Kutek, Andrey Martyanov, thank you very much! Your last remarks give me confidence that you are still capable of conducting a normal dialogue, even if with a certain degree of skepticism...
Dear Kutek! I am not flattering myself about the participation of professionals in my project - each of them has their own customer base, they probably have enough to live on. I wish them success and prosperity! Well, decency, so that it doesn’t come to undeserved denigration and mud-slinging of competitors ... To win is in fair competition! As professionals with a capital letter. My project is more for beginners...
Dear Martyanov Andrey! If I were you, I would also be skeptical about all sorts of upstarts, but, probably, I would refrain from unfounded accusations, since there are still no facts. But this is purely my opinion...
To the point of your post. Still, you are wrong, despite your experience. Personally, I am related to insurance only as an organizer and technical director of the Insurance Market project. So far, we are not a legal entity, because in order to register it, it is necessary to understand whether anyone needs it at all. When this understanding comes, then we will register, I promise. We do not violate the law, because we do not conduct entrepreneurial activities. So far, everything is based on sheer enthusiasm and the desire to help my wife, who is the direct agent of the insurance company. I will not voice the names, surnames and titles and post the agency agreement on the forum for various reasons. But I am ready to provide any evidence from those that are available, at the request of the client. By the way, the best proof, in my opinion, is a call to the insurance company and a question about the agent. The contract can also be terminated, but the client will not even know about it, do you agree?
We do not work with brokers. I don't see anything wrong with working with conscientious broker, but no offers have been received, and so far I have nothing to offer them. They probably consider themselves professionals too.
My main goal is to bring agents to the site who, as the respected Agentus wrote, "sometimes thick, sometimes empty." Why is it bad if the agent finds a client? But you also need to bring customers somehow, right? That's why you have to carry out all sorts of actions, like the one I have. So what to do? After your completely fair remarks, the Action had to be slightly modified. I hope now no one will have claims against me. You have to go for some tricks, but multimillion-dollar arbitration lawsuits of well-known world brands against each other indicate that they also violate something from time to time ... With their capabilities. No one rots them... My abilities are much more modest... In the end, no one suffered from my actions, and this is the main criterion for decency.
And the last thing I want to say again. I am not directly related to the client-agent connection. Having found a client, the agent works with him independently. Without any involvement on my part. In this case, I see my purpose in: a) to protect the client from fraud; b) to enable the agent to earn. Everything is clear with the second. Security is ensured as follows: the agent confirms his status with a document, or does not confirm (until he has his own agent base, you have to work with everyone), but in this case, the client must be informed of the relevant information and the client works with the agent at his own peril and risk. After the transaction, I, again, encourage the client to leave a review about the work of the agent. Thus, each subsequent client will see the reviews and make a decision based on this. Approximately as on the ASN website they leave reviews about insurance companies.
Much has been written, I hope you read it to the end. If you have any questions, I will be sure to answer them all. I am open and ready for dialogue. I am not interested in bickering and wasting time to sort things out. I think you do too.
Thanks for attention.
Martyanov Andrey, I understand that you work as an agent. Do you have a desire to work together? Your answer is obvious, but suddenly...
Insurance activity, oddly enough, is one of the oldest. Today it is very popular. Along with the development of insurance services, the demand for people who could sell them is growing. We are talking about insurance agents.
To become a good agent, you must initially possess some qualities:
- ability to sell, convince, negotiate;
- clarity and literacy of speech, communication skills;
- activity;
- industriousness.
Also, for an insurance agent, a pleasant appearance is important, he must inspire confidence and be willing to learn and improve himself. There are a lot of advantages in working as an insurance agent: the possibility of a very decent income, a free and flexible work schedule, building your own strategy.
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The essence of business.
It is known that, on average, insurers pay their agents 15% of the policy sold. Our business is that we, as an insurance agent, will sell voluntary medical insurance policies. Since we are a persuasive and credible agent, we must correctly and efficiently tell people about the importance of voluntary health insurance, in addition to the fact that there is also a mandatory one.
The main arguments will be:
Voluntary health insurance ensures the availability, quality and completeness of medical services in order to satisfy the population;
Medical institutions are interested in complying with existing standards and norms of patient care, otherwise the insurance company may partially or completely refuse to pay;
The insured does not need to carry out any financial calculations in the medical institution, since the insurance company does all this;
Thanks to the existence of assessing centers, an ambulance promptly leaves, the patient is determined to a specialized medical facility. With the assistance of such a center, the patient will not be prescribed unnecessary procedures, but only those that are effective and necessary.
