Even with more than three decades of experience in the insurance industry, Ida Sheng-Jacob still has the hunger to learn more as a financial advisor and agency leader. This comes quite a surprise for someone who has literally grown up in the business since her parents sold life insurance as early as 1966.
In an online interview with BuinessMirror, Ida said there are still so many things to explore and learn. “In fact, this pandemic comes as a silver lining in the industry with many people becoming aware of the importance of insurance, and with many Filipinos actually getting themselves and members of their families insured,” said Ida, Insular Life or InLife’s Top Agency Head for 2020.
As the Agency Head of Binondo District Sales Office (DSO), Ida has received many awards in the last ten years.
But for her, these recognitions are just icing on the cake. “What’s important are the changed lives of those insured and their loved ones, especially at this time of the pandemic. Our commitment is living up to the promise we made.”
A teacher by heart, Ida joined InLife in 1988 and stayed with the company for the past 33 years. She started with training financial advisors in insurance selling. But several turn of events led to another until she became the District Sales Manager of Binondo DSO. She currently leads 280 financial advisors and 60 unit managers.
“It’s a position I’ve held for 27 years. Until now I’m still teaching financial advisors and leaders, and I love my job – I would not trade it for any other,” she shared.
Ida added that the opportunity to reach out to women and empower them with financial literacy makes her job even more fulfilling.
“The sad events in our life would be sickness, accidents, and death. Let’s not make it sadder with the addition of emergency and retirement. All women are Sheroes in their own right – old and young, single or married, working moms and housewives. They should be financially empowered to handle these events in their lives,” she said.
Ida admitted that she has more nurturing relationships with her women clients. She described her dealings with women clients as mas mahabang kwentuhan and matiyagang pakikinig. “But once they decide on investing in insurance they become empowered, knowing fully well that they’ve got a fallback or something to lean on for future financial needs.”
“Everybody wants to give the best to his or her family. In this business, we build up people. We don’t actually think of meeting our quota anymore. We want to help families, especially our financial front liners who are mostly women,” Ida explained.
“We want our workers to be economically prepared at the time of their retirement. We want to make our clients happy as well. Dapat sulit ang binayad nila. In fact, we want to give more. Anybody who has a financial concern will surely need insurance,” she added.
Age of digitalization and millennials
Convincing people to invest in life insurance is a lot easier now because of digitalization.
“InLife has been underwriting digitally since 2015. So everything is easier, especially for the clients. In just about 30 minutes, we can close a deal and then have all the applications approved through our automated underwriting system,” Ida said.
“Whether young or old — people are now more aware that they need life insurance — even the millennials. Before the pandemic, they didn’t care but now they do,” she added.
And since people are more open-minded now, they would accept the concept of insurance, especially when combined with investments. “They seem to love it – the insurance combined with investments, especially the millennials,” Ida said.
Ida also pointed out that at least 80 percent of her team are Millennials and Gen Z who reach out to more Filipinos to be financially literate especially during this challenging times.
What could be Ida’s secret to success throughout all these years?
“Surround yourself with positivity. Focus on the things that will make you a better person. Success is significant when you make a difference in the lives of others. So build people up. Do everything passionately with persistence.”