Questions when Choosing a GA

[MaineMan]

Hello,
I have recently found this forum and am very impressed with the quality of posts. In the last few months I have been thinking about leaving a captive life and health agency and going independent. The reasons for this is the lack of office support and follow up from the inside crew at the office. The way I look at it, if I need to do this, I might as well make a full commission. (currently 40-50% on life). I can use there office for calling and a meeting place for clients. I currently mainly work out of my home office and get in to the office 1-2 times a week to submit applications. The office is 60 miles from my house and I mainly prospect in my home community. I have been licenced for 4 years.

I have put together a list of questions to ask a potental GA"s.

1)Who is the agent of record?
2) Who owns the book of business?
3) How are renewals handled?
4) Does the GA cut my checks or does the Insurance pay directly?
5) Who requests medical records?
6) Case prep support
7) Choosing the correct insurance company to choose (price shopping)
8) If advances are offered, what is the policy?
9) Does the GA or Ins Company pay when policy is delivered or once a month?
10)Any lead programs available/orphans from the GA or ins company.
11) Do the ins companies send any leads to the GA's.
12) Who many other people are you working with in my area? active?
13) Production minimums with GA and/or insurance companies.

 

[magagent]

40-50% on life YIKES! your manager is making more off of your life apps than you are!

 

[insuranceexec]

Hello,
I have recently found this forum and am very impressed with the quality of posts. In the last few months I have been thinking about leaving a captive life and health agency and going independent. The reasons for this is the lack of office support and follow up from the inside crew at the office. The way I look at it, if I need to do this, I might as well make a full commission. (currently 40-50% on life). I can use there office for calling and a meeting place for clients. I currently mainly work out of my home office and get in to the office 1-2 times a week to submit applications. The office is 60 miles from my house and I mainly prospect in my home community. I have been licenced for 4 years.

I have put together a list of questions to ask a potental GA"s.

1)Who is the agent of record?
2) Who owns the book of business?
3) How are renewals handled?
4) Does the GA cut my checks or does the Insurance pay directly?
5) Who requests medical records?
6) Case prep support
7) Choosing the correct insurance company to choose (price shopping)
8) If advances are offered, what is the policy?
9) Does the GA or Ins Company pay when policy is delivered or once a month?
10)Any lead programs available/orphans from the GA or ins company.
11) Do the ins companies send any leads to the GA's.
12) Who many other people are you working with in my area? active?
13) Production minimums with GA and/or insurance companies.

Great list of questions.

1. You should always be the agent of record. Stay away from anyone telling you otherwise.

2. You; providing that you are the AOR.

3. You should always be paid directly by the insurance carrier unless bonuses are involved. You would then be paid direct by the carrier, and the remaining money would come at the marketing companies specified time frame.

4. See answer to #3

5. It depends on the insurance company and the marketing company

6. This depends on your marketing company. We give the VIP treatment to any case that is over 5K in target premium. Then again we also pay higher than street compensation. There is your trade off.

7. There is software to do this. Depending on your marketing company they should provide this to you.

8. Every company is different.

9. Every company is different.

10. Yes, and again they are all different.

11. It depends on their arrangement and the product.

12. Only a handful in Maine.

13. Every company is different.

I hope this helps.

 

[LifeInsuranceMan]

40-50% on life YIKES! your manager is making more off of your life apps than you are!

I agree... 40-50% on life is pretty horrendous... you should be getting at least 70% of target.

 

[ims01]

In the course of recruiting agents over the last six years, I have found there are five basic topics that everyone asks about: Carriers, Commissions, Training, Leads and Support. There are endless sub-sets of each and some areas are more important than others to each agent.

When talking to a prospective agent, I always address these topics. This will prompt the agent to think of questions that he may not have otherwise.

It is important to to find and IMO that will take the time to answer your questions. The better prepared you are the more likely you are to get your answers. Once you have gotten answers to your initial list of questions, ask for the personal email address of the IMO so you may email them questions as you think of the them over the following few days.

If an IMO will not answer your questions, they may not be your best choice. But remember, they are busy. If you seem ill-prepared or wondering around, they will get impatient. It may not be that they are unwilling to answer questions, but they may feel that you are not respecting their time. So, be prepared, focused and to the point.

 

[pomfin]

In the course of recruiting agents over the last six years, I have found there are five basic topics that everyone asks about: Carriers, Commissions, Training, Leads and Support. There are endless sub-sets of each and some areas are more important than others to each agent.

When talking to a prospective agent, I always address these topics. This will prompt the agent to think of questions that he may not have otherwise.

It is important to to find and IMO that will take the time to answer your questions. The better prepared you are the more likely you are to get your answers. Once you have gotten answers to your initial list of questions, ask for the personal email address of the IMO so you may email them questions as you think of the them over the following few days.

If an IMO will not answer your questions, they may not be your best choice. But remember, they are busy. If you seem ill-prepared or wondering around, they will get impatient. It may not be that they are unwilling to answer questions, but they may feel that you are not respecting their time. So, be prepared, focused and to the point.

Good advice!