Is being a health insurance agent for me? How will I generate insurance leads? What do I need to become a health insurance agent? What do I look for in an agency?
Obtaining a health insurance license:
I am glad you are here after reading my previous post. So you know the reality of the health insurance business and you know the odds are not stacked in your favor but you are still reading on. That is a good thing because it shows that you are not easily discouraged and can still see the benefits of doing what it takes to become a successful health agent.
Yes, it is not an easy way to get rich quick, but it is a great way to become wealthy in a slow orderly fashion. I know many healt insurance agents who have been in the business for the long haul, and most of them a pretty well off. Getting in to this business can be the best thing that ever happened to you. Believe me, I am not saying this as a manager or recruiter or promoter of any health insurance company. I see it every day in people I work with on a daily basis. They all have their war stories about the hardships of starting out, how at times it was hard paying a mortgage or rent, how a lot of them had to get part time jobs working fast food or delivering pizza just to make ends meet, but these now sucessful agents had one thing in common:
They just would not give up.
So are you ready for a challenge? The first obstacle in your path to becoming a health insurance agent is getting your license. Many never get past this point. You must first take a state approved pre-licensing course then pass your state exam.
Many of these classes are online now and there are still plenty of traditional classroom courses in health insurance licensing available too. Most offer the basics of how health insurance works and the state laws regulating health insurance. Once you pass your course you are then allowed to take your state test.
In many states the health insurance licensing tests are administered by a third party company. What does this mean to you? These companies get paid every time they administer a test so the more times you have to take the test to pass and get your health insurance license, the more times they get paid. Many of the tests are filled with trick questions that are worded like this:
All of the following are true except
Which of the following is not correct
Which of the following does not describe
etc.
They add words like not or except to throw you off. They also have many questions asking you to pick one wrong answer out of three or four right answers. I strongly suggest looking up multiple choice test taking techniques and learning them before taking your health insurance licensing exam.
The other things that I suggest you will need to get started right:
A cheap laptop, refurbished or used will do as long as it can be used to run quotes.
A cheap GPS, beats having to read a map to find your appointments and will help you arrive on time.
Look into increasing your anytime minutes on your cell phone plan. This is better than paying huge charges for overages. If you will be working from home get an unlimited long distance plan for the same reasons.
And get a few good pens. How can you write business without a good pen?
So now that you have got that covered, have you signed up with a good agency yet? If you have or have not, what do you need to expect out of your agency?
THanks for visiting my insurance leads blog.
Cheers,
Mac