Do insurance agents make good money

Do insurance agents make good money

Do insurance agents make good money?  This is a very broad question with a ton of variables that need to be taken into consideration.  We will break some of the down below.

What are the national averages?

National averages really mean very little when it comes to insurance sales careers.  Insurance sales success depends on the type of product you sell, the commission amount for the first year, renewal payments and your success selling.   As a result, looking at averages does not accomplish much but here they are.  We used 2017 data.

• Median income in insurance sales in 2017 was $49,710
• Highest 25% made $76,220
• Lowest 25% made $35,400
• Highest 10% made $121,910
• Lowest 10% made $28,400

Why national averages do not matter

The reality is that a lot of people “try” an insurance career at some point in their lives.   Some of them will go into it with a game plan and full preparation.  They will also be motivated and put in the hours needed in order to meet their goals.   Others will simply try it for something to do, out of desperation or because they think it might be easy.  The point is that you get a lot of people in the insurance business that put little time or effort into it.  You get others who are simply not good at sales because of one reason or another.  Usually it is lake of preparation, organization or they do not have the right personality type.   Regardless, these situation drag the numbers down substantially when looking at the averages.

What you sell matters

There are a lot of types of insurance out there.   Some people sell policies (Term life, whole life, IUL or final expense for example) that pay a majority of the commission one time up front.  They pay very little for renewals. As a result, they folks need to keep selling in order to make money.  These types of products allow you to get up an making money fairly quickly because the comp is front loaded.  Others will sell “slow burn” products that pay substantial renewal amounts such as health insurance, Medicare plans, P & C and other renewal based products.  The nice thing is once they build up a book they will have substantial renewal income every year.  The negative is they are going to struggle in the first few years.

How good are you at what you do?

Some people will struggle with insurance sales because they are, quite frankly, not very good at it.  There is a laundry list of things we could point out here but maybe that is for a different blog.  The agents/brokers that have a plan, are organized and determined will usually make it in the insurance business.  They that are not will most likely struggle and be looking for something else to do in a few years.  The other factor is that you need to be willing to struggle in the first few years.  Most insurance agents, especially the ones selling the renewal based products, will struggle early on. As a result, a lot of agents give up in the first year or two.

What can a very good insurance agent expect to make?

When I say “very good” I mean the brokers in the top 5%.  In most cases these people make well over $200,000 a year. The top brokers I either know or work with will make $400,00 or $500,000 a year.  They do not succeed by mistake however.  They are simply better than 95% of the other brokers out there.  This does not mean they have the worlds absolute best sales/closing skills but they are really good in all the other areas.   Areas such as…

• They know their products incredibly well
• Know which products are competitive in the market they are in
• They are very up to date on all the rules and regulations specific to what they sell
• Well organized  (Have a reliable CRM system)
• Motivated
• Have a game plan when it comes to marketing and getting opportunity
• Are able to avoid distractions and tangents the insurance business if full of.
• Stay in contact with existing clients
• Ask for referrals and give referral gifts (within the rules of the insurance departments and CMS)
• Have a likable personality and demeanor.  (More people miss the boat here than you would think)

There are a number of other factors but I wanted to mention some of the most common ones.  You might think this too simple right?  Believe it or not, the business is simple and most brokers fail by not doing the simple and obvious things well.

Crowe and Associates role with agents

We are an insurance up line that provides agents with carrier contracts, software and technology and sales support and training.  If you want to learn more about how we help agents you can take a look by using the link here.   CROWE AND ASSOCIATES PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO AGENT AND BROKERS

click here for more images by this artist