VietNamNet Bridge – The school opening month is the high business season for insurers. Insurance agents have been present at local education sub-departments, schools and universities to persuade students to take insurance policies.

Insurance agents push up marketing activities

A senior executive of a non-life insurance company complained that the competition in the insurance market has become stiffer than ever. All insurance companies have gathered their strength to run marketing campaigns at schools in the school opening month – the opportunity which comes only once a year.

Since the competition is very stiff, insurance companies have to play all the tricks they can to scramble for clients. An insurance company last year reportedly made a big profit after the school opening season thanks to its wise strategy applied.

The company successfully persuaded a district’s education sub-department to release a document, requesting the schools in the district only take insurance policies provided by the company. The original strategy then helped bring a fat profit to the insurer.

A headmaster of a high school in Vinh Phuc province said that brochures, leaflets and price quotations are successively sent to the school at the beginning of every new school year. Especially, insurance agents come to see school’s leaders to persuade to take insurance policies, offering attractive commissions to the leaders.

Also according to the headmaster, student insurance policies are not compulsory, while the premiums are relatively low. Therefore, parents would not think too much before taking insurance policies. In many cases, they just pay premiums and never take care about the insurance policies later and do not know about their benefits.

Therefore, some schools open their doors to many different insurers, which allows them to obtain higher commissions. As such, schools have turned into the trade centers, where teachers can make profit.

In late 2011, when the agents of non-life insurance companies in Nam Dinh province, came to the schools in the locality to offer insurance policies, they all received the refusal from the headmasters of the school.

The insurers later found out that the local education department decided to “join hands” with another insurance company, while the local schools all had to follow the instruction of the department.

Teachers also jump on the bandwagon

Tran Thi Tam in Hanoi said she has found out that teachers colluded with insurance agents to earn money.

Tam’s daughter one day gave her a blank paper, saying that the teacher asked to provide personal information of the parents, including the address and contact numbers. After Tam provided information, she received a lot of calls from an insurance agent, who repeatedly persuaded her to take insurance policies.

Tam could not understand why the insurance agent had so much detailed information about her until he found out that the information has been sold by the teacher.

Tran Thi Thuy in Co Nhue commune of Tu Liem district said that the teacher of her daughter even called her and introduced an insurance agent, requesting her to take insurance policies.

Ngo Van Nam, a sale agent, has revealed that insurance agents like him can apply many different methods to access clients and persuade them to take insurance policies.

Nam admitted that approaching clients via teachers proves to be the best solution. Parents would hesitate to say “no”, if they are requested by the children’s teachers.

Also according to Nam, a teacher could earn an extra sum of 2-3 million dong a month from the job of acting as the bridge connecting parents and insurance agents.

Bao Han