Hi everyone - this is my first post. Thanks to the mods and admins for providing such a helpful place.
I have a couple quick questions but first I will give the run down of our situation and do my best to cover all bases without being too lengthy.
Basically I have been working in the insurance field as an agency producer for the past 12 months - I have learned very quickly and have quiet a bit of knowledge on auto policies, commercial policies, bonds, however limited knowledge on life and home policies (which I know home is pretty straight forward). The office I work at is appointed with Farmers. I do just about everything other than pay the rent for the office, so I know how things are ran here.
Our goal: A partner of mine and I would like to open our own agency office - an independent office. Our main lines of business are going to be auto, home, commercial (auto, building, business, etc) and bonds (city bonds, maybe bail bonds). We are planning to have about 300-400+ policies written from our relatives, friends, and their friends and relatives etc the first 3-6 months.
Questions :
1. We are going to start off with about $20,000 in hand. We figure our costs will be the basics like 1st month + deposit for office, a couple computers and desks, some chairs, phones, internet, signs, and we pretty much have the rest like printers/scanners, etc. Is this being realistic?
2. How hard is it to get appointed with the bigger P&C carriers? I know the smaller ones like Bliss & Glennon or Unitrin are easy as signing some pages, but what about bigger ones like Mercury and other carriers we can put commercial policies through?
3. Since we are going to be independent, will bad credit or bankruptcies hurt our chances or getting appointed as independent agents?
I know it's hard to start your own, but we have the mind set to go at it and give 110%. We have a few basic marketing ideas which we know will work because after the initial contact with a person, we can do the rest. (mainly on commercial based business)
Thanks for your time.
I have a couple quick questions but first I will give the run down of our situation and do my best to cover all bases without being too lengthy.
Basically I have been working in the insurance field as an agency producer for the past 12 months - I have learned very quickly and have quiet a bit of knowledge on auto policies, commercial policies, bonds, however limited knowledge on life and home policies (which I know home is pretty straight forward). The office I work at is appointed with Farmers. I do just about everything other than pay the rent for the office, so I know how things are ran here.
Our goal: A partner of mine and I would like to open our own agency office - an independent office. Our main lines of business are going to be auto, home, commercial (auto, building, business, etc) and bonds (city bonds, maybe bail bonds). We are planning to have about 300-400+ policies written from our relatives, friends, and their friends and relatives etc the first 3-6 months.
Questions :
1. We are going to start off with about $20,000 in hand. We figure our costs will be the basics like 1st month + deposit for office, a couple computers and desks, some chairs, phones, internet, signs, and we pretty much have the rest like printers/scanners, etc. Is this being realistic?
2. How hard is it to get appointed with the bigger P&C carriers? I know the smaller ones like Bliss & Glennon or Unitrin are easy as signing some pages, but what about bigger ones like Mercury and other carriers we can put commercial policies through?
3. Since we are going to be independent, will bad credit or bankruptcies hurt our chances or getting appointed as independent agents?
I know it's hard to start your own, but we have the mind set to go at it and give 110%. We have a few basic marketing ideas which we know will work because after the initial contact with a person, we can do the rest. (mainly on commercial based business)
Thanks for your time.