Interested in Selling P&C, but Confused About a Few Things.

ksigmtsu

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I currently do Health and Life, a lot of med supplement, but I am interested in adding specifically auto and possibly personal property or homeowners to my product lines. The thinking I have here, a lot of my customers after I do their health policies ask me if I can do their other insurances, but currently I am not licensed for P&C, and after looking around about independent appointment for P&C agents the way this type of insurance seems to work appears radically different. I'm not really looking at this from the standpoint of doing large P&C volume, but more from wanting to be a 1 stop shop for my customers, specifically the senior market, that would rather get everything dealt with just by me. A lot of these seniors in particular want it so that when they have an insurance problem they call their insurance guy. I don't mind driving out to their home when they need something changed. The seniors I work with by in large prefer that I come to their home for visits. I like my current carriers I use for Health and Life, I don't really want to work captive, but it almost looks like all P&C is done by captive agents or through an agency.

Basically what I'm asking is this. Is it going to be possible to add P&C appointments for home and auto without disrupting my current health and life appointments, continue to work from home the way I'm doing now, and offer competitive, high quality insurance for those lines so that I can take care of people on a 1 to 1 basis with basically all their personal insurance needs. I want to be able to insure someones car, home, maybe even their bass boat or 4 wheeler, so they don't have to call different agents for different things.

I'm in Tennessee, currently licensed and have E&O, just no P&C license yet but I figure I can knock the online classes out in a week or two while waiting on leads to come in or phone calls to get returned.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Unfortunately,P & C requires quite a bit more service work. If you could find a trusted P & C agent who might reciprocate senior med sup type leads in exchange for the P & C leads you might generate more revenue. The headaches of contracting, added E & O expense, service, etc make P & C a tough choice for an agent who works from home especially. I think you'd find that most P & C shops don't mess with med supps and might be glad to refer them to someone who could protect their policies in the home. Just a thought...good luck to you
 
I think you've struck on part of what I am confused about also. I keep hearing people say that it requires a lot more service work.. what are you talking about? Do you mean renewing the policy or making sure it is kept in place? I haven't had 1 ounce of education in P&C, imagine you're talking to someone that has no idea what insurance is that told you they'd like to do it for a job.

I did also look around, most of the agencies in my area do med supps also, they just don't mess with D or MA policies in general. I'm not even saying I'd write a lot of the policies, maybe only 50 to 100 a year. I'm averaging around 4 medical policies a week on 90 leads, and around 2 life polices a month. I'm just getting started, I just feel stupid leaving money laying on the table when I'm more than willing to do the work.

I already have E&O, its required by most of my life providers. The added expense would be in "servicing" I'd imagine but I'm not sure what that entails?

If anyone can answer what servicing would require me to do, and if it is possible for me to get appointed to sell P&C with companies for the limited amount of policies I'd be doing, I'd appreciate it.
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Oh, im closing 4 a week on 90 a month, not 90 a week. I'd be broke in a month if it was 90 leads a week and closing 4.
 
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90 policies a year would generate 60-80,000 in premium in my area times the best commission rate we get @15% and you've generated 9K+ in commissions. Now you will be getting calls to add a car , take a car off, add a leinholder, take a leinholder off, how much to add a new car, how much to take a car off, what if my son drives, ooops we hit the garage should we turn it in, oops our son hit the garage should we turn it in, etc, etc

These are things that are best delegated to an hourly employee so you can generate real income by selling, If you don't mind being married to the phone doing low paying service work, it's not a bad deal. Sounds like you will have a hard time growing a decent size book of P & C business at 90 apps per year as well.

My advice would be to research it more and see if you are willing to make the long term committment to P & C that is required to reap the benefits.
 
I think its great you are trying to maximize your opportunities when you have a med supp client who already knows, likes and trusts you. 1manshow is correct in saying P&C isn't something you can easily start doing (the service is more tricky than the sales and it's nearly impossible to get appointments with good personal lines P&C companies).
As far as partnering with an Agency to send each other leads might be a good idea but I just don't see them sending you many med supp referrals. In my opinion the best thing you could do is talk with various Independent P&C Agencies and see who would be willing to write/service the P&C referrals for you and pay you commission (make sure its residual too). That way you could act only as the sales person and have an agency service them for you (for a smaller commission). You would also gain some P&C experience along the way and possibly start your own full service agency which would also remind me to tell you to try to avoid a non-compete agreement with any agency you contract with (the smart ones will make you sign one).

Good Luck!


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Now you will be getting calls to add a car , take a car off, add a leinholder, take a leinholder off, how much to add a new car, how much to take a car off, what if my son drives, ooops we hit the garage should we turn it in, oops our son hit the garage should we turn it in, etc, etc

Lol that sounds about like the calls I get now: "what card do I use for my drugs now??? Why did BCBST call and tell me my medicare was cancelled? Do you know when my policy is going to be approved?" I thought you ment there was something downright difficult. I don't care to take notes and help people out, I've got a pretty good CRM system going now, and I don't generally have any problem dealing with things like that efficiently. The work isn't something I'm scared of. I have this strange feeling that a lot of P&C agents think health/life agents are lazy. Lol the grass must be more difficult to cut over on your side or something. Customer service is what it is regardless.

So that being the pitfall, lets assume I'm under estimating the amount of P&C business I can generate, how does appointment with P&C differ from life/health?
 
I have this strange feeling that a lot of P&C agents think health/life agents are lazy. Lol the grass must be more difficult to cut over on your side or something. Customer service is what it is regardless

Actually, I think just the opposite. If a P & C startup agent would prospect life markgriffin he could write a ton of business in short order.

You will find that each P & C change requires intimate knowledge, a different form and "time" and each one is different for each line and each company. That's the easy part. Then you have coverage endorsements in the hundreds that you need to be aware of for each risk. You miss one and there is a claim, you're waiting for a possible E & O claim. Way more policy forms and details.

Biggest one is getting contracted, seems like none of the P & C carriers want to take a chance on a start up agent. Especially one who is sidelining it to a life/health agency. That's not negativity...it's simple reality. If you think it's for you? maybe you're right, but you probably need to deal with a wholesaler to get you contracts. Check into whats available, then see if those carriers are competitive and have an appetite for your senior clients. Maybe you're sitting on a little gold mine...just don't think you won't get dirty digging:yes:
 
Sounds like you are really motivated. You might want to try working with an online wholesaler first. Once you have momentum going with a particular carrier, you can then probably get a direct appointment.

If you have the motivation and willinness to learn - then go for it. You might really like the P&C side.
 
Does the P&C side have things like IMOs or BGA/MGAs? I've never seen one or seen me mentioned, but I'm not a P&C guy so I wouldn't have much reason to know if this exists.
 
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