The Day to Day Responsibilities of Insurance Agents


 

So you’ve successfully passed your insurance agent exam and are now licensed in your state to sell insurance. What happens now? If you’re new to the insurance industry or are looking to start a career there, you probably want to know exactly what your day to day schedule is going to look like. In this post, we run down the basics of how an insurance agent can expect to do during the workday, and the duties that they will be responsible for carrying out.

Insurance agent responsibilities

Insurance Agent Duties

Insurance agents are generally responsible for a full list of duties that they have to carry out. This list includes:

  • Calling potential new clients to pitch them on one or more type of coverage from your company.
  • Interviewing potential clients who have expressed interest in buying insurance in order to collect relevant data about their financial status and existing coverage.
  • Explaining the ins and outs of various policies to potential new customers and existing clients.
  • Analyzing the policies held by current clients and determining suggested additions or changes to their coverage.
  • Putting together custom insurance programs for individual clients whose needs don’t match prepackaged coverage options.
  • Taking care of existing clients’ policy renewals.
  • Maintaining and updating customer records.
  • Helping policyholders settle their pending claims or sort out issues with their insurance.

Regardless of the type of insurance an agent specializes in, their daily duties will most likely follow this general routine. In fact, many modern insurance agents do not sell one specific type of insurance policy (fire, auto, homeowner, etc.), but instead sell multiple types of complementary insurance. For instance, an agent who sells flood insurance may also sell fire insurance and other disaster-related policies, as well as general homeowners insurance.

Captive Agents vs. Independent Agents

In the insurance industry, the term “captive agents” refers to agents who are employed by a single insurance company, and who therefore only sell policies from that company. Captive agents can sell more than one type of insurance, but it must be in the form of a policy from the company they work for. For example, a captive agent who works for an All State branch will only sell insurance policies from All State.

Independent insurance agents, on the other hand, do not work with one specific insurance company, but with an insurance brokerage that offers competing policies from multiple insurance companies. An independent agent can sell policies from multiple insurance companies, provided their policies are a part of the brokerage that the agent represents, and can pitch their clients on policies from competing companies to find the one that best fits their particular needs.

Captive agents’ particular duties will largely be dictated by the needs of the company they work for, while independent agents generally work from their own offices and set their own schedules. Despite this, the list of duties that captive agents and independent agents perform on a day to day basis are largely the same.

Interested in becoming an insurance agent? You need to get licensed first! America’s Professor guarantees the success of its online video insurance pre-licensing courses. Learn more by calling 800-870-3130.

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Bobby villegas
Bobby villegas
4 years ago

I made a change on an insured’s home 3 hours before we had a storm. I accepted the change but later in the day the storm that hit was a lot stronger then anticipated. my company feels I made the change knowing
it would benefit the client. I made the change according to my clients request. I feel if I had not made the change it would have been in bad faith. what is the new mexico state rule in complying with my clients request?

America's Professor - DCM
America's Professor - DCM
4 years ago
Reply to  Bobby villegas

Hi Bobby, Sorry but I do not have any real world knowledge in the area of your question. Wish I could be helpful but I can’t. Good luck to you.