P/C or Life

[Chkndinner14]

The P & C is nice in the long run. It pays the bills. The differential between new and renewal is minimal.

In order to be a good multi-line agency, you have to delegate and release control of certain products or lines. Not many people can be all things to all people. In order to be successful in the insurance industry, you need to build the machine. When you get the machine up and running, you need to make sure it keeps running.

Start working on building the first machine. It can be either Life or P & C. When you get this machine humming and repeating then find someone to replace you or bring in someone to add the next machine.

If you are starting from scratch, don't try to be all things to all people. This is a marketing job, not a sales job.

 

[Nttwrkz LLC]

Chkyndinner14,

Hey thanks for your advice. I think I'm going to stick with the life and health because I already have the license so I midst well use them to build this insurance business.

I'm curious to know how long did it take you to be successful in this business? I'm only doing it part-time for now because I have a family and they have to eat. Do you think I'm cheating myself by only doing this part-time for now? I want to do it full-time but I have to wait for the right time. I'm hoping to be doing insurance full-time by the fall. One last question, do you think I should start off with a company like NYL? I'm with Aflac now and it's really not working out for me. Thanks for your advice and input. Enjoy the day.

Nttwrkz1

 

[Nttwrkz LLC]

Tkirk97,

Hey thanks for your advice too. What did you mean by me having to chase my renewals? I thought the renewals from life were good. How long did it take you to build your business? and is hard selling both types of insurance?

I look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy the day.

Nttwrk1

 

[Alston]

Tkirk97,

Hey thanks for your advice too. What did you mean by me having to chase my renewals? I thought the renewals from life were good. How long did it take you to build your business? and is hard selling both types of insurance?

I look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy the day.

Nttwrk1

Check your contract. See what your commission is as a percentage of the premium for the first year and then check to see what it is for the second and subsequent years.

Sales compensation on life insurance tends to be pretty front loaded.

 

[rapidrobert]

The ideal is you keep writing the life business each month; that way you always have front end commission checks and longer term renewal checks coming in and that's the key to the biz. I wouldn't quit my day job until I got proficient at writing a few apps a week.

Also, to write a few health policies gives yet another stream of income and they all tend to compliment each other. I would take ALL of my commissions "as earned," so that you are building a book of business and chargebacks won't hurt badly.

You might do some research on here about Aflac. It's an okay indemnity product but the prospecting modus operandi isn't every agent's "cup of tea."

Now go out there and KICK SOME arse.

 

[Nttwrkz LLC]

RAPIDROBERT,

Hey, thanks for your advice.

Nttwrkz1

 

[Chkndinner14]

Like anything worth doing it takes a while. When I first started I had a new wife, kid and mortgage and I took the straight commission plunge.

I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, but it did work for me, very painful for my wife though.

There are plenty of life and financial companies that will start you out with a decreasing salary over a period of time. This may not be a bad idea for you. Being around successful producers has its benefits. If you do not have a sales background this will help.

Most of the successful independents started with one of the major companies and then moved on when they learned the ropes

 

[chickenfarmer]

Very good information. Thanks to all of you with experience. Why is it so difficult to sell P&C as well as L&H insurance? Are there that many products to be knowledgable in? For someone, such as myself, beginning in their 20's (barely!).. might the P&C route be better since the time is there to build the agency rather than swinging for the fences with L&H? So many questions!

 

[xrac]

Very good information. Thanks to all of you with experience. Why is it so difficult to sell P&C as well as L&H insurance? Are there that many products to be knowledgable in? For someone, such as myself, beginning in their 20's (barely!).. might the P&C route be better since the time is there to build the agency rather than swinging for the fences with L&H? So many questions!

P&C is profitable but it is a fairly slow process to build a book of business. Once the book is built the business is more stable as others have said. Life and health has greater immediate potential and can be very profitable long term but I think one has to be a much more dynamic and aggressive sales person than in P&C. I think the reason that more P&C people don't do life and investments is that there is much more service work to a book of P&C business and this takes time away from selling activities. Also I think many P&C people are content with their level of income and may not want to work for the extra sales. P&C agents gets calls asking for quotes on P&C coverage. That doesn't happen nearly as often with L&H. Just some thoughts.

 

[Houston1969]

I have both P/C and L/H and I can tell you without a doubt that L/H is the way to go...The P/C is too volatile...its basically boom or bust. And it depends what kind of P/C you write. Do you write policies under $5000? under $10,000, or do you go after the specialty markets $50,000+? I am here in Texas and I can tell you that P/C is a tough market. I have about $2,500,000 in premiums in the trucking, contractors, redi mix, and Oil & Gas markets. The paper work is extremely labor intensive and your most clients have no loyalty....With high fuel costs who could blame them. And on top of that, we have been in a soft market since 2003 killing profit margins.

Most of successful L/H agents work at home, their costs are minimal, and most have online application capibilities that produce faster clients without driving all over creation...Just my two cents.