SIAA, Smart Choice or Iroquois Group

[davekng8]

Hey Dave .. I am in Cola and studying for the P&C test, any suggestions?

Try and start selling home and auto first but work for another agency as a producer as well. The learning curve for P&C is 10 times harder than life and health and the savings that you can show a client are extremely low. You cant sell on savings like you can with life and health. You have to be knowledgable about the contracts and their diffferences.

 

[nyc2phi]

Try and start selling home and auto first but work for another agency as a producer as well. The learning curve for P&C is 10 times harder than life and health and the savings that you can show a client are extremely low. You cant sell on savings like you can with life and health. You have to be knowledgable about the contracts and their diffferences.

I don't think the learning curve is that much more for p&c then with l&h. You can pretty much teach a monkey to do personal lines. Sure commercial is difficult to understand but so is key person, and buy sells. Its all relative.

In a lot of cases you can save clients substantally in p&c and not to mention it is a state requirement so it could be a much easier sell.

I think it comes down to what product you like working with more and whether you like high up front payouts with little to no trail or small up front payouts with renewal commission.

 

[JDE]

I'm a start up agency also working out of my home, I joined SIAA a year ago, I could not be happier. They delivered on all promises regarding appointments. The bonuses are there for the taking, check them out because when they say we are in this together they mean it.

How much does SIAA charge upfront? And monthly recurring?

 

[nyc2phi]

How much does SIAA charge upfront? And monthly recurring?

Every state will vary since SIAA has different branches in each state so no one could really tell you. That and they make up sign a confidentiality agreement as well.

 

[NCAgent]

Every state will vary since SIAA has different branches in each state so no one could really tell you. That and they make up sign a confidentiality agreement as well.

That and a lot of the stuff is negotiable. If you say you can only pay X amount they can probably do it. I think that join-in fee is a large part of the rep's bonus. So when you hear different amounts to buy-in, that's where it comes from methinks.

 

[insurancemet]

Are these clusters available in san francisco? Do they train you ?

 

[davekng8]

I don't think the learning curve is that much more for p&c then with l&h. You can pretty much teach a monkey to do personal lines. Sure commercial is difficult to understand but so is key person, and buy sells. Its all relative.

In a lot of cases you can save clients substantally in p&c and not to mention it is a state requirement so it could be a much easier sell.

I think it comes down to what product you like working with more and whether you like high up front payouts with little to no trail or small up front payouts with renewal commission.

What products are you showing significant savings? I do employee benefits for business and can show a savings of $10,00 to $80,000 dollars depending on the product. On P&C like GL policies and Woker's Comp. I will be lucky if I can show a savings of $1,000 and people in SC will not move from their agent for that amount. I see your from PA and Yankees tend to have more business sense about them whereas the South is all about blind loyalty.

 

[nyc2phi]

What products are you showing significant savings? I do employee benefits for business and can show a savings of $10,00 to $80,000 dollars depending on the product. On P&C like GL policies and Woker's Comp. I will be lucky if I can show a savings of $1,000 and people in SC will not move from their agent for that amount. I see your from PA and Yankees tend to have more business sense about them whereas the South is all about blind loyalty.

I don't care if I was sleeping with my broker, if you told me I could save $1000/year, its on to the next one. Why should someone pay that much more for something when they don't have to ?

I've seen more then $1000 in savings in a lot of cases in P&C both commercial and personal & I can't remember the last one that didn't switch for that much. I've seen people switch to me cause I was saving them $5/month .

The point is you do make a difference in other peoples financial situation when it comes to p&c.

 

[JeremyTX]

The Eagle Agency takes a 66% cut of the commission. You need to be a member of your local IIABA, I pay $330 here in AZ for the annual membership. Prices vary depending on size and location. You get access to the Big I markets by being an IIABA member.

Wow 66% that's ridiculous!

 

[MGDaddy]

After doing research, I signed up with Smart Choice earlier this year. They have been great to work with for the following reasons:
I have binding authority for some of the Personal Lines co's
I got national carriers like MetLife Auto & Home, Travelers too
Zurich, CNA and Travelers will quote my commercial risks for me.
18% net commission on Flood(great commissions on other products)
Access to Life carriers
No initiation or up-front fees
No monthly fees
No back-ended fees (if and when I leave the network)
100% ownership
Opportunity to get Contigient Commission/Bonus
Binding authority with Property-only carrier writing up to 1,000 of tidal water - very important in my state (New Jersey)
Discounted E & O coverage

I know I might sound like I work for them but I guess, when your happy, it shows.
Just my 2 cents.