- 5,289
That might work for an indy agent, but at least here in California State Farm is pretty expensive on life insurance.
That might work for an indy agent, but at least here in California State Farm is pretty expensive on life insurance.
State Farm is expensive here too, but the agents are captive. Can only sell SF products. They do/did have affiliate arrangements for hard to place life insurance.
People will buy from SF because of the name. Same can be said for BX, UHC (AARP) and other household name carriers.
- 15,041
Life rates rarely change by state, State Farm life insurance is pretty expensive everywhere. That isn't stopping agents from making trip across the country.
Trout is on the right idea. Close the home and auto and then just ask simple questions.
So now that we got that squared away...
"Who is your life insurance with?"
"Did you know you get an additional discount if you have life insurance with us?"
"Here's a quote for life insurance based upon the value of your home, would you like me to get that started?"
"When was your life insurance last reviewed?"
Ask any number of easy questions and don't get invested in the answer so if they say no, on to the next one.
- 15,041
If they have young kids, show them a small WL just like they might buy from Gerber.
A few years ago when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up I applied for a J O B as the life and health guy for 3 SF agencies.
At that time if SF guys wanted to max out their P&C comp they had to sell $X of life insurance.
These 3 agencies went together and were going to pay a small base salary, funnel referrals and allow the agent to mine their book. They would also pay the agent 100% of the commission.
On the surface it sounded OK but didn't have to dig too far to learn:
their products were not competitive
street commission on life was 40% (could have been 30%)
they also said I could have 100% of any health insurance commission. The corporate agreement was with Assurant. Commission was "really good" . . . 6%.
Street commission with Assurant at that time for brokers was in the 25% range.
Don't know if they ever hired anyone or not, but they did not hire me.
At that time if SF guys wanted to max out their P&C comp they had to sell $X of life insurance.
These 3 agencies went together and were going to pay a small base salary, funnel referrals and allow the agent to mine their book. They would also pay the agent 100% of the commission.
On the surface it sounded OK but didn't have to dig too far to learn:
their products were not competitive
street commission on life was 40% (could have been 30%)
they also said I could have 100% of any health insurance commission. The corporate agreement was with Assurant. Commission was "really good" . . . 6%.
Street commission with Assurant at that time for brokers was in the 25% range.
Don't know if they ever hired anyone or not, but they did not hire me.
- 24,956
Sounds like my AllState setup. AllState would not let me have a desk in the office so the three guys rented the office next door and had a door installed so clients could be walked over.
Sold my first $1,000,000 UL and was _The_ Life Insurance Specialist. Made convention to Hawaii for all three of those guys. They got plaques, trophies, and bonuses. They paid for two-night stay at the Calistoga Mud Spas for us. Gas and food were on us. Oh, and I had a whole 1 1/2 years in the business. Life Specialist
- 15,041
Sounds like my AllState setup. AllState would not let me have a desk in the office so the three guys rented the office next door and had a door installed so clients could be walked over.
Sold my first $1,000,000 UL and was _The_ Life Insurance Specialist. Made convention to Hawaii for all three of those guys. They got plaques, trophies, and bonuses. They paid for two-night stay at the Calistoga Mud Spas for us. Gas and food were on us. Oh, and I had a whole 1 1/2 years in the business. Life Specialist
Really, writing life from P&C clients, particularly name brand captives, is like shooting fish in a barrel. Problem is, as both you and Somarco mentioned, it doesn't pay terribly well. However, it has to be done for bonuses.
I have a cousin in another state who is a State Farm agent. He has told me a few times, the only trouble he has with his bonus is Mutual Funds. Life insurance, they just ask everyone and enough happens to be ok. For loans, he refinances autos like crazy. Apparently SF has really good auto loan rates and he's smart enough to wait until they add the vehicle to ask, this way it doesn't slow down the actual purchase of the vehicle. Also, I know some ask about loans whenever they write a new policy and pick up a number that way.
The issue is when it comes to mutual funds and he scrambles every year to check that box.
So long story short, if you'll just ask everyone, and I do mean everyone, you'll write more than enough life insurance to get your bonus and make trip.
- 24,956
And the numbers they expected where super low. As I said I made all three conventions in that year. I was a year and a half in the business and wrote more than the top Allstate guy in that area. And I wasn't even an Allstate agent.
A lot of P&C cases I run into are small UL or WL with larger term riders. The people swear they have Whole Life. The captive agents do not want to write it, most don't really know what they are doing, hate the underwriting. They rarely defend against replacement.
A several years ago I found out I could convert Allstate term through Lincoln Benefit. So you could convert the $225,000 term and use the CV from the imploding UL to buy down premiums on a GUL, SPWL or the client just cashes out. I was asking everyone who they had their P&C through. Worked so good I stopped doing it. Ah, Good times!
