New P&C agent in Houston

Pal

New Member
17
Hi,
First of all, I would like to thank all the experienced gurus on this forum for taking time to educate and help newbie like me.

I am newly licensed General lines P&C agent in Texas/Houston looking forward to start my own agency. I am have been reading through various posts on this forum about " impossibilities on getting direct appointments with carrier without an existing book of business" but still confused on the direction.

Can you please let me know some of the standard carriers that I can reach out for appointments in Houston area. Also what are some of the best MGA's or clusters that can be approached for carrier access and training, if direct appt wont work.
 
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 13+ 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.
 
Valuable decision-making approach here for a newer agent, provided by Shawn Walker.

It has been my experience that training is as important as any consideration for a newer agent. Actually, it may be the most important consideration in today's marketplace, especially with fewer carriers and agency networks being able to provide solid training for various reasons, including time constraints.
 
Thank You for the advice Shawn/Phil.

Shawn tried reaching out to you this afternoon...
 
Hi,
First of all, I would like to thank all the experienced gurus on this forum for taking time to educate and help newbie like me.

I am newly licensed General lines P&C agent in Texas/Houston looking forward to start my own agency. I am have been reading through various posts on this forum about " impossibilities on getting direct appointments with carrier without an existing book of business" but still confused on the direction.

Can you please let me know some of the standard carriers that I can reach out for appointments in Houston area. Also what are some of the best MGA's or clusters that can be approached for carrier access and training, if direct appt wont work.
 
I too am a Houston agent searching for a competitive P&C carrier to appoint. The carriers denied appointment without a book, and without a book could not appoint carriers? Anyway I appointed with a "Surplus Agency" and though their quotes are speedy, the prices are not competitive, and products limited.
I found a group from Colorado Alliance Insurance that offers the following, but not in Texas, please advise if anyone knows of same model for Texas :
Alliance Insurance Group is a Managing General Agency (MGA), based in Golden, Colorado that offers extraordinary insurance business opportunities to independent agents and entrepreneurs. We will help you get started in the insurance business and stay independent while significantly growing your income.

How? Alliance Insurance Group provides administrative, marketing and insurance agency management systems so you can stop pushing paper and get back to the people-business of selling insurance. We allow you to spend more time on things you enjoy and that drive more income into your insurance agency startup, like prospecting and serving your existing customers.
 
A little late to this thread...

I would think a new agent will have a hard time securing preferred appointments in Houston right now. In general they can be difficult and I would think the recent hurricane only makes it worse.

A new agent is almost certainly going to need to go through a MGA, cluster or aggregator for market access to preferred carriers. Keep looking until you find one in the Houston area. There are a number of clusters available in Texas, you'll just need to read all the contracts and decide which is right for you.
 
Thank you. Willing to speak with MGA, or aggregator for market access, please suggest any and all you know of. Special thanks to Phil [email protected] from this site for his response, assistance with appointment new P&C agent.
 
Op, have you found success in finding clusters, aggregator or appointments. I m in West Houston seeking the very same thing. I moved out of p&c long time ago but am interested in a joint understanding & agreement to keep the book of biz in my name.
 
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