Insurance Advisor vs. Insurance Agents — Declining Job Differences
Insurance Advisors
Insurance advisors provide insurance-related financial advice to the clients regarding retirement and investment planning to protect against risk. They analyze the clients’ needs, evaluate their property, tax status, existing and past insurance transactions, legal records, and suggest a suitable policy for them. Insurance advisors also work closely with underwriters and other related people who assess the risk to determine the appropriate products for the customers.
Insurance Advisor Job Description:
The primary job responsibilities of an insurance advisor includes the following tasks:
- Meet prospective clients
- Offer specialized insurance-related financial advice and guidance
- Complete financial needs analysis
- Create and explain customized investment plans for clients
- Utilize the knowledge of tax investment strategies
- Analyze the clients’ risk
Insurance Agents
Insurance Agents sell policies from carriers to the customers who need them. They contact potential customers, explain various insurance policies, and help them choose the best plans. The main job of agents is to bring new business to insurance companies by selling one or more types of insurance. Most agents work in three major areas of the industry: life Insurance, health insurance, and property and casualty (P&C) Insurance.
Insurance Agent Job Description:
The primary job responsibilities of an insurance agent includes the following tasks:
- Call potential clients to pitch them about insurance policies
- Interview prospective clients to collect data about their financial resources, properties, and discuss existing coverage
- Explain the features and benefits of various policies
- Analyze current insurance policies of the clients and suggest additions or changes
- Handle policy renewals paperwork and procedures
- Help policyholders while settling their claims
Blurred Lines Between Insurance Agents and Insurance Advisors
Traditionally, insurance agents played the role of salespeople. Their job was to sell the company’s products and policies by explaining their features and benefits to the customers. Understanding the customer’s needs was less of a priority since insurance was (still is) an unsought product.
However, with governments and companies making insurance compulsory in the past few years, the perception of people towards insurance has changed. Awareness about insurance and its importance is well-recognized at present. Due to this, insurance agents don’t need to push insurance sales as aggressively as before.
Customers needed insurance agent’s help in understanding insurance in the past, let alone understand a policy. This is not the case today. As customers are well aware of insurance these days, agents need to help them in understanding risks and finding the right policy for them. Now, this is the job of insurance advisors, not agents.
Moreover, the agent’s job is demanding them to understand insurance risk management, just like insurance advisors. Competition in the insurance industry is increasing. As such, customers want agents who provide insurance advisory services than just explain the terms and conditions of the policies. Hence, agents these days require providing insurance advisory roles to stand out from the competition and acquire more sales.
Such changing job and industry dynamics have resulted in thinning differences in the roles of insurance advisors and agents. Thus, agents need to understand insurance risk management and perform advisory roles up to some extent.
