Thinking of adding P&C to my agency to expand

axeman462

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Florida
I own an agency with a large BoB, and am considering adding P&C as a way to expand.

To get started I am thinking of buying a small P&C BoB, then then marketing to my current Medicare clients. As my P&C clients get older I can then cross-sell them Medicare.

Any thoughts on this? It almost seems too logical to me, I feel like there has to be something I am missing...
 
Have had many a customer ask me what else I do and find that there is a policy with a competitor that I can replace. Why would any agent want another agent's feet in their customers home?
 
Have had many a customer ask me what else I do and find that there is a policy with a competitor that I can replace. Why would any agent want another agent's feet in their customers home?
EXACTLY! Even if you do as an accommodation for your current business only, not much needed by way of marketing, and you keep the bad guys (the competition that wants to steal your stack) out!
 
Be prepared to have your phone ring much more than is does now with tiresome service problems. Rates go up a nickel, your phone is going to ring. High service, low premium market. Auto and home insurance is a commodity to many.

But hey, your in that seasoned citizen market now, so you must enjoy it. Keep the coffee pot full!

Good Luck!
 
I got my PC license about 7-8 years ago thinking the same thing.

It sounds like a great idea, but I quickly learned how much I didn't like P&C and just how much more complicated selling P&C was.

Getting directly appointed with a carrier was almost non existent. I couldn't find any way to get them. In the end I looked at/went with Superior Access. Which was terrible and they charged me $250 to be part of their network. The commissions were not good either. I also don't think I was the actual agent/I think they owned the business. It might be different now though.

In then end my simpleton mindset was that I found it easier to just continue what I was doing.

The easiest part of all of this was getting the license.
 
I got my PC license about 7-8 years ago thinking the same thing.

It sounds like a great idea, but I quickly learned how much I didn't like P&C and just how much more complicated selling P&C was.

Getting directly appointed with a carrier was almost non existent. I couldn't find any way to get them. In the end I looked at/went with Superior Access. Which was terrible and they charged me $250 to be part of their network. The commissions were not good either. I also don't think I was the actual agent/I think they owned the business. It might be different now though.

In then end my simpleton mindset was that I found it easier to just continue what I was doing.

The easiest part of all of this was getting the license.
I think unfortunately in your situation you are not alone... SO MUCH of it has to do with your distribution channel. How you are able to do business and who you do business with. The networks (I know because I founded one) vary so greatly its tough to say whether you would have felt different about P&C had you tried elsewhere but the good news is, you tried and in the end you were able to drop it and go back to do what you do well. I was lucky enough to be immersed in both from the start so I don't know what its like to transition but I would imagine it would be traumatic at times lol
 
I own an agency with a large BoB, and am considering adding P&C as a way to expand.

To get started I am thinking of buying a small P&C BoB, then then marketing to my current Medicare clients. As my P&C clients get older I can then cross-sell them Medicare.

Any thoughts on this? It almost seems too logical to me, I feel like there has to be something I am missing...

Ok, so you own an agency with a fat guy named Bob. So, you want to buy him a pc computer so he can sit in front of it and get fat? I understand he is "big", and you want to sit his fat ass in front of the small pc computer to do marketing for medicare. Then when pc computer gets old, you want to sell it to your medicare clients. Yup, sounds fine to me, whatever you're into.

What does the fact that he is overweight have to do with him buying a pc computer to expand? If he is already overweight, why would he want to sit in front of a computer and get fatter? And what the hell does it have to do with Bob buying medicare?

This axeman462 is a bit of a weird guy.:confused:
 
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To the Original Post,

It is a good idea, but there are inherent problems. Some detailed above. I will point out one more. Many folks making "good money" in something right now often can't create a wheel and hub model agency. Not because it is not doable. They simply cant make the adjustment. A L&H guy shifting into P&C arm of the agency, often blows their mind. They can't sacrifice the ease of which they make money on the L&H side so they never give P&C enough of a try...….It is possible.
 
One other point, the EO for a newly licensed independent P&C agent just about ate my lunch.........was really expensive.
 

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