How Easy Is It To Get Appointed

[jmatos]

I am fairly new to the p/c side of doing things. I know being appointed with life/health companies are pretty simple, but how easy is it to get appointed with p/c companies. If a guy was wanting to start an agency in a given area, would it be beneficial to go Independent or would you recommend being captive?

Thanks for your help

 

[jhuang]

Appointments with reps has to do with marketing plans. You need to show the reps you can produce for them.

 

[BTFuzz]

Appointments with reps has to do with marketing plans. You need to show the reps you can produce for them.

I will second this...if you can produce and you can prove it or if you have a killer marketing/business plan you should be able to get appointments fairly easy today.

 

[jmatos]

I will second this...if you can produce and you can prove it or if you have a killer marketing/business plan you should be able to get appointments fairly easy today.

It seemed to me that for a start up, it might be a little difficult. I looked at a few of them online and they want a history of the top companies you are writing with. I wondered if they would even look at a start up agency.

 

[Guest]

you will need to join a cluster
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[NCAgent]

What reps do you need to contact to get the appointments? Field reps, or regional/district managers? This is, of course, assuming they are all different.

 

[djs]

Most larger P&C carriers will have territory managers that you need to contact. They will come meet with you in your office to discuss getting appointed.

Part of their job is to weed out individuals who won't succeed in the business with their current marketing methods / plan / business model / experience.

Good luck! Find out what carrier you want to be appointed with, find the right territory manager and go to work.

Dan

 

[jmatos]

you will need to join a cluster
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Please explain a little further. What do you mean by a cluster?

 

[NCAgent]

A cluster is basically a group of carriers that are represented by a company, that you get access to. For example, Smart Choice, SIAA, Insurance Noodle, or Iroquois Group, are clusters but there are tons more.

You pay them a fee either all up front, monthly, or just a portion of your commissions (depending on the company) to get access to carriers that you might not have been able to access before. This would be for P&C for both PL and CL. This could be companies like The Hartford, Travelers, Progressive, a few regional companies, Metlife home and auto, and more.

A few downsides include the monthly fee, some might not give you binding authority, others might not let you keep the book of business, or things like that. So it depends on what your needs and business plans are, and how much you are willing to put up with in order to get yourself established in the area for P&C.

I just got done doing a bunch of research on this myself, it can be kinda confusing. This isn't exclusive to P&C but it is a lot more necessary for P&C than L&H.

 

[jmatos]

A cluster is basically a group of carriers that are represented by a company, that you get access to. For example, Smart Choice, SIAA, Insurance Noodle, or Iroquois Group, are clusters but there are tons more.

You pay them a fee either all up front, monthly, or just a portion of your commissions (depending on the company) to get access to carriers that you might not have been able to access before. This would be for P&C for both PL and CL. This could be companies like The Hartford, Travelers, Progressive, a few regional companies, Metlife home and auto, and more.

A few downsides include the monthly fee, some might not give you binding authority, others might not let you keep the book of business, or things like that. So it depends on what your needs and business plans are, and how much you are willing to put up with in order to get yourself established in the area for P&C.

I just got done doing a bunch of research on this myself, it can be kinda confusing. This isn't exclusive to P&C but it is a lot more necessary for P&C than L&H.

I understand. This is probably the best way to get started then.