The target audience are factory workers.
Insurance agent: at the beginning of the case.
In the Russian Federation, an insurance agent can be both an individual and a legal entity, but the latter has more opportunities, which is why we choose this form. Since the best income can only be obtained by working with several insurers, we conclude an agency agreement with four leading companies. It is good that it is generally very difficult for them to check our “four faces”, and accordingly, people can be offered policies on conditions suitable for them. As an insurance agent, we need a power of attorney from each company, where the limit of liability is indicated, and, of course, a pack of policies. We set ourselves another task - to prove to people that we are truly an insurance agent, and not a scammer. To do this, we provide them with the opportunity to contact the insurance company and clarify whether the employee works there.
Room.
Although, probably, many insurance agents work without their own office or at home - we take the matter very seriously. Therefore, we rent a room whose area is only 20 square meters. It is equipped with a fixed telephone, as it is important for work.
Search for clients.
Our clients will mainly be people working at enterprises (working factories and factories) who really would like to protect their health and life. Mostly these are people with difficult or dangerous working conditions, because they are more interested in high-quality voluntary health insurance than others. Having previously coordinated with the management of enterprises, we carry out visits directly there (of course, where we are allowed). Since business leaders are interested in high-quality insurance coverage for their employees, they do their best to meet.
This is probably one of the areas of work where advertising is very important. We carry out the sale of policies in all sorts of ways, including by phone, in social networks. But still, our goal is working enterprises, therefore, if we ourselves cannot meet with employees and convey information to them, then at least we give them information sheets with the hope that they will familiarize themselves with them at home. For clients who have already concluded contracts with our help, it is important to take care, that is, communicate with them from time to time, remind them of their rights and opportunities under the policy. In this case, the likelihood of buying the next policy increases.
We also use advertisements in periodicals and on the Internet. We place ads on boards around the city, as well as at bus stops, especially in industrial areas.
Expenses.
Prelaunch:
Expenses for registration of a legal entity - 5,000 rubles.
Expenses for studying in insurance companies - 9,000 rubles.
Other expenses - 9,000 rubles.
In total - 23,000 rubles.
Monthly:
Transportation costs - 5,000 rubles.
Rental costs - 6,000 rubles.
Others - 2,000 rubles.
In total - 13,000 rubles.
Income.
1 month - 15,000 rubles
2 month - 19 000 rubles
3 month - 21 000 rubles
4 month - 27,000 rubles
5 month - 33 000 rubles
6 month - 42 000 rubles
Profit.
1 month - 15,000 - 13,000 = 2,000 rubles
2 month - 19,000 - 13,000 = 6,000 rubles
3 month - 21,000 - 13,000 = 7,000 rubles
4 month - 27,000 - 13,000 = 14,000 rubles
5 month - 33,000 - 13,000 = 20,000 rubles
6 month - 42,000 - 13,000 = 29,000 rubles
Payback periods are less than four months.
Business development.
An insurance agent is engaged in such a type of business, the profit in which directly depends on his diligence in the first place. In the future, we will expand - go to other cities, mainly industrial ones. It is possible to conclude agency agreements with other insurers. We also care about keeping the old clientele.
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How to find the first client for OSAGO registration?
To begin with, you need to contact potential customers and offer them your assistance in obtaining OSAGO (the most popular product) or CASCO. Your friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. can be clients - the main thing is that they have a car. Remember that every car owner needs a mandatory OSAGO insurance policy, and your potential customers will buy it from any insurance company anyway.
However, if they purchase a policy with your help, they will save their time and money. After all, you, as an independent consultant, will offer the most favorable insurance conditions in any company that is a partner of Workle. Ways of communication with clients: personal call, personal meeting, sms, icq, Skype, social networks, etc.
How to find the first client for CASCO registration?
We recommend that you start with those clients with whom you have already communicated about OSAGO. Go to the "Clients" section of your online office and see what information you already have about a potential client. What car does he have? Who did he include in the OSAGO policy? Does he have a CASCO? Try to calculate the approximate cost of the policy for him, based on the data that you already have.
