Making It Thru the 1st Year "as Earned" - P&C

[Bob Klee]

Azusa,

I did a scratch Farmers agency in Torrance back in 1994. Couple Allstate agencies later. You learn to sell P&C, Life from the beginning. You have the drive & determination & that is #1 in my book.

If you have $$ in the bank, why not approach Farmers/Allstate to do the captive thing? Allstate has really good training typically & Farmers too, depending on the District Manager. Allstate has the better contract perhaps for starting out. Not sure the details of Farmers any more for a start up.

Most P&C is not "as earned" as was pointed out earlier & paying you that way hurts you. The "mentor" IMO, would be taking advantage of you as he'd be holding the advanced commission. If you are set on the IA route, I'd network & find a better deal. Heck, someone on here might be able to. I would not take that.

Buy a book by Troy Korsgaden: Amazon.com: Power Position Your Agency: A Guide to Insurance Agency Success (9780970139801): Troy Korsgaden: Books
Used for $15 bucks. Tells you the basics + scripts, to make it in P&C.

Good luck. Keep asking questions & investigating Before making your decision.

 

[Bertolinoins]

The renewal rate you are being offered is poor. You can do much better. If you are willing to work on strait commission then you should be able to find an agency paying 25+% on renewal and 50% new. If you were in Northern CA I would give you 60 new/30 renewal but it is very hard to mentor a green agent from a distance.

 

[b61mack]

i think bob klee has the better idea. i know red blooded will disagee. but a farmers contract will get you started, they offer. a pay check (a loan), to get started. you must meet certain goals to keep the money. i don't know how competitive they are in ca. but for a newby to start in P&C.. it is almost a must to start captive... also get your wife licensed.

 

[Guest]

Not really, Farmers has a decent program to get you started, but if you arent careful, you will owe them a ton of money, Their subsidy program is good, but if you dont meet the required numbers, then you will owe that money back, my buddy just owed them 13,000, another owed 10,000,

Captive is a decent place to start, but just be aware of the downfalls, and make sure to have the exit plan in place, People tend to owe farmers so much money, they cant get out, and that is the issue,

Farmers was pretty good my first 2 years there, and then progressively got worse, but you have to learn somewhere and Captive isnt a bad place to learn, just dont get sucked into it so deep you cant get out.

If I recall right, if you get some of that money, dont make certain numbers, they will take 25% of your monthly check to start paying it back, so really, you lose their subsidy AND have a quarter of your nothing paycheck on top, basically, they just caused you to fail AND then you owe them the rest of the subsidy for paycheck, simply, you just hit a financial disaster and could wind up having to quit.

 

[djs]

Well, you don't have to take their subsidy (or take it and put it in the bank).... Of course, you might go broke in the first 2 years without it!!!!

Every captive company keeps you on the hook somehow. They don't want people coming, learning the industry, and then leaving, ultimately taking the business with them (after the non-compete).

Dan

 

[Bob Klee]

That is why I like Allstate's Plan.

No "loan" to you at all. They start a new agent [FYI: one can Buy a BOB from another agent & still be considered New if the book is less than $750k in premium] at 60% commission the first month & it decreases over 36 months! So instead of Loaning one money they give you a higher commission.

Rational: As the commission goes down your renewal commissions go up. I always taught new agents how to produce from day one and to keep their head down, personal expenses low & re-invest in their agency every dime they could the first 36 months. The ones that listened had a net profit after expenses/employees of right at $100k that 4th year. That renewal wheel Clicks another notch after 36 months & one can make a good living. It can be done in Middle TN where premiums are nothing like what you all have in CA. But the overhead is less in TN than CA too.

My plan was you can build it fast & keep the "misery index" for just 36 months or you can build it slow & extend the misery 10 years! But with the enhanced commission it was to everyone's advantage to build momentum FAST.

Just another reason IMHO, that internet leads work and why Hunter & I were so miserable working with the "Big Dogs" in the Lead Gen business back then. They could care less about my experience or helping us grow our agencies. So we thought: "how hard can it be?" Well, it was expensive to start up as we didn't know anything about internet marketing back in 2003....but we survived somehow..

I started my Farmers agency & first Allstate agency by X-dating. It worked. But today with the marketing list & Dialers advertised here on the Forum, I think that is an Excellent way to grow too.

With either method, you cannot have phone reluctance nor be discouraged by a No. The next No leads to a YES. It is all about the numbers.

I love this line by Frank S. "You have to give good phone!" Without a Personality that one can hear on the other end of the phone you will NOT succeed! You really can "hear a smile" on the other end.

Gosh, didn't mean to go this long. Give Farmers & Allstate a call. If you need contact numbers for either company, give me a call & I'll put you with the right people for an interview.

Again, let us know.

P.S. Never Quit Learning! I reserve the Right to get Smarter!

 

[b61mack]

the problem i see with alstate is they want you to have around 150,000 in liquid funds. which scares me, i figure they want you to spend it all. farmers on the other hand doesn't... which also means that farmers agent must swim with the sharks, and learn quickly... nationwide want you to have 10,000.

 

[Bob Klee]

Umm, I think you're off a couple digits on Allstate. Last I heard was depending on what part of the country. $15-$25,000.

FYI: I had gone through a divorce & bankruptcy when I started my first Allstate scratch agency in 1995. I knew they had the "cash in the bank" requirement so I borrowed $20,000 from my folks & put it in my savings account 90 days before I met for the final whatever it was where I had to show my proof I had the money. It worked

Nothing on earth motivates you as when you have to sell to survive for you & your kids. I cash flowed my new agency from day 1. It can be done. I was reminded of it when watching the Will Smith movie: The pursuit of Happpyness!
The Pursuit of Happyness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'd check with Allstate before writing them off. $150k in the bank. They'd not sign up many new agents that way IMO.

 

[marketing]

Hello, any agents in the Sanford, Fla area selling P&C insurance please send me an email. Thanks in advance.
V/r
Ron

 

[b61mack]

i'm getting old, and it was a couple of years ago. so like those fish stories, the fish keeps growing from year to year.