Let me introduce this blog site, which is meant for serving the Insurance fraternity... it is a resultant of the brain wave of Mr Satish Sharma, the MD of Continental Suraksha Insurance Services Pvt. Ltd., Initially, it is proposed to be used for internal purposes . However any one from the Insurance fraternity is welcome to share this resource with the sole purpose of contributing to the Insurance fraternity at large. The Indian Insurance industry is still at a very nascent stage and has ample opportunity for development. As the markets mature, all those involved in this Industry will experience the happiness some success, here and there and the pangs of so much of pain and failure. The role of intermediaries, specially Brokers will be at test... as also that of the others. Come join hands to share your experience at this location, grow yourself and help others grow too. Welcome.
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- 2007-06-12 @ 13:24:23
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- 2007-06-13 @ 14:42:06
Dear Ms. Mandira,
Thanks for having posted your view and welcomed this initiative. We will welcome to have queries / comments / opinions from every individual and bring in participation from all members , so that we all mutually benefit. So, we look forward to your postings to this forum ... Go ahead use it liberally.
By the way , the correct spelling of my name is at the bottom of this text.. and remember how names are spelled is very important in the field of Insurance!!!
Shekhar
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- http://www.continentalsuraksha.com
- 2007-06-13 @ 07:57:05
I am pleased to announce the formal innauguration of this site. My idea of using this site is primarily for all those involved in the sales of life insurance industry in india to come to this site to share their experiences in selling life insurance and also to share the pains of rejections from prospective clients. This forum will provide a platform for all of us to share and learn from our ideas and help us to be a better sales person.
all of us who are involved in the sales of Life insurance must remember that "Life Insurance is not purchased by logics from the brains but from emotions coming out of the heart. Whilst the banks and other investment opportunites may provide better returns than most life insurance policies but ask the widow whose husband passed away one years after taking the policy on the returns she got from the investment the husband made in a life insurance policy before dying.She will give you a rate of return that no bank or investment company can match.Remember Life insurance is not for the person who will die it is for the person who will live and this is why it is called a Life Insurance and not death insurance.
Keep ur comments coming and let us see how we can make this an interesting site for the life insurance sales fraternity and a forum for all those who share and care
satish sharma
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- 2007-06-13 @ 10:03:05
Dear Sekhar,
I am sure, you will break some good and hot news. Its great that you have decided to come out with a good site for those persons, like me to know something about this Insurance Industry.
I am sure, with great people like you and our mentor Satish Sharma, this site would be a super hit and would be made even the homepage for many aspiring insurance persons like me.
Wish you all the best and I too hope to contribute some of my experiences and articles in this blog.
Regards
Murali Manohar A V
Kuwait 6457286 / 6851263 -
- http://www.continentalsuraksha.com
- 2007-06-14 @ 08:36:27
Dear Murali,
Thanks for your message of encouragement. Certainly, I do not deserve to receive the compliment that you have showered on me, however in my own humble manner, I will keep on the efforts to see that this site serves the purpose for which it is built. Keep sending me your best wishes. Regards.
Shekhar -
- http://www.continentalsuraksha.com
- 2007-06-14 @ 08:55:23
Sales tip of the day:
It is an industry norm that 1 out of 10 prosepcts will buy from u. The question is not about closing that one case but about trying to sell some simple products like the accident insurance to the 9 people that did not buy a life case from u. Simple accident products are easy to sell and generate a regular daily commission for you and motivate u to increase your closing ratios. a life insurance sales person will get may be one or two life cases closed per week but he can close 5 t0 6 accident cases per week. If the prospect does not buy anything from u then u can not approach him again for any type of sale however if he buys a small accdiient policy from u then he becomes ur client and subsequently u can try and sell him a life policy again. Turn ur prospects into clients by selling them any product and then use the same client to uspell him a life policy. In our business the successful "work Smart not necessarily hard"
Good luck
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- http://www.continentalsuraksha.com
- 2007-06-15 @ 06:46:06
Dear All:
there is avery interesting article appearing on www.sify/finance/insurance. Go to the site and review it and enjoy it. The article speaks about the value of life insurance and also speaks how a term policy can create a decent wealth for the family to survive in the untimelye vent of the bread earner.Remember there are only two ways to create an income .One by working your self adn the other by letting money to work for you.
