The First Day of Insurance Agents Halting Face-to-Face Sales Brings 'Wails'... "Phone Sales Have Limits"

Industry-wide Nationwide Sales Restraint Measures
Postponement of Inquiries and Training, Transition to Non-face-to-face Meetings
Temporary Measures for TM and Call Center Customer Response

With the resurgence of COVID-19, government quarantine measures have been strengthened, and citizens' consumption activities have even contracted, intensifying the suffering of self-employed business owners. On the 31st, the Myeongdong street in Jung-gu, Seoul, where restaurants and various shops are concentrated, showed a quiet scene. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Choi Dong-pil (alias, 47), branch manager of Life Insurance Company A's B branch located in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, stayed alone in the office on the 31st. It was the first day that Chungbuk Province issued a gathering restriction order targeting insurance companies within the province. About 30 exclusive agents were instructed not to come to work at all, and employees who worked indoors at the office also started a two-shift telecommuting system from that day.

Although sales training for the new product scheduled for this month had to be conducted immediately, the ban on gatherings led to the indefinite postponement of meetings, training sessions, and even company dinners. Mr. Choi lamented, "To comply with quarantine guidelines, we had no choice but to enter an emergency work system. It is difficult to conduct long consultations without meeting customers directly, so telling us to do sales only by phone is like telling us to starve."

The implementation of social distancing level 2.5 due to the resurgence of COVID-19 paralyzed face-to-face sales activities of insurance agents. Insurance companies issued nationwide sales restraint measures to prevent the spread of community infections through agents, putting the second half sales performance in an uncertain situation.

According to the insurance industry on the 1st, insurance companies have instructed exclusive agents to refrain from face-to-face sales until the 6th of this month. Gatherings such as branch-level meetings or training are prohibited, meetings are held via non-face-to-face video conferencing, and all sales training has been postponed until further notice.

In particular, in the Chungbuk area, face-to-face sales were suspended from the 31st of last month to the 5th of this month due to the gathering restriction order. As of June, there are a total of 1,012 agents registered with the Life Insurance Association in the Chungbuk area. All of them have stopped coming to work and switched to non-face-to-face sales using phone calls and other means.

Although the number accounts for only 0.9% of the 111,327 registered agents nationwide, the industry claims that the number of affected agents could increase considering that insurance sales are conducted without regional restrictions. Corporate agencies (GA), which mainly conduct agent sales, are also practically in a state of closure.

Due to the occupational characteristics of insurance agents, they inevitably meet many people in a short period, raising concerns about COVID-19 infection and spread. Previously, three agents confirmed with COVID-19 in Jincheon, Chungbuk, were found to have each had over 100 contacts.

Insurance companies are preparing countermeasures by switching to telemarketing (TM) or phone sales to replace face-to-face sales. They plan to focus sales on products with high customer demand such as children's insurance, driver insurance, and dental insurance.

However, it is uncertain how much the losses caused by the suspension of sales can be reduced. A life insurance company official said, "There is no clear way to sell insurance when agents neither come to the company nor meet customers," adding, "For the time being, we have no choice but to focus on non-face-to-face activities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.