New Independent Agent Advice?

Kevin Burkowski

New Member
2
I'm hoping some other agents can steer me in the right direction here. I'm a fresh newly licensed insurance agent in P & C and am looking for advice on whats my best coarse in working up to getting direct contact with carriers. I know most wont give me the time of day without any experience.

Thanks
 
I am in a similar position, and I am starting an insurance agency to go with my existing business. I have zero plans to live off the income from my insurance business for now, I have plenty of capital put into it, and I have a lot of connections which would give me plenty of referrals - so I'm just about ready to go. The biggest challenge I have seen is you will have some trouble getting appointments with the big brand names when you start out, such as Safeco. Everything I have researched says it's best to go with a MGA/cluster such as Superior Access or Smart Choice to get a lot of your policies, but also you should be able to get appointed with some surplus lines or second choice insurance companies fairly easily - see Express Markets™ | Smart Choice for a list some. Many people hate Smart Choice because they have a very tough two year non-compete agreement if they appoint you to any carriers through their main program, but if you join there Express or Smart Start programs the non-compete does not apply I was told (but I have not reviewed the contract yet). Superior Access seems to be the best deal for somebody just starting out, because they have more carriers and there are no non-competes. And you can move your book of business over as you grow and get direct appointments (with the big brands) over time. SIAA seems to be the best of all, but based on my experience they won't talk to you unless you have experience, so maybe you can migrate to them in the future after using Superior Access for a while. Iroquis also requires experience. Insurance Noodle is another one I looked at, but there's no way I would want to use them because from what I read and from talking to them they can take days just to get you a quote ... more or less bind a policy. Superior Access does have some complaints on this board and others, but after talking with them they said they have confirmed the turnaround time for binding policies is just 2 hours most of the time (this is recent) and also they have instant quoting available either for you in your office or on your own website even which I think is important considering we are in a fast, quick, information based society. Yes they take 30% of your commission which sucks, but every single MGA/cluster has a lot of catches inin t form of upfront fees, taking a percentage, tough contracts, whatever. The best part is you can write policies through second-rate carriers (e.g.Foremost, Wellington, etc) as well do business with the MGA, and you should get a higher percentage of commission on those carriers. And over time when your book is big enough and you have enough experience, you should be able to get some more direct appointments through the big guys.
 
I'm hoping some other agents can steer me in the right direction here. I'm a fresh newly licensed insurance agent in P & C and am looking for advice on whats my best coarse in working up to getting direct contact with carriers. I know most wont give me the time of day without any experience.

Thanks

I am a successful p&c commercial only agent. I have started several businesses, and indy insurance, especially indy, has probably the biggest learning curve. It's a terrible idea going off on your own with no experience. You should both start working with an agency.
 
I'm with Mark, if your starting off with no experience, you need to work for an agency.

Unless you have the upfront cost to join a group and the income to cover your monthly overhead until your book is established, about one to five years.

I've been P&C licensed for almost 10 years and I wish I can go with a group, but I understand that that is not the best financial plan for me. So I have been looking at the independent agency's in my area to partner with. It's been a challenge since I have not really networked out of my captive environment.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys! I've decided to start with Smart Choice as I'm working with another business and have clients already looking for policies, I just need access to carriers.
 
I'm hoping some other agents can steer me in the right direction here. I'm a fresh newly licensed insurance agent in P & C and am looking for advice on whats my best coarse in working up to getting direct contact with carriers. I know most wont give me the time of day without any experience.

Thanks

Are you like a Brand new agent? or been working as a agent and looking to start your own business.
 
texasnative posted: "if you join there Express or Smart Start programs the non-compete does not apply I was told"

He is incorrect as the Smart Start addendum states in paragraph 8 that:

agent may terminate its participation in the Smart Start Program under the same terms and conditions as set forth in the termination provisions of the smart choice agents agreement and with the same restrictive covenants set forth of the agreement with the same force and effect as if the agent had obtained an appointment with the participating carrier through WIN
 
texasnative posted: "if you join there Express or Smart Start programs the non-compete does not apply I was told"

He is incorrect as the Smart Start addendum states in paragraph 8 that:

agent may terminate its participation in the Smart Start Program under the same terms and conditions as set forth in the termination provisions of the smart choice agents agreement and with the same restrictive covenants set forth of the agreement with the same force and effect as if the agent had obtained an appointment with the participating carrier through WIN

I am sure it is wrong, that post is from 2018. Contracts change.
 
Well you have a decision tree here. I'll lead you down one path, but it is biased.



"Begin with the end in mind"- 7 habits of Highly effective people.

Decision #1:



What end of the Ins Spectrum do you want? if you answered P&C keep reading. If ''Other" wait for the others to respond



Decision #2: Captive or Independent.



Captive:

Pro: They will teach you a lot but inevitably you will go Indy at some point in your career. Another Pro, they will subsidize your life for a time.

Con: The District Manager will push too hard or force life on you or cut your commissions or change your contract, or, ext, ext. Your Captive will take rate increases and kill your production and you will have one price point while others dissect your book one policy at a time.



Independent: :

Pro: Control expenses. Get higher commission. Higher conversion. Higher retention. All of those factors equal more money.

Con: Starting out. Getting knowledge. Your personality type could sink yourself.



Decision #3:



Once you decide Indy is for you, in the next week or 22 yrs from now. The question will be how to do it. Your options include:



Buy an agency.

Join a group.

Become a producer for an agency.

Get direct appointments.

Get an agency that provides the back end service so you can hunt full time.



You decide which one is best for you.





Decision #4: What group should I join?



There are a lot. Consider the following. NOT ALL GROUPS ARE CREATED EQUAL! They range from good, better and best.



Any group claiming to be best of class should provide the following:

  1. Transparency
  2. Training and support
  3. Carrier Alignment
  4. and a great Contract
Give me a call, shoot me am IM. Good luck and have fun with your choices.



I have been in Insurance for 17+ years and the great thing in this industry is you can choose to never stop learning. Your learning curve is never ending. Meaning you will never get bored.
 
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