 "Life insurers bet highly on premium club")
Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC), the country’s largest insurer, is looking to have 10,000 agents this financial year, who would be a part of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT). Other private life insurers too, are motivating more agents to be part of MDRT, the premier international association of financial professionals.
Reliance Life Insurance chief executive Anup Rau said they were expecting a five to six-fold increase in their MDRT qualifiers from the company, with over 150 this year. “MDRT advisors are certainly crucial for the company. While they constitute to about one per cent or two per cent of an insurance company’s advisor base, the total contribution to the business is about 15 to 20 per cent. Importance of MDRT advisor can be well understood when you look at their higher average ticket size and the service given by them to their clients, and their client’s persistency,” he said.
Founded in 1927, MDRT is an international, independent association of more than 38,000 of leading life insurance and financial services professionals from more than 450 companies in 74 countries. Apart from the basic membership, MDRT has two levels--Court of Table (COT) and Top of Table (TOT). MDRT’s Top of the Table is an exclusive forum for the world’s most successful life insurance and financial services professionals. (GEARING UP FOR ADVISORS IN THE BIG LEAGUE)
Insurers are taking in-house initiatives to boost MDRTs. Rau said at Reliance Life, they had created a team of experts to provide a much needed boost to ensure maximum MDRT qualifiers. They also have started several initiatives to provide preferential treatment to MDRT advisors.
“Some notable initiatives are express business login and service support, centralised hotline numbers to cater to all their requirements, focus groups of these advisors to give inputs on product development and improvement of customer service, specialised skill development programmes to help them increase productivity and service levels, ownership from senior management towards these advisors to nurture them for qualification,” said Rau.
Other companies are not behind. Ashish Vohra, senior director and chief distribution officer, Max Life Insurance, said this year they expected the numbers to exceed 100. In 2012, a total of 92 agent advisors from Max Life Insurance qualified for MDRT of which 5 were COTs.
“The company has taken several initiatives to improve agent productivity and enable them to qualify for MDRT. The company has initiated a mentor programme where agents would receive guidance from existing qualifiers,” said Vohra.
Sanjay Tripathy, executive vice-president and head (marketing, product and direct channel), HDFC Life, explained one of the prime focus areas for the organisation is to increase the number of quality top-performing sales persons, and one of the means of achieving this objectives is to promote MDRT qualification aggressively.
HDFC Life had 184 people (agency force plus direct channel) qualify for MDRT last year. This year, Tripathy said the figure could exceed 300. “This year in addition to standard activities conducted (such as identifying and mentoring MDRT probables, closely monitoring their progress, offering customised solutions to each such sales person’s problem / work areas, etc) the organisation has employed a dedicated team of senior resources to drive the entire process of acquiring higher number of MDRT members from end-to-end. Moreover, we are in talks with the representatives of MDRT, US to design a unique comprehensive solution for our MDRT aspirants,” he added.
To become a member of MDRT in 2014, an agent is required to do annually. Agents are required to have a minimum commission of Rs 8.36 lakh annually in 2013 and Rs 25.08 lakh for COT. Court of the Table members must earn three times the MDRT base production requirement and are eligible to attend a special session at the MDRT annual meeting to celebrate and network. Top of the Table, MDRT’s highest level of membership, comprises those members who submit six times the MDRT production requirement.
Reliance Life Insurance chief executive Anup Rau said they were expecting a five to six-fold increase in their MDRT qualifiers from the company, with over 150 this year. “MDRT advisors are certainly crucial for the company. While they constitute to about one per cent or two per cent of an insurance company’s advisor base, the total contribution to the business is about 15 to 20 per cent. Importance of MDRT advisor can be well understood when you look at their higher average ticket size and the service given by them to their clients, and their client’s persistency,” he said.
