Is Joining a Cluster Really my Best Option?

[TIGIJ]

I'm looking to go independent in the near future and doing my research. I've been a top captive agent for AAA for a short time and a top producer st state farm for 3 years before I turned down theiragency offer . I eventually want to go independent and I'm not sure if my captive track record will get me direct appointments immediately but I have experience writing a business plan (state farm) and I have proof of my p&c sales numbers. If I can't get a direct appointment from a preferred carrier I'd prefer to go substandard, build a book and then get the appointments. Is there anything wrong with my logic? I was offered to work as a producer for a broker I know but I feel that'd be a waste of time as I've already been a producer and want to move forward not sideways. Any advice or sub standard carriers I could get appointments through in north Texas? Thank you very much

Stay away from Smart Choice Cluster. They do nothing for you at all. You do all the work and they take a large cut. Do the sub contracts and get on your own.

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I had an attorney review the contract. The problem was the attorney was not knowledgable in the insurance industry, so he pretty much was useless. Also, I was so excited to get started, I didn't do my due diligence. I wish I had talked to more people and knew about this forum before I signed. I do agree, I think the owner of the local SIAA office does make a difference, however, the guts of the contract are the same nationwide. I finally had a REAL insurance industry attorney review this contract and he said it's the most one sided contract he has seen in his 40 year career. They get you every way possible.... They get you in the beginning with the "membership fee"' they get you monthly with the splits, and finally they screw you at the end when you sell your book. In the meantime, what they sell you on is BS. Their profit sharing is crap, their support is laughable and "we get you better deals from the carriers". I am just telling you my experience has been horrible and I very much regret joining. I wish I had someone tell me the cons before I signed my insurance life away with them. If you are drinking the SIAA koolaid, good for you. iT's just not for me.

not for me either. Stay away.

 

[scooter33]

I am not much of a poster on these forums, just a lurker but thought I would chime in regarding this SIAA topic. To the SIAA haters, as an IA myself, ask that you: 1) Please please please, don't join SIAA because if you do you would become a stronger agency which would translate into stronger competition and my agency doesn't need anymore competition. Go ahead open up your P&C office and call Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, Hartford, Travelers and others asking for an appointment and report back as to which happened first: A) They hung up on your even before you spoke your name. B) They laughed at you when you told them you were a superstar agent and you can walk on water and you would produce $1 million in premium per month. C) They said "We are not appointing in your area at this time - translation get lost" even though they just appointed the agency down the street from you. D) They said "Call us back in 3 years..." but inside they were really thinking to themselves "LOL, statistically speaking this guy won't make to 3 years, poor dude . 2) In the same lines of making the competition stronger, you wouldn't want to make SIAA even bigger than they already are right! Think about it, they already have 5,000+ agencies signed up. And of course, I AM SURE AND POSITIVE that all those 5,000+ agents are really stupid and naive and they all must be living below the poverty line making $100,000+ income. Just can't believe how stupid those guys are really! (Inserting sarcasm). 3) You also would not want SIAA to grow their written premium count right! They already have a combined written premium of over $5 billion (that's billion with a "b"). Which by the way $5 billion is the size of many of the well known insurance carriers in the US today so 5 billion is yes, massively big. So yes, SIAA sucks and please don't join them. Stay a small agency as I love to compete with agencies that have 3 or 4 carriers for a risk and I show up with 16+ well known carriers and hit it out of the ballpark. Feels so good!

You either are a SIAA chapter owner or some one is paying you. There are dozens of other clusters out there, options to hook up with other IA, or start out small with just a handful of carriers appointment. Do yourself a favor, save yourself from paying a ton of money with little in return and stay away from SIAA

 

[F150]

You either are a SIAA chapter owner or some one is paying you. There are dozens of other clusters out there, options to hook up with other IA, or start out small with just a handful of carriers appointment. Do yourself a favor, save yourself from paying a ton of money with little in return and stay away from SIAA

you are always talking smack about something you dont know, if they are so bad, then why are they BY FAR the biggest cluster? I guess 5000 agents are stupid then?

 

[Einstein]

Oh no, I am just an IA myself who is more of an occasional lurker of these forums than an active poster so I have no other motives at all.

But as I said before and you are right, SIAA sucks. Please don't join them.
They are evil people. And I am sure all those 5,000+ agents SIAA have signed up are all dumb, naive, new to P&C and didn't know any better. I feel bad for those guys who are only making $100,000+ NET income. How sad is that!

As matter of fact, if you are opening a new P&C shop today, don't join ANY cluster/aggregator because they are all evil, their contracts are terribly one-sided and they are all a rip-off trying to steal your agency and your firstborn from you.

So as your COMPETITOR, if you are opening a P&C shop today, here is what you should do (just follow these steps line by line for your guaranteed success):

1) Don't join ANY cluster/aggregator nor partner with another P&C Agency. Go it alone. You don't need help getting appointments. Plus, all this talk of getting appointed with the major carriers is so overrated. Just get appointed with a couple of non-standard carriers and you should be good to go.

2) In the same lines as above, just write non-standard business. Yeah I know you will be spending most of your time rewriting your policies that cancelled due to non-payment and/or explaining yourself to your client why his/her policy issued .59 cents more than what was quoted but hey, I am your competitor so while you are messing with the non-standard clients I will be focusing on the 100/300 clients. Thank you very much.

3) Loss ratios? Oh, don't worry about loss ratios and yes I know, if you focus on non-standard business your loss ratios will be very high which could lead you to lose that "precious" non-standard appointment but hey, getting appointed with P&C carriers is easy so don't worry about that.

4) And don't worry at ALL about competition in the P&C business. The internet is going to die very soon and clients will go back to use the Yellow Pages so when that happens you will be in a prime position to write a ton of business with the 5 carriers you have. Oh sure, you might get your "arse" kicked 9 out of 10 times by other agencies that have more markets than you but don't give up, things will surely turn around soon.

