Mr. Subhasish Acharya is responsible for scaling up the agency business, especially focusing on further improving persistency, increasing ticket size and enhancing SM/Agent productivity. Mr. Subhasish is a seasoned sales professional with over 24 years of experience across the financial services and FMCG sectors. Prior to joining FGLI, he was the Chief Agency Officer at PNB Metlife.

Q.    What kind of challenges you and your agents’ network have you faced in the last 5 months?

Prior to COVID-19, agents and employees were accustomed to face-to-face meetings for all interactions with customers. The lockdown made this challenging and well nigh impossible in many cases. The biggest challenge has been to reimagine the sales process to minimize face-to-face interactions without declining productivity. Getting the sellers & customers to change their mindset was the biggest challenge and it required attitudinal & skill training to make it possible.

We have tried to mitigate the impact of COVID 19 by embracing digital wholeheartedly. We launched a Digital Sales Kits which helped our distributors to reach out to their prospects & customers remotely. It helped in providing all relevant information to customers in a timely manner. Our processes have been digitalized to make the entire sales journey paperless and amenable to remote selling.

Q.    What are the challenges you anticipate for the next 7 months?

While the lockdown is lifted, the threat of virus remains. Prospects & customers are still apprehensive about face-to-face interactions and arranging meeting is a big challenge. The uncertainty among salaried & business owners about future cash flows and variability will be an issue as well.

Q.    Do you think online sales of retail products will take over traditional sales in the next 5 years? 1)     If Yes, Why? If No, Why?

Let us look at the data. LIC gets 93% of its business from Agents. If we take the entire Life Insurance Industry, approx. 66% of new business is contributed by Agency with Banca coming in a distant second at 25%. The share of Corporate Agents, IMF and other business models take up approx. 5%. While I see Online sales growing at a healthy clip over the last few years, it will take a long time for it to be a large segment and 5 years is a small timeframe. 

Q.    What future do you see for your existing agents’ network?

I continue to be bullish on Agency. Customers still prefer human interactions to understand how Life Insurance solutions fits into their life stage goals. They may do research online but would eventually need affirmation and confidence which can be provided in a face to face setting. From an organizational perspective, Agency continues to be the most resilient and agile channel of Life Insurance distribution. I expect Agency to remain the dominant channel in the foreseeable future.

Q.    What are your plans for expanding the agent network?

We have expanded our network & business in last three years; our cumulative average growth rate was 49%.  The current crisis has impacted that high growth, but it is teaching us crucial lessons around “Phygital” i.e. augmenting our physical presence with digital enablement. The lessons learnt during these difficult times will be invaluable when we expand our network going forward.

Q.    Which product do you think will do well in the next 2 years and why?

The current crisis has brought home the realization to customers that they need to protect their families & loved ones from the financial ruin brought in by massive health care expenses and/or untimely death.  I expect protection & health plans to do well in next 2 years.

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