How to find new clients?
After the successful registration and execution of the client's application, your work is not over yet. Recommendations are the most powerful advertising tool in history, and you can use it right now. Just ask the client which of his friends may need your services. After that, you can safely call them, say who recommended you, and start working. In order to feel confident when speaking, you need to know
Wed Oct 05 18:03:00 MSD 2005
"I'm not looking for clients anymore, they find me on their own"
INSURANCE AGENTS HAVE EASIER TODAY THAN THEIR COLLEAGUES WHO STARTED TEN YEARS AGO: INSURERS ARE NOW THOROUGHLY TRAINING THEIR AGENTS. HOWEVER, BECOME A SO-CALLED GENERAL AGENT IS NOT AS EASY AS IT used to be: THE INSURANCE RISKS OF CLIENTS HAVE BEEN SHARE LONG, AND NOT EVERYONE IS SUCCESSFUL TO COLLECT A PROFITABLE CLIENT PORTFOLIO. HOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS IN THIS PROFESSION, IGOR TKACHENKO TOLD THE CORRESPONDENT OF "MONEY" ELENA ALEEVAYA GENERAL AGENT OF "RESO-GUARANTEE" IGOR TKACHENKO.
How did you start your career in the insurance business?
I became an insurance agent after I retired from the armed forces in 1992. The first insurance company I started working for was ASKO. My wife worked there as an insurance agent, and I have known the management of the company since 1989. ASKO had its own school of insurance business, and I completed a one and a half month training course for insurance agents. From the very beginning of my work, I focused on property insurance of legal entities and individuals. At school, they gave me a good foundation in the insurance business, but I lacked the acquired skills and techniques for sales techniques. My clients have taught me a lot.
How did you find your first clients?
The problem of finding potential clients was quite acute for me: there were practically no connections in Moscow among civilians. Therefore, in the search for clients, I could only rely on myself, on my former colleagues. And I got my first clients from them. I looked for clients in different ways. The first way on the recommendation of his former army comrades. The second way was the most time-consuming, but also the most effective. I set myself the task of going through the shops of Leninsky Prospekt - starting from Gagarin Square and to the Moscow Ring Road. I went to stores, got acquainted with the management, built a dialogue. At first, I was worried, although I thought over the course of the conversation, possible questions, and answers to them in advance. In the army, business communication was mainly reduced to reports and commands, and here their own nuances appear. It was quite difficult to switch to informal communication in business negotiations. We had to learn how to quickly get to know each other and find a common language, while showing our professionalism. During that period, many store directors became owners and were interested in property insurance. Together we determined the types of risks, their cost and insurance conditions. These negotiations sometimes dragged on and could last for three to six months. As a result, in a year I walked almost the entire Leninsky Prospekt, and, it seems, ten store directors became my clients. Then they insured their dachas and cars with me, recommended them to relatives and friends.
Another way to find new clients - studying newspapers and calling on advertisements of organizations - did not bring me much success. So I managed to insure three companies, but further cooperation with them did not work out. Searching for clients by phone also has its own characteristics, which I did not know then. Now I understand my mistakes and if I had then the skills and technologies of sales, I would have avoided many mistakes. Now I am no longer looking for clients, they find me on their own.
- When there were enough clients, did you try to work for several insurers at once?
By nature, I am monogamous, so I never aspired to work in several companies. Clients themselves offered to represent their interests in other companies, and each time I explained to them that I was confident for my insurance company, and they were guaranteed compensation for an insured event, but I could not give any guarantee about payments in other companies. For me, the reliability of the company has always been important. When ASKO began to experience difficulties in the year, my wife and I paid quite a few funds from our own pocket in order not to lose credibility with our clients. They did so. For example, the company had to pay $3,000 to a person due to an insured event. We compensated him $1,000 from our own money. People were grateful at least for this and, recovering from the default in 1998, they came to us again. After ASKO, I worked for a year at SOGAZ, then I came to RESO-Garantia. I explained to each of my clients why I was moving from one company to another. People understood perfectly well that their interests were important to me, and no one broke off relations.
- What does the status of a general agent imply?
