Personal Book VS Commercial Book - Pros/Cons

[insurance1822]

I'm pretty much 90% personal lines & I'm attracted to commercial because of the premiums. But that being said, I like personal lines because a blind/retarded goat could grow a personal lines book.

It doesn't require much skill/knowledge to make sure you're insuring people correctly & I don't have to stress over losing accounts. Hey...If some personal lines account is complaining about their renewal...WHO CARES!

I mean...of course I care...but not like commercial accounts where I just had a $45,000 policy get increased at renewal & here I am actually running around stopping my life to make sure I get this locked down.

With personal lines I just feel like it's on auto pilot...it's easy...it's pretty much care free & I'm making really good money IMO.

So at the end of the day...is there that much extra money in commercial & is it worth it? I'm making about 250k/year and I'll take pay increases of at least $25,000/year based of what I currently write & what I lose for at least the next 5 years.

Wouldn't you rather have personal lines premium vs commercial? stupid certificates of insurance and all the BS seems kinda pointless if you can put up the easy personal lines premium.

Getting personal lines business is simple...but I just can't seem to get commercial lines business (or maybe I can't do it as easily.) But either way it seems easy to create a massive flow of personal lines referrals & commercial prospecting just seems dismal.

 

[indienoise]

You said yourself you're on autopilot as it is.

I'm pretty sure you've got staff to handle service and some sales, right? Why not take some time to focus on commercial sales and see what you think?

 

[RFMaurone]

In my humble opinion, a good place to start commercial would be to farm the book of business you currently have now. Based on your personal animal preferences which you so vividly described and their mental state let me warn you you will be dealing with reptiles and amphibians. Be careful not to let your existing book of business know that it was or could have have been grown by small farm yard animals with mental retardation in there gene pool, that can come back to reflect on you.

No don't take this too seriously as the first sentence is my only professional opinion the rest was just good humor on a Saturday afternoon.

One more thing, I put my money where my mouth is my most recent personal lines case home two cars and umbrella premium $11,000 and now that case has a business component of a bop with professional it'll be another nine or $10,000 not a bad days work

Bobby

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[nyc2phi]

Higher premium and higher commission on commercial.

Focusing on BOPs a lot and I notice it's much less service oriented. Most of my BOP clients I don't hear from all year until I reach out.

Commercial your more likely to pick up additional lines including their personal.

They almost never shop mid term like personal lines.

Just something's I am noticing although I am pretty much 50/50.

 

[Arnage150]

I'm pretty much 90% personal lines & I'm attracted to commercial because of the premiums. But that being said, I like personal lines because a blind/retarded goat could grow a personal lines book.

It doesn't require much skill/knowledge to make sure you're insuring people correctly & I don't have to stress over losing accounts. Hey...If some personal lines account is complaining about their renewal...WHO CARES!

I mean...of course I care...but not like commercial accounts where I just had a $45,000 policy get increased at renewal & here I am actually running around stopping my life to make sure I get this locked down.

With personal lines I just feel like it's on auto pilot...it's easy...it's pretty much care free & I'm making really good money IMO.

So at the end of the day...is there that much extra money in commercial & is it worth it? I'm making about 250k/year and I'll take pay increases of at least $25,000/year based of what I currently write & what I lose for at least the next 5 years.

Wouldn't you rather have personal lines premium vs commercial? stupid certificates of insurance and all the BS seems kinda pointless if you can put up the easy personal lines premium.

Getting personal lines business is simple...but I just can't seem to get commercial lines business (or maybe I can't do it as easily.) But either way it seems easy to create a massive flow of personal lines referrals & commercial prospecting just seems dismal.

I always thought 50/50 mix was the best. Its like balancing a stock portfolio.

I started in personal lines and moved on to commercial because I found it more challenging. Personal lines just got boring.

Also I still enjoy the adrenalin rush of closing on a six figure commercial account. A feeling you never get in personal.

That being said the markets you have really dictate what you should be writing. If you have the hot market for personal lines keep doing your thing. KISS, keep is simple stupid. Don't start moving into commercial unless its a better business decision. Your time is money. Whatever yields the best ROI is where you should spend your time.

I think I downed a bottle of vodka and punched my cat the first time I lost a six figure account. There is something to be said for the stability of personal lines.

 

[1manshow]

I agree with the comment on the service end. with a 60% PL book, I'm paying 4 csr's to service PL and only 1 to service the CL

We target the smaller CL stuff in the 10k-20k acct size. Easier to build loyalty and they don't shop every dang renewal like the larger accts.

Having those weeks where you add 100K in premium gives me a warm fuzzy feeling as well

 

[jaygreen002]

In my humble opinion, a good place to start commercial would be to farm the book of business you currently have now. Based on your personal animal preferences which you so vividly described and their mental state let me warn you you will be dealing with reptiles and amphibians. Be careful not to let your existing book of business know that it was or could have have been grown by small farm yard animals with mental retardation in there gene pool, that can come back to reflect on you.

No don't take this too seriously as the first sentence is my only professional opinion the rest was just good humor on a Saturday afternoon.

One more thing, I put my money where my mouth is my most recent personal lines case home two cars and umbrella premium $11,000 and now that case has a business component of a bop with professional it'll be another nine or $10,000 not a bad days work

Bobby

Sent from my iPhone using InsForums

Indeed! I totally agree with Bobby on these