IUL Submission Direct Vs. IMO

Others posting here may have more knowledge than I do. My understanding is most insurance companies and IMOs pay you street or 100%. If you become a big fish, they usually will give you a better commission.

You can sometimes find an IMO that will give you a better deal. I was fortunate to find one. Some of the lesser known IMOs can give you a better commission.
 
Comp and ownership of the business. The IMO will own the business you write through them. If you don't write a lot of business you might be better off going with IMO, but direct is the way to go if you are going to write more than a couple cases a year.
 
What is the difference between going direct from carrier to carrier vs. IMO? Is there a difference in commissions?

Based on the title the post I thought you were speaking about submitting applications through an IMO versus sending them directly to the insurance company. If that's the case, your upline shouldn't be cutting commissions or owning the cases that you submit.
 
Comp and ownership of the business. The IMO will own the business you write through them. If you don't write a lot of business you might be better off going with IMO, but direct is the way to go if you are going to write more than a couple cases a year.

The imo doesn't own the business.
 
Comp and ownership of the business. The IMO will own the business you write through them. If you don't write a lot of business you might be better off going with IMO, but direct is the way to go if you are going to write more than a couple cases a year.

Not true at all.

First, the IMO does not own the business you write through them unless you assign the clients and commissions to the IMO. And anyone who does that is an ***. And if the IMO requires that then they do not deserve your business.


Second, there are many carriers that do not offer direct contracts. You are required to use an IMO if you want to write that carriers products.

Third, often the IMO can get you higher comp than going direct. Even if you are a big producer.
 
Here is my experience.

1)You can submit your business through an IMO. They collect the med info, schedule the exam and everything else then submit to the carrier.

2)Or you can schedule the exam, submit to the carrier and they get the med info directly.

Differences in approach 1 v. 2 - I have to schedule the exam. Takes 5 minutes and I know it has been done in a timely fashion.

Submitting direct I can also talk with the underwriter directly about my applications. I feel this saves tremendous amounts of time and gets my clients the best possible offers, but that's hard to quantify. I know I have talked through cases with her and gotten heavily rated cases issues standard because she now understood the case batter. Submitting through an IMO I know that almost never happened.

As for comp, I think it depends on how much business you do. I know I cannot make close to what I do submitting direct, but we do 350k plus in life target yearly. So I'm getting 125-130% of tgt. Most IMOs don't get that so they can't pass that through to me. They have to pay for the big glass building their offices are in.

I used to work for a couple IMOs and know the gig. I get business issued faster, with better ratings and am pretty sure I make more and probably significantly more because my renewals and other comp are higher as well.
 
Here is my experience.

1)You can submit your business through an IMO. They collect the med info, schedule the exam and everything else then submit to the carrier.

2)Or you can schedule the exam, submit to the carrier and they get the med info directly.

Differences in approach 1 v. 2 - I have to schedule the exam. Takes 5 minutes and I know it has been done in a timely fashion.

Submitting direct I can also talk with the underwriter directly about my applications. I feel this saves tremendous amounts of time and gets my clients the best possible offers, but that's hard to quantify. I know I have talked through cases with her and gotten heavily rated cases issues standard because she now understood the case batter. Submitting through an IMO I know that almost never happened.

As for comp, I think it depends on how much business you do. I know I cannot make close to what I do submitting direct, but we do 350k plus in life target yearly. So I'm getting 125-130% of tgt. Most IMOs don't get that so they can't pass that through to me. They have to pay for the big glass building their offices are in.

I used to work for a couple IMOs and know the gig. I get business issued faster, with better ratings and am pretty sure I make more and probably significantly more because my renewals and other comp are higher as well.

And which carriers are you contracted with directly to sell IUL with only $350k in Target per year?

Also, if your IMO is not able to help with UW issues then find a new IMO. And you are able to schedule your own exams using an IMO. With many carriers, you are able to speak directly to underwriters or internal case managers (LFG and NA immediately come to mind). Of course some IMOs will tell you not to or that you cant just because they want to control the process.
 
And which carriers are you contracted with directly to sell IUL with only $350k in Target per year?

Also, if your IMO is not able to help with UW issues then find a new IMO. And you are able to schedule your own exams using an IMO. With many carriers, you are able to speak directly to underwriters or internal case managers (LFG and NA immediately come to mind). Of course some IMOs will tell you not to or that you cant just because they want to control the process.

We write the vast majority of IUL biz with Midland. As far as I know they don't have a production minimum and they have only one contract with the company. Their General Agent contract pays a production bonus. based on rolling yearly production. From what I remember if you do less than 25 k with them they pay a decent number, 95% and excess and renewals were the best I saw when we last looked at it.

At 50k they do 10% bonus plus the bonus positively affects excess comp but i don't think the renewals going forward. On past biz we get an additional 2% on renewals. So we're getting anywhere from 3% to 6.5%. I couldn't find anything like that through an IMO. And knowing the Imo world, most of them aren't getting 6.5% renewals paid to them. So they certainly can't pay that to me.

Midland stopped doing the extra 2% renewal bonus but they added an extra 5% first year comp for GAs that hit a certain bonus level and do as much as the prior year. We just got that bonus in our last check about 17k. So base comp is 95% plus 35% bonus added = 130%

As for the IMO "helping'. yeah they help but they also don't often actually talk to the carriers they deal with. They typically send emails that get answered when the UW someone else at the ins co gets to it. When I CALL midland someone answers the phone, I talk directly to my underwriter who I know personally and I get issues handled right then. I don't have to try to explain to an IMO processor, who then tries to relay what I told them to the company through an email and the message gets changed or not quite relayed correctly and the results end up different.

Some people don't want to screw with it. Some people do. Life is our primary line so we get it I think. Many guys do it as a sideline and it might make sense to use an IMO for the majority of the life biz but for us, we use the IMOs for business that doesn't fit with Midland or they can't underwrite. I wouldn't change that unless forced to.
 
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