New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance)

[AllStatePro27]

Re: New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance

Hey Allstate, if you have any specific licensing/testing type questions I can help you with them. That is where I will be most helpful to you as I just did it all over the last few months.

What areas of the P&C test do you suggest I spend the most time on studying? And how many questions is it?

 

[pghman]

Re: New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance

What areas of the P&C test do you suggest I spend the most time on studying? And how many questions is it?

If you do them together there is 150 questions that count plus an additional 5 that don't count. They randomly throw 5 extra questions in to test verbiage for future tests but you won't know which ones these are. There is a breakdown of what percentage of questions come from each category available on either the PA DOI's website or the testing center's website. As far as suggesting what to spend the most time on, I would look at those percentages, and then compare that to how you do on the practice tests.

Here is the method(s) I used.
1. I did self study through a book called, "Property and Casualty Insurance License Exam Cram" This book is long and thorough but easy to read. I made sure to do the practice tests at the end of each chapter and review what I missed.
2. Then I took one of the state approved self study programs. These are much more condensed. The one I used was an outline format that was PA test specific. I took the practice test and reviewed missed at the end of each chapter once again.
3. As I did both programs I made a few notes of things that I needed to re-review and after doing both programs I went back and re-read those particular sections.
4. I did the practice comprehensive exams one by one and again reviewing what I misssed. Once I was consistently scoring 90% I felt confident to move on to the real deal.

The test itself gives you 2 or 2 1/2 hours to complete. The guy at the testing center says he sees 2 out of 3 people fail the test. I passed mine with an 87% first time and completed it in about an hour. You only need 70% to pass in PA.

Anything else?
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I also forgot to mention that I am glad to help. It's my contribution to the forum as I have learned a ton browsing around here and still do several days a week. I wish someone would have been able to tell me what to expect.

 

[BTFuzz]

Re: New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance

NO ONE…at least I am not…suggesting that he goes INDY. What we are suggesting is that he finds a IA- Independent Agent to work under...the same idea as working under a EA - Exclusive Agent...but with more companies and generally better commissions.

There is nothing wrong with going Indy on your own if you have a great work ethic and a good bit of resources...meaning people you can call upon for help and guidance when necessary. I did it this way close to 10 years ago and have lived to say I made this far....however, there are bigger challenges today then there were then IMO. Proceed with caution.

 

[Insurance-Guy]

Re: New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance

There is nothing wrong with going Indy on your own if you have a great work ethic and a good bit of resources...meaning people you can call upon for help and guidance when necessary. I did it this way close to 10 years ago and have lived to say I made this far....however, there are bigger challenges today then there were then IMO. Proceed with caution.

So you opened your own IA with no product knowledge and no experience in insurance what so ever?

 

[AllStatePro27]

Re: New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance

Ok I just got back from my second interview. The guy says that he wants to get me licensed on Life and Health too. He said I can make a lot more selling Life and Health because there is more pay upfront but not so much on the back end. If I can get licensed for both P&C and L&H I think I'll be killing it. The only thing that really concerns me is that if he wants me to sell L&H, doing so without a car is going to be extremely difficult. I have a lot of face to face selling experience so I'm not concerned about that at all. My biggest concern on that aspect is transportation. Or is selling L&H doable on the phone for a month or two till I get a new set of wheels?

 

[BTFuzz]

Re: New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance

So you opened your own IA with no product knowledge and no experience in insurance what so ever?

Yes and no...my wife, who happens to be my partner had prior experience in PL and life. I had none. While she is good at product knowledge for PL & life, she had no business knowledge. So together we had no prior experience how to run a business.

I spent my early days finding centers of influence and people and groups/associations to help me with marketing and product knowledge, specifically commercial lines....the first year or so was tough but I found the sources I needed to keep moving forward.

 

[TheKoenigGroup]

Re: New to the Insurance Sales Industry (despritely Need Guidance

Also keep in mind, all these commercials and auto insurance companies that EACH can "save" you 423/yr, or 510/yr, when you switch from "COMPETITOR HERE".

So not sure how long auto policieswould actually stay on the books...