First Year P&C Comm/Personal Expectations

[cfspartan]

I've seen variants of this question in a few places, but none with the same details as my situation. Here Goes:

• Live in a small community (30k people within 10 miles and county population is 76,000)
• Work for independent office reps 16 carriers and a sterling rep. but just expanded into P&C and Life from Benefits
• No base, producer pure commission 60/40 on origination 40% on renewals
• Offering 10% per year book ownership unti 50% at 5 years
• Awesome people, offering mentorship and think they mean it
• Responsible for all my own lead gen.

I have a lot of 1-on-1 closing experience, but nearly no prospecting experience. My personal network is "dwarfish" and would be relying upon cold prospecting and praying for some family name recognition as well possibly some early hot leads from friends of my dad (odds are they're with someone they've had for 20+ years though).

I need to see a monthly pay of $4,800 to get by. I'm not worried about the licensing - I'm good at tests - passed the Series 7, 66, and 3 within 6 weeks start to finish.

How realistic is it that I hit that $5,000 per month income figure and how quickly can I realistically expect to hit it?

 

[nyc2phi]

Average commission for an indy agent is 15% you get 60% of that 15% = 9%. You need to write about $56,000 a month in premium to make that $5K.

It depends where you are located and how high the premium is in you area but 95% on here will probably say that is nearly impossible especially for a newbie in his first year. I think in your second year you can get close if not hit that amount since now you'll have renewals come in but it all depends on how much you can produce.

Can you survive the first year not making 5k a month?

 

[Bertolinoins]

It is not unrealistic, but it is unlikely. I have seen very few rookies write $500k+ in premium in their first year from a standing start. You would need to run into a few big accounts.

 

[Josh]

How realistic is it that I hit that $5,000 per month income figure and how quickly can I realistically expect to hit it?

Not very because

I have a lot of 1-on-1 closing experience, but nearly no prospecting experience.

Selling insurance to an interested prospect isn't generally very tricky, it has a lot more to do with the way you prospect. Selling insurance is in most cases a prospecting job.

Now, let's qualify this. Out of the gate it's unlikely you'd hit anywhere near the $5k, but after a few years you should end up there. A friend of mine on here put it well when he said the p&c business is a "get rich slow" business. If you need to make that kinda money upfront, probably not going to be the ticket for you.

 

[cfspartan]

Great insight folks. Premium seems to be relatively high in the area for businesses, but not for personal lines. The employer is willing to front any pay plan commissions, but I'm still unsure... Been living out of pocket for 9 months, so hitting the $5k is pretty vital. I think they're willing to do some type of draw, but certainly not that amount.

 

[Midlevel]

You may hit $5000 the 1st year but not monthly for quite awhile I wouldn't think. I've been told on average it will be 5 years before you are pulling down $60,000/year like you say you need to survive.

 

[cfspartan]

Thanks to everyone for your input and advice. I've taken a different job but am going to pursue licensing in the meantime and work on rolling into things slowly to "test the waters".

 

[Newguy23]

good to hear I am doing the same. Once my own business is making more money than my job is paying me which is only 52k so i would imagine it'll take a few years ill quit and pursue it more than 15 hours a week

 

[TexasInsuranceNow]

What is the average P&C book of business year 1?

 

[bayoubelle]

You may hit $5000 the 1st year but not monthly for quite awhile I wouldn't think. I've been told on average it will be 5 years before you are pulling down $60,000/year like you say you need to survive.

That is frightening!
Especially in states hit hard by the recession.
Explains why captive agents jump ship for corporate jobs now.