Imagine what’s happened in your life in the past four years. Has it gone fast or slow? Good or bad? Now, imagine where you’ll be in another four years in your professional career. How’s that look? If you think that your current career might not have you on the right path, now may be the time to make the change. Discover how your career as a Farm Bureau agent will change from your first to fourth year, and hear from agents themselves on how that time has changed their lives.
The Life of an Insurance Agent: Year One
As you launch your career as an insurance agent, you’ll learn everything you need to know to build a strong foundation. This knowledge base will start you on the path to success. So what happens in year one?
You Work With an Agency Manager to Get Started
Working with your agency manager is vital getting a firm start in your community. Your agency manager is your mentor and your “go-to” person you need to for best practices with your sales, marketing, and running your business. Their perspective is vital because they can help you identify areas that you’re successful in and others that need help.
“Mentoring is huge within Farm Bureau,” said Iowa agent Bruce Jones. “Talk with your agency manager and other agents to find out what’s working for them.”
You Learn How to Be Curious
Being curious and asking questions is important to truly understand how to help solve your client/members’ problems. Do your background work and don’t be afraid to ask the right questions – you may uncover gaps in their coverage, which they’ll be thankful for if the unexpected happens. As you familiarize yourself with them, they’ll be more comfortable with you and turn to you to discover a solution that fits their unique situation.
You Receive Support from Farm Bureau Financial Services
When you make a commitment to being a Farm Bureau agent, we make a commitment to you with variety of supportive initiatives. We want to put you in the best position to win, and that comes in a variety of ways:
- Marketing Toolkit: You don’t need to be an advertising pro to get your name out to your community. The Marketing Toolkit is your one-stop shop for all your local marketing and advertising needs.
- Continuing Education Programs: Build your management skills, top sales techniques, and how to prospect for new clients.
- Agent Website: In today’s digital age, it’s essential that your business has an online presence. That’s why we equip you with your own free customizable agent website that aligns with the Farm Bureau brand. The website gives you the opportunity to tell your story, highlight the products and services we offer, and how visitors can contact you.
- Social Media: A large number of our client/members and prospects spend time on social media. Our agents utilize Hearsay Social, a social media tool that helps grow their online presence that complies with Farm Bureau regulations. With just a few clicks, you can share a wide variety of pre-approved and customized posts with your followers.
You Become an Active Member in Your Community
Getting to know the people within your community is vital to being a Farm Bureau insurance agent. From day one, it’s critical to get active in your community by networking and talking with residents. Here are a few ideas on how to generate conversation:
- Donate their time to local charities
- Coach a sports team
- Join the city council
The importance of networking is one of the things Luper Akough, a Nebraska agent, has learned in his four years as an insurance agent: “Be sure to cultivate or build a strong network of other networkers. It’s not about what you know or who you know – it’s about who knows you.”
The Life of an Insurance Agent: Year Four
Fast-forward four years, and you have now built an established insurance career. Everything you’ve learned from day one has helped you reach this point. So what does your career look like now?
You Have Become the Go-To Person for Insurance Knowledge
By this time, your friends and neighbors have quickly learned that they can count on you to provide knowledgeable advice on Farm Bureau products and services. And that relationship you’ve built over the years has paid off with them giving you quality referrals to grow your business.
You Have Learned How to Adapt to the Changing Insurance Industry
As the insurance industry continually changes, so do the needs of your client/members. Life changes quickly, and so do their insurance needs. That’s why it’s important to stay up-to-date with everything happening in their lives. Did they get married? Move? Buy a new car? The list goes on and on, and is the perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation with your client/members.
You Love the Benefits That Come With Being Your Own Boss
As a Farm Bureau agent you become your own boss, and there are a lot of perks with owning your own business. You have the flexibility to create your own schedule, which provides a great work-life balance.
You also get to choose who you employ, so you can hire people with similar values and passions to help you reach your goals. Brandon Doke, a Nebraska agent, says the most important thing he’s learned in his years as a Farm Bureau agent is about building your team: “I’ve learned to focus on the things that you can control. Also, if possible, put people on your team that can focus on certain products – that might be other agents, RFCs, field underwriters, or your own employees.”
You May Have Qualified for the Travel Incentive
At Farm Bureau Financial Services, we reward our agents for working day-in and day-out to provide high quality service to their community members. To encourage their hard work and dedication, we reward incentive travel to the top 15 percent of our agents each year as part of their annual compensation.
Whether you travel to the Hawaii, the Caribbean or to London or beyond, in four years, we hope you will have fond memories of an amazing trip with your fellow agents!
If you’re thinking about becoming an insurance agent, here’s one last piece of advice from Weston Long, an agent in Utah: “Believe in yourself. Believe in your product. Work hard, and everything else will come naturally.”
So what’s your career look like in four years? It has to start somewhere, and that new beginning might be at Farm Bureau. Find out how we’ll help you get started with our Reserve Agent Program!