Future of Life Insurance Sales

An agency manager of a large insurance company sought my advice on his future career goals. He has worked in that company for more than 10 years and has accumulated over 1,000 clients who bought life insurance policies from him in the past. The insurance company has reduced the bonuses on most of these products which has caused him to face complaints from his clients.

The agency manager, who has several active agents under him, is now considering to move to another insurance company. He asked my views on the company to move to, and the future prospects of the life insurance industry.

We discussed the following issues for about one hour:

• How will the move affect the existing clients?
• How he can help the existing clients by remaining with the same company
• Which life insurance company offer the best prospect for an agent or agency manager
• Should he move to an independent financial adviser firm?
• Can he provide advice to clients for a time based fee?

After the discussion, he became clearer about the options and will be giving more thought to the matter. He appreciated the advice and my time and decided to made a donation of $100 for FISCA (financial services consumer association).

Tan Kin Lian