hunter07302
New Member
- 2
Hi, I'm relatively new (< 1 year) and I'm seeking advice.
My situation:
I know an decent sized Commercial P&C agency which paid for me to get licensed, which I did, in P&C, L&H, so I'm fully licensed in all 4 lines in NJ.
No salary or draw, no expenses for any marketing, but allowed me to work out of their office, but didn't provide any mentoring, just said, here's a desk and a phone, go to it. They did, however, send me to Dynamics of Sales, which was an excellent program. This was all in October 2012.
Unfortunately, due to a number of things, I didn't dig into the career as seriously as I should have from the get go and thus didn't get started quickly enough.
Additionally, due to my own bull-headed aversion to cold calling (I had purchased never cold call again by Frank Rumbauskas) and thinking I could do it by "referral marketing", and the nevercoldcallagain system, I did not cold call, which is the only suggestion that the agency management had for me to bring in business.
Long story short, the agency was expanding, bringing in experienced producers with their books of business and the agency needed their office space back and they asked me to depart. I was the first and only completely new to the business producer they had ever brought in. All other producers had come in with an established book of business.
Agency said that I could still place any business through them, and they would still pay me the same split (40% to me). However, I would be a completely independent producer. They said that for E&O reasons, I could not market myself under their agency name, nor would I be able to use their email system anymore (makes sense, can't market under them...). Additionally, I would not be covered by their E&O policy.
I was told that this is common, that many independent producers do this, that they market themselves as independent producers and just place their business through an agency.
Now, I perfectly understand why this happened. I was the first non-experienced producer they had taken in. They didn't & don't have a training program. They did pay for my licensing & the sales training program. I didn't take it seriously enough. It was probably not a good fit, as I needed more mentoring. And I realize my mistake in both not asking hard enough for what I needed and in not cold-calling when that was what they suggested.
So, I have multiple questions going forward (and my apologies for the length of this post):
1. Part of me thinks it would be best to align with another agency with whom I could obtain the proper mentoring. At this point, I'm totally ready to identify one or two sectors/industries to specialize in and cold call like crazy. I have read some of njinsuranceguy's posts. I realize my mistake in not cold calling. Frank Rumbauskas is knowledgeable, but I've come to realize he's not correct in all circumstances.
My question is - when looking at the Indeed job board, it seems like all the agency producer jobs (and there are not a lot of postings for producer jobs!) are looking for producers with 3-5 years experience (at least!), and I have only one (1) year of experience.
Do you think there is a good solid commercial P&C agency within commuting distance of Jersey City (where I live) that would hire me? And, if so, could you make any recommendations? Contacts? I did get the highest score on my P&C test in the licensing class!
2. Secondly, do independent producers REALLY go out on their own and submit applications with brokers, as the agency I was with suggested? If so, how do they market themselves? In NJ, to be a business entity, you have to pay $150/line of authority (not a big deal) to register as a business with DOBI.
If I were to do that, I'd want to put up a website (also not that huge a deal), but are there any regulations regarding making a dba and then flipping the applications to the other agency? And, what about E&O?
3. What about joining PIA & IIABNJ? It seems like it's only open to agencies, not independent producers.
4. And what about some other alternatives. Seems like many on the forums are making a living in the voluntary benefits world, FE, employee benefits? I did spend a year as a producer with a large employee benefits broker back in 2007, but then departed and dropped my license and did something else for a while.
A very experienced in the insurance field friend, who now heads the P&C division at a fairly large brokerage (who is looking to hire P&C producers with 10-15 years experience) told me that for his firm they only want accounts with $100k premium or more, because the smaller accounts take as much work as the large accounts but are far less remunerative. Makes sense, but anyone have any thoughts on that?
Any and all advice & feedback appreciated.
By the way, I'm 51, my kids are grown, I have low expenses and have some money saved. I have extensive experience in sales in office supplies (primarily) and some other industries (telecom, mortgages, automobiles)
I do like selling P&C insurance, I feel it's interesting and I do like "getting under the hood" of businesses.
I feel like I'm ready now to go out and do the cold-calling, I guess that's the necessary evil, to start my career. Just looking for some advice. I feel like I had a decent opportunity - just wasn't the right match, would like to find somewhere that offers a bit more mentoring, is such a thing is possible.