This status implies a greater degree of freedom in determining the conditions of insurance and greater responsibility in doing so. The general agent determines the conditions of insurance and, in accordance with the company's tariffs, prepares a draft insurance contract. There are risks that each agent must agree with their insurer. The company sets certain quotas for the agent. For example, for me, as a general agent, for property insurance, the maximum quota for the value of the insured object is $500,000, for most agents this amount rarely exceeds $100,000. must discuss insurance terms with management.
- How do you manage to retain your customers, because there are many companies and their tariffs differ markedly?
It happens that clients come and say that some company has a 20% lower tariff. But I'm not going to compete in cheapness. In this situation, I often say that their right to insure where it is cheaper, while reminding the English proverb: "I'm not rich enough to buy cheap things." Sometimes it works, not always, but it works. Clients trust their agent. Otherwise, it's easier for me to refuse a client, even if he comes up with a good offer. I don't do anything special to keep clients. I know one thing for sure: selling soullessly, be sure that soon the person will refuse to cooperate with you. The client must be retained not by the difference in tariffs, but by the manifestation of a sincere interest in solving his problems.
“I don’t see what to pay for here” or “it’s not worth the money” are typical objections that any insurance agent faces on his arduous journey. Alas, long decades of guaranteed Soviet poverty managed to instill in the outstanding majority of Russians a persistent misunderstanding of the benefits of one of the basic values of a civilized society - insurance of life, health, property, reputation, business, etc.
In any Western country, the insurance services market has multibillion-dollar financial investments. In Russia, although it is growing at a tremendous pace, but, according to many analysts, so far it includes only every tenth inhabitant of our country who has consciously joined a friendly family of people with a secure future. The remaining 90% of our citizens, if they are faced with the topic of insurance, then not of their own free will - for example, in the case of OSAGO or going on vacation abroad. Yes, and they perceive this duty of a conscientious car owner or a reasonable traveler as a necessary evil rather than an unequivocal benefit.
And this happens, of course, not because the Russians are dumber than their Western neighbors. It's just that in our culture, traditionally, they think little about the future - because they believe that they can influence it little. And trust in insurance companies cannot be called unconditional.
But, of course, the main reason for the small number of insured legal entities and individuals is our famous “maybe”, our sincere hope that everything will work out and everything will be fine. And if something bad happens - no less sincere amazement, loud lamentations and complaints about the villain - fate. But, unfortunately, a very small number of our citizens are aware of the high probability of an insured event before it occurs.
That is why most companies that are widely represented in the insurance business market, unlike many other types of services - medical, travel, cosmetic, educational, etc. - forced to choose a strategy of active sales. Directly addressing a potential client with an offer to sell an insurance policy, the insurer must not only create a need to buy insurance, but also clearly demonstrate how the availability of insurance solves the client's problems.
The first difficulty arises at the stage of so-called "cold calls", when an insurance agent in two and a half minutes of a telephone conversation must simultaneously achieve a number of decisions. Namely: to form in a potential client sympathy for himself personally, trust in the company he represents, readiness for cooperation and agreement to allocate half an hour of his precious time for a meeting, during which a potential client will be able to get acquainted with the whole variety of insurance products and choose the one he really needs . In order to adequately cope with this difficult task, there are a number of techniques and technologies that allow many times to increase the likelihood of that very cherished “opening the door”. But we will discuss these techniques separately, in the next article. And now I propose to imagine that the meeting has already been scheduled, a possible future client has come to it and is waiting with interest, how now I will persuade him to part with his money in order to avoid ghostly dangers and vague anxieties.
Statistically, twenty cold calls result in one appointment. Only one meeting out of five ends with a contract. In practice, this means that the other four times the insurance agent wasted his time, and the potential client who refused was firmly convinced that insurance is a completely optional, unreasonably expensive thing, and in the future he will no longer waste his time meeting with another insurance agent, and even advise relatives, neighbors, colleagues. In the end, both sides lose.
How to avoid such a fatal disappointment? Very simple - convincingly sell both the idea of insurance and specific products. Fortunately, there are techniques that allow you to reach out to the moments that are really significant for each person and are worth paying for.
