Looking to get ahead in your insurance career?
Knowing where your personality fits best in the industry can help immensely. However, you can pretty much guarantee that the following traits will provide you with the solid base you need to get your hatch your career in insurance.
General personality traits for insurance roles
1. Emotional Intelligence:
A good insurance broker needs to use tact and empathy to connect with customers and better understand their needs. Emotional intelligence can also be useful when you need to work with difficult customers who may be resistant to recognizing their financial situation.
2. Good customer service:
Commit to providing your customers reliable and honest customer service. This can include making sure you’re available for meetings and returning phone calls or emails within 24 hours. If you commit to being available to answer any further questions on policies then chances are, you’ll be more likely to keep your customers and have new ones referred to you.
3. High energy level:
If you seem excited about insurance, then your customers will get excited too. Insurance can sometimes be tricky to understand and having a dull or low energy personality will only make it less appealing for customers to come in and make a purchase.
4. Persistence:
If a customer rejects something you pitch to them then don’t be afraid to try again. It may take a few tries before you’re able to fully understand what a customer is looking for, and that’s ok. While this is an extremely important quality in an insurance agent, it’s important not to overdo it, as an especially persistent salesperson can really turn potential customers off of making a purchase.
5. Honesty:
An insurance agent who a client can trust will be far more successful than one who has to twist the truth in order to make a sale. Take time to build rapport with your client and be upfront with the pros and cons when discussing a topic. If they feel you are looking out for their best interests, it will help strengthen your professional relationship.
Other useful personality traits for…
Insurance underwriting
Problem solving: As underwriters are employed to determine the level of risk an individual poses and the coverage for which they are eligible, you need to be able to find an insurance option that works for the customer as well as the insurance agency. You must be able to think analytically and stay calm under pressure when trying to determine a possible solution.
Risk Analysis
Self-motivation: As a career as an actuary can include the development of new products for a company, it’s important that individuals in these roles be motivated to push boundaries and develop new approaches to common financial problems.
Customer Service
Knowledgeable: As well as being energetic and persistent, customer service representatives for insurance firms must be able to recall insurance knowledge off the top of their head, or know exactly where to find something if they don’t know the answer right away. As customer service representatives are working on the front lines for an insurance company, they must be able to make a good first impression on a customer and know the approach needed in any situation.