Have you heard of SIAA?

[STEPHEN636]

Too much is said of the commissions and not enough about the contract itself. Who controls what and owns what. What really happens to your current assets? Computers, furniture, buildings, name itself , existing books of business
How are you protected? Can you leave them ? Under what circumstances and how much does it cost IF allowed? What happens if they can not give you markets??

 

[1manshow]

Those details make much more sense !! I know of several husband/wife agencies who are doing very similar business models with great success. Wouldn't it be nice to send those unhappy recipients of a double digit rate increase to comparison shop and get paid again if they move ?

When we looked at clusters/SIAA/Smart choice, etc... SIAA did have the best carriers, the better contract and the highest return on investment for the start-up agency. Although they did not fit into our ageny future, I did find out that they were very open to negotiation and to making amendments to their contracts. So..... I'd be sure the contract I signed was the absolute best deal I could make.

Grow by 640 policies !!! In this market ?? I guess that's the politically correct corporate way of saying we'll keep your bonus for now.

 

[Rhinoguy]

he buy in is 10500, the buy out would be 30% of previous year revenue. However, there is nothing stopping me from getting appointed elsewhere and rolling a large chunk if I decided to go with SIAA. What kind of negotiations did you get to? I currently sit at app. 1.2 million on my current book, one thought is if they want me to roll that book, then we can play with the buy in.

 

[URDRWHO]

SIAA has been around a while and works well for those that can afford the fee. In the 1990's I looked into them but I think their fee was about $10,000.

I have read some negative thoughts about who owns the book of business problems, encountered if you try to sever relations with SIAA.

I am currently an exclusive agent and have been extremely succeful, however I am looking to switch to the Independant side. I see the benefit of both sides but I like the opportunity to receive 15% commision vs. 10%. This is obvoiusly significant long term. I have been speaking with a group called SIAA, they are a group that has about 12 carriers. Would anyone recommend joing a group? They do take a portion of your earnings. Are there any other groups you would or would not recommend? Thank you for all of your input.

 

[1manshow]

I had the buy-in down to 6K and I think they would have gone lower to get the business. We were talking with Smart Choice and Iriquois(sp) Group at the same time.AP at the time was around 3mil for my agency and we already had several of the same carriers they offered. It got sticky when their contract wanted a cut of all growth with those same carriers going forward and we would then be lumped into the group for profit sharing. For an agent who wasn't at profit sharing level it would not have been a problem. To give up something that I would have been getting anyway, without them, was a bit bigger pill than I could swallow.

We even negotiated a larger buyout than their standard contract offers if I decided to turn my book over to SIAA at retirement. I would advice you to approach them with your concerns about "anything" in their contract that you don't like and see if you can negotiate.

 

[RobbieTodd]

1manshow.....new to business..but if I understand your comments you arae trying to sell your agencies book of business for $3M? If so did you have an agencies with several agents (ie: 5 agents with total commission of ??). And how long did it take to grow the agencies from start? Any help you can give would be great (trying not to reinvent the wheel and learn as much now)... and was this business in only health, or other lines?

 

[1manshow]

RT, the 3Million figure is the Annual Premium generated by my book of Property/Casualty business = approx $500K/year in commissions. That is entirely auto/home/business premium, no health or life included. In my area an agency like mine will sell for 3X annual commission.


I've been at it for 21 years in a small rural area. I know agents who have reached 3mill in larger cities within 5-7 years.

 

[RobbieTodd]

1manshow....thanks for the reply. Seems like the P&C business (auto, home, business) could be a niche.

Am I correct in saying that once you have a large book of business you'll need to hire an assistant to service accts.? Is there a threshold where you see this happening (ie: If you have 1000 existing accts need assistant to maintain clients while you grow business). Another way of looking at it..(ie. $200k in commission need assistant to get to $400k so pay assistant estimated $50k) ?

 

[1manshow]

Right on the money, I don't do service work. CSR's do all the account servicing and we calculate approx 30K in payroll per 100K in commission for account service charges. I wouldn't call auto/home/business a niche anymore than I would call life/health a niche. P & C has allowed me more of a comfort zone than some of my life/health associates. They still have to maintain a proactive sales attitude 24/7 whereas I do a little more R&R (I think ??)