Agent Hoareau reaches the stars in Sacos contest ... again

The "Reaching for the Stars" contest winners.  Top agent Hoareau is third from right

For the fourth consecutive year, Life Insurance agent Simon Hoareau finished at the top of Sacos’ “Reaching for the Stars” contest with the highest new business premium income of R822,447.

Among his prizes, Agent Hoareau won a return ticket for two to any European destination, the Chairman Challenge Trophy, Certificate of Achievement and a letter of appreciation as well as a cash prize, all of which he collected from the managing director of Sacos Mr Antonio Lucas in a presentation ceremony held recently. 

43-year-old Mr Hoareau told Business Nation that his achievement is the result of strong will to succeed, good preparation and inside-out knowledge of the products he is selling.

“I’m strongly committed to assisting my clients plan for a better saving and if you have the right mind-set and willingness to succeed, you set your own targets and achieve them,” he said.

Compared to other agents who are employed and sell Life Insurance on a part-time basis, Mr Hoareau said the major advantage he has is the fact that he is a full-time agent. He has also invested in a laptop on which he keeps a record of all his clients and premium incomes as well as the various options of Life Insurance policies that will best suit their financial needs and saving plans. At the click of a mouse he can give his client an idea of their accumulated savings, depending on their contribution, in 15 to 20 years from now.

“With Life Insurance it is an obligation for you to save and compared to the banks, you always generate more than you put in. You secure in one day what will take you 20 years to get out of your savings with the bank,” he explained.

He argued that though people were today spending less, there will always be a market for life insurance as long as the desire to save is there. He however said it is possible that the average value of insurance taken by people would decrease, resulting in a reduction in the premiums collected.

In addition to the R822,447 premium income submitted during the contest, Last year Mr Hoareau brought in new businesses to the tune of R1 million.

Altogether 49 Life Agents participated in the contest which went on for a period of nine months from March to November last year. The aim of the contest, in which an agent had to bring in a minimum premium income of R50,000, was held to instill the spirit of competition among Sacos’ agents. Among the contestants, seven agents qualified after reaching the target premium required.

The second prize went to Daniel Lafleur who accumulated R492,765 as new business premium income. Mr Lafleur won a return ticket to Dubai, cash prize, the Chairman’s Challenge Trophy and a certificate of Achievement.

Marie-Paule Mousbe won the third prize, including a cash prize and a Certificate of Achievement for making R112,563 business premium income.

The other agents received cash prizes.

During the contest period only, a total of R2,061,000 premium income was brought in. The total premium received from new businesses for the whole of year 2003 was R2,409,000, an increase of R300,000 over the previous year.

The prize giving ceremony also coincided with a training session whereby the agents were enlightened about the salesmanship techniques and ways to sharpen their skills and knowledge in order to improve their volume of businesses submitted with the company. The training was conducted by Life Consultant Mr A.D Mayer from Malaysia.

Sacos has launched another contest for this year which started in March to further increase sales.

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