How To Become A Work From Home Insurance Agent
The primary qualifications for becoming a work from home insurance agent are some industry experience and a license to sell the types of insurance you offer. The requirements for licenses vary by state, but usually include participating in a training course, passing an exam, and going through a fingerprint and background check. There are no formal education requirements to become a work from home insurance agent though most have at least a high school diploma or equivalent, and some also hold an associate or bachelor’s degree. Fulfilling the responsibilities and duties of a work from home insurance agent requires excellent communication skills, attention to detail, problem-solving skills, and the ability to handle stressful situations professionally.
How To Become An Insurance Agent
: Ethan Peyton
Becoming a licensed insurance agent is a great way to forward your career.
Selling insurance policies requires an insurance agent license issued by your state. The type of insurance you will market will determine which license or licenses you need.
Whether you want to open your own agency, sell and service policies for a nationwide provider, or work as a salesperson in a small business, becoming an agent is the first step required to make your dream a reality.
Follow the steps outlined below to get your licenses and learn how to become an insurance agent and get started today!
How To Become A Licensed Insurance Agent
Starting a career in the insurance industry can be an appealing opportunity for new and established professionals. Depending on the area of emphasis, its a career path that allows for flexibility and a diverse roster of interesting clients. The requirements to become an insurance agent vary by state, but they can often be completed much faster than other professions that require a license.
Exactly how long does it take to become an insurance agent? Most people can become one in only a few weeks. If you choose to take an online course that requires a certain number of study hours, your ability to complete it will largely determine your licensing time. There may also be a week or two of waiting for the license to be issued once your exam and background checks are complete.
If youre ready to jump into the world of insurance sales, consider these steps to becoming an insurance agent.
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Create A Dedicated Workspace
Whether youâre working in a small apartment or a large home, you should create a workspace thatâs only for doing work. Having a dedicated workspace helps you mentally focus on work-related tasks.
If you donât have a separate room for an office, consider using furniture to separate your office area. For example, you could invest in room dividers or bookshelves to help corner off a common area of your home.
If youâre lucky enough to have a dedicated home office, itâs even easier to make it a place of business. At the end of the day, you can shut down your computer and close the door. That way, you separate the space from the rest of your homeâboth physically and mentally.
Insurance Jobs In Richmond Hill On
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Hybrid remote in Markham, ON - Understanding customer insurance needs and providing insurance solutions.
- The Insurance Advisor is an underwriting professional licensed to sell personal
| Hybrid remote in Thornhill, ON |
| Remote in Thornhill, ONEstimated at $42.8K$54.2K a year |
| $78,624$98,280 a yearEvenings +1 |
| Full-timeMonday to Friday |
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Insurance Agent Work From Home Jobs
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Remote in Phoenix, AZ 85050 - Sits or stands for extended periods of time, up to a full work shift.
- Ability to operate a computer for extended periods of time, up to a full work shift.
| Estimated $34.5K – $43.7K a yearFull-time +1 |
| Remote in Concord, NC 28027Estimated $30.4K – $38.5K a year |
A Remote Insurance Customer Service Agent
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the insurance industry ranked second among the largest employers of customer service representatives in 2019. Therefore, there are many opportunities in this category that you can exploit.
Practicing customer service in the insurance industry requires you to have intensive one-on-one interactions with customers.
As an educated insurance agent with a practicing license, all you need is to sharpen your interpersonal skills. You must listen with empathy, be patient, put the customers needs and wants first, and have strong problem-solving skills.
The main task here is to help customers with their issues by talking with them. You can do this either verbally via phone or internet calls, or in writing through emails and chats.
A good example of such tasks includes contact center agents and after-sales customer representatives.
After conversing with clients, your employer expects you to handle complaints, explain the details of services or products to the buyer, record their details and or updates, and sometimes escalate issues by referring specific cases to supervisors.
As an insurance agent, your output is reflected in the ability to advise customers on the best policy plans that match their capacity. The process includes explaining the premium breakdowns, and, in some cases, resolving disputes with corporates.
You are the link between the customers and the insurance company.
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Contact Prospects And Close The Sale
Now to the fun part. After putting in all your hard work, use what youve learned to woo prospects into purchasing a policy on the phone or via email. Remember that a great customer experience will aid with client retention and growing your book of business.
Thats it! Youre ready to start your journey as a work-from-home insurance agent. To ensure your success, here are a few additional resources to read up on:
Appealing To An Older Audience
Older audiences struggle with online communication. However, this is changing and more older consumers are shopping online now than ever. According to The Guardian, more than half of people over age 65 are now comfortable with making online purchases. That means that while senior citizens may prefer to do things face-to-face, they are open to online transactions if the website is accessible and easy for them to use. A website with a great UI/UX is a good start to this. Be sure to offer services based on your clients level of comfort. For example, do they prefer phone calls or digital meetings? Give your clients options.
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License Application And Background Check
Each state has its own license application process. These applications can generally be filled out online and have a fee ranging from $30 to $200. Some states require this before your exam, and some after, so be sure to check your individual states steps.
All states will run some form of a background check while reviewing your application. Some will also require fingerprint data to be taken prior to licensing. This is normally run through a third party and carries a fee of around $30, give or take.
If you have questions about the background checks or any other detailed license questions, you can find your states Department of Insurance contact information on your states license page.
