Happy to have landed in ERGO sales

A job that suits you – this dream came true for Vanessa Scheffel. The 22-year-old is a team partner at an ERGO insurance agency in Gera.

Since 2016, Vanessa Scheffel has been an important part of ERGO’s joint office with Michael Burghold, André Fischer and Kevin Körbs in Gera – initially as a trainee, now as a team partner. While she was still at school, the 22-year-old never imagined that one day she would be working in sales for an insurance company.

The interaction with the customers is very exciting

Before her Abitur (German equivalent of A Levels), Vanessa Scheffel did not know exactly what she wanted to do for a living. During a match at her local football club, BSG Wismut Gera, she started talking to André Fischer from the General Insurance Agency in Gera. “He explained the work in an agency in detail and I found the interaction with different customers very exciting“, says the 22-year-old and adds: “After the application and assessment centre process, I was then accepted for the traineeship immediately.” And that was already a year and a half before the start of the traineeship.

“My strength lies in explaining complex topics to people in an exemplified and simple manner. That is what is really important in insurance”, says Vanessa. One cannot assume that everyone understands the details of car or life insurance immediately. She is now no longer a shy person. “And that is also very important for my job.”  

Self-employed in the agency where she was trained

Directly after her traineeship, the 22-year-old became self-employed and stayed in Gera as a team partner in Kevin Körb’s agency. “My colleagues always had time to answer unresolved questions and helped me out at times when I couldn’t help myself”, recounts the young woman from Gera and adds: “We are just a great team.” Therefore, it was obvious to her that she wanted to carry on working there.

Especially working with and for customers is very important to her. “Once I was allowed to tell a customer that the insurance was going to pay out 30,000 euros”, the insurance agent recalls. “Seeing the happy expression on the woman’s face was just beyond words.” Such moments are a confirmation to Vanessa Scheffel that she can make customers happy in her job.

“A job that suits me”

Vanessa’s hobby is western riding, a topic that often comes up briefly during small talk with her customers. The direct customer contact is what the sales representative likes. “It is really the job that suits me”, Vanessa Scheffel is sure about that.

Even if the insurance industry is often seen as being male dominated, Vanessa Scheffel feels very comfortable in her job. “In the meantime, there are many women who work successfully in sales.” However, women are often afraid of becoming self-employed. Vanessa Scheffel finds that much more thought should be given to the advantages of working independently.  

Just do it

As a woman, she never had the feeling that she had to prove herself more than her male trainee colleagues. In general, her recommendation for women who are thinking about working in the insurance industry is: Just do it. Fear is a poor basis for decision-making. “At the beginning I was also totally nervous”, Vanessa Scheffel remembers. “But in the end we are all humans, learning more from one day to the next and we all started out small.”

In the future, there will always be new challenges at hand in insurance sales, in particular with regard to digitalisation, Vanessa believes. “The question is how can we best give our customers advice, for example by offering video services?” As in any other job, in sales it is also important to stay up to date. “We must be fit and digital to stay successful.”