Becoming an insurance agent has much fewer hurdles, you don't require any expensive degrees and can comfortably make a six-figure salary if you are willing to put your mind into it. As with any other job being an insurance agent has its challenges. Given the industry is highly competitive your success relies on enhancing your client pipeline which can be a tedious task. This is where advanced tech can help you. AI-powered software  Leadsend can generate high-quality leads. With automated and personalized messaging Leadsend can help you maintain a good relationship with existing clients. Leadsend advanced features provide weekly analytics reports that can help you make data-driven decisions.

To sell policies to customers you need an insurance licence. You will have many queries, How to become a licensed insurance agent? How do you become an insurance agent?

Let’s explore the possibilities of becoming an insurance agent. Here we will discuss the many steps to becoming an insurance agent and the types of insurance agents.

Who Are Insurance Agents? 

How do you become an insurance agent? How to become a commercial insurance agent? These are the nagging queries you have, to understand the process of becoming an insurance agent let’s understand who an insurance agent is.

Insurance agents are people who sell insurance policies of a company to individuals and businesses. From covering the cost of medical care for individuals and families to protecting businesses insurance schemes are sold to customers through an insurance agent, they are the representatives of the insurance company who also provide customer service for clients to navigate the policies.

Types of Insurance Agents 

How to become an insurance agent? To answer this question let's understand what types of insurance agent you want to be. Let’s analyze the different types of insurance.

Health Insurance

Health insurance agents help individuals and businesses, bind a contract with an insurance company to cover the cost of medical care as agreed upon. Since this is one of the most common insurance, agents can easily find the most suited insurance within the budget.

Life Insurance

Here agents sell policies that financially benefit the policyholder's beneficiaries upon the policyholder's death. 

Disability Insurance

Disability insurance agents focus on getting policies that provide income protection to insurers in case they cannot work due to illness or accident. This protects insurers against loss of pay due to their disability.

Long care Insurance

Long-care insurance agents focus on selling policies that cover the expenses of long-care services that are mostly provided by nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and adult day care.

Property and Casualty Insurance

Property and casualty insurance agents aim at selling policies that protect insurers against the damages or loss of their properties including vehicles, homes, and businesses. 

Personal Insurance

Personale insurance agents help individuals or families who seek insurance coverage over personal items this includes vehicle insurance, life insurance, and home insurance.

Commercial Insurance

Commercial insurance agents provide policies including general liability insurance to commercial property insurance,  worker’s compensations, and errors and omissions coverages for businesses. There are also commercial insurance brokers who muddle through many firms and compare premium policies to find the best insurance for the lowest rate for companies.

10 Simple Steps to Become an Insurance Agent 

1. Choose your specialization

As we have discussed different types of insurance and new ones are emerging amid challenges, so choosing which insurance type to sell is crucial. Choose the insurance product that you find easy to sell or the one that provides you more profit in the current market dynamics. 

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2. Identify what type of insurance agent you want to be

After deciding on your specialization, you can either work for a particular company or as an independent agent. Working for a large national insurance provider one can refer yourself as a captive insurance agent. In such cases, the company provides training and other benefits to the agent to start with their work, and in return, the agent represents that company alone.

On the other hand, how to become a licensed insurance agent, these agents work with more than one insurance company at a time, which gives them more flexibility and freedom to pursue clients from all sectors. But such agent will have to build their brand image from scrap and they won't be provided with any helping hand.

3. Pick a state and understand the licensing requirements

For any insurance agent to start pitching insurance to others they require an insurance license to do so. Depending on the location you are focusing that state will have its licensing requirements. Check the departments of each state to understand them.

For example, Texas has 3 common licenses, one for selling life and health insurance, another one for selling property and casualty insurance, and All lines adjuster for selling catastrophe, worker’s compensation, and property and casualty insurance.

4. Apply for the necessary tests to get the license

As in most states, there is a requirement for insurance agent education, you can choose the agency in which you want to complete pre-licensing courses. The National Insurance Producer Registry can help you understand the state-specific licensing requirements. After completing the licensing education and all the exam requirements take your official licensing exam.

