Competition in the life insurance space is seeing a significant growth in the number of women - from housewives to corporate career women.
KOLKATA: Call it girl power with the right doses of persuasive influence, emotional content and dedicated selling strategies. Competition in the life insurance space is seeing a significant growth in the number of women - from housewives to corporate career women — becoming financial advisors. It is estimated that women comprise almost 35-40% of the field force in most life insurance companies.
While the profile of women joining the profession is interesting, life insurers feel the growth in women folk as financial advisors would be on the rise as newer companies come into the life business.
Bhargav Dasgupta, executive director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, said, “The number of female advisors with ICICI Pru Life has grown manifold — from over 2,600 in 2002 to close to 60,000 in 2007. The growth as a percentage to total advisor base has been around 25-30% in the last five years”.
Almost 47% of the company’s advisors who have met the eligibility criterion for MDRTs and TOTs (million dollar round table and top of table-the global benchmarks in life insurance selling) are women.
Similarly, almost 40% of the agent advisors of Max New York Life are women. “This number is growing and 47% of our MDRTs in 2006 were women. We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not differentiate between male and female employees”, Rajit Mehta, executive director, HR and training, Max New York Life, said.
Kamlesh Vora, senior VP, sales and distribution, Kotak Life, said, “Almost 35% of our advisors are women. As a category we have seen that they perform well, are very focused and committed. Another important facet is their capability to handle rejections and identify themselves with the customers”.
A number of women who come into the profession are housewives in the age group of 25-50 years, largely belonging to
middle class families, with school going children, good networking and communication skills and preferably good family contacts. With flexi working hours, women get the chance to explore their entrepreneurial abilities and strike a balance between work and home, said insurers.
Are there ways to inspire more women to join the profession? According to S Bharat, senior VP, Agency, Tata AIG Life Insurance, this is “not just any other profession-it is a career where women can raise social awareness on the importance of being insured and securing the lives of many people”.
Most of the life insurance companies have regular outreach programmes to encourage women agents. Approaching women’s groups, clubs, kitty parties and propagating success stories are the best way to inspire more women to join the profession, feel insurers.
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