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Insurance Agents Finally Spill the Tea on Their Commissions! | SPILL IT - YouTube
Channel: You Got Watch
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He will always call in, and specifically right,
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ask for male agents.
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So one of my very close colleagues
right, he also kena this guy.
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The guy went to pinch his butt eh!
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Hi, I'm Augustine,
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and I'm Louis.
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Today we're going to play Spill It.
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Where we will spill the tea on what is
like being an insurance agent in Singapore.
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I'm an insurance agent for
seven coming eight years now,
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I'm an insurance agent of more than 10 years.
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I chanced upon this career during
my uni days when I was actually
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looking for sponsors for my CCA group.
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So, instead of looking out for sponsors right,
they ended up looking out for me
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as an associate.
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To start the game, each player will
draw five question cards from the deck.
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Players will then take turns choosing a
question card from the hand to ask the opponent.
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Players will also be given three
action cards each
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where they can skip, switch, or spill at any point of time.
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For skip, you skip the question.
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Switch: get your opponent to answer instead,
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and for spill, you get to
ask a follow-up question.
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What's a secret about buying insurance
that only insurance agents would know?
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I mean, I don't know how many
of the agents, or, you know,
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FAs out there actually tell
this to their clients la.
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Most times, you realise that people would
sell the longest policy term possible.
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You know why? Because right, the commissions for
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policies that are extremely
long, it's actually the highest.
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So, meaning to say, if you get— if you pay
more commission to your insurance agents right,
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your policy value actually is lower.
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Share with us some misconceptions
people have about our profession.
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The biggest misconception is that we
go out there to hunt for anything,
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and everything, and anything
that moves, you try to close.
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It's not true la.
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Like, sometimes the client come and tell me
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something and I say, "It's okay. I
don't want to work with you also."
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I think, whatever Augustine shared right, that's
because you have reached a certain level la.
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At the start right,
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anybody shows any buying
signal right, wah immediately,
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you don't care how rude or how rich is
person, or how poor this person is.
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As long as this person right, can give you
something right, you will just take it.
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But then after that you realise that after a
while, you know, these people, they pay you
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peanuts but they expect a lot out of you.
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Then, you'll be thinking, 'Uh... Is it worth it or not?'
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What is the most number of times
you were rejected in a day?
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Back then when I was uh... young and dangerous ah.
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You call anyone then you tell them
'Eh you know what?'
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You know, you have a lengthy conversation and then after that the most important—
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whatever you tell them in front don't matter.
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The one particular sentence that matters is:
I joined this company as an insurance agent.
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(They will say) 'Oh, okay! I'm not free already.'
So, that's the reaction, yeah.
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At the start, I think, maybe if you're calling,
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then you can easily say 50% to
60% of the people that you call la.
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Share a client-from-hell story
that you will never forget.
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When I was younger, gullible, I was
afraid. I was like 24 when I started.
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(I was) very afraid of very successful
people. You drive to the house ah,
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the gate bigger than your life
one you know. It's damn big!
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You go down there, you go inside for like five,
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six sessions right, all I did was
open his letters and read to him.
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Any letter!
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Just sit there, while are you doing,
he'll say, 'Eh! Uh got this letter,
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you help me see if any other insurance company
got sent me anything. Help me summarise."
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(What) I opened is all the bills and just,
like literally sorting his mail out la.
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What broke the camera's back, when I said I'll
stop this, (is) when I arrived earlier he told me,
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"Eh you like dogs right? Can help me
walk my dogs because I'm back later."
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- They feel like they own you ah.
- Haha, yeah.
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Wah, the feeling is like you're like dog leh.
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I got one story to spill. (It's) actually
quite interesting because as Augustine was
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talking about. This guy, he's very— he's very
famous in the company one. Because right,
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he will always call in and specifically
right, ask for male agents.
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So I happened to answer one of his calls,
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and then I called him back right,
he sounds like exactly okay,
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"Hello! Hi, my name is Mr. what. I would
like to have a retirement plan ah...
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You sound very nice leh... How old are
you ah...? Are you married or not...?"
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So okay, fine. Then, I went on to
meet him la, meet him in person.
