This year's recipient of the highest honor in the Tongyang Life Insurance Yearly Awards, the 'Tongyang Award,' is Park Chan-taek, who has been working as a financial planner for two years.
Park noted on the 26th, "After starting my work as a planner at Tongyang Life Insurance, I only thought about when I could step onto the stage for the Yearly Awards, and I was really happy to win the Tongyang Award the very next year after starting my career and fulfilling my dream," adding, "Once I was on stage, the sense of responsibility to maintain that position became even more significant."
Park's decision to become a planner stemmed from practical reasons. He was a public servant aspirant studying for the civil service exam. However, when his maternal grandfather was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, he had to balance his studies with work. What began as a necessity for livelihood gradually became a calling deeply rooted in his heart.
Park said, "The fact that a planner can provide assistance to clients has become increasingly important to me," and added, "I realized that heartfelt advice for someone can hold significant meaning during crucial moments in life, and since then, I have sincerely embraced this work."
Last year, Park signed 315 contracts. The retention rate for the 13th meeting stands at 98.1%, exceeding the industry average. Reactions in the insurance industry suggest that such figures cannot be easily explained by mere luck or sales skills.
Park mentioned, "Insurance policies and securities feel very unfamiliar and complex to ordinary clients," and stated, "I strive to explain things as simply as possible in a way that clients can easily understand, and I conduct thorough comparative analyses with competing products to guide them toward the most advantageous choices."
Park is striving to identify himself not as a salesman of products but as an expert who proposes insurance tailored to clients' lives. It is important to begin from the client's perspective and convey information persuasively using objective statistics and data. He stated, "It's important to make judgments based on the client's life, not my own standards."
When asked what he considers most important when recommending insurance products, Park replied, "People." He explained that since individuals differ in terms of occupation, gender, age, and income, there are no standardized answers in insurance, and understanding the client's life is the starting point.
Park advised those dreaming of becoming planners, saying, "This job has the noble influence of protecting someone's life," adding, "It may not be easy at first, but as you gain experience and progress step by step, anyone can rise to a good position." He concluded with, "The key is not to give up."