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Hi folks, I've been reading through several articles and I haven't seen much mentioned about Farmers Insurance. I'll give a little background first.
I've been ...
Hi folks, I've been reading through several articles and I haven't seen much mentioned about Farmers Insurance. I'll give a little background first.
I've been in Registered Rep and or Investment Advisor and sold Life / Health since 2001. I moved from my last position doing this to work for a Farmers Rep as a 1099 to gain some experience and feel out how I liked P&C business. After working with him for a year and running his office for him, (absentee agent with myself and secretary as sole office runners) some of the numbers on my paychecks just didn't seem to add up. I was getting less than agreed upon, my contract changed drastically and I left. That was 2 weeks ago. Over my year working I took online training courses through Farmers on all their lines of business and feel I have a good working knowledge of the products and my marketing from past positions is solid as well. Combining these two things that I had run an office for a year for another agent (in which time I took his dying book that was shedding PIF for 2 years and started growing PIF and GWP) and not being compensated for it according to plan I've decided to go out on my own.
I'm in Southern California, fully licensed currently (Series 7, 66, Life/Health, Property/Casualty). I am looking into either starting my own Independent office or utilizing something else such as Farmers Reserve agent program to get myself into business for myself. I've come up with several Pro's and Con's for each but I'm leaning more towards Independence. I'd like to hear everyone's feedback on this. I appreciate all your help and guidance, also I'm sure to have some follow up questions. Thanks
Go independent, you seem to have the knowledge and spine for it. You are fully liscensed and based on the area you are in you can probably see profits in your first year of operation fairly easily.
Hardest thing is obviously what you would market yourself as. Don't spread yourself too thin but use the knowledge you have to offer everything to your clients.
Go independent, you seem to have the knowledge and spine for it. You are fully liscensed and based on the area you are in you can probably see profits in your first year of operation fairly easily.
Hardest thing is obviously what you would market yourself as. Don't spread yourself too thin but use the knowledge you have to offer everything to your clients.
I am also new to this forum and am currently independant. I sell primarily annuities, but would like to sell myself our car and home insurance. Where could i do this? I have an FMO for annuity sales, but they don't have agreements with the P/C side. Who would you recommend for me to just sell myself the P/C? I'm not looking to get into that field as a seller to others in that it looks to me to be too time comsuming with claims and all.
Thanks
I am also new to this forum and am currently independant. I sell primarily annuities, but would like to sell myself our car and home insurance. Where could i do this? I have an FMO for annuity sales, but they don't have agreements with the P/C side. Who would you recommend for me to just sell myself the P/C? I'm not looking to get into that field as a seller to others in that it looks to me to be too time comsuming with claims and all.
Thanks
If your not going into this field your not going to find the effort to be worth your time...To sell yourself a P&C policy you will first need a p&c license which is seperate and different than your Life & Health license...additionally most P&C carriers before they appoint you are going to be looking for a track record and potential future business so just wanting to sell yourself or yourself and some friends and family will not interest them. The carrier will also require E&O coverage before apoointing you and your current coverage will most likely not cover P&C sales so even though you are not likely to sue yourself to get appointed you would probably need the coverage....just visit a reputable independent Agent and get yourself the coverage and forget the 10-15% commission.
If your not going into this field your not going to find the effort to be worth your time...To sell yourself a P&C policy you will first need a p&c license which is seperate and different than your Life & Health license...additionally most P&C carriers before they appoint you are going to be looking for a track record and potential future business so just wanting to sell yourself or yourself and some friends and family will not interest them. The carrier will also require E&O coverage before apoointing you and your current coverage will most likely not cover P&C sales so even though you are not likely to sue yourself to get appointed you would probably need the coverage....just visit a reputable independent Agent and get yourself the coverage and forget the 10-15% commission.
thanks for the info. I am P/C licensed, but your comments make sense. I have sold myself and family life insurance, though.
Hey there, thanks for the vote of confidence. Was wondering if you could give me a few specifics that you've found to work well in the marketing aspect of an initial start up. How much do you think is good to invest initially? I'm going to share space with a friend of mine who's a mortgage broker, he'll be giving me some leads where possible but one source isn't enough as I know. I've found little success with internet leads, could you perhaps let me know if you've found a place that has more potential success? Or do you believe my own marketing campaigns directed more about who I am and what I can do would be better?
Hi folks, I've been reading through several articles and I haven't seen much mentioned about Farmers Insurance. I'll give a little background first.
I've been in Registered Rep and or Investment Advisor and sold Life / Health since 2001. I moved from my last position doing this to work for a Farmers Rep as a 1099 to gain some experience and feel out how I liked P&C business. After working with him for a year and running his office for him, (absentee agent with myself and secretary as sole office runners) some of the numbers on my paychecks just didn't seem to add up. I was getting less than agreed upon, my contract changed drastically and I left. That was 2 weeks ago. Over my year working I took online training courses through Farmers on all their lines of business and feel I have a good working knowledge of the products and my marketing from past positions is solid as well. Combining these two things that I had run an office for a year for another agent (in which time I took his dying book that was shedding PIF for 2 years and started growing PIF and GWP) and not being compensated for it according to plan I've decided to go out on my own.
