by Justin Yap, justinyap@theborneopost.com. Posted on March 26, 2012, Monday
Article from The Borneo Post
KUCHING: Sarawakian Jong Thian Lung, who started as a rookie insurance agent six years back, is now one of the most successful insurance consultants in Malaysia after being recognised as a Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) member recently.
Working as a group sales manager for Sian & Associates, an agency for the third-largest insurer in the country ING Insurance Bhd (ING), he was noted as the first person in Malaysia to receive the MDRT award in 2012.
It represents the industry’s highest international honour and only topmost of insurance consultants worldwide have been awarded.
In a recent interview with The Borneo Post, Jong credited his achievement to the company, saying, “We are kind of like business partner for Guan, the owner for Sian & Associates and that’s what drive us to move forward, taking pride in what we do for ourself and the company.”
He further pointed out he first joined ING in 2006 purely because it was a very lucrative industry.
“It was only in 2009, when I hit it really big, I realise other than money there are so much things that I can do in this industry.”
“I found out that I can also be involved otherways in product designs.
“It is very interesting to listen to what others are offering before taking into consideration and try to see if we can tailored a better products. At the end of the day, it benefits everyone,” he added.
When asked what were the steps to become a successful insurance agent, Jong said, “The tricky things about insurance industry is that you can make a lot of money or you can make no money, or probably in between. There’s no limit in that sense.”
“Having a wide network or an amazing list of potential prospects will not help an one to be successful. It is the people you meet and the relationship that you have with your clients that count.
“Everyone has their own way of doing business, most targeted volume while mine is more of a niche market,” explained Jong.
When further asked if there was plan to start his own agency, he said, “That was a dream that I had but now I’m not sure because not everyone can be a good manager and it takes certain skill to head a company. I don’t think im ready for that yet.”
“My manager always tell me do not force yourself to do things that you don’t know but to excel in the things that you know. My top priority now is to do even better than what i did before and trying my very best to achieve the impossible,” stressed Jong.
On the other hand, he also pointed out that the biggest obstacles for an insurance agent was discipline and that would be the toughest thing to handle. One need to be consistant in terms of appointments – going out to meet clients and doing follow up works.
“Finding clients and convincing clients is not though. However, building up a trusted relationship will be the thoughest. The beauty of an insurance industry is that you are allowed to have that kind of ‘downtime’ whenever you are tired,” relates Jong.
On the clientel front, he pointed out that most tend to shy away from an insurance agent. “I will not force a deal if the products or for a certain reason my clients rejected the proposal. I always believe in doing long term business and in this industry, repeated sales or referral is much more important.”
“I will not talk or discuss about insurance unless my relationship with the person gets to a certain level. However, I will always make known that I’m an insurance agent and that I’m from ING. I wouldn’t talk about business with him unless he initiates a conversion,” he added..
In 2011, Jong achieved RM792,000 first year premium and he revealed his target of crossing over the million ringgit mark this year. “Since I have got the MDRT award, the next qualification I’m targeting is the COT (Court of A Table) or TOT (Top of A Table).
“I believe this is achievable given that the insured rate in Malaysia is still very low compared with Taiwan and Japan, whereby their insured rate is already over a hundred per cent. Even our neighbouring country Singapore has reach 90 per cent and its insurance industry is still very robust in terms of sales,” he explained.
Recently, ING expected to grow its investment-linked insurance segment from 17 per cent last year to 25 per cent this year and to subsequently push it to account for half of its portfolio in 2014.
The group currently have 90,000 policyholders for investment-linked products and expected to register an additional 25,000 policyholders with the launch of its latest INGeasi For You series, which would translate to RM80 million in premiums.
Article from The Borneo Post
