A Career as an Insurance Salesman

A career as an insurance salesman can be as rewarding as any other career, as challenging as any other career and as frustrating as any other career. If you’re thinking about looking into a career as an insurance salesman then there are several things you should understand; things that aren’t common knowledge.

For example, an insurance salesman may be responsible for selling mutual funds, and offering comprehensive financial planning services. An insurance salesman may also be responsible for offering retirement planning services and estate planning services as well as selling securities and annuities. Depending upon what type of insurance salesman you are looking to become; most insurance salesman do more than just sell and offer insurance policies!

Maybe you are considering getting into a career as an insurance salesman because of an experience that you had with an insurance salesman early in life. Usually our first experience with an insurance salesman is when we are the client, and early on in our life. So our first exposure to an insurance salesperson is that they provide health insurance, life insurance, home insurance and car insurance that help families, businesses and individuals better their situations. Later on in life we realize insurance salesman offer much more than the standard types of insurance. Insurance salesmen also offer insurance policies for property, casualty, fire, theft, wind and hail among many others. Business professionals quickly learn that insurance salesmen sell more than just malpractice insurance. To businesses insurance salesmen offer property, casualty, product liability claims, workers compensation and many other types of insurance policies.

Recently a trend has begun where insurance salesmen are offering financial planning services to their clients as well as offering insurance plans. Other services that insurance salesmen are now offering are retirement planning, assistance in setting up pension plans, and estate planning. Additionally, a career as an insurance salesman will also have you maintaining your records, cold-calling and seeking out new clients, and preparing reports. Depending upon which insurance company you are selling for you could have many more responsibilities or they could want you to simply concentrate on selling, selling, selling!

If you have a career as an insurance salesman working for one company only you will be referred to as a ‘captive agent’. If you are an independent agent and represent or sell for many companies you will be referred to as a ‘broker’.

So what does the job market currently look like for someone who is interested in a career as an insurance salesman? Despite the recession people still need insurance policies and, people are realizing now more than ever that they need insurance. Many companies are realizing they need bankruptcy insurance and many individuals are opting to get health and life insurance policies on their own.

If you are multi-lingual your chances of being hired in a career as an insurance salesman are very good. To have a career as an insurance salesman you will have to have a very good understanding of the language of the financial and insurance world. This language can be technical and complicated so you need to be a fast learner.

What would you earn if you obtained a career as an insurance salesman? This would vary from state to state and company to company obviously however the average insurance salesman can expect to make between $30,000 and $70,000 a year. With a career as an insurance salesman you can expect to work on a commission basis therefore the harder you work and the more successful you are, the more money you will make from your commission checks. Some companies do pay a base salary plus commission to their insurance salesman. Working for a company like this would definitely be better then working for commissions alone.

A career as an insurance salesman is much vaster then most people think is it can deal with families, businesses, stocks, estates and health. You could do a lot of good and help a lot of people; the money is pretty good too. If you are interested in a career as an insurance salesman you should look into companies in your area that interest you and set up a job interview to see what opportunities they may have for you.