P&C Startup and Questions

[threlvnfan]

P&C Questions

Hello all,

I am currently interning at an independent agency that sells primarily health and life insurance. My job is to conduct an analytical study into the possibility for the agency to become a full-service agency. While I have found a lot of useful information in these forums, I still have a couple of questions that I have not found answers to. Any information that can be provided on these topics would be greatly appreciated... thanks in advance.

How much additional personel could be expected to be needed to write and service the new P&C policies?... Are there any general guidelines for the number of employees that will be needed based on the number of policies on the books?

I was also wondering about the commission structure for workers' comp. Any information or figures for what could be expected would be great.

Finally (and I know this is likely to be a matter of opinion), for an agency that already has health and life policies on the books, would you reccomend purchasing a P&C book of business or starting from scratch?

Again, thank you for your time, and any additional information that you think would be helpful is more than welcome.

 

[djs]

Re: P&C Startup

There are way to many variables to answer your question. For instance, you ask how many additional personel would be needed, without stating what you have currently. How many policies do you plan on writing?

Also, you neglected to say what type of P&C policies you would write. Airplanes? Skyscrapers? Commercial? Home & Auto? Yachts? It makes a difference.

Beyond that, the general rule of thumb, assuming personal lines P&C is needing a full time employee for every 400 to 1000 policies. I know it doesn't narrow it down much, it depends if you want to grow, doing marketing in house, have well trained people, good management systems, an effective agency management software, etc.

Dan

 

[threlvnfan]

Re: P&C Startup

Sorry for the vague questions, but your response is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

 

[Soaringagent]

Re: P&C Startup

How many CSR's do you currently have? For your 1st year P and C you probably wont' need much extra service help. Maybe after a few years you will need to hire a person.

 

[Peter Ryan]

Re: P&C Startup

Have you looked into getting appointed by p&C carriers? This is a major problem for most people getting started.

First you need to see if you even can get appointed by anyone, once you've done that, then you'll know if you need to buy an agency.