Be kind to agents

I have, on three occasions quite recently, been invited by group managers of different Sunlife teams to conduct training and motivation sessions for their members. Two out of the three events were paid for personally by managers and not by the company.

Such trainings are just some of several done independently by various managers as part of their leadership investments and commitment. From time to time, the Sunlife managers would conduct the training for other teams and once in a while they would draw money out of pocket and ask an external resource person to do so.

While the idea is for the participants to learn from the trainer, my interaction with these insurance providers or agents made me discover who they were and how hard they have to work, often on a side hustle.

Many of them are fathers, mothers, single parents, teachers, working students, widows or the only income earner for a family often involving elderly parents. The agent could be your daughter. Some are grandparents trying to add to family income or make up the difference created by inflation. A few are folks saving for an upgrade from a motorcycle to a car, or down payment for their own property in the province.

Many of them have day jobs, some two, others have a mom & pop business or another side hustle, but it is generally not enough because salaries are low, inflation high or simply because there are more mouths to feed, kids to send to school and futures to stabilize if not secure. In other words, they are just like us, trying to get by or have a better quality of life.

So, offering insurance or pre-need plans is a viable choice because the outcomes are largely dependent on the effort you make, but not overly stressful like other sales or performance driven jobs. You are not nailed to a 9-to-5 job and, best of all, deals could be incidental to your main gig or professional network. One guy I interviewed got into the “job” so he could use the money to pay for his family’s own pre-need plans.

What many of us who are not in the industry don’t know is that it is a hard job, nonetheless. You will be rejected countless times. Some won’t even give you the time of day and worst of all, some might even call you “commissioners” or “na-ngo-ngo mission lang.” I personally find that hurtful.

If you don’t have the stomach for repeated rejection, dead end pitches and low statistical probability of closing a deal that could take as long as one to three years, selling or offering pre-need plans and packages is not for you.

The first person I met at Sunlife in the late ’90s is my friend and Victory Church mate Lizette Tan. When she first offered life insurance to me, I told her that I’ve been wanting to so we could use the money to cover whatever my wife Karen would have to pay the BIR for estate tax, which was 30 percent plus back in those days.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t pass the medical test because I had contracted Hepa B from a blood transfusion. Lizette would not be deterred and offered to shoulder the blood test. She lost money on that for year one. One year later, she came calling and said she had been praying for me to pass the test, but once again, the tests excluded me.

Still, she said she would pray and on the third year she promised it would be the last blood test, so I agreed. Well, Heaven said yes, and I apparently had developed the needed anti-bodies or something to qualify for coverage. That was three years in the making.

I learned from many participants that quick deals are few, you need to toughen your hide because follow-ups are a given and closing the sale can take months or years. It’s not just the rejection and needed persistence that makes things hard. There are also those moments when clients call to inform you someone is in the hospital, they have fallen on hard times or a loved one has passed away. You are automatically on the short list of grief and financial counselors.

I am sharing this with our readers in the hope that they would have a better understanding and kindness towards people offering pre-need plans or insurance. They are not selling you junk; in fact, they are giving you instruments or opportunities for investment that you can pick based on your financial capacity.

They will give you something in return for your money, something better for tomorrow. Try to learn more by giving them a chance to teach you because they are willing to make time just for you and your loved ones. Maybe after that you will appreciate the hard work they do for all of us.

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Judging from the number of individuals and groups filing their certificates of candidacy as well as the background of each, it is safe to assume that the Legislative branch of government in the last three years has been an utter failure, which is why people have taken it upon themselves to run for office.

For the first time, I now see very private individuals and professionals who have had no interest in politics suddenly jumping in with hardly any publicity or prior notice. Some were never affiliated with any political party or publicly supported any party-list group. But this week has reportedly recorded the highest number of party-list enrollment with the Comelec.

If anything, it is a message and an act manifesting utter disappointment and frustration with our senators and congressmen.

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