The Problems in Selling Endowment Insurance Policies in Nigeria

The sell of endowment policies in Nigeria

It is not news that many insurance agents in Nigeria complain of the issues they encounter outside there when they go into the market to sell endowment policies in Nigeria. Many of the agents have been frustrated as a result of this issue. They go out there and go back to their offices angry because of the challenges they encounter. Sometimes, many while doing the job check on other job advertisement on the internet and through the internet. They do this because they want to leave the job.
Endowment policies on their own are nice policies if the policyholders really understand the products. It is a policy that pays the life assured lumpsum of money at the end of the savings duration. Endowment plans can run for 5, 6, 10 or even 15 years. The policyholder smiles when he is paid at the end because the amount saved can be used to do something remarkable in the society.

What are the challenges in selling endowment policies in Nigeria? Irrespective of the beauty of endowment policies, there are challenges in selling it in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The challenges can affect the salespersons in Nigeria and also the buyers of the policy.

The issues (Challenges) in Selling Endowment Policies in Nigeria

The problems in selling endowment policies in Nigeria are follow:

• Difficulty in convincing prospects
• Bad reputation
• Bad economy
• Inflation
• Mis-selling from other agent

Difficulty in Convincing Prospects

Because Nigeria is not a society where people really understand and value insurance, there is always difficulty in convincing people to buy insurance products sold by an insurance agent. This is quite different from what we see in some countries like United States of America and United Kingdom. The reverse is usually the case in Nigeria. The knowledge of the people on insurance which among them is endowment policy is limited. 

Sometimes, convincing some prospects in Nigeria to buy investment plans is like breaking into rocks. Some are afraid that they may not get their saved money at the end of the maturity. This has been a problem as many will tell you that the company may fold up before the maturity of their policies. As a result of this mindset, many people ended up not buying endowment policies. 

Insurance in Nigeria

Also, there are many prospects that believe that they will be doing some agents good when they buy endowment policies. To such kind of person, buying endowment policies from any agent can only make the agent rich. They do not see what they stand to gain when they buy such policy from insurance salespersons. 

This has been an issue in selling this kind of insurance policy to people in Nigeria. Wicked people for instance find it difficult to assist in the growth of another. As a result of this, some of them instead of buying that which will benefit them in future did not because they think they do not want the progress of the salesperson. That is the thinking of some black men and women in our society today. 

Bad Reputation

Insurance in the past has disappointed many people in Nigeria. People whose relation has once had bad experience with the industry are not easily encouraged when it comes to selling any insurance products. It takes them time to agree if they finally decided to buy any policy again.

This has made the sell of some insurance policies difficult for many agents. Some agents before they leave their offices to the field for marketing of their products prays that they do not meet people that have had bad experience with insurance in the field.

The thing is that if you meet such people in the field, they will not just end up not buying your products but they will spoil the minds of other prospects. Maybe others might have bought into your products but they may not because the person who had bad experience will end up making them not to buy. At the end of the day, you go back home sad because things do not work well. This has been one of the major challenges insurance agents are passing through in selling endowment policies in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Issues in selling endowment insurance plans

Bad Economy

A country where the economy is bad usually find it difficult to do certain things. One of the things they find difficult to do is buying insurance policies which includes the endowment policies sold by insurance companies in the country. Economy is defined as the state of a country or region in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money.

So the question is, at what rate does Nigerians produce some products and what is their consumption rate? Also, how many products do Nigeria export to other countries that can build their economy with time? How does this poor economy affect insurance companies that make them sell less of their endowment policies? These questions will make you understand that the economy of the country is poor and it leads to less money in circulation.

Because of bad economy, people are facing financial difficulty. This difficulty make people find it difficult to buy endowment policies. Some that bought later ended up not saving till maturity time. The reason is because they do not have the money to continue with the payment of their premiums.

Inflation

This is another capital challenge facing the sales of endowment policies in Nigeria. Endowment policies are long term policies. They sometimes last for up to 5 years duration before their maturity. What it mean is that they are not short term saving policies.

Inflation is persistent rise in the cost of goods and services. Inflation is high in Nigeria and has really discouraged prospects from buying endowment policies in the country. What five thousand Nigerian naira can buy today the same amount of money may not be able to buy in the next five years.

What it means is that currencies are devalued as inflation increases in a particular country or community. Due to this issue, some prospects do not want to save for a long time before the maturity of their policies. Issue like this has made the sell of endowment policies difficult in the country. It makes insurance agents in the country feel sad because they earn high commission when they sell more endowment policies.

Mis-selling from other Agents

One thing is to employ team of insurance salespersons and another thing is for these agents to sell rightly to the people outside there. If these agents tell the customers the truth behind what they sell to the masses, the sell of endowment policies will be better in the country. But in most cases, these agents lie to the buyers. Some life insurance agents in Nigeria lied to their customers at the initial start of their policies.

Some agents know that some endowment policies have minimum maturity time of 5 years and yet they lied to the customers that the policies have minimum maturity duration of 3 years. This is insincerity among insurance agents in Nigeria and it has painted negative picture on insurance in Nigeria. And why do insurance agents lie to the people? They do so because they want to make sales by any means and earn commission.

How does mis-selling affect the sales of endowment life insurance policies in Nigeria? Any person that has bad experience when he or she wanted to claim the maturity benefit base on the time frame given to him or her by the the agent and was told the story that the claim was not possible because the maturity time has not reached will not like to buy another endowment policy. Also, the person will not encourage other people to buy such policy. The reason is because the person has been misinformed by an agent through mis-selling.

Many Nigerians are not ready to buy any endowment policy anytime soon due to issue like this. Not selling rightly by insurance agents in Nigeria is one of the challenges in selling endowment policies in Nigeria.