How to Learn Insurance: A Step-by-Step Guide

It may have been a while since you had to think about how to learn insurance. However, the reality is that we desperately need to welcome great new people to this industry. There are not enough licensed agents to fuel demand. This leaves most independent agents needing to find, hire, and train new people. This is a huge opportunity to invest in building a team that has your values and embraces your processes. The challenge is that learning insurance needs to be clearly outlined and taught in a structured way to develop new team members.

Structuring a Program On How to Learn Insurance

Your first step is to understand that new hires need to learn everything, and we have to prioritize.

Start with the core areas, like:

• What is insurance
• Systems and technology
• Carriers
• Processes & procedures
• Your agency values, vision, and culture

You can see this is a lot. We always recommend starting with your agency and then moving into the basics of what insurance is. When a new hire gets the foundations squared away, the rest of the training becomes much easier and faster.

Recently, we had a team member on the commercial team ask what an E&S policy was. That is a reminder that sometimes we need to slow down training to speed it up.

Training About Your Agency

The first and easiest step is to share information about your company with the new hires. This is something that everyone can grasp and easily learn. In addition, this can help the team really bond and get excited about the choice they made to join your team.

Start with the basics, such as:

• Agency History
• Agency Stats (PL/CL, Customer Count, Policy Count)
• Team/Organizational Chart
• Carriers
• Acquisitions
• Owner(s) Bio
• Mission, Vision & Values
• Goals/Incentives
• Team Meetings 
• How Your Agency Obtains Customer Feedback (Surveys, Reviews)
• Agency Technology

Insurance 101 Training

Now we need to start teaching someone with very limited insurance knowledge about the industry. This is harder than you may think. Many of us who have been in insurance for years have what I call “insurance brain,” which means we do not always remember how hard it is to teach someone about our industry.

Your friends at APP have a few resources that can help you train your team:

• Insurance 101 Training: This is available on-demand video and live virtual training!
• How to Sell and Explain Coverage: This is a coverage guide of 62 different insurance coverages with claims examples, objections and what the coverage actually does!
• WOW Customer Service: This covers how to go the extra mile in every service interaction
• Processes: If you do not have a process guide, you can develop one quickly based on APP’s best practices

Why not diversify your training approach and get help educating your new hire? After all, we specialize in how to learn insurance. 

Here are some items you will want to pull together if you don’t use our services: 

• Glossary of Insurance Terms: Remember, insurance is a new language for most people
• Your Procedure Manual: This allows them to have a reference of how to do everything 
• Carrier Appetites: One-page guides on each carrier
• Tech Cheat Sheet: What technology you have and what it does 

From there, you can start training the new hire on the value and purpose of insurance. Here is a quick overview of what you should cover: 

• What is insurance and why it’s critical 
• Show an actual policy so they can see what is included
• Explain claims and the process of filing and paying claims
• Identify how insurance premiums are derived (high level)
• Policy life cycle: New Business, Renewal, Policy Cancellation
• Types of insurance
• Insurance Industry Roles: Agent, Carrier, Underwriter, Reinsurance, Claims Adjuster, Marketing Rep
• Licensing and regulations
• Common Insurance myths
• Independent Agents vs. Captives
• Review a sample policy with them (if possible their policy)
• How policies are quoted

This training may take 1 to 2 weeks if you want to go deep and make sure these foundations are fully taught and understood. Have the trainee take quizzes or do presentations on the content to ensure they are fully listening and understanding. 

Setting Training Expectations

Let’s be honest, most trainees are not used to being in training, and we are not always great trainers. Setting expectations up front is critical. 

Here are a few training tips we use to make sure the team member is staying engaged and keeping up:

• During every training session, you need to take notes and share what you learned at the end
• Set the expectation that, if training is virtual, they will be on camera
• Tell them they are required to ask 1 to 3 questions at the end of each section
• Share with them that there will be weekly quizzes so the team member focuses on learning, not just awareness

By having clear expectations, you make sure training time is valued.

Conclusion

Building a structured program for learning insurance turns one of the industry’s biggest challenges—finding and onboarding new talent—into a real competitive advantage for your agency.

By starting with your agency’s story, laying a strong insurance foundation, equipping new hires with the right tools and processes, and setting clear expectations from day one, you create confident, values-driven team members who hit the ground running and stay for the long haul.

In a market starving for licensed professionals, this intentional approach doesn’t just speed up ramp-up time. It also builds a stronger, more aligned agency culture that fuels sustainable growth for years to come.

The future of your independent agency starts with how well you teach the next generation. Start building your training program today and watch your team, and your business, thrive.

If you need help with training, check out our Insurance 101 Training. 

🔥 Dive into our latest blog How Agencies Help New Team Members Learn Insurance in Record Time 

🎉 Get our FREE Insurance 101 Glossary of Key Terms 

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