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The market will dictate. Agents wrote Travelers despite the commission cuts so of course everybody else will follow. Insurance IS a commodity & it's price driven & the agency force is responsible for this more then the carriers.
If I were a carrier, the next step would be giving the option to sell a new product at 8% & let the blood thirsty agent who needs the business sell their soul away. Then, I have my justification after a few years to bump down further.
The only way this works is a massive uniting of the agency force. The leadership at SIAA, Keystone, Iriquos, Superior & the top 100 largest agencies all sitting down & refusing to write these guys & calling it quits. But that won't happen because they're all getting rich off their existing books and wouldn't want to rock the boat (I know I wouldn't.)
For guys like us NYC it's a wake up call & reminder that you always have to be on your toes & have forward thinking. The glory days are unfortunately behind us. There's still tons of money to be made, but we'll need to figure out how to adapt to the adverse environment we're faced it.
I always knew in the back of my mind how absurd it was to make the money I make & there's no way this gravy train can continue. If you take my 20 year earnings in this business...it's clear that number is going to be at least 30% less then if I started in this business about 10 years ago. It's just the reality. I really wish they'd at least recognize the agencies who produce well & leave their commissions alone...but agency's like that are the exception, not the norm.
Today is the day that all doubt is removed...personal lines is a decreasing value proposition to the agency owner.
If I were a carrier, the next step would be giving the option to sell a new product at 8% & let the blood thirsty agent who needs the business sell their soul away. Then, I have my justification after a few years to bump down further.
The only way this works is a massive uniting of the agency force. The leadership at SIAA, Keystone, Iriquos, Superior & the top 100 largest agencies all sitting down & refusing to write these guys & calling it quits. But that won't happen because they're all getting rich off their existing books and wouldn't want to rock the boat (I know I wouldn't.)
For guys like us NYC it's a wake up call & reminder that you always have to be on your toes & have forward thinking. The glory days are unfortunately behind us. There's still tons of money to be made, but we'll need to figure out how to adapt to the adverse environment we're faced it.
I always knew in the back of my mind how absurd it was to make the money I make & there's no way this gravy train can continue. If you take my 20 year earnings in this business...it's clear that number is going to be at least 30% less then if I started in this business about 10 years ago. It's just the reality. I really wish they'd at least recognize the agencies who produce well & leave their commissions alone...but agency's like that are the exception, not the norm.
Today is the day that all doubt is removed...personal lines is a decreasing value proposition to the agency owner.