Crossing borders this time to feature two international guests on the talk show, we have Divya Tusnial from India who shared how she went from a housewife in a traditional family in a male-dominated society to now multiple Top-of-Table (TOTs) PER YEAR (!) and to be among the best in Asia and the world.
Our second international guest from Cambodia -Sunlin York, an Associate Director who shared his experience on leading in unchartered waters, how he started his career in the very nascent stages of the life insurance sector in the kingdom and overcame the challenges in the way.
From housewife to TOT: Divya Tusnial
Timestamp: 8m
It’s been 10 years since Divya entered the insurance industry, but she still recalls her journey and how it was like back then. “It’s not easy because I come from a male-dominated Indian society where women are considered less, even till today. So, just imagine how it was like 10 years back”, she said.
As an insurance agent, Divya had to face countless rejection from clients just by being female. In her society where 99% of decision makers are men, women were almost always left out of their own family matters, let alone handling financial issues of clients who started out as strangers.
Realising the importance of insurance from her own life story when her Father-in-law passed away without any policies and her family struggled through hard times putting food on the table, Divya made it her mission to talk to as many people as possible.
“Insurance act as magic money during times of crisis when you most need it.” She added that it’s hard enough when people do not like to talk about death, but it’s harder when insurance is not a physical, nontangible product.
The three things that keep her going and shining her brightest:
- Purpose in life: Without a purpose in life, it’s very hard to succeed. Only when you have a fire burning in your heart will it help you to succeed. For Divya, her purpose is her children. Ensuring she provides for her children as well as being their role model in life.
- Have a long term goal: Recalling that she’s earned the fruits of her hard work only after a few years of “working like a slave”. She says that there is no shortcuts and substitute for hard work, so one has to work very hard in their career.
- Place client’s interest before your own: A trait that is important to have in the insurance industry. Divya’s aware that many agents sell plans to earn the highest commission regardless of whether the plan suits their clients. However, she said what makes her successful is that she places her clients’ interest ahead irrespective of what she’ll earn of it.
Leading in unchartered waters: Sunlin York
Timestamp:32m 40s
Coming from Siam Reap, Cambodia, where it’s flourishing in the tourism sector, insurance is rarely a subject on people’s minds. A fairly new industry that only started roughly in 2012, it was hard for agents to penetrate and build the industry up. In fact, Sunlin started the life insurance sector with a team of only five members. And today, he has grown the team to over 1,000 life insurance agents.
His secret to his success?
“A big part is through the educational seminar”, Sunlin said it’s through seminars and such platforms that gave rise to people learning, exploring and discovering the importance of life insurance and agency sales.
Arranging meetings and team bonding sessions where like-minded people gather often helped when they start sharing and learning from one another. “In any situation, I strongly believe that when we have one spirit together – as one family- we learn from each other, and we share our challenges and we share one goal together,” he said.
His holds his agency like an extension of his family. He says the “family spirit” in his team helps them share good times and bad times together. And coming back to the drawing board to handle challenges together.
Having the CEO as their coach helps improve their performance as the CEO provides guidelines and advice for all to implement.
Personality profiling by Benjamin Ang
Timestamp: 24m 40s
Editor of Asia Advisers Network, Benjamin meets a whole range of people. From CEOs to agency leaders to rookie insurance agents. He admits he’s always curious about the many people he meet. As most of the people he meets are high achievers and brilliant.
One method he uses frequently to help identify a person’s personality is the Macdoer Spectrum Profiling. In an intensified version of the profiling test, Ben started off with three image cards to identify “external environment”.
Which three images depict you the most?
If you selected the first image: Do you gravitate towards adventures, challenges and unafraid of the unknown? You could be a Challenger. A Challenger focuses on end results and could sometimes forget to enjoy the process. Challengers are direct and never beat about the bush when it comes to getting things done, and they can be a little confrontational as this individual is more interested in the end results rather than winning friends and favours. These people are in control and are problem-solvers, and they value determination and hard work.
