Impact of COVID-19 on personal insurance sales – Evidence from Germany

Abstract

The occupation of insurance agent involves establishing a relationship of trust with the customer and providing personal and customized advice as a prerequisite for successful sales. This paper summarizes the scientific discussion about the occupation of an insurance salesperson. Coronavirus disease 2019 restrictions have limited face-to-face meetings and complicated large parts of this occupation. The main purpose of the research is to analyze the impact of these restrictions on the sales of 130 insurance branches, comparing the sales of 2019 and 2020 separately by insurance type. This period was chosen because it allows for the usual seasonal volatility to be taken into account. To differentiate according to the type of insurance sold is therefore of interest, because large differences with regard to demand generation and the use of existing customer relationships are to be expected. It shows that consulting-intensive new contracts in the life insurance segment declined noticeably, while the upselling of existing contracts in the non-life insurance segment increased significantly. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves the importance of personal contact with the customer in the sale of life insurance and pension plans as well as the value of technical tools in upselling non-life policies. The insights from this exceptional coronavirus disease 2019 episode can also be useful in normal times for sales managers in managing insurance premiums to be sold. Further research as well as practitioners should concentrate on shock-resistant consulting approaches and techniques.

Impact of COVID-19 on the national development of countries: Implications for the public health

“…Moskovicz [23] does the same for the entrepreneurship and draws attention to the positive changes in the financing of university startups, which have a significant impact on the development of innovative activities. Keliuotytė-Staniulėnienė and Daunaravičiūtė [24] focus on the global green bond market, while Hinrichs and Bundtzen [25] tackle the insurance activity, in particular, the role and new opportunities of the insurance agent. Bouchetara et al [26] do the same for the banking sector, through macroprudential policy instruments, while Albliwi and Alsolami [27] do in the development of electronic commerce in the world.…”

Public Health System Economic Efficiency and COVID-19 Resilience: Frontier DEA Analysis

“…For example, explored the relationship between the pandemic and digitization [ 18 , 19 ], which is capable of reforming the management system in any field—including medical [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]; saw problems in the imperfection of marketing activity in terms of medical products, which complicates the timely treatment of the population, due to widespread self-medication, including during a pandemic [ 23 ]; insisted on the need to popularize a healthy lifestyle around the world as the main tool for improving the general level of public health [ 24 ]. noted that the social responsibility of tourists is a central research problem because migration processes and the tourism industry influence the spread of disease quite strongly [ 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

Impact of COVID-19 on the national development of countries: implications for the public health

“…Moskovicz (2021) does the same for the entrepreneurship and draws attention to the positive changes in the financing of university startups, which have a significant impact on the development of innovative activities. Keliuotytė- Staniulėnienė and Daunaravičiūtė (2021) focus on the global green bond market, while Hinrichs and Bundtzen (2021) tackle the insurance activity, in particular, the role and new opportunities of the insurance agent. Bouchetara et al (2020) do the same for the banking sector, through macroprudential policy instruments, while Albliwi and Alsolami (2021) do in the development of electronic commerce in the world.…”