P & C insurance

[twcbrandon]

What is considered a decent amount of new policies written in one month?

What is considered low?

What is considered high?

 

[djs]

Wow, this will vary a lot.
There are a lot of variable, but since you are asking this question, I'm assuming you are pretty new at this. I would plan on 10 a month for the first few months, grow to 20, and then slowly increase. It takes a while to get into a rhythm to do more than 20 a month on average the first year or so.

Of course your first month will be higher than 10 usually. You tend to write a few family / friends, but then that is done, and it's off to the real work. It takes a bit more to write policies when you have policies to service as well. Of course, that is actually the goal in P&C, write enough that you live on the residuals of your book.

Once on a roll, you can probably write 10 a week (40 a month) without a super big problem. More than that, things will fall apart. At this level though, you'll need someone helping you to track any problems that come up and to keep your distractions away (pesky customers wanting to make payments, bought a new car, etc).

Low and high are relative terms. Plan for 20, shoot for 30. Count them as you go, but never look back at the could'a, should'a, would'a policies.

I realize I should qualify my answer a bit. Writing P&C policies is like shooting fish in a barrel, it's not that hard. You can pretty easily write 60-75 a month. Problem is, you want to make sure they will be on the books in another 2 months (actually 6-12) or you have wasted your time. If you just need policy count numbers, have at it. If you need solid policies, writing more than 30 a month on average, personal production, your first 2 years in the business, by yourself, is a pipedream. Of course, you can hire help and do it.

Dan

 

[lisar1208]

I agree, This is my first year with P&C and i write on a average about 40+ policies a month. However, I do not do the servicing on this, we have someone in the office that helps me with that.

 

[saieddie]

Pretty broad question. Is this a brand new agency? Where are your leads coming from? How competitive are your companies? Are you writing auto and home or commercial? Standard vs Non standard?

If you have competitive pricing/good products, and decent leads, you should write at least 20% of the people you quote.

 

[twcbrandon]

Those numbers seem good. With numbers like that it would seem within 2-4 years, you'd be in a six figure income.

 

[djs]

Well, the problem with the first 2 years of the business is you tend to write everything that moves and somethings that don't. Your retention ratio will be crap.

This isn't a problem, it's a learning curve. After a while, you get tired of wasting your time on $30 a month liability policies, that lapse every other month. You learn what business will stay on the books and focus on that.

$100K first year is possible (cough, cough). It is, but most agents don't make it. $100K within a few years is very doable if you stay focused and have competitive rates.

My guess is the average salary (actual take home) for a new P&C agent is something like:
1st year: $40 - 50K
2nd year: $60- 75K
3rd year: $60 - 75K (every agent I know has a problem in their third year, a bit of growing pains, a bit of burnout)
From then on, it's wide open.

These are averages of what I have observed. I've known many above these numbers and TONS below them, though few of those survive.

Once you make it through the third year your book of business will be pretty solid, renewals will start being dependable, and your income will start to increase pretty rapidly. Heck, talk to agents with 20 years in the business, and a lot of them don't bother to write much new business, unless it walks in the door. The renewals is all they need.

Dan

 

[twcbrandon]

Well, the problem with the first 2 years of the business is you tend to write everything that moves and somethings that don't. Your retention ratio will be crap.

This isn't a problem, it's a learning curve. After a while, you get tired of wasting your time on $30 a month liability policies, that lapse every other month. You learn what business will stay on the books and focus on that.

$100K first year is possible (cough, cough). It is, but most agents don't make it. $100K within a few years is very doable if you stay focused and have competitive rates.

My guess is the average salary (actual take home) for a new P&C agent is something like:
1st year: $40 - 50K
2nd year: $60- 75K
3rd year: $60 - 75K (every agent I know has a problem in their third year, a bit of growing pains, a bit of burnout)
From then on, it's wide open.

These are averages of what I have observed. I've known many above these numbers and TONS below them, though few of those survive.

Once you make it through the third year your book of business will be pretty solid, renewals will start being dependable, and your income will start to increase pretty rapidly. Heck, talk to agents with 20 years in the business, and a lot of them don't bother to write much new business, unless it walks in the door. The renewals is all they need.

Dan

Excellent information