Downline Production Reports

[finleyh]

For the brokers who have a large number of agents under them I have a couple of questions:
1. Do you get or can you get daily production reports on every policy your downline writes that day and see who the client is?
2. If so and you see one of your downline replace one of your clients is it remotely legal to call the client to have them cancel the application and write the same policy with you? I know it is unethical and am looking to not have another contract with this broker. I am just curious if it is legal. I do some of my marketing by mail and I never ask who the previous agent is because I know for a fact that my mail generates a lot of calls to the previous agent. The day I wrote a policy for a client and submitted it online through the company she got a call from the broker I am contracted through 2 levels above me wanting to know if she was happy with her service and offering the same company I had already written her. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Newby]

For the brokers who have a large number of agents under them I have a couple of questions:
1. Do you get or can you get daily production reports on every policy your downline writes that day and see who the client is?
2. If so and you see one of your downline replace one of your clients is it remotely legal to call the client to have them cancel the application and write the same policy with you? I know it is unethical and am looking to not have another contract with this broker. I am just curious if it is legal. I do some of my marketing by mail and I never ask who the previous agent is because I know for a fact that my mail generates a lot of calls to the previous agent. The day I wrote a policy for a client and submitted it online through the company she got a call from the broker I am contracted through 2 levels above me wanting to know if she was happy with her service and offering the same company I had already written her. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

You would have to be a real creep to do that to your downline agents. If that business was replacable, some agent is going to replace it. You should not be working against your own agents.

After you get the replacement form notice, it would be OK to call them and try to save it as the original agent.

If you have an upline that is doing that to you, fire them.

 

[VolAgent]

Check any agreement you might have. You may have promised not to replace their business.

 

[Todd King]

There just might be an issue of the privacy act in this situation too.

I've never really run across this situation as it's never even crossed my mind to do this to my agents. In my book it's a huge NO-NO!!

 

[finleyh]

Thanks for the replies. I looked and I did not see anything stating I would promise not to replace business. It has come up in the past and the broker called me and asked that I not replace his business. I told him I never ever bring up the other agent since it is the last thing I would want them to think about. I am sure not going to ask to make sure they are not his and get the prospect thinking they should call the other agent in an effort to keep from replacing his business. The ironic thing to me is he makes more off of the policies I put on the books than he does on the ones I replace. I think it is time to call it a day with this arrangement.

 

[VolAgent]

Does he do this with your other business?

I'm not going to defend the guy, but if he only does this when you replace his business, there is a problem. Apparently you and he felt differently about the phone call you had previously. It sounds like you thought everything was ok with you replacing, and it sounds like he thought you wouldn't do any more replacing.

Again, I'm not defending the guy, and I definitely disapprove of his behavior. That said, if you are otherwise very happy with your working relationship, why not have a heart to heart and reach an agreement that makes you both happy.

 

[finleyh]

Does he do this with your other business?

I'm not going to defend the guy, but if he only does this when you replace his business, there is a problem. Apparently you and he felt differently about the phone call you had previously. It sounds like you thought everything was ok with you replacing, and it sounds like he thought you wouldn't do any more replacing.

Again, I'm not defending the guy, and I definitely disapprove of his behavior. That said, if you are otherwise very happy with your working relationship, why not have a heart to heart and reach an agreement that makes you both happy.

No he does not do this with my other business. When we spoke I told him if I knew it was his I would not replace it but again unless they bring it up I don't ask. There have been a few since then that if the client brought it up I did pass on. One of those was a MOO policy that was 7 years old that would have saved the lady over $2k a year. He told her to stay put. To me that is like ripe low hanging fruit about to fall off the tree or taken by someone else. Why he wouldn't want me to role a policy of that sort is beyond me. I figure he might be making 5-6% off of a $90 monthly premium vs 2-3% off of a $140 monthly premium which is close to a wash with the added benefit of it not being replaced anytime soon. Is there a valid reason for that mentality that I am not aware of like some bonus for persistency or penalty for rolling your book when a new contract rolls around?

 

[VolAgent]

No he does not do this with my other business. When we spoke I told him if I knew it was his I would not replace it but again unless they bring it up I don't ask. There have been a few since then that if the client brought it up I did pass on. One of those was a MOO policy that was 7 years old that would have saved the lady over $2k a year. He told her to stay put. To me that is like ripe low hanging fruit about to fall off the tree or taken by someone else. Why he wouldn't want me to role a policy of that sort is beyond me. I figure he might be making 5-6% off of a $90 monthly premium vs 2-3% off of a $140 monthly premium which is close to a wash with the added benefit of it not being replaced anytime soon. Is there a valid reason for that mentality that I am not aware of like some bonus for persistency or penalty for rolling your book when a new contract rolls around?

There could be a bonus, or MOO may see it as him rolling the business. There could be a million reasons. That said, there should be a darn good reason he doesn't want her to save $50 a month.

If this is your only problem with him, I'd try to see if it can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. The grass isn't always greener. But if this is just one of many, its time to change horses.