Let me introduce to you the Technology of Problematization. Some experts jokingly call this method of conducting trade negotiations "nightmare" ... As they say, in every joke there is only a fraction of a joke. After all, the very concept of "insurance" comes from the word "fear". And the desire to avoid possible dangers, or, at least, with the help of finances, to level the sad consequences, formed the basis of the very principle of the insurance business. But the human psyche is arranged in such a way as to carefully protect us from thinking about possible misfortunes. We can easily imagine a happy ending, but we do not want to think about a sad ending. In addition, the probability of an insured event is a few percent, and if our opponent in these negotiations did not have personal sad experience, making him imagine a possible danger and, moreover, applying it to himself is an extremely difficult task!
And the main difficulty in insurance negotiations, in addition to the inability to rely on the past history of the client, is the dislike of mature adults for persuasion technology. When we are told about possible horrors and are persistently convinced that such horrors exist in our future, the main reaction of the majority is a stubborn desire to argue and disagree.
A typical portrait of a potential client of an insurance company is a man 30-50 years old, with a higher education, a family, a stable profession, an income from a level slightly above the average for a given region, often holding leading or managerial positions. That is, a person, of course, both professionally and socially accomplished. Such a person is not inclined to be patient with imposition. And if you talk with him in the logic of the statements “Pavel Petrovich, you know, your apartment will probably be flooded with neighbors, your country house will most likely burn down, your car will, of course, be stolen, your office will most likely be robbed, and you yourself will definitely break your leg and spend six months in plaster”, then all this is more like a theater of the absurd and the likelihood of running into active resistance and an appeal to past experience “nothing like this has ever happened to me! So it won't happen in the future! extremely high. And the conclusion of the contract is extremely unlikely.
Fortunately, there is an opportunity to turn the situation in your favor. First of all, let's figure out what exactly a person buys when paying for an insurance policy? And in general, the achievement of what basic goals, what deep values is possible with the help of having insurance?
The first basic value is obvious: insurance means security and confidence in the future. Then you need to remember such a significant value as savings. Moreover, as money - obviously, restoring a car after an accident or an apartment after a fire is easier when there is a clear source and amount of funding. So is the time - any car service employee will confirm to you that at first they repair those cars that are behind the insurance agent. With whom, as a rule, a good business relationship has been established, and who provides a regular amount of work. And then - cars of private clients.
In addition, for many clients, the possession of an insurance policy is a confirmation of their high social status and prestigious position. As they say, if there is something to insure, then a person has not wasted years of his life in vain. And also, many citizens are inspired by the feeling of belonging to some elite club of clients of a large insurance company, which allows them to look more significant both in the eyes of others and in the eyes of their own.
For some clients, the feeling of modernity is very important, it is important for them to be in the flow of time, use new services and try new opportunities. And for someone it is important to realize their own uniqueness and the availability of exclusive products and individual offers from the company is a selection criterion. It's great that everyone is different. And different people have different leading core values.
Accordingly, if we need to reach out to the client and advance him in understanding the value of purchasing an insurance policy, we need to show how, with the help of our offer, he can achieve his deep goals. And to do it so delicately and unobtrusively, so that the client himself reaches the conclusions we need. And this can be done if at first, before communicating with the client, you make the widest possible list of troubles without our proposal: there is no security, no confidence, no prestige, no savings, etc. And then, in a conversation with a client, be sure (!) In a confidential tone, with the intonation of a “good doctor”, casually ask, asking a question in the PRESENT tense, as if everything has already happened and you are politely inquiring about the consequences:
- How do you usually deal with...
- What do you do when...
- How do you deal with the...
- How does your boss react to...
- What do you do if...
For example, the whole problematic question might sound like this:
- What do you usually do when you need to repair an apartment after a flood, but there is basically no money for this?
- What do you do when you need an urgent and expensive operation, and free insurance does not provide it?
- How do you resolve the situation of a conflict with another car owner whose car you crashed, whose cost is many times greater than yours?
- How does your boss react to total damage to your company's cargo during transportation? And who is responsible for this?
- What do you do when your child needs special medical care that a regular hospital cannot provide?
Etc. Any experienced insurer knows many real horror stories that have been successfully resolved with the help of insurance. You can easily create similar questions for any area of insurance activity. The most important military trick is to recreate this picture in the client's imagination and cause tension from the possibility of its realization in his life. The very format of the question will help to keep you from being overbearing.
In fact, it is not important for us to find out how our client behaved in this difficult situation. We need him to start thinking about her. Like a real one. Therefore, it is very important to use the word “when” and not the word “if”! Subjunctiveness is inappropriate here, we must work with reality.