- 15,041
Leaving Allstate? I didn't think they would allow that.
New P and C Agent Needs Advice
- Thread starter akarusso
- Start date
Leaving Allstate? I didn't think they would allow that.
- 620
I think for P&C, you must have a retail space.
Why?
You need an office, why retail? You need a place that clients can come to your office, sit down, ask questions, feel comfortable. A lot of people don't feel comfortable coming into your house to do business.
An executive office works fine. An office in a real estate office works well. I would agree though, having some external signage is a plus, but a lot of commercial/business park space allows for this.
Dan
You need an office, why retail? You need a place that clients can come to your office, sit down, ask questions, feel comfortable. A lot of people don't feel comfortable coming into your house to do business.
An executive office works fine. An office in a real estate office works well. I would agree though, having some external signage is a plus, but a lot of commercial/business park space allows for this.
Dan
- 620
Well, lot of carriers (serious ones), won't even look at you. Try asking Travelers, Safeco, The Hartford etc... for an appointment. Maybe not a retail storefront, but you need an actual office. Trust me I started from my bedroom. I did it for over a year. There comes a time when you have to get an office.
- 211
I agree. I used to work from home, but whe I started getting direct appointments, required that I have an office. After five years I opened in a retail space. Many carriers don't ant to deal with a home based agency because they want agents to have a location where clients can make payments , come visit, etc. Also, I found that they want to deal with people who have a staff, because there is a lot of service to handle. I did not really understand this until I earned direct appointments and I saw the level of authority that they give you. There is a lot of responsibility. I also find that agents that work from homel, in p and c, not in life and health, do not grow much.
I agree you need a real office, just don't know that true retail space is required.
I have an office, but I still work from home a lot. Of course, only when I'm the only one home and I have a dedicated office in my house. It's actually nicer than the office I rent.
Dan
I have an office, but I still work from home a lot. Of course, only when I'm the only one home and I have a dedicated office in my house. It's actually nicer than the office I rent.
Dan
Cold calling is frustrating if your main goal is to set-up commercial appointments for that week. I consider a cold-call successful if I get a renewal date and get to speak to the decison maker.
My first year in commercial, which was last year, I cold-called everyday to get new business. What I ended up with was over 500 renewal dates for 2011, which I am still working.When I return calls to some of these many of them say not this year but that means I still have the information for next year and years to come. It is much easier to get an appointment if you have the renewal date. I have done very little cold-calling this year but I just reactivated my MOJO account and plan on using the months of Oct-Dec to get more renewals for next year. My goal is to do 5 hours a day for the quarter.
The good news is, if you cold-call with the goal of getting pertinent information to set a future appointment, you will accidentally find businesses that are unhappy now and want to speak to you now.
It's all about speaking to enough people..
- 1,076
I don't want to be harsh but I just told you where to start. Find out what type of commercial business your carriers do well (bind over 40% of quotes) , run a list and hit the phones. There is no secret recipe for success in this business other than having a good product and getting in front of enough people.
- 1,076
Or of course you could just tweak your website and start a blog... then sit back and watch your office get flooded with quality leads.
Every few years you run into a new marketing fad that will work with some level of success but usually the ROI is much lower than dialing for dollars.
The worst 6 months I had in this business was when the $2M producer (in revenue) I was working under had me cold call for 6 hours a day and build a proper ACT database of potential clients. At the same time I was doing INS 21-23 at night and going to one CIC course a month. It was brutal but I still work off of the same database of 2000+ X dates and many of these same people have become clients after getting 4-5 phone calls and 12 emails a year for 8 or 9 years. The only way to get good clients is to get in front of them and stay in front of them. You need to target accounts that generate enough revenue to warrant that type of attention ($2500-5000 is my baseline depending on the industry) and then stay in front of them. Good clients (stable, well run businesses that pay their bills and will be around for awhile) do not go shopping on the internet. When they are upset and ready to make a change, they call one of the 4/5 brokers that has consistently been in touch with them.
