Starting a Life and Health Insurance Agency

[lcastellanos09]

So i did some research before posting.. most of the topics on starting an insurance agency are years old.. So if anyone has any advice or can answer one of my questions I would greatly appreciate it.

I want to open an insurance agency focusing on Life and some health. I want to sell over the phone. Mostly Term and Medicare Supplements but also some Final expense and Short term HII.

I've been in the industry for a few years and now have the opportunity to open my own office. I already have an agency license. Whats next? I know about E&O. How do I go about getting MGA contracts? Any suggestions on who to work to get those? Also, do I need non resident Agency licenses or is the Florida agency License enough?

Can anyone who owns an agency/call room give me ballpark figures on how much they spend monthly in leads?

Im just trying to do my due diligence before jumping into this. Again, any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[AgentBoostMktg]

lcastellanos09,

Sounds like the products you'll be selling over the phone are compliant, so you're good there. I know you said you're good with E and O, but aware of a few things.
1) If you are only trying to cover yourself then you can just have your personal policy to be updated to show a dba for your LLC or Corp.
2)If you have agents under you, they'll each need their own E and O policy, or you can get a group E and O. If you go this route, be aware that only products sold through your agency will be covered on the E and O policy typically. If one of your agents sells outside business, it won't be covered.
As far as the MGA contracts, it'll all depend on the carrier. Some carriers require production, others # of agents. Most is a combination of both. As long as you are close to the required numbers you should be able to get the MGA contracts you need. A lot of FMO's to choose from, we're in that space. I'd recommend trying to have multiple contracts in one place rather than dealing with 5 different FMOs. Also if you're selling over the phone, M of O, Cigna (ARLIC) and Aetna CLI are really easy online apps. You'll find good and bad FMO's, shop and do your homework. Most FMO's operate pretty liberally and will cut you some slack on the required numbers. After a year or 2 and numbers still aren't met, they may have no choice but to enforce the contract per carrier guidelines. I know our reps at the carriers let us exercise our discretion, but sometimes they force us to downgrade contracts.
For licensing, you need to attach yourself as the principal of your entity for each state that you're doing business in. So if you plan on doing sales outside of FL, you'll need to first obtain your personal license, then get the entity licensed. Sometimes, depending on the state, you'll have to also pay a small "affiliation" fee to get yourself attached to the entity. Then check with the carriers you're selling to make sure you're licensed and appointed in that state. Make sure you do this before any business is sold in that state, or you may get your contract termed from that carrier. I know UHC is very particular about that. Others may just withhold your commission.
For lead figures, it all depends on whether your agents are fully lead dependent LOA agents, or self gen agents. Also are you just talking buying data lists or live transfer leads. We have agencies that we work with that have a blend of data for outbound, and a daily/monthly budget for live transfer. If you are going heavy on live transfer leads, you're probably looking at $50-$75 day/per agent. If you need some sources you can always p.m. us and we can recommend a few vendors. Any other questions, we're happy to give advice.

Agent Boost Marketing

 

[Agentguy5]

I want to open an insurance agency focusing on Life and some health. I want to sell over the phone. Mostly Term and Medicare Supplements but also some Final expense and Short term HII.

You will pretty much be guaranteed failure unless you are successful at what you are recruiting to. Wanting to sell over the phone and selling over the phone are 2 totally different things.

Good luck!

 

[thomasm]

So i did some research before posting.. most of the topics on starting an insurance agency are years old.. So if anyone has any advice or can answer one of my questions I would greatly appreciate it.

I want to open an insurance agency focusing on Life and some health. I want to sell over the phone. Mostly Term and Medicare Supplements but also some Final expense and Short term HII.

I've been in the industry for a few years and now have the opportunity to open my own office. I already have an agency license. Whats next? I know about E&O. How do I go about getting MGA contracts? Any suggestions on who to work to get those? Also, do I need non resident Agency licenses or is the Florida agency License enough?

Can anyone who owns an agency/call room give me ballpark figures on how much they spend monthly in leads?

Im just trying to do my due diligence before jumping into this. Again, any info is greatly appreciated.

What have you been selling the last few years? Was it all over the phone?

 

[Glen Shelton]

So i did some research before posting.. most of the topics on starting an insurance agency are years old.. So if anyone has any advice or can answer one of my questions I would greatly appreciate it.

I want to open an insurance agency focusing on Life and some health. I want to sell over the phone. Mostly Term and Medicare Supplements but also some Final expense and Short term HII.

I've been in the industry for a few years and now have the opportunity to open my own office. I already have an agency license. Whats next? I know about E&O. How do I go about getting MGA contracts? Any suggestions on who to work to get those? Also, do I need non resident Agency licenses or is the Florida agency License enough?

Can anyone who owns an agency/call room give me ballpark figures on how much they spend monthly in leads?

I'm just trying to do my due diligence before jumping into this. Again, any info is greatly appreciated.

My recommendation would be to concentrate on one line of insurance at a time.

If you would like to sell over the phone, I know many agents/agencies successfully selling Medicare Supplements (This is also a great market segment to cross-sell/cross-market).

Regardless of what line of insurance you decide to pursue, you can always cross market your existing clients as you go through email/newsletter marketing campaigns and/or annual reviews.

 

[dorado]

Yes,you will need Non-resident licenses for all the states that you will be working. Go to NIPR.com fees depend on each state.