This article is part of the Recruitment Ki SHAKTI Series of articles. This is my ninth article on this subject. You will find all my articles on agency recruitment in my blog https://www.helpindiainsure.iistpune.in/category/agency-recruitment/. In the blog you can read this article in most Indian languages. At the bottom of the screen in the blog on the right-hand side you will see drop down menu “Select language”. If you are reading from your mobile, you will have to first go to settings and choose “desktop mode” for the language option to be activated. Choose your language from the list given and your article will appear in the language of your choice.
One of the most challenging tasks in agency recruitment is getting references of eligible candidates. The most common experience when one asks for references is getting a response where you are told “I will think about it and let you know.” People hesitate to give references while talking face-to-face. Many doubts enter their minds such as: Who to recommend? Will the recommended person work properly? Will my reputation be spoilt? And many other doubts enter their minds. This is highly frustrating and you give up after a few attempts.
I have also known development officers who have advertised walk-in interviews, set up canopies at malls and airports, advertised on cable TV and in newspaper classifieds. None of this really succeeds. Many development officers offer incentives to their existing agents to refer a candidate for agency. This method, sometimes it succeeds, most often it does not.
A good method would be to internalise agency recruitment. Treat every person you meet as a potential candidate. (Read my article on this here, click on the link: https://www.helpindiainsure.iistpune.in/2025/11/10/internalise-agency-recruitment/). This method however has the limitation of not being able to reach new markets through new agents. You are dependent on luck, for you do not know who you are likely to meet. Such meetings are chance meetings, and you have no control over whom you meet.
Try the unique IIST method for successfully building your team
To do away with these limitations, we at IIST, have designed a system of getting references on the telephone. We have an exact script, which when practiced well, gives a near certainty of getting references at will. You can get as many references as you want. You can also specifically target market segments where you want the agent to work. For example, you can select agents to work in the IT sector, or with private sector executives, or businessmen, or government officers or any other segment of your choice.
This is a tried and tested system, which we use regularly in our classroom and in online training. Thousands of SBAs, development officers, CLIAs, branch managers, and assistant branch managers have used to good effect. Even companies have used this system in the entire organisation resulting in tens of thousands of agents being recruited. IIST has been training SBAs, development officers, CLIAs, branch managers, and assistant branch managers, etc. for over 20 years on this system. Many development officers come back to us for a repeat course for this system.
Recruitment Ki SHAKTI
To have a defined process in place to recruit sufficient agents to make a successful sales team join the course Recruitment Ki SHAKTI (Click on this link to know more website https://www.iistpune.in/recruitment-ki-shakti/).
This is what you will learn when you join the unique, tried and tested method of IIST’s Recruitment Ki SHAKTI course. You will learn a defined, tried and tested process of recruitment. Visit our website https://www.iistpune.in/recruitment-ki-shakti/ to know how we can help.
More tips in my next article. Look out for regular articles on agency recruitment. In the meanwhile, you may also visit the website (https://www.iistpune.in/) of The Institute of Insurance Sales Training (IIST) to know more about the number of ways we can help you reach great heights in life insurance sales team building and selling.