Looking to Be Indy in Texas

[skylarkjv]

Howdy. I'm starting to study for my General Lines - Life & Health in Texas. I've been working at an LPL Financial branch for the past year or so, getting my feet wet in the insurance/securities field.

I've decided obviously to go ahead and get my license for insurance, with plans on mainly selling life with the occasional health along the way.

I've grown fond of the indy mindset that exists at LPL, and its a great company. I'm wondering if I should stick with them as an insurance agent, or if I should try to find a GA. Or should I go captive for a bit?

I've been reading the forums, but I'm not quite sure what to take seriously and what to discard as junk promotions. And getting appointed with a good variety of companies is something I worry about as well.

So whatever ya'll have for me, bring it on.

 

[HomeService]

I've been around a while and never heard of LPL, had to google them. Why not stay with them??

 

[Dave020]

Isn't LPL Linsco Private Ledger?

 

[skylarkjv]

Well the main reason is that when they say they take the independent mindset seriously, they mean it. They'll give you as much back-office support as they can. But you're on your own as far as leads and everything.

If I stick with LPL, I'll have to start some major research to get leads. On the other hand, they'll help me get appointed with some carriers and I would be free to do as I please.

Also, the OSJ that I work for, to put it nicely, isn't the most pleasant person in the world. And if I stuck with LPL, I'm pretty sure she would try to make life a living hell for me as an insurance agent. I'd rather take what I've learned from her, go somewhere where I can have someone kind of show me the ropes of the selling game, and have a decent start to what I would hope to be a fairly productive career.

 

[skylarkjv]

Yes. LPL is indeed Linsco Private Ledger.
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I tried to reply earlier, but it said a mod would have to approve my post.

I really am hesitant to stay with LPL because of the OSJ I work for. She isn't the nicest person, and can make life hell for me if she finds out I'm getting my insurance license without signing a contract with her. Thus the reason for looking at my options.

I was originally looking at selling term, but from reading the forums, it seems like final expense may be a great way to get my foot in the door.

My only hesitations really are being able to actually pay bills for the first few months. I'm not in a position to save any money up to float on. That's part of my reason for getting the license in the first place. I'm looking for a career that will let me pay the bills, and save for later on in life.

Not having any float money leads me to believe I might be better off working captive for a bit. I just don't think I'll be able to last two months at an agency being forced to sell products I don't necessarily believe in.

 

[skylarkjv]

I spoke with a friend of mine who mainly deals with health and annuities. He is independent through LPL, started out at New York Life. He suggested I maybe look at MassMutual. Any comments or suggestions about Mass? I've already contacted them and AGLA. Comments on either would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HomeService]

Yes, look into those you mentioned, maybe NY Life, AGLA is good, maybe Mutual of Omaha, depending where you are in TX. If you want a "large captive" to train you, before you go indy.

 

[skylarkjv]

Yes, look into those you mentioned, maybe NY Life, AGLA is good, maybe Mutual of Omaha, depending where you are in TX. If you want a "large captive" to train you, before you go indy.

I'm in San Antone. And its not so much training, as I can get that pretty easy. It's the security of a paycheck until I can save enough capital to go indy without worrying about having enough money to eat.

I've heard New York Life won't even look at you if you haven't done a certain amount of production.

My main dilemma is how do I go captive when the captive's options might not be the best for the client. As an agent, I would want what's best for my client, not necessarily what's best for the insurance company.

 

[HomeService]

I'm in San Antone. And its not so much training, as I can get that pretty easy. It's the security of a paycheck until I can save enough capital to go indy without worrying about having enough money to eat.

I've heard New York Life won't even look at you if you haven't done a certain amount of production.

My main dilemma is how do I go captive when the captive's options might not be the best for the client. As an agent, I would want what's best for my client, not necessarily what's best for the insurance company.

I've been in Austin/San Antonio area for 20+ years, been selling insurance and even owned another business here. I was able to grow a business up and down the I-35 corridor, from Georgetown to San Antonio, from Fredericksburg to Bastrop, all of central and south Texas. I even went to Houston and Dallas on occasion. Even Corpus. It was a delivery business, but the sales were all from me, I sold that thing and grew it. I networked. It was sort of similar to selling insurance. Sales is sales. People are people.

You said two things that worried me. Number one: you are concerned about "leads". When I sold to my customers in the delivery business, I did it with zero leads. I went door to door, business to business. I got referrals, and networked. If you cannot make it in insurance or any business without one single lead, then you are not going to make it. If you can sell it without leads, you are going to make it. A lead is just a name number. Remember that. You can drive down any street and get the house numbers off the mailbox or porch. You can look up phone numbers and names of people on the reverse address sites online. A lead is just a name and a number. A prospect is somebody you can help.

Number two: you are worried that a captive company would not allow you to do right by the client. Well, how do you think all those guys are doing it at the captives? They have a product, it's right for that certain situation. If the agent needs another product and does not have it, they refer that lead away.

For instance: when I worked at Mutual of Omaha, we sold health, life, and disabilty. Since then, they got rid of the health or major med, but they said we could write it through John Alden or something. Then eventually they just said you can write health with whomever, just give us the life business. We did not sell car insurance. I should have hooked up with a P&C guy and sent him car leads, but I never got any. Why, because I never brought it up. He could have sent me health leads- if the client brought that up.

See, now how was that doing the client harm? The only thing maybe you could say is we were unable to shop the life around for the best rates, well, got me there. But for certain situations, we were great with the life rates and products.
If we were too high or did not have the right product, trust me, the client did not buy it from me. There were many, many times I never got the sale. So I moved on, to find somebody I could help, with the right product at the right price. No harm.

You don't have to be everything to every client, get with a broker and refer him the stuff you don't want to write, or can't write because you are captive, while you are training.

I think you will be surprised at how little that other stuff comes up anyway, and how often you can help the people with your captive products.

 

[skylarkjv]

See, now how was that doing the client harm? The only thing maybe you could say is we were unable to shop the life around for the best rates, well, got me there. But for certain situations, we were great with the life rates and products.
If we were too high or did not have the right product, trust me, the client did not buy it from me. There were many, many times I never got the sale. So I moved on, to find somebody I could help, with the right product at the right price. No harm.

You don't have to be everything to every client, get with a broker and refer him the stuff you don't want to write, or can't write because you are captive, while you are training.

I think you will be surprised at how little that other stuff comes up anyway, and how often you can help the people with your captive products.

Thanks HomeService. I appreciate the input.

I'm not afraid to do door-to-door if I have to. In fact, I've kind of planned on it being a major part of gaining clients.

It's good to know that sometimes captives will let you write other business with another company as long as they don't offer that product. I was under the impression that if the carrier didn't have something, you couldn't sell that type of product.

I guess a lot of my hesitation about going captive is/was the fear of not making sales because of not being able to offer the client as many options. But I'm glad that that often isn't the case. That sets my mind at ease a bit. As long as I know the company is decent, I don't mind pushing their product.