Agent Marketing
Why Are Insurance Agents Not Selling Travel Insurance?
By Jason Cunningham
Dec 19, 2008 - 11:02:20 PM

At present, there are more than 30 million web pages on Google that contain the keyword, travel insurance. By no means, is this an insignificant number. The general public may be surprised to learn the ignorance of many insurance agents concerning travel insurance, especially since the word contains “insurance.” However, more insurance agents need to become more knowledgeable of travel insurance; otherwise, their clients could decide to deposit all of their annuities and insurance, elsewhere.

No Discussion of Travel Insurance

When I worked as a career agent, many of my colleagues never discussed travel insurance. It was the mystery insurance product that I knew we could sell to our clients, but the topic of travel insurance never came up in our marketing meetings. I sometimes wondered if management did not want us to sell travel insurance. To be honest, I eventually learned that management wanted us to sell any insurance product in our general agency to meet our customer’s needs, including travel insurance. Unfortunately, over time, I realized 99% of our clients were not calling to inquire about travel insurance. The clients were more concerned with life insurance, auto insurance or disability insurance.

 Reasons Why Insurance Agents Do Not Sell Travel Insurance:

• If the travel insurance policy does not pay a claim, the client will cancel the rest of his or her insurance business with me
• Most of my frequent business travelers buy travel insurance through their travel agent
• There are too many variations of travel insurance
• It is hard to market travel insurance; no one has called for a travel insurance quote in 15 years
• My client base is filled with retirees that do not travel

Why Insurance Need to Offer Travel Insurance?

As an insurance agent, you must not be afraid to sell travel insurance. While you will need to understand travel insurance and international health insurance, you will soon realize that these policies are no more difficult to understand than a disability insurance policy. Furthermore, you have a duty to protect the financial interests of your clients and their families by recommending insurance products, such as travel insurance. It would be a terrible tragedy if one of your clients traveled internationally but failed to realize that his or her health insurance coverage offers limited benefits when traveling abroad or none at all. However, the purchase of a travel medical insurance policy (international health insurance plan) would have provided the client with a slew of healthcare benefits. This is why you need to converse with your clients about travel insurance!

Travel Insurance Quotes