Insurance Sales Commission Example
Uni the insurance agent sells Ryan a whole life insurance policy that covers Ryan for the rest of their life . Uni’s insurance company pays a 90%/5% commission on whole life policies, which means the selling agent receives 90% of the first year’s premium and 5% of future renewals.
The policy costs Ryan $100 per month or $1,200 per year. Thus, in the first year, Uni will make a $1,080 commission on selling this life insurance policy . In all subsequent years, Uni will make $60 in renewals, as long as Ryan continues to pay the premiums . An agent selling one or two policies per week at this commission level could make $50,000 to $100,000 in their first year as an agent.
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Do I Need A Degree To Be An Insurance Agent
A degree is not required to get an insurance license or to sell insurance.
Depending on the job you are taking, however, the insurance company or agency that is offering the position may have a different set of requirements.
If you are looking to open your own insurance agency, you are essentially going to be running your own business. Having knowledge of how to operate an organization will be a great advantage to you and your team, but it doesnt necessarily require a degree in business.
Working for an agency as an insurance producer usually doesnt require any college experience. The agent you will be working under may have specific requirements and qualities they are looking for in a sales employee, but a degree is generally not on that list.
How To Improve Productivity As A Work
Once you get a good work-from-home job, you must work hard to maintain it and advance your career.
Consider taking initiatives that will arm you with important skills and that can improve the quality of your work. Online courses that enhance your capacity as a work-from-home licensed insurance agent are a wise investment.
To improve your insurance knowledge base, you can enroll in online insurance licensing schools.
For example, the National Online Insurance School offers studies that you can take on life and health insurance. You do your exams from home within two weeks.
More importantly, invest in developing soft skills that complement your profession.
For instance, as a virtual assistant, you need to maintain professionalism with your employer and clients. This course on cultivating successful behavior and habits as a virtual assistant is an excellent guide.
Other classes include the global language and culture for customer service.
Visit Small Revolution to enroll and advance your career.
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How To Become An Insurance Agent Working From Home
The fundamental requirements on how to be an insurance agent working from home is these two things:
Other requirements vary according to the state you want to be licensed in. Across most states, the standard requirements include taking a training course and then sitting for an exam.
Once you sit for and pass the exam, the next stage is to apply for a license at the state department of licensing. During your license application, you will be required to submit to a background check and fingerprinting.
Being an insurance agent has no stringent academic requirements. Formal education is not a necessity but an added advantage in this field. The minimum requirement is a high school diploma or its equivalent.
However, having an associates or bachelors degree in business, finance, or insurance will make it easier to gain your footing.
Allstate Licensed Insurance Agent
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Licensed Insurance Agent Work At Home Jobs
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Estimated $34.5K – $43.7K a yearFull-time +1Additional job details
PostedPosted 30+ days ago· |
| Monday to Friday |
| Hybrid remote in Leavenworth, KS 66048$21.22 – $24.03 an hour |
| Remote in Hartford, CT 06152Estimated $57.9K – $73.3K a yearFull-time |
You May Feel Isolated
Are you an introvert or extrovert? Can you forego in-person socialization with your manager, coworkers, and clients? Many people who havent worked from home before dont consider they might miss everyday office interactions, especially if they are self-employed.
Some companies take steps to keep workers connected. For example, they may have daily meetings, keep in contact throughout the day on Slack, and ask managers to be available in Zoom rooms in case an agent has a question or just wants to check in.
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How Much Do Insurance Agents Make
The overall take-home pay of an insurance agent varies widely on a number of variables. Things like location, sales, company, experience, and many other factors go into what this job can pay. According to Glassdoor, the average base is around $40,000 per year. Many of these positions offer commissions based upon your sales on top of your base pay. Your pay will be completely dependent upon your arrangement with the insurance company or agency you write business for.
Companies Hiring For Work At Home Insurance Jobs
Aetna hires for a variety of positions to work from home including nurses as case managers, for clinical and case review, and for consultation work customer service representatives analysts in various areas from claims operation to medical economics, and more. In order to find these remote positions, be sure to search through Aetnas job listings using the keyword telework and leave the location field blank.
Cigna has a whole work from home jobs category in their job database you just have to select see all locations in the United States from the sidebar and then tick the appropriate box and hit apply. They hire review and audit specialists, coders , analysts of various stripes, nurses, and more to work at home. Some positions may require HIPAA certification or ICD-10 certification.
Farmers hire work-from-home representatives to support their customers and sell them insurance. It looks like they require their reps to be licensed other than that, their only requirements are a high school diploma and some relevant experience. They may also be hiring remote workers for other positions look for open positions using work from home to search their database.
You can find even more work-at-home insurance jobs on FlexJobs. If you are a member, just head to their Advanced Search feature and choose any of the following from the Insurance category:
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Licenses Certifications And Registrations
Insurance sales agents must have a license in the states where they work. Separate licenses are required for agents to sell life and health insurance and property and casualty insurance. In most states, licenses are issued only to applicants who complete specified courses and who pass state exams covering insurance fundamentals and state insurance laws. Most state licensing authorities also require agents to take continuing education courses focusing on insurance laws, consumer protection, ethics, and the technical details of various insurance policies.
As the demand for financial-planning services increases, many agents also choose to get licensed and certified to sell securities and other financial products. Licensing and certification requires substantial study time to pass an additional exameither the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing exam, both of which are administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority . The Series 6 exam is for agents who want to sell only mutual funds and variable annuities. The Series 7 exam is the main FINRA series license, which qualifies agents as general securities sales representatives.