Why Ask for Two Leads at Closing; Ask for 130.

[insurance1822]

i can't get several direct contracts myself without a bob. there are a lot of clusters who abuse their contractual power and try to force you to write business with one or two carriers. (and impose production requirements). so moving around willy nilly is not an option. it sounds to me like this has never happened to you and i hope it doesn't. i totally get what you are saying. did you buy a book or have direct contracts yourself?

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maybe i am missing something very important. if you are signed up with a cluster and a carrier pulls out what can you do with the business that you have already written? that may be my disconnect. do you still get renewals even if you lose your code for non production? or do you have to just move what you can to another carrier?

That depends on the carrier & the situation. I've only seen (2) agents lose codes in my group (SIAA) and it's because they blatantly broke UW rules & had terrible loss ratios. I initially questioned the production requirements, but I can tell you from my experience (and my group) that you're not going to lose a carrier so long as you're quoting them.

Again...if you write business & more importantly show QUOTE VOLUME with quality prospects, you will be fine. If the carrier isn't winning business it's because of them...not you.

I'm not sure what you mean about clusters abusing power, because (again...with my group & SIAA) it's your agency & they NEVER tell us where to put the business. Stop being a vag...commit to a group, write business and stop worrying about the negatives.

 

[oicu812nbama]

lol. i do feel like a vag. i want to choose wisely.
i've read a lot of bad things pertaining to exactly what i am talking about with siaa. siaa does have all the carriers that i would need though. when i called them they said that i would need to pick a couple carriers to write with. ??? i mean, the reason i would contract with them is all the juicy carriers they "offer". did i misunderstand something they said?
i can directly contract with travelers or hartford, but don't want to be locked in by the production requirements starting scratch. you think they would go easy on me until i can hire a producer? more importantly, i'd like to know about siaa though. what if i need to place something with one of their carriers that i'm not appointed with yet?

 

[insurance1822]

i can't get several direct contracts myself without a bob. there are a lot of clusters who abuse their contractual power and try to force you to write business with one or two carriers. (and impose production requirements). so moving around willy nilly is not an option. it sounds to me like this has never happened to you and i hope it doesn't. i totally get what you are saying. did you buy a book or have direct contracts yourself?

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maybe i am missing something very important. if you are signed up with a cluster and a carrier pulls out what can you do with the business that you have already written? that may be my disconnect. do you still get renewals even if you lose your code for non production? or do you have to just move what you can to another carrier?

That depends on the carrier & the situation. I've only seen (2) agents lose codes in my group (SIAA) and it's because they blatantly broke UW rules & had terrible loss ratios. I initially questioned the production requirements, but I can tell you from my experience (and my group) that you're not going to lose a carrier so long as you're quoting them.

Again...if you write business & more importantly show QUOTE VOLUME with quality prospects, you will be fine. If the carrier isn't winning business it's because of them...not you.

I'm not sure what you mean about clusters abusing power, because (again...with my group & SIAA) it's your agency & they NEVER tell us where to put the business. Stop being a vag...commit to a group, write business and stop worrying about the negatives.

 

[nyc2phi]

That depends on the carrier & the situation. I've only seen (2) agents lose codes in my group (SIAA) and it's because they blatantly broke UW rules & had terrible loss ratios. I initially questioned the production requirements, but I can tell you from my experience (and my group) that you're not going to lose a carrier so long as you're quoting them. Again...if you write business & more importantly show QUOTE VOLUME with quality prospects, you will be fine. If the carrier isn't winning business it's because of them...not you. I'm not sure what you mean about clusters abusing power, because (again...with my group & SIAA) it's your agency & they NEVER tell us where to put the business. Stop being a vag...commit to a group, write business and stop worrying about the negatives.

As an LM agent I never had to worry about loss ratios because they didn't measure our success based off of that at all. Now that I own my own agency it's obviously a big factor. What would you suggest focusing on most to keep a good loss or combined ratio? Obviously I follow guidelines, however like you said there is always the temptation to write stuff that fits but at the same time has me questioning if I should.

 

[oicu812nbama]

the elephant in the room is the crystal ball. according to insurance carriers, agents are supposed to have a crystal ball to predict who will and will not have a claim. i mean you need to inspect the property to make sure that they are paying a premium to match the risk and not write someone that runs into the office needing insurance that day. nor write someone who is having a bad financial situation. (if you pretty much follow the preferred guidelines then you will be doing these things) any type of internet lead or mailer lead could be problem children according to insurance carriers.
i had a guy call me two weeks after he took out a commercial policy and ask me if the insurance was enforce out of the blue. i told the company. two weeks later he had a claim. letting the company know probably saved my e and o. they were notorious for smoking an agents e and o.

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you can picture a big burly alabama native saying " i just want liability for my contractors license". he did have several years continuous coverage with no losses, so i told him that i would write it as a package. according to the carrier, i should have known he was up to something.
so basically if you do everything you can and still have bad luck then you may lose contracts.