I reproduce the article from sify fianance
Why you should take an insurance cover?
Suresh Sadagopan | Friday, 15 June , 2007, 08:55
Taking a cover commensurate with the risk is a must, despite the cost.
“Term insurance does not return anything?” asked my client, obviously irritated that I was recommending such a dumb plan. I think she was beginning to doubt my credentials. But, I couldn’t grudge her that feeling - whoever likes a no-return investment?
I explained to her that in a term plan you get a bigger insurance cover than in any other plan by paying a ‘small’ premium, which is the sunk cost. What you save on the premium can be invested in a mutual fund or other instruments for bigger returns than the other plans can fetch.
I even gave her an example. “Let us say you invest Rs 1 lakh in an endowment plan and take a Rs 25 lakh cover for a 24-year tenure. It will yield Rs 55 lakh (assuming 5% simple reversionary bonus) over a 24-year term. But, your returns would be much higher by investing in a combination of term insurance and mutual funds. Say you invested the amount remaining after taking out the term insurance premium (roughly about Rs 8,000 per annum) from this (Rs 1 lakh - Rs 8,000 = Rs 92,000) in a mutual fund that gives a modest 8% return. You will get back Rs 66.34 lakh over a 24-year term.
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Actually, mutual funds can yield much more than 8% considering the Sensex itself has given compounded returns of 19% per annum since 1979 and is likely to continue doing so in view of the buoyant economic outlook. Assuming 12% returns, you could get back a whopping Rs 1.22 crore.”
I thought I had a clincher there. But no, she still refused to take the term policy. Her reasoning: the plan budgets and in a way rewards death.
So, off I went on another trajectory. I gave an analogy of a parachute under the seat in an airplane - it is useless deadweight and a lot of expensive nylon till the aircraft develops a fault. In a crisis situation, this tangle of ropes and nylon may be the only way the passenger can get out of the plane mid-air, alive. That parachute is the insurance built into the plane. Would she take it now? Still, no.
Come to think of it, many of us consider insurance absolutely useless and feel it only saps us of our savings. But then, both humans and animals have been using insurance from time immemorial.
The early humans, who hunted, saved what was left of the hunted animal after the meal so that they could have enough food for the next few days. That was their insurance; the premium they paid was the time and effort spent on zealously guarding the food from raiders.
Insurance is the business of pooling the risks and sharing the losses. Fishes and frogs spawn and produce thousands of eggs. This is to ensure that at least a few of them reach adulthood and their lineage continues. In the above instance, it is again the law of large numbers at work - but in this case, the risks are so huge that some perish and others survive due to sheer numbers, probability, luck, agility and vigilance. For the fish and frog, the large-scale spawning itself is the insurance.
Ants gather food during spring and summer and are able to tide over the adverse rainy and wintry days. Again, insurance against starvation; the premium paid - diligent work during spring & summer, when they could have frolicked with the grasshopper!
General Sherman of the US was known to have burnt the bridges behind during the American Civil War so that his troops had no option but to fight and vanquish the enemy or perish - an extreme form of insurance for victory.
In olden days, child mortality was a prevalent problem as medical facilities were primitive or not available. What was their response? They made babies furiously, much like the fish and frogs, secure in the knowledge that some of them would survive. My father has four siblings. And theirs was a small family.
In India, a son is seen as the “insurance” against old age. That is why, there is such a scramble for a son. The premium we pay - lots of babies. In very popular parlance, we are reaping a demographic dividend.
We tend to save some money, as we earn. This is to ensure that we have sufficient to survive, when we are no longer working - keeping the wolves at bay. Premium we pay - deferment of enjoyment possible with the money we save.
When a person hijacks a plane, he normally holds the planeload of passengers as hostage. That is his insurance -his passport to get his ransom, other demands and safe passage, even a couple of staunch supporters may be, thanks to the Stockholm syndrome.
