Duties of Insurance Agents & Brokers

• Insurance agents and brokers meet with clients to discuss their insurance needs. Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images

  Insurance agents and brokers play an important role in the lives of individuals and businesses alike. They help people obtain the necessary coverage they need in order to avoid or allay the effects of many of life's pitfalls. Insurance agents typically work on behalf of a particular insurance company, while insurance brokers, on the other hand, usually work independently and try to match clients up with a company whose policies are best for the broker's client.

Marketing and Sales

• Insurance sales agents and brokers are usually referred to as "producers" within the insurance industry. This means that they are responsible for producing new business for the insurance company for which they work. In the case of a broker, this would mean producing business for multiple companies. In order to produce, most insurance agents are expected to market and sell the products their company offers to people who need them. This means that agents must find people with a need and fulfill it. This can usually be accomplished through networking with other business professionals, cold call marketing efforts, buying mailing lists and sending correspondence to people, and through daily face-to-face encounters with the general public. Once they have identified a need, both agents and brokers are expected to close business by meeting with clients and writing a policy on their behalf.

Administrative Duties

• Insurance agents and brokers also perform various administrative duties and tasks. This is especially true for those that might be new to the industry and do not have their own administrative assistant or secretary to perform these tasks for them. Administrative duties can include writing reports, completing correspondence with clients through letters or email, making phone calls to clients that may have questions regarding their policies, and maintaining all of the pertinent records for their current clients. Along with maintaining client records, insurance agents and brokers have a legal duty to safeguard that information so that it does not fall into the hands of someone who might use it in a malicious manner.

Learning Duties

• Insurance sales agents and brokers have a duty to learn also. This means that they have a duty to their clients to learn as much about them as possible in order to provide them with adequate coverage to meet their insurance needs. It also means learning as much about them as possible in order to protect the company the agent represents. For instance, agents selling life insurance policies must learn as much as possible, within reason, about potential clients and their health so that they do not write a policy for someone who knows he is dying from a disease or condition. The same is true regarding health insurance. By not writing policies for those with obvious preexisting conditions, agents and brokers can save their own company from undue financial loss.