5. Prepare and attend the tests

After completing the licensing education and all the exam requirements take your official licensing exam. Since an external company conducts the exam, you must show proof of completing license training before attending the exam.

Most often the test format will be in multiple formats and you will be able to know if you passed the exam right after taking the computer-based exam. If you haven't passed immediately re-schedule for another exam.

6. Post-exam procedures and background check

Within a year of passing the exam, you should submit all applications to the licensing department along with the fee to get a license. Depending on the state you apply they might require a background check including fingerprints.

7. Licensing options

What if you don't pass the exam? You can still get a temporary license if you apply for a 90-day extension. For this, you require a sponsor who is a licensed insurance agent. Even while having a temporary license you can apply for a regular license by attending an exam.

8. Get into an insurance company

To become an insurance sales agent initially, you need to be appointed by an insurance company. Research well which company you need to be part of, and complete the application process of each company you need to be acquainted with. When the company grants you an appointment that will be recorded in the state insurance license.

9. Build potential lead

Once you have the authority to sell insurance you can start marketing your agency, the service, and the policies you provide. To enhance your client pipeline start with a sure hit, and start pitching to your friends and family who are more likely to buy your insurance product. Implement digital marketing strategies to connect with a wider audience and use referrals from people you know.

Ensure you maintain a good relationship with existing and potential clients as word of mouth is limitless.

10. Insurance protection for your business

As an insurance agent, you might be lecturing others on the benefits of insuring their business, ensure to implement that yourself. Protect your company with commercial insurance. General liability insurance, worker's compensation insurance, cyber insurance, and commercial auto insurance are some of the good insurance choices for businesses.

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Why Specialization Matters in Commercial Insurance Sales 

As the insurance industry is ever evolving a higher growth percentage for employment of insurance agents having expertise in a particular insurance can significantly improve your credibility in the community. People who are hunting for specific insurance would only go to specialists in those sectors thus having a specialization can enhance your client pool.

It can also improve your networks as specialists get easy invitations to niche-specific events and programs, and you can get more exposed to potential clients.

How Does Leadsend Help You in the Insurance Lead Generation Journey? 

As we have learned how to become an insurance agent let’s analyze how you can exponentially grow your lead with AI-powered lead generation software Leadsend.

• Cold calls and emails won't get you that far, Leadsend helps with automated and personalized emails to reach out to your ideal customers at the right time. 
• Integrated with custom CRM to organize your leads
• Provide you with the weekly analytical reports regarding open rate and response rate, hence encouraging data-driven decision-making.
• With competent pricing, they provide complete transparency with daily updates and access to the system.
• A/B testing and analyzing different databases to ensure agents can provide better data-driven judgments.

Leadsend provides exclusive high-quality leads with the flexibility to target more customers in a limited time.

Conclusion

To be an insurance agent you should start by choosing what type of agent you want to be and which insurance policies you want to sell, by specializing in your niche you can improve your network and have more clients. Getting an insurance license is an integral part of becoming an agent. The licensing requirements may vary according to the state. After receiving the license growing leads can be a hectic task, Leadsend can help you generate exclusive leads within a short period.

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FAQ 

1. How do insurance agents make money?
   Primarily insurance agents receive money through commissions from the policies they sell. Agents who are working for companies have regular salaries and bonuses depending on their performance.

2. Why do Insurance agents need a license?
   Since the insurance industry is prone to many kinds of fraud, becoming a licensed insurance agent means the agent is legally qualified to sell insurance policies such that it mitigate fraud and improves trust in customers.

3. How profitable is an insurance agent?
   The profit earned by an insurance agent directly depends on the number of policies they can sell and the type of insurance they sell. 

4. What kind of insurance agent gets paid the most?
   Health insurance agents are often regarded as the ones who get paid the most. Even then commercial insurance agents are also highly paid.

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