The Concerns of the Prospective Agent

“You can make more than $100,000 in your first year of work.” “There is no limit to your income, and if you work hard, you can make millions by the time you retire.” “Nobody determines or stop you from making all the money you wish to have unlike a salaried job.”

Why do these recruitment pitches ring hollow in today’s increasing sophisticated labor force? It may work many years ago, but it is no longer effective in attracting candidates to the life insurance industry. People generally know that if you succeed in life insurance sales you can make plenty of money…but the big question is can they make it. If you can’t do the job successfully, the promise of riches carries little promise for them.

Don’t for a moment forget that persuading people to start a career that pays solely on commission is asking them to take great leap of faith, particularly if they already have a decent job even though it may not the most satisfying one. So your first task as a recruiter is to address their deepest concerns in taking up this new challenging career. Starting a new career is momentous decision, one that is not reached until all questions, doubts and uncertainties are cleared or clarified. This is not to say that all risks have to be eliminated. People understand that there are risks involved in any career change but they need to understand the risks involved and how they can mitigate them.

When recruiting fresh candidates (those who have never been in insurance/investment sales or have less than 1 year of experience), the 3 primary concerns of the candidate are:

1. Can I do it? What are the skills and knowledge I need to succeed? Do I have the aptitude to do well in this business?

2. Can you help me succeed? What kind of training and support do I get to help me succeed? What’s your track record of helping new agents succeed? What’s the reputation of your company in the industry?

3. Is it worth doing? If I am reasonably satisfied that I can succeed (by you addressing point 1&2), should I embark on this career change? How would my family, relatives and friend perceive my career change? What’s my career path or direction? How would I be remunerated (yes, money is still important, albeit it is one of the many concerns)? What are the non-monetary perks and incentives?

Address these 3 concerns effectively, you are more than half-way there! Hey who say recruitment is easy!

Relationship between Recruitment and Performance

Some managers regard recruitment as more important than performance management. Recruit as many people as possible…let those who can't perform leave and replacing them with those who can. This erroneous practice is based on the assumption that: the supply of good candidates is plentiful and you can recruit easily, and recruitment and performance are unrelated issues.

Performance and recruitment are not mutually exclusive because one of best sources of recruitment is recommendations from your existing reps…and they will only recommend their friends and clients only if they are succeeding and they feel that the agency environment is conducive for growth. If they feel negative, or even neutral, of their agency culture and their own performance, it is highly unlikely that they will take the initiative of helping you recruit people.