Many critical outcomes depend on successful and sustained insurance selling. From financial security of a society to investments for business and for public infrastructure, they all depend on the ‘yes’ that some insurance agent, somewhere in the country, manages to get from his customer after much effort. What does this success depend on asks K Nitya Kalyani.

Passion, knowledge, manners and appearance, perseverance, relationship-building … the list is endless and fascinating. Premium completes 4 years and we wanted to find out what people thought were the 4 pillars of the selling profession, especially insurance selling. Here are the thought provoking answers drawn from the experiences of a few leading members of this [...]

The financial advisory profession and the financial services
industry in India have changed enormously in the last 10 to 15
years. To keep pace with these changes the agent has to take
the lead for his own professional development.
In this mini-series, Agent to Advisor, we explore what makes
an individual change for the better and how he can do it.
Education and training, acquiring a mentor, reading, learning
and polishing up social behaviour and communication skills
are all part of changes from outside that help in this
transformation.

Agent to Advisor: Change from Within Change is a fact of life. Change takes away what we have, what we are comfortable with, and gives us new things to deal with. Making this new set of circumstances work in our favour depends on us. In this mini-series, Agent to Advisor, we explore what makes an individual change for
the better and how he can do it.

Agent to Advisor The Initial Spark K Nitya Kalyani In every professional’s life there is a moment of awakening when the realisation hits home that there is much more that he can achieve, if only. If only he were better equipped with knowledge, better organised, better informed and better skilled. The response to that inner [...]

The debate centres on this. In India, do we have insurance agents? Or do we have insurance advisors?
It is not the wordings or technical definitions, but the basic nature of the work they do and the value they provide, that is in question.

Insurance agents provide answers to their customers’ challenges and needs. The first step to this is to understand the need or the problem and get to the heart of the matter by asking great questions! In this article experts say genuine questioning and an interest in the subject provides solutions.

The challenge of writing and writing well can be faced if the first draft is written from the heart. This means putting down all you want to say. And then write the second draft from the head. This means rewriting it to address your audience and the purpose in writing to them.

On our third anniversary, our series of articles on Sales Skills talks to ten insurance agents and asks them to share their top three secrets to stay on top.

How important are presentation skills for agents? What should they learn to convince listeners of their service and service capabilities?