Rants from a P&C Agent

[Hawaii Agent]

Let me start by saying, as a whole, I enjoy what I do. I get paid very well for what little work I now do. It was a grind to get here but with the number of clients on the books, I'm starting to get disgruntled. Here are the two complaints I received this week that just irritate the heck out of me:

1. Insured tells me, "I'm paying too much for my insurance. Seriously, we are overpaying, we're such a small business and our sales aren't anywhere near $2mill." Well, first off, you're insured for $1mill per occurrence in LIABILITY coverage and no one will give a damn about your sales when they sue you. When they said "seriously", that just set me off. Basically just told them it was a requirement of their lease.

2. Prospect asked for a simple HO6 quote for beachfront unit, "I don't care about the contents, only my liability, etc." I ran quote at min coverages for Cov A & C with $1mill in liability with an annual premium of about $300 (pretty standard for HI - non Allstate or State Farm premiums). Note this was a referral from another agent that can't write coastal risks. Prospect writes back, "please read my email again, I clearly said we are more concerned with our unit causing damage, etc." I responded, "As mentioned in MY email, that's the minimum coverage limits required by the carrier. I would recommend GEICO as they are known for low coverage and low premiums." #Byefelicia (ok I didn't say that part, but that's that crap that goes through my head when working with idiots like this)

Please tell me I'm not the only one that is getting beaten over the head about premiums by insureds that have no idea WTF they're talking about. Insurance is not a commodity!

 

[adjusterjack]

No, you're not alone. I was in P&C sales 40 years ago and got similar complaints.

However, as a consumer, I avoid doing business with people who say "we require you to." I had an agent a few years ago that said that. My response was "bye, agent" and I went to another agent for the same carrier where I could exercise my choice.

 

[marindependent]

I don;t understand the $300 comment. Just send out the quotes as you best see fit with the clients concerns addressed and move on. I think you will find that in the long run - if you offer up better insurers with solid coverage over the years you will start to get noticed as a straight shooter, not a low ball guy. The low ball insurance agents ... well we all know how that ends.

 

[Allen Trent]

Almost every job & career has these same pain points. But most other careers don't pay you residual commissions on every policy renewal to deal with the pain points that arise with some negative clients.

The trick is to get good at client selection to help avoid the constant negative & nasty people. Also, the other trick is to not abandon your best clients who never call or complain because you are buried dealing with the bottom 10% or so negative clients. You control alot of this by client selection & how you market. Don't accept referrals from the nasty clients or be a dumping ground for other agents that say they don't have markets for the obscure & hard to place stuff because the agent & clients are both using you

 

[marindependent]

The trick is to get good at client selection to help avoid the constant negative & nasty people.

So True

 

[Allen Trent]

BTW, I can think of a million worse places in The US to have to deal with pain points of the PC world compared to Hawaii,............lol

 

[marindependent]

Actually here is a solid business idea for a Hawaii Individual that wants to grow HNW business. Reach out to small mainland agencies that are not licensed in Hawaii. Be there go to person for clients that purchase 2nd and 3rd homes out there. Condos, Homes, etc.

As some clients will end up retiring in Hawaii your book of business will grow.

Just a thought.

 

[Hawaii Agent]

All good comments. Hawaii is an amazing place to visit, living here has its challenges too (just like everywhere else, just no weather issues). I am quick to fire unpleasant clients and have spoken to all of my referral sources about only referring those that they enjoy working with.

About working with mainland agencies, I doubt many are licensed in Hawaii as we are a very small market for P&C. I think this is a valuable lesson for any new agent starting here. That would be a great source of referral. Especially for 2nd & 3rd homes, the one I insured last week was a $9mill cash purchase by the beach from a Florida agency. Luckily, I was referred by the former owner of the property. If I start to slow down, I would definitely use that strategy of reaching out to mainland agencies just to introduce myself. Currently, I don't think my team can handle additional volume to expand my referral network. There's still relationships here that I need to cultivate too.

 

[shawnmwalker]

I read this and think....What ae you doing to educate your clients.... providing video content explaining the coverages, explaining what they need to know, etc.