Insurance brokers provide insurance plans, handle insurance formalities, claim on behalf of the insured, and provide consulting services such as disaster prevention, loss prevention or risk assessment and risk management. Let the insured fully realize their own risks and refer to the comprehensive and professional insurance advice provided by insurance brokers, so that the risks of the insured can be effectively controlled and transferred, and the maximum insurance protection can be obtained with the most reasonable insurance expenditure.
The biggest difference with agents: agents are employed by insurance companies to promote insurance products for their employed insurance companies, while insurance brokers are employed by policyholders (insurance customers), which can not only compare the advantages and disadvantages of the terms of various companies horizontally, but also tailor them according to the situation of policyholders. Among them, after customizing the insurance plan for the enterprise, it can bid for various insurance companies as the representative of the enterprise; Insurance brokerage companies are not subject to risk restrictions. They can arrange non-life insurance, life insurance and reinsurance. Life insurance covers all kinds of insurance, including liability insurance, credit insurance, investment insurance, health insurance, property insurance (automobile real estate) and accidental injury. Brokers can design insurance schemes and make insurance plans for customers according to their risk status. 60% of the risks are avoided by insurance, and the remaining risks need to be managed by non-insurance methods. If the insurance industry is a sales counter, insurance agents are like full-time salesmen standing in front of specific products, while insurance brokers are secretaries or consultants who help you buy insurance products. He does not favor any product, but chooses the most suitable product among similar products according to the needs of customers.
Relationship with insurance companies: because insurance brokers buy insurance products for customers, insurance companies will eventually underwrite them. The increase in the business volume of insurance brokers will greatly increase the premium income of insurance companies, thus reducing the exhibition expenses of insurance companies. Therefore, the emergence of insurance brokers is beneficial to both policyholders and insurance companies, and it is the result of the continuous improvement of the insurance market.
Professional division of labor: insurance brokers do not fight alone, but provide risk management and procurement services to customers in the form of teams. According to their different functions, they can be divided into market developers, risk management engineers and customer service personnel.
The main job of market developers is to understand customer needs, evaluate customer risks, and tailor the most suitable "insurance package" for customers in combination with the current situation of the insurance market. Market developers must have the qualification certificate of insurance brokers, be familiar with the changes and development of the insurance market, and have a broad and in-depth understanding of the products of various insurance companies.
Risk management engineers should not only have the qualification certificate of insurance brokers, but also have high technical knowledge of related industries. When insuring an enterprise, you need to have a deep understanding of the industry. Insurance brokerage companies generally set up professional departments, such as aerospace risk department, water risk department, power risk department and medical risk department. , so that enterprises in different industries can sit in the right place and provide counterpart services. In addition, actuaries are also the right-hand man of insurance brokerage companies, and their main responsibilities are to make use of the professional advantages of actuaries to effectively safeguard the interests of customers when negotiating with insurance companies.
The main task of customer service staff is to provide risk management services to customers throughout the insurance period; After the insured is in danger, assist him to claim compensation from the insurance company. Customer service personnel must be familiar with the insurance market and hold the qualification certificate of insurance broker.
It can be seen that insurance brokers are by no means individual behaviors, but must work as a team, play the role of a "think tank" and provide one-stop services to customers.
Sense of accomplishment: Compared with insurance companies, enterprises or individuals do not know insurance and lack insurance knowledge, so they belong to vulnerable groups. As an insurance broker, the greatest sense of accomplishment is to help the vulnerable groups save the day and arrange safe and reasonable insurance for the insured.
Work purpose: make insurance more secure and pursue zero risk of policyholder insurance; Buy the best insurance with the least money.
The biggest difficulty: the society doesn't understand, but the responsibility is not on the public, because insurance brokers are a new profession in China, and they have to go through a process from being unfamiliar to being gradually recognized by the society. 90% of large and medium-sized enterprises know nothing about insurance brokers, and 40% of customers are puzzled. In the early stage of development, because the insurance brokerage industry is too small, insurance brokerage companies need to help each other, share resources and form alliances to jointly promote the development of the industry. He said: "Just like the food court, many restaurants compete with each other to attract more customers and improve their own level. Now the insurance brokerage industry needs a cluster effect. "
Quality requirements: proficient in non-life insurance, life insurance, reinsurance, risk management and other aspects, and have a deeper understanding of finance, finance, law and other related knowledge.
