Business Development Officer, T.D. McNeil Insurance Services, Fresno, California
There are only a handful of universities that offer degrees in Insurance. If you are looking for professional training law would probably be the most helpful, particularly if you want to be involved in estate planning or commercial insurance. A degree in marketing would prepare you for that aspect of the insurance business. Actually, insurance agents come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds.
Agency Owner, The Thomas G Sheehan Agency, 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482
For the most part, Insurance Companies, when considering an applicant for an agency position, would be looking for a Bachelor's Degree. The specific concentration of study is not necessarily that critical as agents come from all sorts of different backgrounds. If you have graduated with a degree in Insurance or Marketing as your college or university may offer, that is certainly a plus, but not in my experience a requirement. My Bachelor's Degree is in Political Science for example.
That's a great question! Selling insurance doesn't really require any particular field of study to help you be successful. While having a degree in a business or marketing related field can help, what you really need to be successful won't be learned behind a desk. To be successful you need to be empathetic, caring, and a good listener. You need to be able to put the needs of a client above your desire for commissions. You need to be able to foster and maintain relationships, and you need to be able to persuade someone that you are the answer to their problem. That comes from within, not a classroom. Thanks for asking!
When asking what college major to study in order to be an insurance agent? The simple answer is none, don’t get me wrong I’m not against going to college but the reality is successful insurance agents come from all walks of life. When I ask agent that have gone to college and are now insurance agents what they would have done differently, they all say the same thing, “I wish I would have skipped college and just got into the business”. That being said if you’re thinking about being an insurance agent find a good mentor that is willing to teach you how to become successful. I’ve ran into too many individuals who have gotten out of insurance as fast as they have gotten in because they didn’t take the time to find the right person or agency that would teach them the math behind the machine that make you successful.
If you have any other or specific questions feel free to contact me at myfieldtrainer.com
There are a few universities that offer bachelor degrees in risk management and insurance. Or certainly a business degree in marketing. Education is a wonderful experience that no one can ever take away from you. However, there are many successful insurance agents without degrees who found great mentors in our industry. One thing to consider is unless you have a full scholarship or deep pockets to pay for this degree, measure the cost versus use in our industry. I believe you will find a hard time justifying the high cost of college versus the reward of a degree in an industry that does not require a degree to be hired or become successful. Just my two cents.
There are a few schools that offer Risk Management and Insurance. I attended a university that offered this as a program of study and took some RMI courses. The program does provide a good base knowledge of insurance and the products out there, but it was more along the lines of how an insurance company operates versus how an agent or agency would operate. I would recommend a business degree or something along those line, although not required most of the time to become an insurance agent.
Agent Owner, Gilmore Insurance Services, Marysville, Washington State
Well, what is the best major to have to be an insurance agent? First let me qualify this by saying you don't have to have a college degree to be an agent, nor is there really a major to become an insurance "agent". You can do several business type majors that would work perfectly for working on the company side of insurance. Finance, computer science, math, accounting and so on would work for the company side. For the agent side? A bit different. I guess I can tell you what my choices were from college. Originally a accounting/computer science major who in my 4th year decided to switch to marketing and industrial psych. The business background helped because when you are an agent you are in business for yourself and really by yourself. So understanding overhead, management, advertising are all pluses.
However, I have the most mileage from the industrial psych classes. Industrial psych is workplace psych where you study why people do what they do at work. That education has helped me greatly as insurance sales as an agent really is about forming relationships and trust if you want a long term business relationship. Just remember no matter what you do, if you go into this business there will be people that love you and people that don't. Try and focus on those who love you and let somebody else have those that don't. Honestly there is enough to go around.
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If you have any other or specific questions feel free to contact me at myfieldtrainer.com
However, I have the most mileage from the industrial psych classes. Industrial psych is workplace psych where you study why people do what they do at work. That education has helped me greatly as insurance sales as an agent really is about forming relationships and trust if you want a long term business relationship. Just remember no matter what you do, if you go into this business there will be people that love you and people that don't. Try and focus on those who love you and let somebody else have those that don't. Honestly there is enough to go around.