I'm in Southern California, fully licensed currently (Series 7, 66, Life/Health, Property/Casualty). I am looking into either starting my own Independent office or utilizing something else such as Farmers Reserve agent program to get myself into business for myself. I've come up with several Pro's and Con's for each but I'm leaning more towards Independence. I'd like to hear everyone's feedback on this. I appreciate all your help and guidance, also I'm sure to have some follow up questions. Thanks
The Farmers is a really tough thing...Slow to pay, very hard to work, very long hours - great persistency with Med Supps and no headache. Let mo know if you would like other info regarding this.
I guess you've got all the experience that you need. I admire people who start from scratch and made a big leap to success. Being independent takes great responsibility and with your history you will do good on your own.
When I started in Insurance Sales 28 years ago, I was recruited by a Company that only offered Captive Sales Contracts. I did not know that Independent Contracts existed let alone the pros and con's between them. I spent the first 9 years of my career selling, recruiting and training under a captive contract. I have sold, recruited and trained agents the last 18 years under Independent Sales Contracts.
One of the big concerns I experienced over time working under a captive contract with one company was not having enough product selection. There were several periods of time when certain products we offered were simply not competitive in the marketplace.
This severely limited our ability to provide solutions to many prospective customers. I have found over the years that most captive companies usually only have two or three competitive products at a time. They usually are focused on one or two niche markets. This limits your cross selling opportunities when your not allowed to pick up other contracts. As an Independent Agent you are free to contract with many different companies. This can be a problem though because many insurance agents that contract with to many companies at a time begin to lose focus. There will be times, however, when you may want to change markets or add another company that has a very competitive product. You will need to be an Independent Agent to do that.
The other big concern I had working under a Captive Contract was that I did not own my block of business. Another phrase for ownership of your block of business would be "having vesting rights on your block of business." The company I worked for required you to be their 15 years before you had 100% vesting rights on your block of business!
When I left after 9 years I was only 40% vested. That means I did not receive 60% of my renewals on my in-force policies when I left and became an Independent Agent. Again, I did not know nor was I told that there were other opportunities to sell Insurance and have 100% vesting rights all your sales from day one! I learned the hard way. This is also why it took me a long time to get up the nerve to make the move because I knew I would lose a big chunk of my renewal income. There are a lot of agents that work for Independent Agencies that sell multiple companies that don't offer vesting rights. So when the agent leaves the Agency still gets all the renewals on the business. This may not be all bad depending on the other support and services that Agency may be offering the Agent.
Generally speaking, another difference you will notice is that Independent Agents commission schedules are usually higher then that of Captive Insurance Agents. For example, when I sold as a Captive Agent I earned 20% commission our Health Insurance products and 55%-65% commission on our Life Insurance products. When I moved over to the Independent Agent Contracts I started earning 25% commission on my Health Insurance Sales and 90%-100% commission on my Life Insurance Sales.
Traditionally one of the advantages with Captive Companies was that they offered more training and support for a new agent entering the business. But nowadays there are many great MGA, NMO, IMO and FMO Agencies that offer all the training and support that traditional Captive Companies offer. Plus you still get top commission contracts, Immediate vesting rights, multiple company portfolios, Lead support systems, etc.
Well, once again we hope that this information has been helpful to you. Please fell free to visit either of our two Agency websites.
I am a captive agent and I have enjoyed it. I think being a captive agent was helpful since I was a scratch agent. Although you will have more marketing freedom if you go independent. They both have there pros and cons. I know some long time captive agents that are very happy being captive and some that arent and the same goes for independents. I suggest making a few phone calls to some local independents and captive agents, maybe not in your city but near by to help you make your decision.
Hi folks, I've been reading through several articles and I haven't seen much mentioned about Farmers Insurance. I'll give a little background first.
I've been in Registered Rep and or Investment Advisor and sold Life / Health since 2001. I moved from my last position doing this to work for a Farmers Rep as a 1099 to gain some experience and feel out how I liked P&C business. After working with him for a year and running his office for him, (absentee agent with myself and secretary as sole office runners) some of the numbers on my paychecks just didn't seem to add up. I was getting less than agreed upon, my contract changed drastically and I left. That was 2 weeks ago. Over my year working I took online training courses through Farmers on all their lines of business and feel I have a good working knowledge of the products and my marketing from past positions is solid as well. Combining these two things that I had run an office for a year for another agent (in which time I took his dying book that was shedding PIF for 2 years and started growing PIF and GWP) and not being compensated for it according to plan I've decided to go out on my own.
I'm in Southern California, fully licensed currently (Series 7, 66, Life/Health, Property/Casualty). I am looking into either starting my own Independent office or utilizing something else such as Farmers Reserve agent program to get myself into business for myself. I've come up with several Pro's and Con's for each but I'm leaning more towards Independence. I'd like to hear everyone's feedback on this. I appreciate all your help and guidance, also I'm sure to have some follow up questions. Thanks
GO INDY..GO WIDE & DEEP. DO NOT SPECIALIZE THAT'S REALLY OLD SCHOOL. DO NOT FEAR TECHNOLOGY. THE LESS YOU PROVIDE YOUR CLIENT SIMPLY MEANS THE MORE ANOTHER DIVERSIFIED AGENT CAN OFFER AND DELIVER!
Captive or Independent?
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