Referral Bonus

lisacrowe

New Member
3
Hello. I am new to the insurance business. The agency I work for offers incentive bonuses to dealerships that refer their customers for quotes. My question is how do I find out what is standard cost for bonuses in my area? The salesman at the dealerships are becoming very greedy, I think, and I am trying to make it fair across the board. Also, how do I know if giving a gift card, or cash, or a check requiring a W-9 be filled out is appropriate? This seems like it is a very tricky area to be in, and I have searched online for ANY information, and cannot find a thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa

Hello. I am new to the insurance business. The agency I work for offers incentive bonuses to dealerships that refer their customers for quotes. My question is how do I find out what is standard cost for bonuses in my area? The salesman at the dealerships are becoming very greedy, I think, and I am trying to make it fair across the board. Also, how do I know if giving a gift card, or cash, or a check requiring a W-9 be filled out is appropriate? This seems like it is a very tricky area to be in, and I have searched online for ANY information, and cannot find a thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa

Hello. I am new to the insurance business. The agency I work for offers incentive bonuses to dealerships that refer their customers for quotes. My question is how do I find out what is standard cost for bonuses in my area? The salesman at the dealerships are becoming very greedy, I think, and I am trying to make it fair across the board. Also, how do I know if giving a gift card, or cash, or a check requiring a W-9 be filled out is appropriate? This seems like it is a very tricky area to be in, and I have searched online for ANY information, and cannot find a thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lisa
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lisa, why don't you just ask one of the sales people you are giving a bonus to what they are receiving from your competitors?

You may need to 1099 someone if you pay them too much in a year.
 
We have asked many salesman, but their answers are basically..."much more than you guys pay" or "$100.00 per lead" kind of thing. They really don't want to tell us the truth, I'm thinking. and I have not been able to find an actual competitor willing to share.

And yes, we do collect W-9's for possible 1099's at the end of the year...which has also been like pulling teeth. The only thing the salesmen want is gift cards. We stopped that because we were spending so much money, without knowing exactly who it was going to and the fees on the gift cards were very high.

Any other ideas?
 
well Lisa, I don't envy you or your office. You will be squeezed and squeezed by these salesmen till you say no or you go broke.

Of course they don't want to give you tax info, of course they want "gift" cards. I don't blame them. There are a lot of people besides GE that don't pay taxes on their earnings...

Consider a referral bonus to offer if they meet thresholds like an extra $100 for the 10th referral in a month. But you guys are in a sticky situation. Good luck.
 
well Lisa, I don't envy you or your office. You will be squeezed and squeezed by these salesmen till you say no or you go broke.

Of course they don't want to give you tax info, of course they want "gift" cards. I don't blame them. There are a lot of people besides GE that don't pay taxes on their earnings...

Consider a referral bonus to offer if they meet thresholds like an extra $100 for the 10th referral in a month. But you guys are in a sticky situation. Good luck.

Also, make sure rebating is Legal in GA to do so! I'm sure the state has a web site that spells thus out.

That might but a damper on paying for referrals:)
 
Also, make sure rebating is Legal in GA to do so! I'm sure the state has a web site that spells thus out.

That might but a damper on paying for referrals:)

Wouldn't bother the unlicensed person in this case the salesman. They have something the agent wants ie the referral and they will keep upping the ante until the agents say no.
 
they are allowed if they are for QUOTES only, not for sales only. thanks for your comments. still trying to figure this out!! :)
 
Back
Top