How To Get New Agents For My Agency

[JCK818]

No disrespect but mine get 75% minimum, based on experience. 50/50 is what Securus pays agents who opt for free leads paid for by Securus. I understand that your overhead may be high out in California, so please take this only as an observation, not a judgment. I wish you continued success. You have accomplished a lot in a short time!

You know, someone with the experience, I wont mind paying that much. If it's someone who is new though and I have to do all the work, 50% is the max. I all really depends on what the agent is willing to bring to the table.

 

[Bertolinoins]

No disrespect but mine get 75% minimum, based on experience. 50/50 is what Securus pays agents who opt for free leads paid for by Securus. I understand that your overhead may be high out in California, so please take this only as an observation, not a judgment. I wish you continued success. You have accomplished a lot in a short time!

Pretty sure Securus is life/fe/etc. 50% is very fair because of the level of service involved in P&C. They renewal rate is key for good producers... a lot of agencies will pay a high split on new business but if you stay at 50% for renewals you can get some good agents talking to you.

 

[KJ in Miami]

I'll throw my 2 cents in for what it worth... a friend of mine has been trying to recruit me since my State Farm days. But every time he does, he comes with the angle of what is the benefit to him. I come with the angle, what is the benefit to me. If you can show the benefit, I am sure you can get some good producers. But if not, well...

My friend wants me to bring business to him, he gives me 50% split. I say shoot, I am doing better here. Circumstance are probably different, but just look at it from the other guys mindset.

 

[VolAgent]

I'll throw my 2 cents in for what it worth... a friend of mine has been trying to recruit me since my State Farm days. But every time he does, he comes with the angle of what is the benefit to him. I come with the angle, what is the benefit to me. If you can show the benefit, I am sure you can get some good producers. But if not, well...

My friend wants me to bring business to him, he gives me 50% split. I say shoot, I am doing better here. Circumstance are probably different, but just look at it from the other guys mindset.

You addressed the key problem. Too many people approach a situation looking only for their advantage. If you are trying to recruit someone, you better make sure it benefits them as well, otherwise you'll always struggle to find quality recruits.

 

[Bertolinoins]

You addressed the key problem. Too many people approach a situation looking only for their advantage. If you are trying to recruit someone, you better make sure it benefits them as well, otherwise you'll always struggle to find quality recruits.

I agree, I would rather have a smaller piece of a much bigger pie and my producers help grow that pie. My producers net about what they would as a small agency owner without the headaches. My profit comes through economies of scale and increased excess commission and new business production.

 

[djs]

Can you offer a producer binding authority? Or at least quick binds?

Are you directly appointed with carriers that would make me as a producer successful? I guess part of this question is what markets do you target? Non-standard? Standard? Particular commercial lines?

What makes your agency stand out from me as a producer working for the guy a block down from you?

Answers to these and other questions will begin you down the road to finding a producer that will be successful with you. I'm sensing that you are not focusing your business enough yet to really worry about producers and because of a lack of focus you are feeling like you need them.

Go back to VolAgents post, there are a lot of questions there that you need to think through and answer before you go down the road of a producer. The devil is in the details.

Dan

 

[JCK818]

djs--thanks, very informative. Lot of the points you bring up are valid. I don't agree with the focus part. It's just that, I have a good amount of business that I generate. I just feel like I'm not growing.
I guess I need to sell my company better to potential agents as in what's in it for them besides the comm.

 

[moeasadi]

Great post Dan.

 

[djs]

Jack - by focus I simply mean that normally you bring in producers to grow an area of a business. Look at the structure of other independents. They have a few personal lines reps, that focus on personal lines. They will have a few commercial line account managers, to deal with commercial. They will have a life/health account manager for that part of the business.

Everyone knows what they do, what they are responsible for. Everyone focuses on their job. Do they cross-sell? Absolutely, but they have a primary focus.

The reason I made this comment is VolAgent asked you what you focus on and you said you were a full service brokerage. I've been there. To grow, you need to focus on a niche, maybe multiple niches. Still be a full service brokerage, but with a focus and direction. After that, a new area to focus on means bringing on a producer who focuses on that area.

Also, as you focus the agency, the benefits to a producer can become much clearer.

Let me give an example. An agency might want to grow their auto book. They want someone to go work with car dealers to get referrals for business. Now, this is a unique type of business, but can be lucrative if you know how to do it and don't mind working nights/weekends a bit. Now, I've got a little bit of a focus, now I need tools. Let's see, selling at used car dealers requires non-standard carriers, instant SR-22's, etc. This is an extremely easy market to get direct appointments with, so I line those up, have someone start shaking hands with the owners of the dealerships, put a program in place for them and work it constantly. He/She focuses on this. As the agency owner, I might even supply a donut budget to make this happen. I don't have a producer just willy-nilly doing anything, I have a producer that owns a market, focuses on success in that market, cross-sells anything he can, but he knows what to do.

By the way, if you ever go this route, understand that car dealers could care less what your rates are, they just need the paperwork from you to get their loans funded and cars delivered. The client may care about the rate, but they rarely shop at this point, so you just need some carriers that are 'reasonable' and that you don't have to worry to much about loss ratios, lapse ratios, etc.

When you understand my point about focus, you will do well and begin to grow again.

Dan

 

[JCK818]

Wow, thank you so much. You guys are great!