Reporter: Yuan Yuan Editor: Zhang Yiming
"The harvest in the past six months is quite large, not only has I fully understood and learned insurance knowledge, experienced the fun Xi of serving customers, but also greatly improved my income. The profession in Wang Xia's mouth is an independent agent.
Xinhua News Agency
In December 2020, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the Notice on Matters Concerning the Development of Independent Individual Insurance Agents, which pointed out the direction for the industry to explore a new model of agents. Subsequently, insurance institutions and intermediaries such as Cindat Life Insurance, Dajia Insurance, and Sycamore Insurance Brokers began to explore the model.
Now, three years have passed, and the first batch of "crab-eating" institutions have handed over their report cards, what are their results? How do new entrants view the independent generation model? Can "independent generation" become a good place for insurance agents?
The pilot model has worked well
The concept of domestic insurance captive agents (EAs) can be traced back to 2010. In 2010, Huatai P&C opened its first EA store in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, and then expanded to Guangdong, Yunnan and Jiangsu, and in 2015, the regulatory authorities further clarified EA's legal positioning and management relationship, and Huatai P&C Insurance was approved to promote the EA model nationwide, and in 2019, Sunshine P&C Insurance was approved to implement the exclusive independent insurance agent model across the country.
The above is regarded as the germ of the independent generation model, and at the same time, it has also laid a good market foundation for the supervision of the implementation of the independent generation model across the country. At the end of December 2020, the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the Notice on Matters Concerning the Development of Independent Individual Insurance Agents, proposing specific rules from the aspects of independent individual insurance agents' positioning, conditions, standards, code of conduct, selection mechanism, company management, supervision and management.
After the "gameplay" is decided, all that remains is the willingness of the "players" to participate. As a new path that can break the traditional hierarchy, the independent generation model is indeed very concerned by practitioners, but as a new thing, practitioners are a little hesitant to take the "first step".
However, there is always no shortage of people who are the first to "eat crabs" in the industry, and when many institutions are still waiting, we are the first to enter the game, such as Everybody Life, Cintai Insurance, Shuidi Bao, and Sycamore Tree Insurance Brokers, and start the exploration of the independent generation model. Taking Dajia Insurance as an example, its independent agent model is mainly based on insurance firms, and its main model features are "flat account sharing model", "partner firm organization carrier" and "professional service support".
Whether it is flat or transformative empowerment, in fact, the ultimate is to improve the productivity and enthusiasm of insurance agents. According to the data obtained by the reporter of "Daily Economic News", as of November 2023, the individual insurance channel of Everyone's Life has achieved a premium of 1.23 billion yuan, a monthly per capita payment capacity of 79,000 yuan, and more than 600 people have reached the annual MDRT standard. At present, more than 10 provinces and cities across the country have opened the registration of exclusive agents, and the number of independent agents registered by independent agents of Dajia Life has reached 38.
"Overall, the insurance companies that have piloted the single-generation model have achieved good results, and the improvement of sales staff quality and production capacity has also strengthened the confidence of some companies to continue to invest in the single-generation model. Wang Guojun, a professor at the School of Insurance at the University of International Business and Economics, told reporters.
New entrants are looking for room for development
Perhaps it is because of the achievements of the pilot single-generation model insurance institutions, and new players have ushered in this field.
On October 18, 2023, Taishan Insurance announced that the "Lantian County Taishan Insurance Qihang Exclusive Agency Store" completed the registration of the industrial and commercial business license in Lantian County, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, and successfully opened the first order of the exclusive agent store, marking a substantial step forward in the pilot work of the company's independent store model.
On December 22, 2023, Taishan Insurance officially announced that Taishan Insurance's second exclusive store for independent agents officially opened.
"The independent model involves external regulatory requirements, market environment and the company's internal management, personnel and other factors, to this end, we actively improve the system process, select and train personnel, build a platform system, enrich the service system, etc., and constantly improve the team's comprehensive quality and service capabilities. Taishan Insurance said that the mainland independent individual insurance agent model, is still in the initial stage, the "independent" characteristics of the model are mainly reflected in the insurance marketing structure, aimed at reducing the organizational level, directly reach customers, provide consumers with comprehensive customized services, but also reduce the operating costs of insurance companies. In areas with a high concentration of customers and the need for community services, the independent individual insurance agent model has great room for development. In the future, we look forward to working with all sectors of society to explore the growth path of this model to promote its sustainable development and maturity.
Wang Guojun believes that in the long run, the independent generation model may not be the mainstream of insurance sales, but it will definitely form an important sales model, and if the system is in place in the future, there will be good prospects for development.
Driven by policy and the market, more and more institutions are exploring the model of independent generation. At the moment when the team of insurance agents continues to shrink, it undoubtedly points out the direction for the transformation of insurance agents, and many insurance agents see the hope of transformation.
After all, many insurance agents have been suffering from the "pyramid model" for a long time, and it is naturally better to get rid of the hierarchical restrictions all at once. The idea is good, but it is not easy to become an independent agent. Wang Xia joined the independent agent team in early 2023. When I first met him, he was still a newcomer "Xiaobai", with restraint in his words, although he had a longing for this road, he also had some doubts and uncertainties. When he communicated with Wang Xia again, he was no longer the timid "Xiaobai" he was at the beginning, and his language exuded confidence, and the reason for his confidence was that it was different from the management model of traditional agents. "Some peers often ask me if I have performance pressure, I don't have any performance pressure, I pay more attention to personal growth and rhythm. ”
But this does not mean that Wang Xia is not under pressure, in addition to visiting customers and making proposals, he needs to invest a lot of energy every day to learn Xi professional knowledge, communication skills and other knowledge and business related to this job. Wang Xia's experience is not an isolated case, in the sole generation model, insurance agents are more like entrepreneurs, they no longer need to put more energy on increasing the number of employees, but they need to put more energy on personal ability and professional development.
"I think Dudai is a test of a person's ability to learn Xi, because Dudai provides customers with not only a product, but a complete set of solutions and personal services. Wang Xia, an independent agent of an institution, told reporters that the independent generation has high requirements for the comprehensive quality and ability of individuals, and needs to focus more energy on the improvement of their own ability or professionalism, and must have self-restraint and self-drive.
Wang Xia had recruited a partner before, but left after not staying long, Wang Xia has also seen other people around her who have left, in Wang Xia's opinion, this is not suitable for the independent generation model. "Because the Dudai is not the traditional pyramid model of the crowd tactics, it has relatively high requirements for personal ability and quality. ”
Wang Xia's feelings may be skewed, but the data does not lie. According to the data obtained by the reporter, there will be 25,714 new agents in 2021~2023 and 19,320 agents in 2021~2023. This means that even if it is a single generation, there are still people who will leave for various reasons.
The people who left were to be regretted, but the agency also racked its brains to keep quality independent agents behind. According to the reporter's understanding, we have recently launched a new form of independent agent family office to stimulate the awareness of independent operation of independent agents. Yu Hua, general manager of Dajia Life Insurance, said that the independent agent model is the result of market evolution and the embodiment of the upgrading of client demand, and the only way is to carry out hierarchical and classified management of agent sales qualifications to meet the diversified product and service needs of customers.
National Business Daily