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Rasheeda Bhagat

LIC helped this teacher to earn, as a full time agent, six times his teacher's salary, within the first year; and he never looked back. Rasheeda Bhagat meets A.Henry Jebaraj, an extremely successful LIC agent.

Till 1990 he was working as a teacher in a government aided school in Chennai drawing a monthly salary of Rs 1,100. The son of two teachers from Tirunelvelli district, for this B.Sc. graduate in Mathematics, teaching appeared to be the natural vocation and so he qualified as a B. Ed and came to Chennai for a job in 1986. But the money was modest, so when a student, whose father was a development officer in LIC, told him that his father wanted to see him regarding a job in LIC, A. Henry Jebaraj, promptly met the man.

Only to find that there was no job as such but the LIC was looking for agents. In 1988, he didn't know anybody in Chennai, except the students, but he never approached the students' parents regarding an LIC policy. During holidays, he would go on his cycle to offices and canvass for LIC policies from morning to late evening.

In the first month, there was no response, as people said they already had insurance cover. But the next month, he did start getting some business. For a while, he got policies with sum around Rs 50,000, but was enthused when one person took a policy for Rs 3.5 lakh, "which was a huge sum in those days". Soon his commission from the policies he got was more than his teacher's salary, and in the April of 1990, he quit his job as a teacher.

Today, hold your breath, he earns "Rs one lakh plus" a month as an LIC agent and is a member of the Chairman's Club as well as the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) of the US.

And the cycle was first replaced with a TVS Champ, then TVS Suzuki and another mobike. In 1995, when he qualified as a member of the Chairman's Club, he got an interest-free loan to buy a car. He bought a Maruti Omni, and after four years, an Opel Corsa.

And he no longer takes out printouts containing information about various LIC policies. Today, he makes Power Point presentations through a sleek version of a Sony laptop, which he always carries with him. "It also has a camera, with which I take photographs of my clients and mail copies to them," says the soft-spoken man.

The climb up has been a difficult one. But his patience, persistence and, above all, his willingness to help his clients and probable clients with things like getting housing loans through the LIC Housing Finance Corporation, has eventually paid him rich dividends.

It was this kind of attitude which got him policies over a whopping Rs One crore in the first year of his career as a full-time LIC agent. "In 1990, when I quit as a teacher, I thought that if I got policies worth Rs 1.5 lakh, I would get a better return than from teaching. But within the first year, I canvassed to over 175 people and it was the first time in the history of Branch VI in Chennai that in a single year, an agent got policies with sum assured over Rs One crore. The previous record was only Rs 60 lakh. At that time, hardly 20 agents were getting that kind of business for LIC," he recalls proudly.

Within the first year itself his monthly income was six times his salary as a teacher and from then onwards, there was no looking back for Jebaraj.

In the first year itself he got a single policy for Rs 10 lakh. But he got this policy after following up for six long months. "The man was a businessman dealing in consumer goods. At first, I got a loan for one of his employees for housing from the LIC and gradually won his confidence and trust."

For the last 12 years, Jebraj's performance has been consistent and there has been no year when he has got policies for less than Rs One crore; with the last year getting him policies worth Rs 5.3 crore.

The biggest success he has got from a single customer as yet is for three policies totalling Rs 1.25 crore. "This man is from the advertising industry and at first said he won't take any policy from me but would go to the LIC through his own agent. To which I said, `Okay, go to your agent, but let me educate you about the best policies that LIC offers'. I would give him printouts of various good products from LIC, and say, `don't miss out on these'."

The ad executive too was helped by Jebaraj to get a housing loan from LIC's housing arm at a much lesser interest; "something that saved him Rs 10,000 in interest alone every month, compared to the deal he had got from another institution."

Soon he became a friend and about six months ago gave this agent his big break; Rs 1.25 crore policies from a single individual. Incidentally, he has helped over 500 people to get housing loans through the LIC.

So with the private insurance players coming in, is the going getting tougher?

"Not really. These days, people are much more knowledgeable and have more information about life cover. Today, LIC policies have become a very good investment. We are giving a 7 per cent assured return in one policy called New Jeevan Shri policy. The bank gives hardly 6.5 per cent return and here you have the life risk covered too. Of course, there is competition today from the private players, but here you are talking about a track record of 40-50 years. It will take them a minimum of five to seven years to declare a bonus, so till then we have that extra edge," he says cheerfully.

When asked how it feels to earn every month "Rs one lakh plus", a sum that is much more than the salary earned by principals of colleges, forget school teachers, he can't stop laughing. And then comes out with this reply, "Forget principals of colleges, there are some LIC agents who are earning 10 times the LIC Chairman's salary."

Of course, he is eyeing that slot. "If you go to MDRT, there are insurance agents who might be earning in crores."

That is in the world of global insurance, but what about Indian agents; are there agents who make Rs 5 or 10 lakh a month from LIC?

"Sure," says Jebaraj. "In a Rajasthan village, a single person took an LIC policy for Rs 51 crore, and he was canvassed by a small agent."

The 40-year-old man believes in simple living and wants to give his two daughters the best of education. As for his future dream, he says he wants to get more and more business for LIC and hence make the grade first to the `Court of the Table' and then `Top of the Table', higher rungs of the MDRT.

He loves music and playing the guitar relaxes him. The next item on his agenda is to attend a meeting of the MDRT in the US, where every year, 6,000-8,000 insurance agents assemble.

"I qualified for this meet twice, but couldn't make it; but this year, I am looking forward to attending it," he adds.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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