Service Hours / Size of Book of Business??

[gambrinus]

For an "average" indy P&C agency, how large of a book should a good service person be able to manage? What's the industry standard for book size /service hours per week or month?

Thanks for any input..

RW

 

[nyc2phi]

For an "average" indy P&C agency, how large of a book should a good service person be able to manage? What's the industry standard for book size /service hours per week or month? Thanks for any input.. RW

I am interested in this as well however I think it depends on many factors.

Whether your book is mostly commercial of personal? Whether it is preferred or non standard? Wholesale or direct? Service center provided by carrier or not?


Sometimes it's easier to look at it based on the number of households you insure over the premium instead.

I don't have any figures to give you but these are some of the factors that come into play for me when making a decision about hiring someone.

 

[gambrinus]

We're approx $3m in written premium. Mostly P&C, 99% standard / preferred carriers. 2000 households.

Someone local told me that we're right at the point of what one 40hr per week person should be expected to handle.

Was just curious as to what others had experienced.

 

[Emmaus]

We're approx $3m in written premium. Mostly P&C, 99% standard / preferred carriers. 2000 households.

Someone local told me that we're right at the point of what one 40hr per week person should be expected to handle.

Was just curious as to what others had experienced.

In another agency I used to work with (1-1.5m written premium, Auto/Home, Allstate), that would require maybe 20-25 hrs. per week. However, some weeks there would be a peak in service transactions and that could bump it higher.

40 hours per week for a 3m book of business seems reasonable ON AVERAGE based on the numbers above, but expect any number of weeks requiring more than that. Also, lines of business matter too...And the billing behavior of your clients. I have some clients that call multiple times per month and believe it or not, all that time adds up quite a bit!

 

[Gulfman]

In another agency I used to work with (1-1.5m written premium, Auto/Home, Allstate), that would require maybe 20-25 hrs. per week. However, some weeks there would be a peak in service transactions and that could bump it higher.

40 hours per week for a 3m book of business seems reasonable ON AVERAGE based on the numbers above, but expect any number of weeks requiring more than that. Also, lines of business matter too...And the billing behavior of your clients. I have some clients that call multiple times per month and believe it or not, all that time adds up quite a bit!

*Reviving old thread.

QUESTION: Ok, so i am assuming if book is 3m=1500 customers with avg. prem. of $2000. (auto,home,etc).

1. With 1500 customers, i would also assume at that point, you will need a customer service Rep. to handle that one b.o.b.
2. I'm also thinking that there is no way one agent can sell that much and do the servicing, SO, at what point does the company hire a "service rep?"

~thanks

 

[insurance1822]

At about 1500 households is where I broke & needed to hire a full time CSR. I'm up to about 2000 households & need a 2nd....but that's more so because we're writing so much new business we need help w/ that. For an regular amount of production I think you could manage 1 CSR with 2k households.

 

[SueNami]

My experience would say that 1500 households with 1 csr is about right. 2000 households could be difficult if any of the following apply - 1) you expect other roles than servicing the book from the csr (cold calling, app help, etc) 2) your book is heavy on the commercial (more than 20%?) 3)your companies are experiencing rate increases
A good CSR can handle quite a bit, but I've seen too many independents short staff on CSR's then try to make up for attrition with writing new business. It's cheaper and easier to have a 2nd CSR keep your customers happy.