Part Time P&C Work from Home

engineer

New Member
10
Hello everyone. I've been reading on this forum for a while now and have benefited from the insights of all of the current agents out there. Thanks so much.

Currently I'm an engineer at a small engineering firm. I'm 28 years old and I would like to start selling insurance on the side for some extra money (plus I miss the sales side of business). I have been in contact with a local insurance agency (Independent agency) that offered me straight commission (80% auto, 90% commercial). They will pay for E&O. I take my P&C test Friday.

I'm trying to set some goals for myself, but I don't want to be unrealistic. Here are some questions I have.

1. Since I have a day job (7:30 AM - 4:00 PM) and can't take calls during those times, how do agents in my position handle customer support? Can I just have them call the main office? Is this reasonable?

2. I plan on working anywhere between 10-20 hrs a week. After reading on here I realize how hard some of you work at selling. Is it reasonable to have a goal of $15k a year working those hours?

3. By calculating my commissions, I would roughly have to sell 8-10 auto policies per month (depending on what the company receives). $1,000 premium x 15% (agency) x 80% (me) = $120/policy. Is this reasonable? How many policies ballpark do you guys sell a month and how many hours (I realize this may be a bit more info than you want to give so it's ok if you don't want to answer).

4. I just finished getting my MBA and I love finance and economics. Do any of you moonlight in the financial services industry? How do you like it?

Sorry for the long post. Thanks so much in advance to all who answer!
 
You are basing your average policy off of $1k premium, is that really standard in Illinois? Here in Oregon my average policy for 2008 was $840. Also, alot of carriers now pay less than 15% new/renew so you might want to make sure the agency you affiliated with makes 15% off each sale instead of 10% or even 8%.

I am looking to hire an agent in our agency too, I was always curious if it is better to have our agency service the policies so the agent can concentrate on sales, or to have the agent service the policy, so he writes less "crap" business.
 
I'm not real sure about the premium. I was just using 1,000 for nice round numbers. The 15% came from reading on this forum. 15-20% seems to be the averages that I read. It may very well be closer to what you posted.
 
If anyone has advice regarding my questions and does not want to answer in this thread, please pm me. I would really like to know where I stand with these goals. Thanks in advance!
 
In P&C, if I'm doing some back of the envelope calculations, I simply figure about $100 per policy per year. Unlike individual health or life, P&C is really more about renewals than first year sale.

So, if you're goal is $15K per year part time, first year, you'll need to sell 150 policies. You figure 2 autos and a home per household, that is 50 households (3 policies per household). That boils down to 1 a week. Very acheivable. Sounds easier than it is, but you'll pull it off if you want to.

The good news is the second year, to make the same $15K, you only have to replace what you lose. If you lose 10%, that is 15 policies or 5 households. You get to work a lot less for the same money, or work the same and make more money.

Now the real challenge is to figure expenses. How do you find 1 household or 3 policies a week to write? That will probably cost some money, so you either write a bit more, or make a bit less the first year. Your choice.

Here's the catch. It's easy to write policies in the P&C world. It's harder to find and write good policies. Working part time, you really have to focus on quality clients, not ones that you'll have to chase payments every month on. You won't have the time for this.

Power on, make it happen. Success in this business is a state of mind more than anything else. If you are afraid to try, you won't succeed, if you work it till it succeeds, then you'll be successful.

Dan
 
Your chances of success increases if you only do one line.I started doing anything I can get my hands to, but now I am only doing restaurants and work comp.I have an associate selling only health.I learned the hard way that you succeed ifyou really know your product and be focused.E mail me if you want to work with an Inependent agency. Good luck. [email protected]
 
Engineer, I am now doing what you are planning to do. So far, I am on pace to eclipse your goal and I went into it with similar expectations. It is completely achievable if you're willing to work after you get off from the day job. I've advertised in varied publications (mostly monthly newsletters distributed to residents of master-planned communities) and have benefited greatly from utilizing my network of friends in related industries (realty and mortgage). I've managed to cash flow the marketing efforts after initially coming out of pocket $1500. I've repaid myself but will continue to aggressively advertise to build agency recognition. There is a dearth of knowledge to be gleaned by lurking (as I did for months) and posting intelligent questions on this forum. At some point, the other agents on the forum have run into issues you at some point will, and most are eager to help. Take the plunge. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.
 
Engineer, I am now doing what you are planning to do. So far, I am on pace to eclipse your goal and I went into it with similar expectations. It is completely achievable if you're willing to work after you get off from the day job. I've advertised in varied publications (mostly monthly newsletters distributed to residents of master-planned communities) and have benefited greatly from utilizing my network of friends in related industries (realty and mortgage). I've managed to cash flow the marketing efforts after initially coming out of pocket $1500. I've repaid myself but will continue to aggressively advertise to build agency recognition. There is a dearth of knowledge to be gleaned by lurking (as I did for months) and posting intelligent questions on this forum. At some point, the other agents on the forum have run into issues you at some point will, and most are eager to help. Take the plunge. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.

What state are you in?
 
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