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Wah! I tell you uh. You know what he wore or not?
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He wore like, wah, hot pants all, tight shirt
all come, then he walk like that one eh!
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Then he asked me, 'Eh, Louis ah,
tomorrow is my birthday leh... Actually,
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my house is opposite leh, do you
want to come my house or not ah?"
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Wah! Red flag all over know? *Alarm noises*
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Then every other day right, he
will call and harass you eh.
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That was last year, Covid
period. So I, wah cannot cannot.
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Because I (was) running out
of excuses to not meet him.
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So, I replied you know, wah ultimatum
eh. 'I'm actually down with Covid."
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Wah that was the best.
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Then after that he said, "Hor! Okay
okay, ah, nevermind. Get well soon."
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After that then he stopped calling me.
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So, one of my very close colleagues
right, he also kena this guy.
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The guy went to pinch his butt eh!
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What's the highest commission you have
ever earned from selling a policy?
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I mean 10 years in industry, I've always been
working with middle to lower income families.
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I mean this is my, this is my target audience.
So, so far, I think in terms of like premium, I
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mean commission sizes right, one policy the max I
earned was about ten to fifteen thousand dollars?
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I— just to step in ah, we
don't earn commissions forever.
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Averagely about six years? Some are
perpetual but on the lower (end).
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If you go and think about it, if it's a
twenty dollar plan, you earn thirty percent,
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averagely your commissions for accident plans
about thirty percent, that's like six dollars.
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But then, like you see if somebody falls down
you're gonna do the claims, the paperwork,
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you take a cab, you buy a coffee, you buy them
well-wishes, you take care of them, gone already.
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Still to play tax ah, after that!
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True or false: MDRT is outdated and
gives you a fake sense of achievement.
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Wah, true!
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So basically you've got a... There
are three ways to hit, right?
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Number one is your income, but for income
you've got to be, you have to hit it once
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either by first year commission or the
amount of premiums you have collected.
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It used to be the top one percent of
the world. (In) the whole world you
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rank within top one percent of financial planners.
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But now it's a top five or top eight percent.
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It's a bit like, you know I always
say this la. You know last time right,
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when you're a degree holder and
everybody else is only a diploma
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holder right. So degree holder people
will be like 'Wah, eh! You got a degree.'
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So right now right, you know like
MDRT, everybody else is also MDRT, so
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you'll be like *unimpressed*.
So MDRT becomes the social norm.
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True or false: Good looking
insurance agents earn more.
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I mean it's not that because both of us are
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good looking and we earn more. No
no, it's nothing to do with that.
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But I have a lot of male friends ah, I
tell you honestly speaking, they bought
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something from road shows. When I
ask them right, "Eh what you buy?"
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They all have a common thing. "I don't
know. I was only looking at the girl."
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But I think, right now, people move
away from looks ah. I mean a lot of
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industry top salespersons are not as
pleasant looking as we think they are.
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What are some of the unspoken
rules in the industry?
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I mean, to me, don't poach
other agents' (clients).
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Never go and jiak people's clients lah.
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Don't go behind and then say "Eh, you know..."
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Tsk. Don't put people down to, just to get a case.
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I mean, $200 to sell your, your
values and ethics? I disagree la.
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What is the most expensive gift or token you have
bought to lure potential clients to your booth?
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I learned this from my friend.
They say there are three people,
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or I don't know how many kinds
of characters, in a road show la.
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So the first one right, is those
people that are very aggressive one.
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Very hungry one. They will go around and
get people to do the surveys or whatever.
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Then, the second group of
people right, they will hunt.
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Like, they will see, okay. So, maybe,
let's say I'm very comfortable with
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working with aunties. I only target aunties.
So these are the group of people that are,
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they have a targeted audience, so they
know who they want to look out for.
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Then the third kind of people right,
is people that are 'Tua Pek Kong'.
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'Tua Pek Kong' is people (who)
just stand inside the booth,
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and then like that *idly
stares into the distance*.
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I'm that kind ah.
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If you ask me what is the most
expensive gift that I've given right,
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a Montblanc pen to one of my clients.
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I mean, he's my client, I actually appreciate him
a lot because he supported me since day one. So,
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there was one year I actually
bought him a Montblanc pen.
