Editor’s Column

Our Career
By Kate Kinkade, CLU, ChFC

At no time in the past 30 years hhave I been as aware as I am totoday of how lucky we are to be able to sell insurance for a living. This sounds odd when many in our industry are having to work twice as hard to make half as much. And when leading insurance companies are losing their ratings and cutting back on staff. And when so many clients and prospects have just lost a significant portion of their wealth, if not their jobs. With all of that, how can this be a great time to be in our business?

It is because of the very fact that we are able to be in business today. Selling insurance is one of the few professions that doesn’t require someone else to decide the job exists. The job exists because we can do it. It doesn’t require someone else to determine what the job pays. The job pays as much or as little as we are willing to put into it. Certainly, the reward for the same amount of effort varies based on many factors -- today’s environment being a big one. Skill, knowledge, market, and tenure all affect how much one can make from the same amount of time and energy. But the fact is that, if you can sell an intangible and have the intellectual energy to understand our product and its applications, the only thing that prevents you from being able to make a living in this industry is not doing the work.

Many successful, intelligent, and experienced people are out of work today. They weren’t in careers that allowed them to work harder to get through tough periods. They were an expense in a company that needed to cut expenses.

The current environment is revealing, however. There are more than a few insurance agents who were making a comfortable income a few years ago and are not able to do so today. Some are not willing to put in the additional work it may require, but it’s not always that easy. A tougher economic environment means we have to find new applications for our products. Or, as many would say, find the old applications -- heart issues instead of head issues. Consumers may be willing to stretch financially to provide for those they love or to protect a business they have built if we still have the skills to identify and articulate those needs. And even then, they may not be willing to spend as much.

So, while this is a great career today, it isn’t working for everyone – those who can’t make the transition for the current market or who aren’t willing to do what it takes to make a living. There aren’t a lot of other jobs out there for our skill set and desired income level, of course, but people are looking. I’ve always been fascinated by the recruitment of unsuccessful insurance agents to sell life insurance somewhere, somehow else. Or to train someone to sell it, or manage someone who sells it. Why would that work? If they could sell insurance, they wouldn’t need to find another job. That’s the real point. If you can sell insurance, you don’t need to worry about your job.  Your methodology may change; your income may change; your work level may change; but you can make a good living almost no matter what. Nobody can take it away from you and nobody can decide what you are worth. In today’s environment, that looks pretty good. The fact is that it looks pretty good in any environment.