Thanks.
My situation:
I know an decent sized Commercial P&C agency which paid for me to get licensed, which I did, in P&C, L&H, so I'm fully licensed in all 4 lines in NJ.
No salary or draw, no expenses for any marketing, but allowed me to work out of their office, but didn't provide any mentoring, just said, here's a desk and a phone, go to it. They did, however, send me to Dynamics of Sales, which was an excellent program. This was all in October 2012.
Unfortunately, due to a number of things, I didn't dig into the career as seriously as I should have from the get go and thus didn't get started quickly enough.
Additionally, due to my own bull-headed aversion to cold calling (I had purchased never cold call again by Frank Rumbauskas) and thinking I could do it by "referral marketing", and the nevercoldcallagain system, I did not cold call, which is the only suggestion that the agency management had for me to bring in business.
Long story short, the agency was expanding, bringing in experienced producers with their books of business and the agency needed their office space back and they asked me to depart. I was the first and only completely new to the business producer they had ever brought in. All other producers had come in with an established book of business.
Agency said that I could still place any business through them, and they would still pay me the same split (40% to me). However, I would be a completely independent producer. They said that for E&O reasons, I could not market myself under their agency name, nor would I be able to use their email system anymore (makes sense, can't market under them...). Additionally, I would not be covered by their E&O policy.
I was told that this is common, that many independent producers do this, that they market themselves as independent producers and just place their business through an agency.
Now, I perfectly understand why this happened. I was the first non-experienced producer they had taken in. They didn't & don't have a training program. They did pay for my licensing & the sales training program. I didn't take it seriously enough. It was probably not a good fit, as I needed more mentoring. And I realize my mistake in both not asking hard enough for what I needed and in not cold-calling when that was what they suggested.
So, I have multiple questions going forward (and my apologies for the length of this post):
1. Part of me thinks it would be best to align with another agency with whom I could obtain the proper mentoring. At this point, I'm totally ready to identify one or two sectors/industries to specialize in and cold call like crazy. I have read some of njinsuranceguy's posts. I realize my mistake in not cold calling. Frank Rumbauskas is knowledgeable, but I've come to realize he's not correct in all circumstances.
My question is - when looking at the Indeed job board, it seems like all the agency producer jobs (and there are not a lot of postings for producer jobs!) are looking for producers with 3-5 years experience (at least!), and I have only one (1) year of experience.
Do you think there is a good solid commercial P&C agency within commuting distance of Jersey City (where I live) that would hire me? And, if so, could you make any recommendations? Contacts? I did get the highest score on my P&C test in the licensing class!
2. Secondly, do independent producers REALLY go out on their own and submit applications with brokers, as the agency I was with suggested? If so, how do they market themselves? In NJ, to be a business entity, you have to pay $150/line of authority (not a big deal) to register as a business with DOBI.
If I were to do that, I'd want to put up a website (also not that huge a deal), but are there any regulations regarding making a dba and then flipping the applications to the other agency? And, what about E&O?
3. What about joining PIA & IIABNJ? It seems like it's only open to agencies, not independent producers.
4. And what about some other alternatives. Seems like many on the forums are making a living in the voluntary benefits world, FE, employee benefits? I did spend a year as a producer with a large employee benefits broker back in 2007, but then departed and dropped my license and did something else for a while.
A very experienced in the insurance field friend, who now heads the P&C division at a fairly large brokerage (who is looking to hire P&C producers with 10-15 years experience) told me that for his firm they only want accounts with $100k premium or more, because the smaller accounts take as much work as the large accounts but are far less remunerative. Makes sense, but anyone have any thoughts on that?
Any and all advice & feedback appreciated.
By the way, I'm 51, my kids are grown, I have low expenses and have some money saved. I have extensive experience in sales in office supplies (primarily) and some other industries (telecom, mortgages, automobiles)
I do like selling P&C insurance, I feel it's interesting and I do like "getting under the hood" of businesses.
I feel like I'm ready now to go out and do the cold-calling, I guess that's the necessary evil, to start my career. Just looking for some advice. I feel like I had a decent opportunity - just wasn't the right match, would like to find somewhere that offers a bit more mentoring, is such a thing is possible.
Thanks.
