Somehow we came all the way from "Honest and Reliable Insurance Agents" to what's covered under a renter's policy.
How did that happen??
From what I've read so far, we've talked about a person's faith and doing everything possible to be honest and open with a client or potential client.
But what happens when an insurance agent makes an "honest" mistake?
A doctor can leave a sponge inside a person during surgery and normally the only thing that happens is that the doctor removes the sponge, then everyone is ok.
A car dealer can sell you a used car with a bad alternator, then fixes the alternator, then everything is ok.
It seems that insurance agent's are held to a higher standard of professionalism than most any other profession. I mean, when an insurance agent makes a mistake, everyone hears about it.
I think one of the main reason that insurance agents are held to a higher standard is the fact that insurance is an intangible product that people can not see or hold in their hand. This is compounded by the low level of understanding by the general public on how insurance actually works.
The policy documents are many times difficult for many people to understand so they tend to overly rely on a trained agent to give them a general idea on how their policy works when first signing up.
In the situations described above, the evidence of a problem such as my car is a lemon or a surgical mistake, the evidence is right there and evident in fron to everyone to see, like my car I just purchased doesnt work, or see there is a sponge inside of me. It is easier to fix and most people are happy with that. Honest mistake.
When it comes to having a problem with an insurance policy the only evidence is he said/she said. Yes, a crroked agent may have lied about a product, but the policyholder might have misunderstood or misinterpeted what an agent said, so everything is unclear.
I know as an agent that many times I have been with a client describing product benefits and I have seen their eyes glaze over or seem to stare off into the distance. What if they didn't hear something important because they werent paying attention? I have had to deal with this several times.
When it comes down to insurance it is the responsibility of the policy holder to read and understand their policy, but when their policy does not perform to their expectations it is much easier to accuse an insurance agent of being a crook than to admit they cant understand their policy.
mac _________________ Thinking about becoming a health insurance agent or just getting started out as one?
When it comes down to insurance it is the responsibility of the policy holder to read and understand their policy, but when their policy does not perform to their expectations it is much easier to accuse an insurance agent of being a crook than to admit they cant understand their policy.
I'm sure glad you said that and not me, because everyone would have expected it from me.
People, being people, often hear what they want to hear. For example if an agent tells a life insurance applicant - "If we design the premiums properly in this Universal Life policy and the interest rates stay at least at the level they are now, based on current projections, you can stop paying premiums on your policy after 10 years."
Now, exactly what did the policyholder hear? Well, I can guarantee you that if you call on this person in 10 years, here's what will happen -
"Well, I don't understand, you told me when you sold me this life insurance policy that I could stop paying premiums after 10 years."
I don't know the answer to that one, except I will be glad to still have the customer after 10 years. (Or still be in the business that long! ) _________________ Thinking about becoming a health insurance agent or just getting started out as one?
This is one problem in insurance selling. Agents would do their best to present the best financial structure of the insurance policy. They would give good points where people can say, "Yes, it is worth to invest my money here." But the truth is, clients would only stick on what they hear is beneficial for them. Most of the time they will not remember any other conditions applied to the policy.
As Maze said on the example above. The client would just remember the quote, "you can stop paying premiums on your policy after 10 years." Not taking into considerations the if's "if the interest rates stay at least at the level they are now, based on current projections..."
To lessen if not to totally avoid this problem, in Insurance selling, agents should make it very clear to the clients that there are conditions applied to the policy. If there are projections, they are only estimates and not fixed values. Maybe insurance agents can discuss more on the beneficial factor of insurance and that is "protection."
Btw... very good question, Maze. It is something that insurance agents would think about.
I dont know if its my area or something, but insurance agents are known to take advantage of people. The hardest thing for me is getting in the door. I think agents are lumped into the catagory of Lawyers and Used car Salesman, something to avoid. Good for us that peole need insurance...
As for getting held to a high standard, ya Id agree, but its because we have a professional license...
As for the insurance being a honerable job, the public would say no...
We have people who are Mortgage Protection Specialist now, instead of term life agents.... Insurance have an ugly feel now a days...(in the publics view) _________________ Ramiz A. Hakim
Independent Insurance Broker
5697 Charlesgate Rd.
Huber Heights, OH 45424
866.497.4014 Office
206.203.4602 Fax
I think agents are lumped into the catagory of Lawyers and Used car Salesman, something to avoid.
Yeah, this is true. Insurance agents are often times rejected. This is the general perception of most people. Agents are selling insurance not for the purpose of helping but for the main reason of earning. This is the reason why they thought of agents as taking advantage of people.
This might be a general concept but for me, it depends on the agent to sell not only his or her products but first of all he or she should sell his or her self be having a good reputation. I have known of many good people who have succeed in this business because of their willingness to help. Helping is their priority and money just comes in. _________________ A life worth living...
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