Text丨Beijing ed丨Gray gray half-comb
In the Wuka era, the east and west of the river may be in the blink of an eye.
Just a few years ago, the insurance intermediaries that were still hot and chased by all kinds of capital are now becoming the "hot potato" that are eager to be thrown out - a number of new third board insurance intermediaries have abandoned insurance and changed careers, and the news of low-cost transfer insurance agencies has appeared frequently, and bidding farewell to the "risk" road has become the common choice of many intermediaries.
This sentence is not only a portrayal of insurance intermediaries on the New Third Board, but also a common helplessness of insurance intermediaries mainly engaged in life insurance business under the impact of "integration of newspapers and banks" and Hong Kong insurance.
According to industry exchange data, in the first five months, the negative growth of new single insurance in the life insurance agency market exceeded 40%, except for the two major heads that were still able to maintain positive growth, many institutions and regions had a cliff-like business decline.
If so, when the original cooperation model and business logic are "destroyed" and disintegrated, how to reconstruct the survival logic and development model has become a big test for many intermediaries to achieve rebirth. In particular, intermediaries in South China, which is adjacent to Hong Kong and has a relatively well-developed market, are facing even more challenges. Perhaps their current situation will be a microcosm of the future of more regions and institutions.
What is the current situation of intermediaries in the region? Recently, "Today's Insurance" connected several heads of intermediaries, front-line team leaders and senior brokers in Guangdong, Shenzhen and other regions to sketch the "difficulty" of intermediaries under the fire of nirvana through their suffering and response in the past two or three months.
1 Status: "Business has dropped by 80%" premium commission ankle cut, the team is on the verge of collapse "no longer contract with insurance companies"
"Ankle chopping" - Speaking of the current situation, Tang Hong, a senior agent of the Guangdong branch of a head intermediary, used this word to describe it.
"The reality is that there is a large-scale reduction, manpower, premiums, commissions, everyone is boiling, just get through it."
Yang Cong, the founding partner of the South China branch of another leading intermediary, also felt the same way, he said frankly, "Now the company's business has dropped too much, and the business volume of the whole country and Guangdong has dropped by 80% year-on-year." "For example, Shenzhen had 13 million standard insurance in May last year, and only 2.8 million this year."
According to Yang Cong, after the "integration of newspapers and banks", although some products have also been taken off the shelves, the overall impact is not large, because there are many new ones off the shelves, and the main impact is the commission reduction and discount.
"For example, the 20-year term of critical illness insurance, which used to be 100% standard insurance, is now basically 7% or even 6% off, and it is more difficult for agents to achieve the assessment, especially the supervisor's management commission has been reduced, because the management commission is subject to standard insurance."
"There is also annuity insurance, for example, the 5-year discount was 40% in the past, and now most of them are 10%. As a result, the previous apprentice made 100,000 * 5 years to pay the standard insurance is 40,000, if the management fee is 8%, then the supervisor will have 3,200 yuan, but now it is only 800 yuan, and the supervisor is not motivated.
Because insurance companies and intermediaries have relied on team development in previous years, that is, management subsidies to promote everyone to recruit, and then promote the growth of the team. If you recruit and manage a team of hundreds of people now, with a monthly income of less than 50,000 yuan, then there will be no one to do the team. ”
Yang Cong lamented, "The newspaper and the bank are united, and the most affected are the intermediaries, which have a great impact, and the team is struggling to support." "The 'integration of newspapers and banks' has a greater impact than any previous suspension of sales and interest rate cuts, and the team is on the verge of collapse."
Wei Jun, the person in charge of another small and medium-sized intermediary agency in Guangdong, said that the impact of the "integration of newspapers and banks" on intermediaries is very large, so big that it directly reverses the development direction of some intermediaries. "We have transformed our bancassurance training from an insurance broker to a teacher broker."
"The three years of the epidemic, coupled with the 'integration of newspaper and bank', have forced the individual risk generation into a dead end. We can't wait for death, 'the tree dies, the person lives', as a boss, we have to think about how to live, right? ”
Wei Jun told "Today's Insurance" that now his company no longer signs contracts with insurance companies, first, it can't sell it if it does, and second, it can't make money if it sells.
"Now the surrender of the black industry and the rebate are still very powerful. After the 'integration of newspapers and banks', the commission has become transparent, and the more you sell, the more people are staring at you outside, and the faster you will die. ”
2 Response: "The assessment is no longer mainly based on product promotion and business promotion" Lowering assessment standards, reducing profits and hedging commissions, and selling Hong Kong insurance "is not only in South China, but also in Hong Kong"
Under the influence of the "integration of newspapers and banks", in addition to the intermediaries that have transformed and turned, what countermeasures have been taken by those intermediaries and brokers who are still struggling to support?
Reducing assessments, increasing excellence and recruiting new ones, and increasing commission rewards——
"Today's Insurance" learned that a leading intermediary company recently lowered the assessment standard, reducing the quarterly assessment performance in the second quarter from 1,000 yuan to 500 yuan.
In this regard, Chen Feng, a senior broker of the South China branch of the intermediary company, said that this is only a transitional plan at present, and the company has subsidized the grassroots to a certain extent, and it should be adjusted again in the follow-up to see market changes. "Shareholders make profits, increase investment, and get through the difficulties with brokers."
Yang Cong, founding partner of the South China branch of another leading intermediary, said that the company has taken three countermeasures:
The first is to reduce the assessment, especially to relax the assessment of the supervisor to ensure the stability of the team structure;
the second is to recruit and train elites to dilute the impact of business reduction;
Third, the company encourages the Internet, group finance and high-end medical insurance to ensure everyone's income.
"For example, the department manager only needs to recruit outstanding talents who meet the standards every quarter to pass the assessment, and no longer focus on product promotion and business promotion."
