Today I had a meeting with our district manager (Farmers) and he gave me the whole retail agent or protege pitch and I am just not really sold. Now don't get me wrong when I first started with Farmers I was really against the idea against of captive and I am slowly seeing the appeal to being a captive.
Now of course he asked me what I thought, because I made it clear when I first got hired that I planned on being here for 3ish years before I go independent.
I pushed back at him with
- Competing against yourself if your captive direct markets (He pointed out this could still happen to your clients as independent)
- Higher compensation ( We are paid 10% renewals my understanding is independent can get 13%)
- Not all my eggs are in on basket if Farmers decide to change directions I can rewrite my book elsewhere which I think is one of the biggest factors is more stability in my opinion.
- No corporate to dictate what you can and cant do, or how you do it
Now I think you are truly are missing out on two big things which is
the branding & the support system/infrastructure
I would argue the branding can sometimes even swing against you but the ability to have someone to call whether it be a tech question, underwriting question, or even business questions is pretty darn handy. For example today we visited the DM's office and he went over someone of our commercial policies before we proposed them to the clients.
I guess what I am asking is, is the grass truly greener on the other side?
Now of course he asked me what I thought, because I made it clear when I first got hired that I planned on being here for 3ish years before I go independent.
I pushed back at him with
- Competing against yourself if your captive direct markets (He pointed out this could still happen to your clients as independent)
- Higher compensation ( We are paid 10% renewals my understanding is independent can get 13%)
- Not all my eggs are in on basket if Farmers decide to change directions I can rewrite my book elsewhere which I think is one of the biggest factors is more stability in my opinion.
- No corporate to dictate what you can and cant do, or how you do it
Now I think you are truly are missing out on two big things which is
the branding & the support system/infrastructure
I would argue the branding can sometimes even swing against you but the ability to have someone to call whether it be a tech question, underwriting question, or even business questions is pretty darn handy. For example today we visited the DM's office and he went over someone of our commercial policies before we proposed them to the clients.
I guess what I am asking is, is the grass truly greener on the other side?