Founded in 1927, MDRT is an international, independent association of more than 38,000 of leading life insurance and financial services professionals from more than 450 companies in 74 countries. Apart from the basic membership, MDRT has two levels--Court of Table (COT) and Top of Table (TOT). MDRT’s Top of the Table is an exclusive forum for the world’s most successful life insurance and financial services professionals. (GEARING UP FOR ADVISORS IN THE BIG LEAGUE)
Insurers are taking in-house initiatives to boost MDRTs. Rau said at Reliance Life, they had created a team of experts to provide a much needed boost to ensure maximum MDRT qualifiers. They also have started several initiatives to provide preferential treatment to MDRT advisors.
“Some notable initiatives are express business login and service support, centralised hotline numbers to cater to all their requirements, focus groups of these advisors to give inputs on product development and improvement of customer service, specialised skill development programmes to help them increase productivity and service levels, ownership from senior management towards these advisors to nurture them for qualification,” said Rau.
Other companies are not behind. Ashish Vohra, senior director and chief distribution officer, Max Life Insurance, said this year they expected the numbers to exceed 100. In 2012, a total of 92 agent advisors from Max Life Insurance qualified for MDRT of which 5 were COTs.
“The company has taken several initiatives to improve agent productivity and enable them to qualify for MDRT. The company has initiated a mentor programme where agents would receive guidance from existing qualifiers,” said Vohra.
Sanjay Tripathy, executive vice-president and head (marketing, product and direct channel), HDFC Life, explained one of the prime focus areas for the organisation is to increase the number of quality top-performing sales persons, and one of the means of achieving this objectives is to promote MDRT qualification aggressively.
HDFC Life had 184 people (agency force plus direct channel) qualify for MDRT last year. This year, Tripathy said the figure could exceed 300. “This year in addition to standard activities conducted (such as identifying and mentoring MDRT probables, closely monitoring their progress, offering customised solutions to each such sales person’s problem / work areas, etc) the organisation has employed a dedicated team of senior resources to drive the entire process of acquiring higher number of MDRT members from end-to-end. Moreover, we are in talks with the representatives of MDRT, US to design a unique comprehensive solution for our MDRT aspirants,” he added.
To become a member of MDRT in 2014, an agent is required to do annually. Agents are required to have a minimum commission of Rs 8.36 lakh annually in 2013 and Rs 25.08 lakh for COT. Court of the Table members must earn three times the MDRT base production requirement and are eligible to attend a special session at the MDRT annual meeting to celebrate and network. Top of the Table, MDRT’s highest level of membership, comprises those members who submit six times the MDRT production requirement.
MDRT members get access to meetings, networking opportunities and international training and development. Through its many professional development programs, services and products, MDRT provides opportunities for members to gain insights into all aspects of expanding their business, leading to even greater success. Its membership is regarded as the standard of excellence in the insurance and financial services industry.
COMMISSION AND PREMIUM PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE 2014 MILLION DOLLAR ROUND TABLE
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Based on 2013 Production, Expressed in Local Currency
Production credit must be reported in U.S. dollars on Certifying Letters
(Local currency divided by the conversion/standardization factor = MDRT requirement in U.S. dollars)
| Country | MDRT Commission (Rs) | COT Commission (Rs) | TOT Commission (Rs) | Conversion Factor: Commission | MDRT Premium (Rs) | COT Premium (Rs) | TOT Premium (Rs) | Conversion Factor: Premium |
| India | 8,36,100 | 25,08,300 | 5,016,600 | 9.1879 | 3,344,400 | 10,033,200 | 20,066400 | 18.3758 |
INCOME PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE 2014 MILLION DOLLAR ROUND TABLE
Based on 2013 Production, Expressed in Local Currency
Qualification under this method is based on a requirement of $156,000 in annual gross income from insurance and financial products. A minimum of $45,500 must be income from new business generated during the production year. Further, a minimum of $45,500 must be derived from income associated with risk-protection products (products eligible for Unlimited Credit under the commission or premium methods).
| Country | MDRT Income (Rs) | COT Income (Rs) | TOT Income (Rs) | |
| India | 14,33,300 | 42,99,900 | 8,599,800 | |