| Topic Name: |
Looking for a Career Path |
| Message Name: |
Insurance Industry |
| Date Posted: |
06/16/2007 |
| In Reply To: |
Hello,
I am looking for some information about the insurance industry. Would you please share with me some of your experiences. From your previous post, it sounds like it might be pretty unfullfilling. I am about to start an MBA program in the fall, but I will be able to work at least part time so I am trying to find a job. I was recently told a story about a friend of a friend who worked in insurance for a year and still gets a $1000 check a month from her residuals. Any truth to that?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Zip3 |
| Message: |
After the better part of a decade in the insurance sales industry (or financial advisory/planning industry, it's mostly sales) I can say with some confidence it's a full time job and then some. I don't know of anyone who made any money in it without a couple years of tremendous effort. Failure rates for first year agents are high, probably close to 90%.
It's a numbers game. Tons of calls will yield some appointments, which will equal a few sales. You can do well after a few years of it - it was really grueling for me to keep it up while doing b-school.
It's possible sometimes to take residual commissions with you so that you get an annual inome stream even after you leave; this seems to be getting rare as the agencies and companies tend to want to spend less and less on agents/brokers.
The main thing is to keep your attitude up - you need a very strong sense of self-belief. I just got too burned out on it - all the cold calling, travel, BS from the companies, poor administrative and marketing support. It's a tough gig. I like crunching numbers now. I learned a ton and met a lot of great people - it just got as good as it was going to get for me and I didn't want to spend my life doing it. They're easy jobs to get, and agency managers will tell you you'll make a lot of $$$, etc. You might - but man, it's tough. Take what the sales recruiters say with more than a few grains of salt.
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