How to Open Your Own Insurance Agency

If you’re looking for a business opportunity, an insurance agency may be right up your alley. Starting your own agency is relatively easy, because you can learn what you need to without years of training. If you’re the type that enjoys talking to people and helping them deal with problems, opening an insurance agency may be the thing to do. Following are a few tips on how to open your own insurance agency.

The Benefit Of Owning an Insurance Agency

The insurance business is something that can usually be counted on to provide a steady income. Due to the fact that nearly everyone in our society has to carry some form of insurance--if you drive a car on public roads you must have automotive insurance, or if you own a home it would be somewhat unreasonable not to have insurance, because a costly repair of storm damage could eat up your entire savings account without insurance--and in both cases you must carry insurance if you owe money on the car or house. The best part about an owning an insurance agency is that the revenue is ongoing; insurance policies have expiration dates and must be renewed.

Choose Your Specialization

Starting an insurance agency can take quite a while, because there are a lot of requirements to becoming an agent. The sooner you start the process, the quicker you’ll be able to open your agency. Among the first things you need to do is decide on what type of insurance you want to specialize in. The choices include, but aren’t limited to, home, health, life, and auto. In most cases, an insurance agency will offer many types of insurance, but they could specialize in one area or another. You should also decide on whether you’re going to service individual or corporate accounts or some combination of the two.

Learn the Ropes

The next step is to begin taking courses to become qualified as an insurance provider. The training varies from state to state and may also depend on the type of insurance you intend to sell. Contact the Department of Insurance in the state in which you hope to open your business and find out what the requirements are for selling insurance--you will need to pass a written exam to be eligible to sell each type of insurance. The Department of Insurance will also be able to tell you when and where the tests take place. In addition, they will be able to provide the material you’ll need to become familiar with in order to pass the tests. If you go online and type ‘Department of Insurance,’ followed by the name of your state, your search engine will display links that will take you to the proper websites. By navigating the website, you will be able to find the basic information you need. If you have trouble finding what you’re looking for, there should be a telephone number to call so you can talk to a knowledgeable person about what you need.

Find Customers and Start Selling

After you receive your insurance license, it’s time to start selling policies. You can begin out of a home office or rent a building, depending on how much money you have on hand to start your business. In a business of this type, you may be able to find customers by talking to your friends and relatives. Everyone needs some type of insurance, and if you can offer them a way to save money, they may be willing to give you a chance. As with any other business, word of mouth is your best form of advertising, so be sure you provide the best possible service and are able to offer people the type of protection they need at a price they can afford.

Build Your Business

If you start with a couple of satisfied customers, you should be able to increase your business quickly. The key to building an insurance business is to give people good service--to be available when a customer has a problem and to give people a good deal whenever possible. As your business continues to grow, you may want to get insurance licenses in other states in order to expand. You may also want to start selling other types of insurance, because it will increase your client base.

Expansion

As your business grows, it will take more of your time, so you may want to take in a partner in order to share the load. Try and find someone who has been selling successfully for awhile and who may hold licenses other than what you have. In that way, your business can expand and you should both benefit and prosper.