KUALA LUMPUR: A good training programme coupled with the strong desire to succeed and help others is key to the making of a successful insurance agency manager and agent.Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd top agency manager for 2007 Kam Chee Meng said the hard and soft skills in the company’s training programme had helped him recruit successful agents and clinch the award.
From left: Francis Chieng, Othman Shaharum, Jason Lock and Kam Chee Meng.
“Most insurers in their training programmes emphasise on four main areas: knowledge, attitude, skills and habits. Many stress on knowledge training only and other areas are briefly touched.
“In my opinion, Prudential’s business academy gives equal emphasis to all the four areas of training and this greatly helps agency managers and agents in building their confidence when approaching and handling people effectively,” he said in an interview.
Kam, 53, joined Prudential in 1994 and had bagged several industry awards previously. He was also named top recruiter for 2007.
He added he owed a great deal to the company as it had been very supportive in providing training and advice even when he was having problems in recruiting productive agents.
Last year the senior agency manager groomed and developed a string of high achievers, which include nine Million Dollar Round Table qualifiers and 39 PRUcenturions (Prudential agents who produce more than RM100,000 in new business sales annually).
An agent himself, Kam said making money was secondary to him now as bringing in the best agency talent and guiding them to achieve their goals was his main objective.
Sheer hard work and commitment to succeed drove Othman Shaharum to become Prudential’s top unit manager for two consecutive years, 2006 and 2007.
With about 40 agents under him now, Othman said his aim was to create a pool of high quality leaders including bumiputras whom he felt was still lacking in the industry.
Othman, 36, who is now an agency manager, added that his vision was to have 10 unit managers in five years.
Prior to becoming an agent in 2002, Othman was in the construction industry.
Jason Lock, 32, joined the company in 2004 and in three years became its top agent for 2007. He also won the award for top rookie agent for 2005.
He attributed his success to a good training programme, hard work and being sincere when dealing with customers. “To be a top agent, one must also be positive and strongly believe in oneself,” he said.
Lock, who is an engineer, said he had never regretted joining Prudential.
Despite being in the insurance industry for less than a year, Francis Chieng, 39, won the company’s top rookie agent award for 2007.
Chieng, whose wife is also an agent in the company, is passionate about the insurance business and believes it is a noble profession that gives him the opportunity to help people achieve financial security.
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