So remember, follow these steps exactly as laid out and you will not fail.


Sincerley,
Einstein, your competitor.

 

[scooter33]

Oh no, I am just an IA myself who is more of an occasional lurker of these forums than an active poster so I have no other motives at all. But as I said before and you are right, SIAA sucks. Please don't join them. They are evil people. And I am sure all those 5,000+ agents SIAA have signed up are all dumb, naive, new to P&C and didn't know any better. I feel bad for those guys who are only making $100,000+ NET income. How sad is that! As matter of fact, if you are opening a new P&C shop today, don't join ANY cluster/aggregator because they are all evil, their contracts are terribly one-sided and they are all a rip-off trying to steal your agency and your firstborn from you. So as your COMPETITOR, if you are opening a P&C shop today, here is what you should do (just follow these steps line by line for your guaranteed success): 1) Don't join ANY cluster/aggregator nor partner with another P&C Agency. Go it alone. You don't need help getting appointments. Plus, all this talk of getting appointed with the major carriers is so overrated. Just get appointed with a couple of non-standard carriers and you should be good to go. 2) In the same lines as above, just write non-standard business. Yeah I know you will be spending most of your time rewriting your policies that cancelled due to non-payment and/or explaining yourself to your client why his/her policy issued .59 cents more than what was quoted but hey, I am your competitor so while you are messing with the non-standard clients I will be focusing on the 100/300 clients. Thank you very much. 3) Loss ratios? Oh, don't worry about loss ratios and yes I know, if you focus on non-standard business your loss ratios will be very high which could lead you to lose that "precious" non-standard appointment but hey, getting appointed with P&C carriers is easy so don't worry about that. 4) And don't worry at ALL about competition in the P&C business. The internet is going to die very soon and clients will go back to use the Yellow Pages so when that happens you will be in a prime position to write a ton of business with the 5 carriers you have. Oh sure, you might get your "arse" kicked 9 out of 10 times by other agencies that have more markets than you but don't give up, things will surely turn around soon. So remember, follow these steps exactly as laid out and you will not fail. Sincerley, Einstein, your competitor.

keep on drinking the SIAA koolaid. Maybe when you grow your little book as big as mine and pay them over 2k a month, you will feel my pain. Cheers!

 

[Cendee]

Caution from this guy Shawn Michael Walker, Licensed agent, Hablo Espanol Director of Recruiting and Administration. He will tell you anything to get you to join if you like the group ask for names of current agents member and call them and ask them directly if they like the group... Do your homework and find the best group also talk to SIAA group in your area they are the biggest and most successful group in the country.

I was trying to decide between PGI and SIAA/AHA. At this point was told that because AHA already has two agents in my town and both of those agents don't want another agent in town I can either pick a different town (I have realtors, bankers, mtg companies that are my contacts and provide great leads in my town) or don't start at all. So, for me the decision was made for me. But I am worried as I am employed now and I am concerned about the transition and having no income in between so it is a lot to decide. Nerves!

 

[VolAgent]

I was trying to decide between PGI and SIAA/AHA. At this point was told that because AHA already has two agents in my town and both of those agents don't want another agent in town I can either pick a different town (I have realtors, bankers, mtg companies that are my contacts and provide great leads in my town) or don't start at all. So, for me the decision was made for me. But I am worried as I am employed now and I am concerned about the transition and having no income in between so it is a lot to decide. Nerves!

Nothing against PGI, but you need to learn to think outside the box. Your license is good in the entire state, not just one town. Also, many people no longer see their agent, so even though your office is in a different town than your contacts, you could still have opened in another town and leveraged your relationships.

Again, I'm not saying this to take anything away from PGI. But this definitely should not have been your deciding factor. This is the 21st century. Preferred personal lines business almost never comes to the office anymore. Even with commercial, you will mainly be going to them if they have an office.

 

[Cendee]

Nothing against PGI, but you need to learn to think outside the box. Your license is good in the entire state, not just one town. Also, many people no longer see their agent, so even though your office is in a different town than your contacts, you could still have opened in another town and leveraged your relationships.


Again, I'm not saying this to take anything away from PGI. But this definitely should not have been your deciding factor. This is the 21st century. Preferred personal lines business almost never comes to the office anymore. Even with commercial, you will mainly be going to them if they have an office.

It's actually funny you had said

Nothing against PGI, but you need to learn to think outside the box. Your license is good in the entire state, not just one town. Also, many people no longer see their agent, so even though your office is in a different town than your contacts, you could still have opened in another town and leveraged your relationships.

Again, I'm not saying this to take anything away from PGI. But this definitely should not have been your deciding factor. This is the 21st century. Preferred personal lines business almost never comes to the office anymore. Even with commercial, you will mainly be going to them if they have an office.

It's funny that you actually said that because my original plan was to not open a brick and morter office right away but to try to start a website where people can start the quote nd I can help them thru the site or by phone so I could keep costs down and then once I start getting renewals THEN open an office. It does give me something to think about. I am just starting my research and was feeling quite iscouraged that I cant open where I live. I really appreciate your insight.

 

[shawnmwalker]

Cendee,

Were you told by a PGI Business Development Manager that we could not help you because the city you are in was over saturated? Who told you the town was at Agent capacity? What group did you go with?

Just so everyone is aware the old post that blasts me is from 2014. I have not actively recruited for PGI since about 2013. And I (We) usually get feedback on the other end of the spectrum. More along the lines of, "PGI slowed me down. pointed out weaknesses in their own contract, helped me consider and make the right choice for me, not them...."

 

[shawnmwalker]

https://insurance-forums.com/commun...oker-or-online-insurance-cluster.89102/page-2