POS Agents: Role and Benefits

Seeing is believing might be an old English adage, but the meaning and relevance of this adage are still valid and acceptable in different situations of our lives. Don’t believe it? Fine! Let’s check if we believe it or not. How many of us prefer buying a refrigerator online? Not many of us for sure. Government initiatives such as demonetization have surely boosted the e-commerce and digital economy. Such drastic moves require time and concerted efforts not only from the government but also from citizens. Yes! We have been initiated towards our transformation into accepting the digital economy and e-commerce into our lives. But this transformation process has just been started and would take a considerable time before being accepted completely.

On second thought, even if we have accepted the digital economy, we have not completely surrendered ourselves to such an economy. Practically, how many of us have internalized such digitalization? Maybe only a handful of us or even lower than that. However, most of us still prefer buying things, especially things that involve our passion and a huge sum of money. We always prefer buying designer clothes or consumer durables after seeing them and after a salesperson confirms the benefits and features.

While we have been discussing quantified things and their purchase, let us now talk about financial instruments and their purchase? How many of you would buy a policy online? How many of you would be convinced of purchasing such a certificate based on your research (primarily online research)? Some of us, confident in our financial knowledge and research insight, would say yes. But such people would surely go and check the reviews about such financial products online. Expanding the picture further, can such online purchase of financial instruments such as instruments be possible and feasible for most of the population in a country like India? India still has a huge population staying in small cities, towns, and villages. The exposure to the internet and reliance on such information obtained from the internet is doubtful. Therefore, POS Agents come in handy, especially in these areas.

Who is a POS Agent?

POS Agent is a common term in the field of insurance. POS Agent or Point of Sale Agent is a person or a group of people who helps sell basic products in insurance. POS Agent is an accepted terminology in the context of selling insurance products. Even the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) approves POS Agents’ appointment since 2015 as distributors of Insurance products. The POS Agents are the last man holding the baton in the relay race of selling insurance. POS Agent is the last baton man that convinces and clinches the sale of insurance products. POS Agents travel that last mile of converting a Prospective Client into a Customer. POS Agents can also be thought of as the people responsible for managing the Push Sale of insurance products.

Role of a POS Agent

A POS Agent is somewhat comparable to a salesperson of a showroom. The showroom belongs to the owner. The owner would most probably sit on the cash counter handling the cash. However, the majority of the sales process is managed by the salesperson moving around the showroom. The salesperson greets the customer when he/she enters the showroom. The salesperson inquiries about the customer’s requirements and guides the customer to the appropriate place where he/she would get what he/she wants. Further, the salesperson also tries to push sale more units from the store, such as accessories or other complementary or supplementary items based on the customer’s need, requirements, and temperament.

Similarly, the role of the POS Agent can be defined or explained as:

• POS Agent works on the field (usually in the locality, city, or state where the POS Agent resides)
• POS Agent is the direct contact person for the customer (customer of the said insurance company)
• POS Agent builds rapport with the customers and/or prospective customers.
• POS Agent explains the insurance products such as motor insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, and personal accidental insurance, among other insurance types.
• POS Agent also explains the benefits of having such insurance products to the customers
• POS Agent influences the customer to purchase such insurance products and finally motivate them to buy such products.
• POS Agent also helps the customer renew the policy, make timely payment, and/or claim benefits of the policy, among other activities related to the insurance policies

Therefore, just like the salesperson of the showroom is the contact person for the customer. POS Agent is the contact person working on behalf of the insurance company. The POS agent is, in fact, the face of the company for the customer. There is a huge population that still rely and believe on this face of the company and invests. This population does not research on the website and check with the company headquarters. POS Agent is the company for them.

Benefits of being a POS Agent

The POS agent plays an important role in any insurance company. The POS agent is the company’s face, and therefore they are important stakeholders of the company. Some of the benefits of being a POS Agent with an insurance company include:

• Becoming a POS Agent is Easy: Becoming a POS Agent is rather easy in two ways:
  • Educational Requirement is low: Usually, various companies’ job descriptions require the candidate to have high qualifications. However, becoming a POS agent is relatively easy. Individuals with lower qualifications and minimum training can become POS Agents. Thus, POS Agents need not be as qualified or trained as the agents, brokers, or corporate agents of the insurance company. POS Agents need to work at the grass-root level for the insurance company, and therefore, what is more, important is that the POS Agent understands the product well and communicate with the customers well about the products. Even IRDAI has permitted the POS Agents to sell basic insurance products, not requiring much underwriting. Therefore, the POS Agent needs to be at least 18 years of age and have cleared Class 10. The companies, though, need to conduct 15 hours of in-house training to train the POS Agent about the products, as mandated by the IRDAI.
  • Hiring is Easy: A POS Agent can be directly engaged by the insurance company or even by the insurance company’s intermediaries (agents and brokers), thus enabling quick hiring and on-boarding of the POS Agents. You can get a job if you have it in you!
• Becoming a POS Agent is Worthy: The POS Agent can either work with the insurer (insurance company) directly or an agent or broker of the company. Whatever the situation be, the POS Agent gets a good reward for his/her efforts. More the efforts, more are the reward. The effort-based rewarding system acts as a motivator for the POS Agent. Further, the POS Agent can take up this work as a part-time activity too! Therefore, becoming a POS Agent is worth it.
• Becoming a POS Agent is Respectable: POS Agents get to interact with the customers directly. The POS Agents become the face of the company for these customers. Therefore, respect for the company, especially when the products benefit the customers, can be directly enjoyed by the POS Agents.

The position of a POS Agent is an important one. Become a POS Agent to earn respect and earn money today.