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The cost was about, very
close to five hundred dollars.
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I have lost a bunch of friends because I
tried to sell them insurance. True or false?
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Uh yes, in a very simplistic term.
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Actually when I look back, they
weren't really my friends ah.
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It's like acquaintances lah. Correct or not?
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Like, give them a call, you be frank
with them, then suddenly they ghost
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you. Actually, if you think about it, even
if you're not in this industry, people drift.
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It's just that this job quickens that process.
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Weed out all your funny
friends that you don't need la.
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What are some questions to ask your insurance
agents to test if he or she knows their stuff?
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So, normally your insurance agents
will show you a lot of documents.
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And one of them is this thing called a
Benefit Illustration and Product Summary.
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In this document right, there
are a few things inside.
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You should ask your agent right,
what is the distribution cost for?
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Ah, so, his explanation right will tell
you whether or not he knows his stuff.
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(When) you hit that point, you can
smell the fear or the confidence la.
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True or false: I have considered or actually
bought insurance from a different company.
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True! I have!
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I think if you go and understand all
the products, some companies have
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small little gaps to cover very specific
traits or clientele that they buy la.
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But, the only thing I bought and
I encourage everybody to buy is
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the army one just to bump it up. It's
cheap, it's good, it does it's job la.
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Like that you can buy CareShield
Life; CareShield from me?
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I bought already ah!
Another company.
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I bought another company's.
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Okay! I got one last one,
which is ask anything you want.
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What is one thing you always
wanted to tell difficult clients?
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Like inside, you know, you smile
smile, but behind you want to...
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In my organization right, I actually
get what I call orphaned clients.
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Orphaned clients means right, clients
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whose agents have either left the industry, or
they were very pissed off with their agents.
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So, I was given this client. And then, when
I called the client, she never picked up.
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Then, that one Christmas
right, she texted me you know?
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Wah, one large— Whatsapped me
one large chunk of messages leh.
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Then there was one particular paragraph right,
that really made me sibei (extremely) [___].
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"All you insurance agents
ah," wah generalised leh.
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"All you insurance agents only know how to sell.
When I need something right, all run away!"
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Then I'm like, I'm damn poor thing leh,
I call you, you don't want to pick up,
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then after that right, now you
send me this kind of thing.
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Christmas eh. Then all she wanted
right, was to update her name.
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Just! Just now! Just before I came right, just
before I came, just now, got one client call me.
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"Uh, Louis ah, what is my password ah?"
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I said, "Uh, sir, sir. The password
right, is actually written in the email."
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"Got meh? Got meh??"
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Then I said, "Okay, never mind, you...
Can you take a photo, take a screenshot?"
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He took photo of the the box
that's asking him for his password.
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How much I earn? Do you know how much I earned?
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FOUR DOLLAR FIFTY CENTS!!
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So there was one day right, I
went home and I (told) my mother,
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my parents. I (told) them, "Hey come, sit
down. I'm going to tell y'all something."
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So I told them, "You know what? I'm going
to join this company as an insurance agent."
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Then, my mother went (in Chinese) "Another
one." Because my sister is in the industry also.
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So, I told my mother, "Why
don't you give me two years?
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If I cannot, if I cannot make a
name out of my, out of this job,
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or, you know, I cannot make a name
for myself right, then I'll quit.
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Then, I'll come and help you in your stall."
Because both of them back then were hawkers.
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(That was) ten years ago and
I never looked back since.
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My mom was was basically telling me,
"I mean, you got a degree already now,
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then what are you gonna do about it?
Instead, you go and sell insurance,
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you waste that twenty thousand
getting a degree for nothing."
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If I can tell you one tip, your
boss must be able to challenge you
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during the first few sit-downs. If you
don't feel challenged by this person,
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you'll never make it one.
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What's scary is that you
don't want to work. You don't even want to try.
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So, without hard work, there's no
success. I think whatever you do,
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hard work, perseverance, and don't be a
[___]. Yeah, I think that sums it all up.
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Thank you for watching this episode of
Spill It! And if you want to see more,
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don't forget to subscribe! Bye!
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