In addition to relaxing and lowering assessment standards, some intermediary companies have increased commissions and promotional rewards. The company's broker said that the company released profits to increase product commissions and hedge the impact of commission reductions as a way to motivate the team.
Resale of Hong Kong policies and foreign insurance——
There are also some teams and brokers who have left Hong Kong insurance or turned to the gray area, selling Hong Kong insurance and even foreign insurance.
Liu Ming, a senior broker of a branch of an intermediary agency in Guangdong, said that at present, the company has many partners to do Hong Kong insurance.
"There is a team here in Guangzhou that has been doing Hong Kong insurance since last year, but it is not public."
Wen Zhi, the person in charge of another small and medium-sized intermediary agency, told "Today's Insurance" that many brokers of the head intermediary now go to Hong Kong to take the postgraduate examination, just to take a qualification to transform and sell Hong Kong insurance. Some brokers will not open bills in the company even if they have business, but fly to order Hong Kong insurance because of the high commission of Hong Kong insurance. Some insurance brokers even openly talk about Hong Kong insurance policies, Singapore insurance policies, and American insurance policies in the media.
"In fact, since last year, I have also been approached by the CEOs of several Internet platforms, wanting to cooperate in the sale of Hong Kong insurance policies, but this is not something we can do, and we will follow what others do - Hong Kong insurance has a lot of misleading sales, and the Independent Commission Against Corruption has investigated Hong Kong policies very badly;
Moreover, we have no ability to do it, the company's partners have average education, and there are not many high-end customer resources around them, and Hong Kong orders have to do large amounts, facing the middle and high-end groups. ”
According to Wen Zhi, at present, there is not much traditional business of many intermediary companies, and some executives of regional agencies are quietly selling Hong Kong orders outside. Even some senior executives of the head office have bought insurance policy licenses and local studios in Hong Kong, and they will do it publicly in the future.
"Not only in South China, but also in other regions, traditional intermediary companies are also selling Hong Kong orders, and some intermediary agencies in Xinjiang and Heilongjiang are doing this.
3 Plans: Recruit and upgrade to pay attention to the policy trend "The tactics of the sea of people can be declared dead" and "The next step is actually more to look at the policy"
In the face of the impact of "integration of newspapers and banks" and Hong Kong insurance, what are the plans for the future of insurance intermediaries while struggling to cope with the hard support?
"Increase excellence and recruit new, and recruit higher"——
Yang Cong, the founding partner of a branch of a head intermediary in South China, believes that at present, China's insurance industry has not yet reached the level of people's recognition and active purchase, and the era of insurance sales status rising and many people taking the initiative to join insurance is far from coming.
"Therefore, the company is operating to recruit outstanding talents, with high standards and high requirements, age requirements between 25 and 40 years old, bachelor degree or above, annual income of more than 150,000 yuan in the previous year, and must be full-time."
Like Yang Cong's thoughts, Tang Hong, a senior broker of a branch of another head intermediary in Guangdong, also believes that if new people are recruited later, it is necessary to recruit new people in a high school - high education, high quality, and high income.
Ascension Conversion Consultant Role——
"In the next step, the existing brokers should upgrade and change their roles, not just the sales of insurance products, but also the risk management consultants of users, and even family wealth management consultants: including risk management, asset allocation, and inheritance planning. The income of consultants should be based on consulting fees and annual consulting fees, rather than only commissions. ”
Tang Hong said that risk management is not about selling a set of insurance products or insurance solutions to customers, which can solve all the risk problems of customers' family property; Rather, it is necessary to look at the specific information such as the demographic structure, asset-liability structure, income and expenditure structure, present and future cash flow structure of the client's family as a whole, and use various tools to make a systematic overall plan to meet its needs from the interests of the client, including wills, trusts, insurance, legal mandates and other different tools.
"The client's requirements are higher, and the requirements for brokers and agents must of course be improved, and the original crowd tactics can be declared dead, and now it is just a secret funeral and secret reduction, or a memorial service to formally reduce the two options."
But for the future situation, Tang Hong is still very optimistic. "Someone has to fill the vacant market." The rest is king, we are not afraid, because we have a good foundation, more than 80% of the undergraduates, more than 30% 985, 211, and 18% of the master's and doctoral degrees, isn't it just to learn more. ”
It still depends on the policy -
In addition to the efforts of companies and individuals, the front-line leaders of intermediaries agree that regulatory policies determine the future of intermediaries.
Yang Cong believes that the era of intermediary dividends is over, and "the next step is actually more to look at the policy."
Tang Hong also believes that if the market shrinks sharply, should the policy be adjusted? "The economy has cycles, the industry has cycles, the market has cycles, and policies have cycles."
Postscript: How many intermediaries can get through
During the interview, some senior people gave positive comments on the "integration of newspapers and banks".
"From a certain point of view, the secrecy of insurance needs and the complexity of insurance products are the basis for the existence of insurance intermediaries. It's time for intermediaries to change their traditional sales model, organizational structure, and price-comparison sales methods."
At present, the policy has just begun, and it is still in the self-discipline stage, with the collapse of the customer-centric sales logic that relies on simple price comparison, the industry will enter a benign track of product guarantee functions and value-added services.
However, some people believe that "the implementation of the 'integration of newspapers and banks' is too strong for intermediaries", which has too much impact on the industry and will be difficult to ease up for a long time.
Others argue that the future of intermediaries is only if "pricing power is taken back from the insurance companies and not dictated by product supply."
Through the thinking of front-line soldiers, it can be seen that the insurance intermediary market is undergoing this profound change. In the next step, the insurance rate falls below 3.0%, which will surely strengthen the siphon effect of Hong Kong insurance.
The cold wind is coming again, how many intermediaries can survive the market winter.