Managing insurance agents is just one of many challenges you face when running an insurance agency, but it is crucial. After all, your insurance agents are responsible for selling your policies and are the people your clients most closely interact with.
As such, you must know why insurance agents quit and how to prevent them from doing so. While you can always hire more agents, recruiting new team members will take time, money, and effort. You would also have to teach new agents the intricacies of your company. So, avoid the hassle and learn how to prevent insurance agents from quitting.
Their Expectations Are Unrealistic
One of the biggest reasons that insurance agents quit is the fact that they have unrealistic expectations. The insurance industry is huge, which leads many people to think they can easily make a large income by selling insurance. In reality, the earnings of an insurance agent vary significantly depending on numerous factors.
In addition to your commission structure, the type of insurance your agency sells and an agent’s location will play a big role in how much he makes. Reduce this risk by letting new agents in your agency know what they can expect to make, providing ranges if commission plays a big role.
Remember that financial expectations aren’t the only ones that can be unrealistic. Some insurance agents may not fully realize all of the responsibilities they will have. Or they may expect more support staff than they have. You can reduce this issue by being clear when writing job descriptions.
They Have the Wrong End Goal
Everyone has different reasons for becoming an insurance agent. Money typically plays a role, as does helping people. But it’s very common for agents who just focus on money to fail or decide to quit.
The best insurance agents will want to help their clients. Clients can tell the difference and are more likely to stick with an agent and agency that prioritizes their best interests.
They Don’t Understand the Customers
As mentioned, some of the best insurance agents do what they do because they want to help people. But they can only do this if they understand customers and their needs. Agents who don’t understand the needs of their clients may get frustrated with poor sales and quit.
You can reduce this challenge by providing your team with sufficient training. Give them access to your customers’ data, so they can better understand them.
They Can’t Stay Organized
Insurance has a lot of moving parts and details to keep track of. Without the proper tools, it can be impossible to stay organized. Luckily, this is an easy issue to mitigate.
With insurance agency management software like Jenesis, you can make it easy for your agents to stay organized. These software typically serve as a centralized location for policy information, contracts, and customer data. If they can find all of the information they need at a glance, agents are less likely to get frustrated and will be happier at work. As a bonus, they’ll also work more efficiently.
They Don’t Have a Mentor
As with any other industry, it is much easier for insurance agents to succeed if they have a mentor to guide them. Professional mentors can help agents overcome challenges and point them in the direction of good practices.
You can take advantage of this by setting up an official or unofficial mentorship program within your agency. Even if you don’t have a large enough team for an official mentorship program, encourage new agents to ask questions. In fact, encourage every agent and other members of your team to ask questions. This will create an environment of openness and learning, setting everyone up for success.
They Are Easily Discouraged
A big issue with insurance agents can be discouragement. You won’t make every sale ,and experienced agents know this. But newer agents may have unrealistic expectations or feel discouraged too easily.
Simply providing support to your team can do wonders to reduce this problem. Start by giving them the tools they need to be successful. From there, make it clear that agents shouldn’t let a handful of failures get in the way of their progress.
They Don’t Have a Good Support System
The issue of being discouraged leads us to another major challenge – not having the right support system. This can include emotional, mental, or even administrative support. Providing your team with all types of support so they can feel more confident in their work and avoid getting discouraged easily.
Tips on Keeping Insurance Agents from Quitting
We’ve already touched on some of the things you can do to prevent insurance agents from quitting. Here’s a concise list of tips, along with a few extras:
- Make the commission structure and expected income clear.
- Make the job description and responsibilities clear.
- Help agents understand the customers and their needs.
- Give agents the tools they need to stay organized.
- Provide training in marketing and sales.
- Educate agents about all your products.
- Set up a mentorship program or at least have open lines of communication.
- Create a strong support system.
- Regularly get feedback from employees on how you can improve.
Conclusion
By knowing why insurance agents quit, you can actively work to keep your team happy at work. This should reduce your agency turnover and help set your agency up for success. From providing support to giving your team the right tools to ensuring they have realistic expectations, there are a lot of little things you can do to make a difference.