If you selected the second image: Are you someone who embraces the environment -everything from the ground all the way to the sky? You could be an Engager. An Engager is someone who likes to share with people more about the interesting and lively world. A passionate, highly popular and sociable personality who makes friends easily with anyone and everyone. A natural crowd-puller with the ability to interact and converse well in any social situation.
If you selected the third image: You love the beach and can spend hours and days at the beach, just unwinding or doing your thinking. You could be a Relaxer. Relaxers tend to set simple and easily attainable goals for themselves. They achieve the most when working alone, as they dislike being thrust into the limelight and having to work under pressure. Commonly viewed as an underachiever, they’re very capable of producing results due to their innate capabilities.
Would you like to know more about yourself? Reach out to Ben for an in-depth personality test now!
Munch with Jen and Ben is produced by Jensen Siaw (Jensen Siaw International), in collaboration with Benjamin Ang (Asia Advisers Network) and Ken Kish (Munch Munch)
Stay tuned to us and come online every Tuesday at 9pm +8 GMT on Jensen Siaw International. Stay safe, safe sane and stay home! See you soon.
Find us interesting and want to watch more? Here are the past episodes:
#MunchwithJenandBen- Ep 9- Create a great virtual impression with Agnes Ng, Asia’s Rookie Agency Leader 2018 who shared her checklist of 10 items on creating a fantastic virtual impression. Coach Joshua Luke continued selecting lucky viewers to come online for a personalise coaching on what goes well according to their skin colour.
#MunchwithJenandBen- Ep 8- Master Virtual Selling with Wilson Tan and Edwina Woo. Despite the CoVid-19 situation, both are successful in virtual selling and more than willing to share their step-by-step guide with the audience.
#MunchwithJenandBen- Ep 7- Leaders lead the way features three established leaders in the industry to share with you how they are dealing with the CoVid-19 and pandemic situation, and how they continue to maintain their business and keep their team motivated to reach their MDRT goals. Watch this episode to hear tips and insights from Jong Thian Lung, Calvin Lee, and Melvin Toh.
#MunchwithJenandBen – Ep 6- catching up good times spots a more relaxed and light hearted talk show between the zoomies. Special guest invited is a familiar face on the show- Coach Joshua Luke. He brings good tips and advice on improving your virtual branding as well as how to look good in front of the camera.
#MunchwithJenandBen - Ep 5 - is this year "lost"? with special video clips from Delia Wong, Country Chair of MDRT Singapore, Eric Seah, Inspirational Leader of the Year finalist, and MDRT Qualifying Member Helen Goo & her daughter Annabel.
#MunchwithJenandBen - episode 4 - Rolling with the punches with co-hosts International Motivational Speaker Jensen Siaw, Asia Advisers Network Editor Benjamin Ang and Munch Munch boss Ken Kish
#MunchwithJenandBen - episode 3 - Creating magic in your life with Jaslyn Ng, Asia's Top 5 Rookie Insurance Agent 2019, a high-flying HR Director-turned-COT producer, and Edmund Khong, one of only four World Master Clowns in the world
#MunchwithJenandBen- episode 2- Cooking up a Storm! with Joshua Luke, an award winning entrepreneur and celebrity master branding consultant, and Leslie Koh a financial practitioner who has a strong culinary passion and has had many of his cooking recipes gone viral online.
Munch with Jen & Ben - Episode 1 with Jason Tan, Leads Generation Architect and Tay Kah Lok, Executive Financial Consultant.
Join co-hosts Jensen, Benjamin and Ken every Tuesday at 9pm (Sg time).
#MunchwithJenandBen is produced by Jensen Siaw International in collaboration with Asia Advisers Network and Munch Munch.
For those who would like to make a special guest appearance on the talk show, reach out to Connect@AsiaAdvisersNetwork.com or Gladys@AsiaInsuranceReview.com to find out how!