- 977
I have a meeting with a rep for one of the big national carriers next week. Need to make a good impression and get this appointment, I hope. Tips? Who else has done this without the help of a cluster? I need to lock this in. Thanks!
Tips for Carrier Rep Meetings?
- Thread starter indienoise
- Start date
- 1,581
In my experience getting all my codes, the bs goes like this..
I focus on writing packaged home/auto business to multiple car married households that have above average credit & I'm not interested in anything below 100/300. We focus on the people who are more so interested in a long term agency/customer relationship opposed to price per say. We're almost OCD with our field underwriting because quite honestly, my biggest priority is getting to profit sharing quickly b/c I'm very much interested in that additional revenue. We try to obsessively be accurate w/ our data so we keep up to date emails & cell phone numbers so we can constantly reach out to our customer base prior to renewal & at relevant touch points. Our focus is GROWTH...but PROFITABLE growth. GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH. No walk in business, we're all referral based etc. Mentioned you want limited preferred markets b/c your goal is getting to profit sharing right away. ASK ABOUT THEIR PROFIT SHARING. Ask what WP it starts out & what the loss ratio grid looks like. Ask how their statewide loss ratio has been for them the last couple years & if they exclude CAT losses etc. Again, quiz them as much as they're quizzing you. profitability & growth are ALL THEY CARE ABOUT.
The stupid mutt rat pig reps will eat that up. Also, lie & tell them you're looking at a few preferred carriers & figuring out which is the best fit for your agency. Ask coverage specifics to make them feel you're vetting them as much as they're vetting you. Be like 'our customers are very much interested in water backup coverage' blah blah & ask the rep how their policy language reads compared to the rest of the market. Ask if they have mobile apps so policyholders can service themselves & ask about their integrated marketing.
It's alllllllllllllllllllllllllll a game, but remember this. That carrier rep is a worthless loser & you need to say whatever is necessary to get that worthless loser to give their boss a good vibe about you so you can get your appointment. So long as they're seeing quote activity they'll leave you alone for awhile.
I focus on writing packaged home/auto business to multiple car married households that have above average credit & I'm not interested in anything below 100/300. We focus on the people who are more so interested in a long term agency/customer relationship opposed to price per say. We're almost OCD with our field underwriting because quite honestly, my biggest priority is getting to profit sharing quickly b/c I'm very much interested in that additional revenue. We try to obsessively be accurate w/ our data so we keep up to date emails & cell phone numbers so we can constantly reach out to our customer base prior to renewal & at relevant touch points. Our focus is GROWTH...but PROFITABLE growth. GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH. No walk in business, we're all referral based etc. Mentioned you want limited preferred markets b/c your goal is getting to profit sharing right away. ASK ABOUT THEIR PROFIT SHARING. Ask what WP it starts out & what the loss ratio grid looks like. Ask how their statewide loss ratio has been for them the last couple years & if they exclude CAT losses etc. Again, quiz them as much as they're quizzing you. profitability & growth are ALL THEY CARE ABOUT.
The stupid mutt rat pig reps will eat that up. Also, lie & tell them you're looking at a few preferred carriers & figuring out which is the best fit for your agency. Ask coverage specifics to make them feel you're vetting them as much as they're vetting you. Be like 'our customers are very much interested in water backup coverage' blah blah & ask the rep how their policy language reads compared to the rest of the market. Ask if they have mobile apps so policyholders can service themselves & ask about their integrated marketing.
It's alllllllllllllllllllllllllll a game, but remember this. That carrier rep is a worthless loser & you need to say whatever is necessary to get that worthless loser to give their boss a good vibe about you so you can get your appointment. So long as they're seeing quote activity they'll leave you alone for awhile.
indienoise, I will be glad to give you some relative thoughts. I have worked with a lot of P&C carriers and their reps.
I can be reached through my website below.
I can be reached through my website below.
As one of those former " rat pig" reps .. I would appoint almost anyone and then just have new business goals .. not quoting goals, written premium goals.. I do not care about practice quoting.
If after one year requirements were not meet, appointment was cancelled .. it was a fairly simple process.
If after one year requirements were not meet, appointment was cancelled .. it was a fairly simple process.
- 205
This.
I had a carrier come in and instead of the usual bitching I do about their outdated technology, or backwards business practices, I asked what we can do for them specifically and what's been selling competitively.
Motorcycles.
I then asked if they have any tools for us to prospect motorcycle owners specifically. They do. Somehow convinced my Jewish boss to spend money on a mail campaign.
Sent out targeted mailers, got a bunch of call-ins, and turned a $2,000 snail mail campaign into $100,000 in new business. [home, auto, and motorcycle]. And we're still in the process of moving over homes and autos and all that good stuff for even more as some people find it more convenient to wait till renewal.
The great thing is, as indy agents, I didn't have to sign them up with said carrier for the motorcycle or anything else but I used them as a resource to get names and addresses in a target market. The rep understood he may not be competitive on everything, but I did sent a lot of business his way so he's happy. I just helped my agency grow their book by $100,000 and counting.
- 1,581
^how many mailers did you send out?
- 205
1,400 at the most? We sent them two times at about 700 different households twice. We are currently in the process of sending more.
The biggest cost besides postage was printing obviously, but the carrier rep is going to eat some of that cost so we've come back to even better returns.
What I specifically did is this; I went to the Census Bureau and looked up the median household income for my state which was about $49,000. I then cross referenced median household income by zip and specifically excluded zips that fell below that threshold.
So we ran those filters and came up with a list of motorcycle riders that live in a zip with at minimum a median household income of $49,000.
During the call-ins, it became apparent that the people with motorcycles that live in zips with above $49,000 in median income also had houses (didn't rent), had multiple automobiles because of marriage as well as full coverage (more premium). And also had toys like snowmobiles, boats and ATVs. It's not uncommon that these cases generated $5,000 in premium when you get everything else. About $2-3K a year for 2 autos, $1K for the home, $850 a year for bike. You add a few toys in there, or perhaps a few accidents and it gets up to that 5K premium real quick. It'll also be a great opportunity to sell life insurance once I gain their trust as many of these people were middle aged with a full family.
I think part of the success is that the agency I'm with has been around since 1937. Everybody knows someone who's insured at our agency, lol. So the results may not transfer to someone like you who has a scratch agency (if I am recalling correctly).
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