A Guide to P&C for New Agents and New Agencies

[Chevarian113]

Chevarian: If I understand you correctly, you are concerned that you don't want to overstate carrier commitments? In what State are you operating?
Can't help you with L&H, etc. but for P&C, if this will help you, my experience here in Florida is that both the auto and the homeowner carriers are usually content if you will commit to writing 50 polices annually with each of them, especially in the first year. Just ask each of them their average policy premium in your State and then do the simple calculation based on landing about a policy of week with each of them. Of course, you can then project your approximate revenue from these numbers, based on average commissions. Then all you have to do is meet/exceed all the goals with each carrier ! You can do it with a good marketing plan to which you believe and adhere.
Just don't take on too many commitments early on...
Hope this is of some help for you.

Thank you PhilL. I'm not going for direct appointments but for a cluster or IMO when I do get moving, so I am unsure how much is realistic to expect for the reasons of overstating when proposing to this organizations. I am in VA at the beach. Our average HO is probable around 1200-1400 and auto is probably 350/ 6 mos. Your info is helpful, so thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

[fig2010]

I wish I had this information 2.5 years ago!! Thank you so much for starting on the ground floor. After a loss of our business I got my license but no one was hiring in our rural area so I started my own agency in 2010 using Smart Choice for my main carriers. (kind of a 'fools rush in' thing) My learning curve has been straight up but my underwriters have been amazing. The hardest part (other than leads) is figuring out the infrastructure for the office itself. I had to create a general app for homeowners pulling from all my HO carriers, same with autos etc. I have Travelers but my strongest HO market right now is Safeco. Smart Choice was the right option for me because we had nothing to 'buy' a franchise and I work with great people, however, I wish there was more training available on general insurance. Thanks again for taking the time to post this - I'm sure I'll be referring back to it!

 

[BoozerBear]

Anyone in AZ who could provide some support or would let me write business for them. I'm looking to start an independent agency in the far West Valley (Buckeye, Tonopah, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Avondale, Tolleson)?

 

[PhilL]

BoozerBear, I sent this earlier today on another post but I believe it is relevant for you here, if you are looking to join a group in AZ that might give you more options for your situation:

Suggest you go to:

www.agencyequity.com

One of the boxes near the top of the home-page is 'Insurance Agency Clusters Directory'

Click-on that link and choose Arizona from the drop-down.
Then click search and you will get four pages of listings, with five or six entities on each page, with a brief description of each and links to their sites. Hope this might help you. Good luck in your search efforts...

 

[Guidance]

Hi there, thank you for posting. I got some helpful information.
I have my own insurance company that I started a couple years ago, but I only sell life and health. I just got my p&c license and im a bit confused on how to merge that within my broker/company license. Any tips on that? Can I just add lines to it as I would with my individual license?

Also, would I need a seperate E&O for my company?

Thanks in advance!

 

[PhilL]

'Guidance', What is your State? As for the licensing, check with your State's Insurance Department of Dept of Financial Services or whatever they refer to it as in your State.
That should be a pretty easy question for them to answer for you.
As for the E&O, you should ask your provider to endorse your current policy to cover you for your P&C exposures.

Hi there, thank you for posting. I got some helpful information.
I have my own insurance company that I started a couple years ago, but I only sell life and health. I just got my p&c license and im a bit confused on how to merge that within my broker/company license. Any tips on that? Can I just add lines to it as I would with my individual license?

Also, would I need a seperate E&O for my company?

Thanks in advance!

 

[AJ3]

Thanks For a great POST.

 

[ngcsu2477]

Great read! I've been a captive for 4+ yrs and am considering starting my own business. Question...what are your thoughts on joining an alliance? Pros? Cons?

 

[ins cloud]

Great read! I've been a captive for 4+ yrs and am considering starting my own business. Question...what are your thoughts on joining an alliance? Pros? Cons?

I've also been captive for about 4 years looking to go on my own. The only advice I can give you regarding alliances is everyone is different and there is plenty of info on all of them on this site. It also depends where you are, in Long Island ny the only one even offering any good markets is SIAA but then again they also have a $10k startup fee so it makes it a difficult decision to use them.

I'm considering using a friend of mines direct appointments and acting as an outside producer in my own office space. It's tricky but met life auto is all any cluster will offer me besides SIAA.

Good luck and I would love to hear how it works out for you

 

[PhilL]

What is the State in which you intend to operate?
If you want a listing of the major questions you should be asking of alliance networks, franchisors, etc., send me an email or call me. My contact info is on my site listed in my signature section below.
Also, check-out www.agencyequity.com for some great information that can help you through the planning and process.
All the best to you!

Great read! I've been a captive for 4+ yrs and am considering starting my own business. Question...what are your thoughts on joining an alliance? Pros? Cons?