Advice Needed

[NYR85]

Hello everyone I am new to the forum. I just passed my NYS exam for Life/Health/Accident and am now looking for some advice on how to break into the business. What is the best way? Should I go work for an agency or just sell independently? Is it tough getting appointed if you do not have experience or do you get appointed by just having E & O insurance? I want to focus on Life insurance for starters, so my thinking was to pick 5-6 carriers and just focus on selling their products. The policies seem pretty straight forward and it's just a matter of finding the right policy that fits best for the clients needs and one they can afford. Again, I literally just passed my exam a few days ago. How far away from reality am I (lol)? What are the benefits of going to work in an agency/brokerage? What do they teach you? Do they teach you? I'm under the assumption that they give you a bunch of leads and make you cold call all day. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance! -James

 

[Josh]

What part of NY?

What made you decide to get licensed?

You're going to have some options. For LA and H your options are limited. The health market in NY is abysmal at best, the life market is extremely competitive. If you have a decent resume (experience, degree, etc) you can probably interview with one of the shops that offers a base, but that is still going to involve you marketing. If you want to just get appointed and start having at it you can absolutely do it. You're going to need to find your own leads and get your own support, iliaa.org is well worth the bucks they charge for it.

Don't take lightly the fact that the majority of agents fail. That isn't to necessarily discourage you, but consider it. Agents fail because they don't have training to know what they're doing and they don't have a way to consistently get in front of qualified prospects. those are going to be your two biggest challenges. If you don't want to become part of the disappointed crowd, make sure you address those two concerns and it will help you out a great deal.

 

[NYR85]

Hey Josh thanks for the reply. I am on Long Island and I got licensed because I am looking for a career change and think insurance might be a good fit. Right now I am in the process of transferring ownership of my current business and will be receiving income from it for the next year or so; so it's not like I will need to earn a salary right off the bat. My original plan was to go directly into P&C and sell construction insurance since my current business is NYC commercial construction, but after doing research I became more and more interested in selling life insurance. P&C is still part of the plan, I just decided to go for LHA license first. I'm going to look into the iliaa, that looks like it will be a big help. What I want is a business operation/procedure manual of some sort for life insurance brokers. Thanks again for your input.

 

[Larry Tew]

Career companies / agencies take a bit of a beating on this board, but you should give that route some serious consideration. Even an average agency will provide training and structure that you won't have as an independent at your level of experience.

 

[LGilmore]

very much agree with Larry on this. You should look at a career agency to get started with as there is more to learn than what you may think. This really isn't a DIY business as just passing an exam in no way makes you knowledgable about products or situations you may run across. You can do more harm than good just winging it.

Look at spending at least 5 years or so with a name carrier in their agency force. That way you will get an education and after you've learned for a while then you can decide if captive or independent is for you.

Am I saying you can't make it as an independent out of the box? No, but it will be very hard to do so. A career company can give you a solid begining in this business.

 

[Larry Tew]

Exactly, and there are plenty of MDRT, COT, and TOT producers in the captive system that wouldn't ever consider going independent.

 

[xrac]

very much agree with Larry on this. You should look at a career agency to get started with as there is more to learn than what you may think. This really isn't a DIY business as just passing an exam in no way makes you knowledgable about products or situations you may run across. You can do more harm than good just winging it.

Look at spending at least 5 years or so with a name carrier in their agency force. That way you will get an education and after you've learned for a while then you can decide if captive or independent is for you.

Am I saying you can't make it as an independent out of the box? No, but it will be very hard to do so. A career company can give you a solid begining in this business.

I third it! Start with a NYL, Guardan, MM, NWML, or a MetLife.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

I third it! Start with a NYL, Guardan, MM, NWML, or a MetLife.

PM me your info if you're interested in this route. I know a couple of good agencies with the firms mentioned above that are on Long Island.

 

[Advisor06]

Look at spending at least 5 years or so with a name carrier in their agency force. That way you will get an education and after you've learned for a while then you can decide if captive or independent is for you.

Am I saying you can't make it as an independent out of the box? No, but it will be very hard to do so. A career company can give you a solid begining in this business.

By "name carrier" does that exclude carrier like Penn Mutual who operate under an agency name? I am in a similar position and my friends keep thinking going with a big name carrier like Pru or NYL would be better because of the name rather than XYZ Group.

 

[AdvisorsIns]

I sell a ton of P&C business and then multi-line them with life insurance. It is a much easier foot in with P&C. I have a few State Farm Agents in my pocket and a hand full of mortgage brokers in my pocket constantly referring business. State Farm sends me commercial business they can't write which is a lot and mtg brokers send me personal households. 50% of your P&C clients will buy life. Health. Disability. LTC. Annuity. Products.
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Look for a local independent agent you can go to work with that might give you an option for equity in your book you create.