texasnative
New Member
- 16
Hi guys,
I love this website! And the advice folks give each other! And I have a few questions from you experienced agents, if you don't mind helping me. =) I am starting an insurance business no later than Jan 1 2019 ...
About me:
- I am from Texas, where I own a diversified and successful real estate investment business in Texas, that I am going to continue to operate & grow, and I am going to get into the insurance business as well as it seems like a perfect complement to what I am doing already.
- It's not just me / I have a staff and a real office of course
- I love the game of business and sales, and I have experience owning multiple businesses in the past. It's in my blood. It's my hobby. It's my passion (after God & family of course!!!)
- I have a *zillion* HO/dwelling policy referral sources, from friends I do business with already, that are already ready to send me business. Many of these people I have sent business to for years, and now I can get some from them. This frankly is what makes me excited about this business more than anything <!>
- The basic business items (business name / office location / website / legal entity / etc / etc) is already taken care of, or will be taken care of shortly. I even had an agent friend approach me about buying his book of business, which I plan on doing as long as we can work out the price (it sounds like it'll be fine).
- Not that it matters, but I have plenty of cash reserves for advertising/growth & I live off my real estate investments, so that will let me grow the insurance business much faster...than if I was starting from scratch
My target customers:
- Will be small business people / real estate investors
- And consumers (I want the meat & potato automobile & HO policies)
- Note: I want to be open to selling everything, but I do not really care to sell health insurance or financial products (beyond life insurance). However, I am open to ideas / feedback on that
Long term plans:
- Get licensed myself (it's already in the works / will be done shortly)
- Buy a book of business and/or rapidly grow a new customer base through referrals and advertising
- Bring on a licensed producer immediately in early 2019, or have one of my existing staff members become licensed
- Add producers / servicing staff as needed ... and continue to advertise & build the referrals so we can grow grow grow
Where I can use some advice:
- QUESTION #1 - I am in the process of getting my P&C General Lines license now. I should be done fairly soon. Should I get my Life & Health General Lines license as well? Or just my Life license (which seems faster/easier)? As I mentioned above -> I want to be open to selling everything, but I do not care to sell health insurance or financial products (beyond life insurance). I dread the idea of my customer going to someone else for a single policy...and that guy using that single policy to later get all of my customer's business (LOL!)
- QUESTION #2 - Have you guys had luck with direct mail to obtain new consumer-clients? Any tips on that? I can pump an easy $4k, $8k, whatever a month it takes into direct mail / postcards / etc, as I have a ton of experience doing that with the real estate world, and would love to keep using that advertising medium.
- QUESTION #3 - Have you had a lot of luck with Internet advertising - e.g. Google / Bing advertising? Any tips there, specifically related to insurance? Note I will have a professionally designed website / etc already setup.
- QUESTION #4 - Do you have any recommendations for surplus lines insurers that will let you resell their dwelling products (maybe geared toward real estate investors)? I know of one now, that I actually use with some of my properties, but they are direct to the real estate investor - like Geico is to a consumer. Note: for people with 50, or 100 properties, these surplus line carriers can save the investor a fortune. And also they tend to pay out OK --- I've had a claim or two myself -- haha! And I would *not* recommend them to consumers / just experienced real estate investors.
- QUESTION #5 - Any tips on how I can write through a ton of carriers? I initially considered going with Goosehead, but I have zero interest in paying 50% in my renewal commissions. No thanks. No way no how. BUT -> I do want to be able to offer 20, 30 or 40 carriers to people - without going through 20, 30 or 40 websites. I have heard companies like Combined Insurance Underwriters (if I got their name right) will let independent agents write through tons of companies & their fees/etc are reasonable. The guy that wants to sell me his book of business said he'll help me with this, but I want to hear from you guys as well.
- QUESTION #5 - Any other tips???
Thanks!
I love this website! And the advice folks give each other! And I have a few questions from you experienced agents, if you don't mind helping me. =) I am starting an insurance business no later than Jan 1 2019 ...
About me:
- I am from Texas, where I own a diversified and successful real estate investment business in Texas, that I am going to continue to operate & grow, and I am going to get into the insurance business as well as it seems like a perfect complement to what I am doing already.
- It's not just me / I have a staff and a real office of course
- I love the game of business and sales, and I have experience owning multiple businesses in the past. It's in my blood. It's my hobby. It's my passion (after God & family of course!!!)
- I have a *zillion* HO/dwelling policy referral sources, from friends I do business with already, that are already ready to send me business. Many of these people I have sent business to for years, and now I can get some from them. This frankly is what makes me excited about this business more than anything <!>
- The basic business items (business name / office location / website / legal entity / etc / etc) is already taken care of, or will be taken care of shortly. I even had an agent friend approach me about buying his book of business, which I plan on doing as long as we can work out the price (it sounds like it'll be fine).
- Not that it matters, but I have plenty of cash reserves for advertising/growth & I live off my real estate investments, so that will let me grow the insurance business much faster...than if I was starting from scratch
My target customers:
- Will be small business people / real estate investors
- And consumers (I want the meat & potato automobile & HO policies)
- Note: I want to be open to selling everything, but I do not really care to sell health insurance or financial products (beyond life insurance). However, I am open to ideas / feedback on that
Long term plans:
- Get licensed myself (it's already in the works / will be done shortly)
- Buy a book of business and/or rapidly grow a new customer base through referrals and advertising
- Bring on a licensed producer immediately in early 2019, or have one of my existing staff members become licensed
- Add producers / servicing staff as needed ... and continue to advertise & build the referrals so we can grow grow grow
Where I can use some advice:
- QUESTION #1 - I am in the process of getting my P&C General Lines license now. I should be done fairly soon. Should I get my Life & Health General Lines license as well? Or just my Life license (which seems faster/easier)? As I mentioned above -> I want to be open to selling everything, but I do not care to sell health insurance or financial products (beyond life insurance). I dread the idea of my customer going to someone else for a single policy...and that guy using that single policy to later get all of my customer's business (LOL!)
- QUESTION #2 - Have you guys had luck with direct mail to obtain new consumer-clients? Any tips on that? I can pump an easy $4k, $8k, whatever a month it takes into direct mail / postcards / etc, as I have a ton of experience doing that with the real estate world, and would love to keep using that advertising medium.
- QUESTION #3 - Have you had a lot of luck with Internet advertising - e.g. Google / Bing advertising? Any tips there, specifically related to insurance? Note I will have a professionally designed website / etc already setup.
- QUESTION #4 - Do you have any recommendations for surplus lines insurers that will let you resell their dwelling products (maybe geared toward real estate investors)? I know of one now, that I actually use with some of my properties, but they are direct to the real estate investor - like Geico is to a consumer. Note: for people with 50, or 100 properties, these surplus line carriers can save the investor a fortune. And also they tend to pay out OK --- I've had a claim or two myself -- haha! And I would *not* recommend them to consumers / just experienced real estate investors.
- QUESTION #5 - Any tips on how I can write through a ton of carriers? I initially considered going with Goosehead, but I have zero interest in paying 50% in my renewal commissions. No thanks. No way no how. BUT -> I do want to be able to offer 20, 30 or 40 carriers to people - without going through 20, 30 or 40 websites. I have heard companies like Combined Insurance Underwriters (if I got their name right) will let independent agents write through tons of companies & their fees/etc are reasonable. The guy that wants to sell me his book of business said he'll help me with this, but I want to hear from you guys as well.
- QUESTION #5 - Any other tips???
Thanks!