Joint Vendor Opportunity For Agent Looking to Grow

[NY Investor]

Hi - I have been involved in digital media buying for over 15 years, specifically in the insurance lead generation area.

After selling hundreds, if not thousands of leads per month to aggregators who sell to agencies and brokers, I am interested in moving up the ladder and finding a partner to start our own agency. I have capital to invest along with the technology resources to built anything you think would improve results.

I am located in NYC and would prefer someone in the area either on Long Island or New Jersey to work with.

Sorry if this comes off as naive that the leads are what drives the insurance business, but I would love to discuss with someone who has industry knowledge on how we can build a large nationwide insurance company.

Thanks in advance for allowing me to participate in this forum, it has been incredibly helpful for me.

 

[Mrmoose]

Perhaps make a case for yourself. What ideas do you have?

 

[NY Investor]

That is fair.

I am an entrepreneur that has built and sold multiple business in the advertising and tech space. Most of my success has been based in high volume lead generation for companies like Media Alpha, Everquote and direct carriers like Aflac.

On the technology side, I have hired teams that built apps, websites, call center tech, etc to optimize "lead to conversion" funnel.

I am looking at no longer getting paid $20 for a great lead, but make residual income from the skills I have accumulated over the last 20 years.

There is a lot more value in growing something from zero than if I went and bought an agency to scale. Hope that helps.

 

[Josh]

I am looking at no longer getting paid $20 for a great lead, but make residual income from the skills I have accumulated over the last 20 years.

I think you're going to be surprised what life is like on the other side. Sounds like the best place for you to start (in terms of quick/easy) would be to get your agent license. It would let you do fee splitting, but it would also let you start to get hands on experience with the other aspects of running an agency. Those residuals sound great, but until you actually balance that income against the ongoing expense of servicing the clients, you really don't know what you're "earning".

 

[DonP]

That is fair.

I am an entrepreneur that has built and sold multiple business in the advertising and tech space. Most of my success has been based in high volume lead generation for companies like Media Alpha, Everquote and direct carriers like Aflac.

On the technology side, I have hired teams that built apps, websites, call center tech, etc to optimize "lead to conversion" funnel.

I am looking at no longer getting paid $20 for a great lead, but make residual income from the skills I have accumulated over the last 20 years.

There is a lot more value in growing something from zero than if I went and bought an agency to scale. Hope that helps.

So you want your own agency to override thousands of agents with overrides ? That's fine and were you'd attract a ton of agents is if you sell these leads at cost . Many net leads cost $3-$7 to generate and lead vendors sell them for $20-$25. I'd highly recommend selling them at cost so you have no conflict of interest . If you sold leads at cost and gave out street contracts you'd attract a ton of agents . You cut out the lead middle man .

 

[NY Investor]

So you want your own agency to override thousands of agents with overrides ? That's fine and were you'd attract a ton of agents is if you sell these leads at cost . Many net leads cost $3-$7 to generate and lead vendors sell them for $20-$25. I'd highly recommend selling them at cost so you have no conflict of interest . If you sold leads at cost and gave out street contracts you'd attract a ton of agents . You cut out the lead middle man .

Yea - I would be a partner so the lead cost would be fully transparent etc. We could also fine tune the media targeting for certain types of insurance leads that offer better commercial terms.

I fully understand it appears naive to think the leads are the "value add" in the partnership, but if we have 200-400 people a day very interested in the insurance you can offer I believe it will be successful.

On top off that building either an app or website that can pre-qualify 80% of the leads?

 

[NY Investor]

I think you're going to be surprised what life is like on the other side. Sounds like the best place for you to start (in terms of quick/easy) would be to get your agent license. It would let you do fee splitting, but it would also let you start to get hands on experience with the other aspects of running an agency. Those residuals sound great, but until you actually balance that income against the ongoing expense of servicing the clients, you really don't know what you're "earning".

I disagree. I started my career 20 years ago cold calling for 10-13 hours a day. I fully get the grind of signing people up for a service and managing that book of business.

My value to the partnership is not getting a license and learning the I intricate nature of the business.

 

[Mrmoose]

Insurance agents in general don't have your skills so in theory it makes sense.

Good luck to you.

 

[scagnt83]

What is your end goal? To flip the biz once profitable and established? Or is this long term for you?

What lines of insurance are you looking at doing this with? It's extremely hard to be a jack of all trades nationwide and be the best at it all. Some lines of insurance require a lot more admin and servicing vs. others. Some pay better residuals than others. Some pay very little or no residuals. Etc.

Lots of ways to go about the business structure and setup. Lots of variables.

Some of the tech you mention would be useful. Some of it is just reinventing the wheel. Etc. But all that also depends on the lines of insurance you want to sell.

 

[Josh]

I disagree. I started my career 20 years ago cold calling for 10-13 hours a day. I fully get the grind of signing people up for a service and managing that book of business.

My value to the partnership is not getting a license and learning the I intricate nature of the business.

Ok, so if you don't get a license, fee splitting is illegal. Are you looking for an agent to risk their license to do business with you? If not that, what? So you are getting $20/lead now (which means, you get paid even if it doesn't sell) and you'd like that to grow into what? $50/lead? Lifetime residuals? Again, commission splitting is illegal in most states (maybe all?)

I think one of the great things about this forum is, pretty much no matter what your offer is, you can probably find someone willing to try just about anything. But what exactly is that offer? Do you want a percentage of the action forever? What is it you are looking for?