Closing Rates Captive Vs Independent

[DiegoInsGuy]

I have been an independent agent for 2 years and had a spent a brief time with a Farmers agent. I love the inde world it is so much better to tell a client that I shopped this with 10 other carriers and it look's like such and such is coming up with the best rate.

When you are able to say I represent companies like... and give them a list of names they feel like you said every company in the book and then will not feel the need to shop..You just did it for them..My 2cents but i'll take a penny for my thoughts...

 

[djs]

Hey Dan,
Are you independent?

John

I'm very independent, just ask my wife!!!!

 

[infoe]

Great thread...great responses of people trying to be neutral to their response but as a captive agent going ia in a few months from the biggest captive carrier..its a good feeling reading above posts

 

[zoopie]

i spent 7 years as a captive and am coming up on my 1 year anniversay as an IA. i've done mainly P&C this first year with some commercial and life sprinkled in (more to come in year 2). after one year i will have written almost 42% in premium volume as it took my 7 years to write as a captive.

i must admit it was scary to leave that renewal premium behind, but i can honestly say it was the right decision for me. plus, after 12 months i'm able to call/solicit ALL my former clients, some of which have already followed me to the indy side.

long term (unless you inherit a decent-sized book of business) indy is the only way to go, IMO.

 

[zoopie]

hey poopie,

what carriers do you use for auto? were you able to negotiate the % at all?

well, dirk diglar, on the personal side i have 13 and on the commercial side i have 8 that i can place business with.

i joined an IA network, so all the carriers and commissions were already set. just plug and play, baby.

 

[DSInsurance]

In your opinion, if you are going to try and start up an IA by yourself. What is a good place to truly determine your expenses, so I can start planning and seeing if this is a move I should make. I should say, I would hope to initially run this out of my home office till I can afford a brick and mortar facility with staff.

 

[infoe]

In your opinion, if you are going to try and start up an IA by yourself. What is a good place to truly determine your expenses, so I can start planning and seeing if this is a move I should make. I should say, I would hope to initially run this out of my home office till I can afford a brick and mortar facility with staff.

find someone in your area that will share their business plan with you. That should give you a good idea.

 

[Sales71]

Some group of carriers can let u run a home office. Look at each group and see which one would fit your style.

 

[DecisionMan]

I don't think there's a big difference in closing rates between capitive and indy.

But when me and my friends were captive we wrote a lot of junk just to put numbers up on the board to keep the sales manager from barking.

When we went independent, we didn't screw around but wrote only the business we knew would stick - because we had to process it all and didn't want to waste our time on junk.

There's also something to be said to having multiple carriers with slightly different underwriting to be able to improve close rates.

 

[BNTRS]

Why are so many people obsessed with closing rates? What difference does it make?

You can be the most skilled insurance agent and truly have a gift for persuasion, you still can't bank on whether or not your prospect possesses the mental capacity to comprehend what you are talking about.

Here's what I know to be true, I'd rather focus on talking to as many people as possible about what I do than worrying about who bought and who didn't. Funny thing happens to those of us who work on just talking to people...a percentage of those who say no end up calling me a few months down the road b/c they're ready to take a more serious look.

Closing ratio is a number only amateurs worry about. How to pile the sales funnel full and let the process take it course is what the real pro's do, and it realistically is the only thing you have control over.