success, so do not ignore it. Attend regional trainings, seminars, and conferences whenever feasible as well.
Listen to Yourself on the Phone
While much of what you do will be completed electronically, your clients will inevitably want to speak to you either on the phone or via a computer conference. This is your chance to shine. Since there is nobody around to judge how you are doing, you will need to be proactive in this area.
In this regard, it is also essential to make sure that you perfect your phone voice.
As you speak to clients on the phone, it is important that you:
Project confidence – Listen to your voice on the phone. Does it sound like someone who is confident in what they are saying, or does it sound like someone who is unsure of him or herself? You need to make sure it is the former.
Sound like you are smiling – You might not be able to see your client, but they will be able to tell if you are smiling or not. If you struggle with this, put a mirror near your workstation and look into it whenever you are talking to a client on the phone.
Reflect on your experience – Do not be afraid to talk about your experience. Demonstrate your knowledge to your clients and let that be reflected in how you speak to them on the phone.
Sound intelligent – You also need to sound like you know what you are talking about. Avoid pauses and stuttering speech as much as possible. Know your policies inside and out. If you are unsure about something, find out everything you can before talking to a client about it.
Have a quiet background – You need to be professional in everything you do from home. If you have a house full of pets and children, make sure that you have a dedicated work area that is off-limits to them.
Doing these things will project the type of image that your clients are looking for. It is important that they be able to trust the agent that they purchase their P&C insurance from. Talking professionally on the telephone is a great starting point.
Go Back to the Fundamentals of Sales
When it comes to closing a sale, you are the most important ingredient to success. You are the face of the insurance policy. Do not depend on social media or online tools to do this for you. It is important that you remember the fundamentals of sales that you were taught during training. Always be available to your clients and be ready to get them whatever they need. Once you have the fundamentals down, you can work on improving your skill with advanced techniques.
Marketing is Key
Finally, working from home means that you need to be more focused on marketing. This is not something that you will want your carrier to handle for you. While they may send you leads from time to time, you must be proactive in attracting your own clients.
Once you start to build up a client list, encourage reviews and word of mouth advertising. Find ways to make digital marketing work for you. In essence, this will become part of your job as a home-based P&C insurance agent, so work hard to perfect it.
Is There a Market for Home-Based Insurance Agents?
Just as there always seems to be room for one more lawyer in the world, there also continues to be the need for professional insurance agents. The key is to provide excellent customer service and to have a positive attitude whereby you are always learning.
Given the recent estimate that Americans alone are underinsured by an estimated $12 trillion, it should be easy to see that there continues to be a solid market available in this field. In fact, that same underinsured market is slated to grow at an annual rate of $300 billion if current population growth and inflation rates remain the same.
No matter what type of insurance you sell today, there are some good reasons to add Property and Casualty insurance policies to your portfolio. Here are just a couple of the benefits associated with doing so.
There are many underinsured people out there – The best part of this is that most people already know that they are underinsured, so not much convincing has to occur.
New technology makes it easier than ever before to write policies – Many tools and resources are available to agents that make it easy to accomplish everything without needing to physically meet a client.
These reasons alone highlight why selling property and casualty insurance can be done from home. If you are an effective and knowledgeable agent, you will find that this can turn into your most significant income source with relatively little effort on your part.
Wrap-Up
There is enormous potential in selling Property and Casualty Insurance from home. It is important to have the technology in place and the training in hand before you begin. By engaging in a continual learning program, you will be well-positioned for success now and in the future.
Sources:
https://www.insurancesplash.com/blog/insurance-sales-tips-for-new-insurance-agents/
