Life Insurance is an extremely important part of the long-term financial plan. The very purpose of this plan is to offer financial protection for the loved ones when there is a death of an income earner. However, in this entire ecosystem, Life Insurance agents play a pivotal role in the distribution of Life Insurance products. From helping policyholders obtain Life insurance products to guiding them in choosing the correct Life Insurance coverage, Life insurance agents go through multiple operational processes to get the right product to the right customer.
Keep reading as we decode more on the day in the life of a Life Insurance agent!
What do Life Insurance Agents Do?
The primary job of a Life Insurance agent is to help people obtain Life Insurance policies. They explain various types of options which are available and guide the client in choosing the adequate Life insurance coverage which fits their needs and budget.
While pitching the right product and helping in the sale of one is a pivotal part of their job, the duty of a Life Insurance agent does not really end with the sale. When they submit the application for a particular insurance policy to the insurance company, there are many questions that are needed for clarification. In this situation, the Life Insurance agent will be acting as a liaison between the insurance company and the policyholder.
Once the policy has been issued, the Life insurance agent will be delivering the product. The need for Life insurance coverage is not static, and at periodic intervals, a Life Insurance agent may reach out to the clients to assess the coverage and make adjustments if the policyholder’s circumstances have changed.
This includes circumstances like- if a policyholder gets married, welcomes a child, or buys a home. If the policyholder passes away, often it’s the insurance agent who delivers the death benefit cheque to the family.
Taking A Look at Their Regular Tasks
Life insurance agents conduct various tasks regularly to offer the right products to the right customers. Here’s a closer look at the duties of a Life Insurance agent:
Lead Generation
The primary task of a Life Insurance agent is lead generation; they actively reach out to potential clients through various methods, which include networking, referrals, and online tools for building a client base.
Needs Assessment
Once a Life insurance agent zeroes in on a potential customer, they then work towards learning about their financial situation, goals, and concerns to determine their insurance needs.
Policy Presentation
Another pivotal task in the life of a Life Insurance agent is policy presentation. Presenting the different types of Life insurance policies and presenting the different benefits and features of these policies in a way that customers can understand is one of the crucial tasks for a Life Insurance agent.
The Application Process
A Life Insurance agent significantly guides the clients through the application process, completing paperwork and submitting these documents to the insurance company.
Keeping the Clients Satisfied
Offering comprehensive ongoing support, answering questions, and reviewing the different policies to ensure that they still meet the policyholder’s needs.
Staying Updated
While this is not a direct function of a Life Insurance agent, it still holds a pivotal place in the everyday tasks of a Life Insurance agent. A life Insurance agent needs to continuously keep themselves updated about the new products, regulations, and sales techniques for serving the policyholders in a much better manner.
Administrative Tasks
Manually conducting administrative tasks takes up a significant space in the everyday responsibilities of a Life Insurance agent. They manually handle paperwork, schedules, and plan their next consecutive tasks effectively.
The Traditional Operational Landscape in the Life of a Life Insurance Agent
The daily operational landscape of a Life insurance agent is filled with paperwork and is heavily manual-intensive. Here’s what a manual-intensive Life Insurance agent operation looks like:
Payment Processing
Manually processing payments is one of the most significant challenges and a reality that exists in the everyday operations of a Life Insurance agent. A Life Insurance agent manually deals with cash and cheques from a policyholder, filling up receipts by hand and manually keeping track of who paid in notebooks. This takes up a significant time for the Life insurance agent, leading to potential mistakes.
Operational Tasks
A Life Insurance agent deals with stacks of forms and fills them manually for new policies, while physically handling these papers and manually typing information into the records. It is quite hard to find information quickly and slows things down.
Travel Costs and Time
A Life Insurance agent’s half of the day is spent on long and tedious travels. They travel long distances to physically collect payments from policyholders in multiple locations. Can you imagine the hours lost just tracking payments?
Deposit and Reconciliation
A Life Insurance Agent manually collects payments and deposits them. This delays the reconciliation with company records.
Tracking of Overdue Payments
A Life Insurance agent goes through ledgers and reviews them to identify and follow up on the outstanding premiums, which is cumbersome and inefficient. This causes stress for the Life Insurance agent to track multiple overdue payments.
Manual Data Entry
Manual data entry is a common part of life as a Life Insurance agent. Imagine a Life Insurance agent filling up multiple data entries manually and sorting them. Tedious and scary, isn’t it?
Policy Issuance
Finally, an important task in the task list of a Life Insurance agent is policy issuance. Heavy reliance on manual processes leads to slow policy issuance.
Going by the Books but with A Digital Twist!
As the operational landscape of a regular Life Insurance Agent is filled with paperwork and follow-up runs, it’s time insurers make an effort to slash these challenges. By leveraging a middle office and a modern payment integration system, insurers can significantly help insurance agents reduce their operational burden. A modern Middle Office platform from iNube can help Life insurance agents save the day.
Here’s what a Middle Office platform can do:
Digital Transactions
The introduction of digital transaction capabilities, which is been facilitated by Middle Office and Agent integration, can significantly enable Life Insurance agents to get rid of manual cash flows. An integrated system will help a Life Insurance agent to directly deposit the cash collected into the insurance company’s account digitally. This saves a significant amount of back-and-forth travel and allows them to transfer the cash digitally to the insurance company’s account.
Digital Proposal Creation
In a traditional operational setup, a Life Insurance agent manually fills out multiple forms and curates proposals. With a digital platform, a Life Insurance agent can create proposals digitally without having to create them manually and go to an insurance company for these routine tasks.
Remote Operations
With a digital integration, the Life Insurance agents can opt out of complex issues and allow for the performance of many core functions remotely. This significantly reduces the need for a physical branch visit.
Centralized Notification and Performance Tracking
This is one of the features that a digital system offers to a Life Insurance agent. With a digital middle office, there is a central hub for all the critical notifications, and it offers a digital interface for agents to actively track their performance in real-time.
Improved Security and Fraud Detection
With digital transactions and a centralized digital platform, there is an inherent reduction in security and fraud detection.
Streamlined Form Filing
A digital platform enables streamlined form filling, with digital forms and automated data capture within the platform, form filling becomes much easier and less tedious for the life insurance agents.
On-the-Go Verifications
Digital operations allow on-the-go operations, and this allows the different stakeholders, including underwriters, to review and approve proposals and the related documents digitally while significantly speeding up the entire process.
This suite of capabilities transforms daily operations, converting wasted effort into valuable time for growth and client success. From heavy breathing to constant stress, the life of a Life Insurance agent isn’t easy. They deal with multiple operational challenges that are manually intensive and tedious. This can take a good spin with an advanced Insurtech platform that specifically caters to the operational needs of an insurance agent.