Fees: There are two forms: the insured entrusts a broker to provide him with a whole set of insurance brokerage services, including disaster prevention and loss prevention, risk assessment and risk management consulting services, drawing up insurance plans, handling insurance formalities, handling inspection and claims settlement. In this case, the insured does not need to pay the broker, because the intermediary service and various management fees have been included in the premium paid by the insured, and the insurance company must pay this fee to the insurance brokerage company according to the relevant government regulations. On the other hand, when the customer is not insured, or is not insured through a broker, but only requires the insurance broker to provide risk assessment and risk management services for him, or requires the broker to claim for compensation on his behalf, the relevant service fees shall be paid to the broker as agreed by both parties.
Customer base: At present, the customers of insurance brokers are mainly large and medium-sized enterprises, and the share of property insurance is significantly higher than that of life insurance. The situation of individual life insurance is more complicated. Under the condition that the market price is basically unified and the market price system has not yet been established, the competitiveness of insurance brokers is insufficient.
Employment prospects: Evergreen occupation has never declined in Europe and America 100 years, and has always been a white-collar worker. There is a huge market gap in China. At present, employees 1 ten thousand, insurance agents 1 1 ten thousand. Five years to 10, the number of brokers should be between 200,000 and 300,000, but this is far from enough.
Wage income: it is a high-paying occupation. The average annual salary of American insurance brokers is about $300,000. At present, the annual salary of successful insurance brokers with a certain customer base and popularity in China is between 6.5438+0.5 million yuan and 500,000 yuan.
In recent years, with the improvement of public awareness of insurance, more and more people buy insurance. People are no longer strangers to insurance companies and insurance agents, but they know very little about insurance brokerage companies and insurance brokers. Even many policyholders think that the agents of various insurance companies are brokers. Ms. Zhang just bought a health insurance for her two-year-old son. She told reporters that she accepted the door-to-door sales service of insurance company agents and always thought that they were so-called insurance brokers. The reporter learned in the interview that people like Ms. Zhang who think that "insurance brokers are door-to-door salesmen who want me to get insurance" account for the vast majority.
Not only the general public, but also many insurance agents only read and heard about brokers. According to a senior agent of China Life Insurance Company, they have been engaged in insurance agency work for more than 6 years and only briefly contacted several insurance brokerage companies. We are just friends, and there is no business connection. And many agents who have been in the business for a short time only have a preliminary understanding of insurance brokers in the agent exam. He said: "I personally think that the development of insurance brokers in China is still immature, and the number and quality of employees are not optimistic. Their business is mainly in property insurance, marine insurance and large group life insurance, but there is not much room for development in personal life insurance. "
According to industry insiders, the low social awareness of insurance brokers is mainly due to the late start of China's insurance broker market. Since the establishment of the first insurance brokerage company in Beijing in June 2000, China's insurance brokerage market is still in its infancy, and the insurance business completed by insurance brokers only accounts for about 65,438+0% of the total premium income.
The insurance brokerage industry has a history of nearly 200 years in Europe and America. Among them, there are more than 800 insurance companies in the British insurance market, and there are more than 3,200 insurance brokerage companies. * * * There are more than 80,000 insurance brokers. More than 60% of the property insurance business in the British insurance market is brought by brokers. For example, 19 12 Titanic, which hit an iceberg, was insured through an insurance broker. In many countries, insurance brokers, like doctors and lawyers, have become one of the three major family consultants. Based on the interests of the insured, the insurance broker is responsible for the customer, that is, the insured, helping them to choose the most suitable insurance company, the most reasonable price and the best underwriting conditions, and providing comprehensive risk management and various value-added services.
Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.