If you are exploring careers within the financial sector in hopes of pursuing a specific vocational path, you may at some point have asked yourself: “What does a financial service sales agent do?” Below you will find an answer to this question and several others that pertain to the field of finance.
The Financial Service Sales Agent Overview
A financial service sales agent is an individual who is responsible for selling a plethora of unique financial services. Some of these financial services can include banking services, retirement income, life insurance, long-term care insurance, and investments. Additionally, a financial service sales agent may sell institution and retail mutual funds.
Roles and Responsibilities
The roles and responsibilities of a financial service sales agent will differ based on the requirements of the employer. However, some of the typical tasks that a financial service sales agent will be required to fulfill include:
- Selling relevant financial services to both individuals and organizations
- Recommending specific financial services like retirement income, life insurance, long-term care insurance, and investments
- Building meaningful relationships with individual clients and the general community
- Providing solutions for financial goals (both short and long-term)
- Helping clients attain their desired level of financial security
- Presenting goods and services through slideshows, presentations, etc.
- Determining the client’s unique financial needs
- Determining and carefully analyzing security risks
- Developing prospects based on one’s current commercial customers, trade and sales meetings, and referral leads
- Negotiating contracts and sales agreements
- Taking payments
- Preparing agreements or forms
- Selling check processing services, investments, and trusts
- Making projections about future growth
- Advising customers about fluctuations
- Completing presentations about financial services to individuals and groups for the purpose of garnering new business
- Utilizing tax, financial, accounting, and economics skills for the purpose of reviewing the client’s data and subsequently making recommendations for investments that are conducive to the client’s objectives
- Advising the client regarding whether investment in specific stocks, mutual funds, and/or bonds would be advantageous
- Evaluating collection and accounting procedures, financial reporting systems, and investment activities
- Making recommendations for operating systems, changes to procedures, budgets, and other types of financial control functions
- Determining whether loans should be obtained in order to meet cash requirements or whether investment of surplus cash is a feasible option
- Adhering to state and federal laws while authorizing loans and directing fund investments
Job Outlook
In discussing the job outlook for financial service sales agents, College Board points out that job opportunities are expected to grow about as quickly as the national average for all vocations through the year 2020. Although the recent financial crisis resulted in a limitation on the number of positions available for some time, the industry is now in recovery. Since competition for jobs in this sector is intense, individuals who wish to pursue jobs in this field should concentrate on earning high grades in college, certification within the field, and/or attaining a master’s degree in finance or business in order to be the most marketable job candidate.
Related Resource: MBA in Finance
Conclusion
If you have given any consideration to pursuing a vocation in the finance sector, you should know that opting to become a financial service sales agent might be a good decision. Now that you have obtained a basic answer to the question “What does a financial service sales agent do?” you can decide whether this type of occupation would be an appropriate one for you to pursue.
