Why Insurance Agents do not leave Insurance Companies after Years

Why insurance agents do not leave insurance companies after working for long

This is the question many people have been asking for years. The simple answer is because they have build their commission over the years. You telling them to leave the insurance company they have worked with for years is like telling them to start setting new foundation for another structure when they have reached the roofing stage of already existing structure. It is usually difficult for them to do. House owners know the pain involved in raising another new structure. That is how it is when an insurance agent leaves a particular insurance company he has been working with for years to another insurance company without him handling another higher position in the insurance company he is going to.


According Agency Bloc, 89% of insurance agents quit within 3 years. This is a fact because the job is not the kind of job that pays so quick. As a financial advisor, I was recruited with about 12 other persons, but only 2 of us are still in the job for up to 3 years now. The job is not the kind of job that pays so quick but once you have stayed for up to 3 years you will find it difficult to leave the job.
The only reason you may think of leaving is if you are given other job that pays much higher than the one you receive at that point in time. Working as an insurance agent to make money requires time and patient. The time taken is usually to build sound customers base which indirectly pay you when they pay premium. Agents earn commission from premiums paid by policyholders.

Reasons many Insurance Agents do not leave after 3 Years of Work

There are reasons insurance agents do not leave the insurance company they work with to another insurance company when they have worked for up to three years. Many insurance agents find their feet in insurance companies after three years of their work experience. The reasons they do not leave the job after 3 years are as follow:

• The stress of building new customers base
• Difficulty in building new commission
• The fear of not surviving in the new company
• The brand of insurance companies

The stress of building new customers base as reason why insurance agents do not leave. 

The Stress of Building New Customers Base

The fear of building new customers base after staying in a particular insurance company for years is the reason many insurance agents do not like to go into new insurance company. It is usually stressful and no intelligent insurance agent will like to go into another insurance company and start building new customers base at the same level or position with the insurance company he left before. Agents can gladly leave to another insurance company after spending three years if they are to assume a new position in the insurance company they are going into.
There is this joy when an agent begin to see his or her customers grow in number. From one to twenty and from twenty to hundreds. The growth continues like that. The joy is that as the number grows and they are actively paying their premiums, the agents make more money.

Difficulty in building new commission

Do you know how difficult it is to tell someone that have grown his business over the yes to start afresh again after maybe fire outbreak? That is how difficult it is to tell someone who has been in an insurance company as a full time salesperson to start up from scratch as same insurance agent for another insurance company. It is better to start up an ordinary business where you sell physical commodities and make money on daily basis than to do that. 

Commission is the pay of insurance agents. They do not have fixed salaries. It is from the policies they open for customers that they are paid. The commission vary from one agent to the other. The commission earned is dependent on the number of policies sold, type of the policies sold, and the renewability of the premiums by the policyholders. In most cases, agents commission grow with number of years. And most agents start making good amount as commission in their third year of working as full time insurance agents.

The fear of not surviving in the new company

Starting something new is always difficult because of the up and down. Many people who have worked as insurance agents for three years are afraid of joining another insurance company because of the fear of not surviving in the new one. Some have made name in the company they have been. So that fear that they may not make it in a new company draw them back.
If you have someone who have been in any life insurance company before, he will tell you the kind of fear that grabs agents when they are threatened for sack especially when they have spent years in the company. Insurance agency job is paying when you have spent years in the company with good customers base that pay their premiums regularly. So, an agent may not know his faith when he leaves the insurance company he has been working with to another new one.

Insurance and risk management; source: Uzochukwu Mike's Zone

The Brand of Insurance Companies

Many insurance companies brand serve as selling point to them. Any person that hears about the companies name will like to buy insurance policies from them. So, expecting the agents that have worked in such companies to leave after three years will not be easy. Instead of leaving, they will like to stay and be promoted from just ordinary agents to senior salespersons or even to the position of manager. 

Unless if the company the agents work with does not have good brand name, that is the only time the agents may think of leaving. Sometimes they do not leave to join another insurance company. But they leave to start their own businesses. That will even give them more money if they manage the business well.