In the modern world, the concept of insurance is rather well understood as it reduces the catastrophic risk that individuals and businesses can be exposed to. The 9/11 would have wiped out many businesses, but for insurance. Factories, oilrigs, refineries, etc are protected through insurance for various eventualities. The airplanes we fly are insured along with the passengers (compensation in case of an accident).
We have a fuse and circuit breaker at home, which are risk reduction devices, just like insurance. We buy goods in advance and store them - an insurance against high prices or non-availability in future.
We have futures and options, which are wonderful devices for hedging - which is a risk reduction technique. Commodity futures are again a good insurance tool for the producers.
BPO companies have operations, which are spread over several geographical locations and even several countries. Companies have mirrored servers in more than one location as a risk mitigation measure. Companies do not fly all their top executives in one plane - risk containment at work.
As long as there are no certainties like the Sun, which has risen every morning and set every evening for the past four billion years and is expected to do so for another eight billion years, we need to hedge.
When, insurance is such a commonly accepted concept, why is it that we don’t accept it to protect ourselves? Why do we question the very notion of insurance? Is it not perverse to call it a negative industry, when insurance actually reduces risk? And finally, when someone is willing to assume a risk, is there anything wrong when they want a payment in return - a premium. Time we pondered over this.
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- http://www.continentalsuraksha.com
- 2007-06-18 @ 06:34:06
Dear Satishji,
Your comment came in at a very appropriate time, just when one was grappling with the issue of impressing the people on the advantages of working in Broker House and having the advantage of selling the life insurance as also non life insurance plans of all companies. The article should serve as an eye opener for all in the company. Thanks very much.
Shekhar -
- 2007-06-18 @ 15:01:13
Shekhar,
A great job, as always.
Regards,
Sankar -
- http://www.continentalsuraksha.com
- 2007-07-03 @ 12:48:03
A situation which has become a kind of a predicament for me for which seek a solution: Some of my friends are very well to do.. in the age bracket of 48-52 years, adequately insured and have invested well for the sake of financial security... Yet they are potential for taking more security.... what kind of life insurance plans should be offered to them and how does one approach them so that they do not postpone the decisions?
2. Since a fair degree of awareness exists in the urban markets, many a times , our introduction makes us state that we could help them to get a plan from any company... Once the prospective customer knows that he tends to enquire if their are any policies from other companies that meet his requirement or would be better than the one being recommended to him..
Can some ideas be posted to me?-
- 2007-07-23 @ 16:12:03
your clients that are well insured could be tackled by u by letting them analyse for themselves the adequacy of the cover they have.
let us say ur friends earn an income of Rs.50,000 per month. Let us assume that the friends family is made up of himself his wife and 2 children. Also let us assume that the friend is saving a monthly amount of Rs.10,000 or 20% of his income for the rainy days. What this means is that he is spending monthly Rs.40,000 or rs.10,000 per member of his family. In case of his untimely death the family must have an income of Rs.30000 per month to maintain their current standard of living. Rs.30000 per month or a total of Rs.3.6 lacs is required by the family annually to survive. As u are aware there are only two ways of having an income. A man at work or his money at work. Since after death the man at work is gone it is only the money that can work for the family. To gnerate an income of Rs.3.6 lacs at an interest rate of says 6% the friend must have atleast a total of 60 lacs coverage today so that if he dies tomorrow the family can keep this capital in the bank and earn Rs.3.6 lacs for their liveli hood. It may be possible that ur friend already ahs coverage for say 10 lacs and therefore there is a gap on 50 lacs in his coverage. It is recommended that you sell him a term insurance for 50 lacs and thereby complete his financial requirement. At this stage u can always propose pterm products of two or three different companies and then show him the one that u would favor most.
Mr Sekhar,
Very nice to see an effort, that I was wondering why something of this kind has not started. Being a small insurance person I think I can make use of this tool to generate knowldge on Life Insurance Subject sepacially in indian market. Thanks a lot to open such a platform.
Mandira