 

[insurance1822]

the elephant in the room is the crystal ball. according to insurance carriers, agents are supposed to have a crystal ball to predict who will and will not have a claim. i mean you need to inspect the property to make sure that they are paying a premium to match the risk and not write someone that runs into the office needing insurance that day. nor write someone who is having a bad financial situation. (if you pretty much follow the preferred guidelines then you will be doing these things) any type of internet lead or mailer lead could be problem children according to insurance carriers.
i had a guy call me two weeks after he took out a commercial policy and ask me if the insurance was enforce out of the blue. i told the company. two weeks later he had a claim. letting the company know probably saved my e and o. they were notorious for smoking an agents e and o.

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you can picture a big burly alabama native saying " i just want liability for my contractors license". he did have several years continuous coverage with no losses, so i told him that i would write it as a package. according to the carrier, i should have known he was up to something.
so basically if you do everything you can and still have bad luck then you may lose contracts.

It's clear you don't know what you're talking about & nobody does mailings anymore. "Lose contracts" and blah blah...you just don't know. You think carriers want a crystal ball & complain about what exact business they want yet you clearly don't know the indy side. For that matter you obviously don't know how to generate good business. I'm over you..

NYCphil you control loss ratios by writing package multicar homeowners 100/300 across the board minimum....period. You should know this coming from Erie but I've gathered you're new to the agency owner side. You should know by now how to field underwrite risks.

Of course there's no true crystal ball BUT numbers & statistics don't lie and if you focus on the aforementioned business your loss ratios will follow

 

[oicu812nbama]

sounds like you got it all figured out there hand. peddling auto policies with high liability limits has NOTHING to do with your profitability lol. you obviously have not had a property claim. how many years have you been in this business? "people don't do mailers anymore". maybe you don't but "nobody" is not a correct statement. carriers and large commercial producers do mailers everyday. good luck with your fees that increase with your production and paying a third of book value to buy out of your contract. you maybe ok with all that right now, but if your core carriers price themselves out of market then you will be back at ground zero. (while paying $2,000 per month in fees and getting brokered commissions from your ga). now i'm done with you. you and shawn know everything so you and him should form a forum and give each other advice.

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have a few property claims and watch how fast siaa shows you the door mister auto mcliabilityson.
"a fool and his money are soon to part ways" - gordon gecko

 

[insurance1822]

"auto policies with high liability limits has NOTHING to do with your profitability lol"

You do understand that you're 100% wrong here? Writing 100/300 across the board (in my market) will result in about 12-15% more premium (for the same risk.) Do the math on how that added premium insulates a loss ratio as your book grows. I've sat on an advisory board for our group reviewing how to make our $12,000,000 Safeco book profitable. I spent hours listening to actuaries rip numbers & facts down to the bone & it's sufficient to say YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT AT ALL. My initial response was "why do you want higher limits...that's more exposure?"

But believe me after hours of numbers & statistics IT'S A PROVEN FACT. I know this because I had the same stance & I walked in there ready to "show these" actuary nerds what's up. At the end I realized my skills are selling/growing an agency and NOT being an actuary. Again...YOU ARE WRONG.

The ROR on direct mailers is pitiful at best. In the captive days I'd see ROR of .025% Now maybe on larger commercial accounts you could produce a higher ROR b/c of larger premiujms...so I'll edit my stance to "direct mailings for personal lines is a complete joke."


"your core carriers price themselves out of market then you will be back at ground zero. "

You work in insurance (or do you...?) so you should understand the laws of numbers. What are the odds of 8 preferred carriers ALL going to hell in a handbag at the same time? Do you understand the group can bring on other carriers if that happens anyway? The group is constantly monitoring markets & managing them accordingly.

Your just so damn negative about your outlook. You've been beaten & abused by the captive too long & I'm betting you're an older dude who's stuck in his ways.

 

[shawnmwalker]

Real life example of a carrier doing something out of the norm on the IA side and how IA's adapted when one carrier goes rouge:

Market: CO
Carrier: ''Preferred Package Carrier''
Crazy Carrier move: Going to a 2% W/H deductible ahead of the industry curve.
Agents reaction: Until they have to sell a 2% W/H ded they will go find another carrier that does not charge a 2% ded.
Result to carrier: State WP is practically gone.

Was the business decision of ''Preferred package carrier'' wrong: Probably not. They basically said we can only stay in this state if we play by a new set of rules. It just so happens that the other carriers aren't playing by those rules just yet and don't seem to be headed that direction any time soon.

So agents moved the business.

As an IA you always have the needed tool on your tool belt. Simply put, the go to tool changes sometimes when a carrier takes a misstep.

 

[F150]

damn dude, you are SOOOOOOOOO paranoid and cant make a decision, you need to find a new line of work,

Things have been spelled out to you numerous times, from different people in different ways,

make a damn decision or hit the road jack.


You arent gonna find the 10000% perfect one, find one that fits what fits YOU and make it happen, good God man.....this has become stupid