Life insurance agents help consumers protect against the financial loss to a family in the event that one or more income earners die. Most life insurance agents work on commission, meaning they are paid when premiums are collected for life insurance policies. Financial service representatives often sell life insurance as part of an entire financial plan, not exclusively. Other insurance agents sell life insurance to compliment the health, auto or home policies they are providing clients. There are many scenarios in which a person can sell life insurance as a part-time gig.
Obtain a life insurance agent license through your state insurance commissioner. Each state has a different requirement for the class hours and exam policies; contact your state's insurance commissioner for details. For a complete listing of state insurance commissioner contact information, visit the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website at NAIC.org.
Find a life-insurance provider that will appoint you as a part-time employee. You can be appointed by one or more insurance providers and you don't need to be involved in any other financial sales career to do so, though it may help your business if you are. If you are already a licensed financial adviser or registered representative (through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), chances are your firm is already properly registered to have you sell life insurance as part of your product mix and will help you get the appropriate appointments.
Start with two or three simple insurance products that you can start to explain to prospects. Understand everything you can about those products so you can offer them with an expert's insight. Many new life insurance agents start with a term life product, a whole life product and a long-term care product.
Determine how much time you want to devote to your business as a part-time agent or broker; brokers work with more than one insurance provider. Split your time between prospecting new clients, sales pitches, administrative work and client follow up.
Increase your product knowledge by attending insurance provider seminars and talking to representatives from the company. The more you know, the better you can serve your clients.
Check with the insurance providers to confirm that there are no minimum requirements for sales. You may have your appointment revoked if you are not keeping up with the demand expected by life insurance companies.