Medicare Supp's - Captive or Independent?

Classicbc

New Member
9
A little background....
I have just recently become licensed and as yet haven't sold my first policy. So I am a real Newby! I have about 6 months of income that I can live on while building my business.
I have been offered a position as a captive agent selling Medicare Supp's. I seems like a good opportunity to get my foot in the door and learn that part of the business. But... I have been reading this forum for the last couple of days and now am having mixed feelings on accepting this position. From what I have read, it seems that being independent is the way to go, but you need experience before tackling.
So, I guess my questions are.
Is this the best way to get experience?
Would I build income quicker as an independent? Captive is offering 14% on new and renewals.
I looking for any kind of insight.
Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Your Independent commission would range from 17 to 24 percent. If you have a marketing budget of $1000 you would be better off independent.
 
For what it's worth, this guy disagrees. Insurance is a cruel bitch when first starting out. You need to learn the basics of prospecting, sales presentation, qualifying and the like to be successful as an IA. Those are skills that most new people that just got their insurance license have developed yet.

Josh said it beautifully in a post a few months back, you gotta make someone else rich for awhile before you go out on your own. Try the captive agency for a couple of years, then stretch out on your own. You'll at least have a feel for the business then.
 
Started my independent agency from scratch. Had money from a previous job that paid a severence when I left. First 2 years are real tough but if you can make it to year 5 and do a good job for your clients and start getting referrals you will be good to go. So glad another agent told me to go independent right away, best decision I ever made. Nobody tells me quotas I have to meet or certain hours I have to work.
 
I started off captive and I don't regret it. Everything I did I lost once I left, but it gave me the knowledge, support system, and training I needed to stay in this business. As much as hindsight makes me a little disagreeable to this, I have to go along with what wtprice says. We independent agents hold our nose at captive systems, but they will truly give you the essential tools you need to get started. When I started captive, they gave me training, a prospecting system (notice I didn't say "leads?"), essential product training, and a schedule I had to stick to. All are essential skills I couldn't have learned by myself unless I went out and purchased it off vendors whose repute, good or bad, I was unaware of.

So I owe them a lot for getting started. I'd still be there if it wasn't for stifling management practices. But when I left, I lost everything. Well, almost everything. Did I mention I got to take the best part of that agency with me? Someone I worked with over there quit the same time I did, and we formed a strong partnership that has become essential for us staying in business today.

So no, in my opinion, the benefits of starting off captive outweigh the negatives. Heck, you might even like them enough to become a long-term career agent with them.
 
If you go out indy at the start, find a mentor. Your head will be swimming with new info and you will need some advice from someone who has been there and done that. Don't reinvent the wheel and use a mentor to learn from their mistakes. I agree with the post above, insurance is a tough career at first, but very rewarding afterwards.
 
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