New York Brokers Agency help

[Lemonconcon]

Hey Guys,
So I decided to go the independent way and open up my own agency, I already open the corporation and I'm currently waiting for the DFS to approve my name (Very long wait, possibly a month or longer), While I wait I started putting together a business plan and doing some research on all areas of the agency. I have a couple questions for any of you who own or have experience in the industry.

- Is there a way to get a list of all the available insurance companies that I can use?
- How can I find companies that specialize in the different sectors? for example, restaurants or artisans....
or bad credit drivers, bad record drivers with good credit... etc etc
- Should I start investing in Search Engine Optimization already?
- Is there a list of reputable lead companies, which way should I go with leads generation?

Thank you very much for reading!

 

[Lemonconcon]

I got my name approved today!

 

[marindependent]

Congrats on your name approval.

Your list of questions is essentially why starting an independent insurance agency can be such a struggle. It is also precisely why many new agencies partner with a Cluster.

You should be able to find a list of admitted insurers from your state regulator, as to which is best for this and that - that is the secret sauce and may take you five years to figure it out. Frankly many agents consider this information almost a trade secret.

SEO? It will take a long time to generate leads this way. I would absolutely start a website and get some content on there, but be careful paying people to provide SEO. One quick suggestion - get your business listed on Google Local.

Lead generation companies - I have no idea. I do not use any. I only use self generated leads.

 

[Lemonconcon]

Congrats on your name approval.

Your list of questions is essentially why starting an independent insurance agency can be such a struggle. It is also precisely why many new agencies partner with a Cluster.

You should be able to find a list of admitted insurers from your state regulator, as to which is best for this and that - that is the secret sauce and may take you five years to figure it out. Frankly many agents consider this information almost a trade secret.

SEO? It will take a long time to generate leads this way. I would absolutely start a website and get some content on there, but be careful paying people to provide SEO. One quick suggestion - get your business listed on Google Local.

Lead generation companies - I have no idea. I do not use any. I only use self generated leads.

Thanks, unfortunately it's taking a good while to deal with the finance department, they always have some kind of issue over there, now the online agency application takes your money but tell you that your application has not been submitted, its extremelly annoying how bad that department is. I'm in limbo right now with that.

I actually have my list and its pretty good, I used to work for an independent agency, and I also know someone that still does.

I have the list of admitted and also the good non admitted.

Well I'm a computer geek and I know how to do it myself. I'm in the process of building the website right now.

Well I have a big list of leads from personal clients, friends and people I know that I want to hit as soon as I'm situated. But I still want to back that with incoming leads.