Insurance Agent Forum

[CR in STL]

I am fairly new to the insurance world and have to credit this site with a ton of information that helped me make that decision. I have yet to find the one thing I am looking for.

I am investigating the possibility of opening my own Indy Agency offering P&C, Life & Health, Etc. in the St. Louis metro area. I have a large number of contacts in the construction industry both commercial and residential in addition personal contacts. I am searching for an estimate on what typical yearly expense look like or if someone has a budget they would like to share that would be great. I understand every office is different so a general idea is fine.

1) I would be working from a home office but do have access to use office space if needed.

2) Since I don't have an established book of business I will need something like insurance noodle (suggestions on other vendors would be great especially for commercial accounts such as construction companies and contractors)

3) Do not plan on have staff yet, I would like to walk before I run but in time would like to grow

4) E&O expenses

5) Are paid leads any good

In addition any other suggestions are greatly appreciated

[Gulliver]

I will touch on some of your questions:

If you are going to work out of your home it will be hard to secure P and C contracts with some of the better carriers. Also they are very hard to get even if you are experienced. The good companies have heavy requirements and don't hand out contracts very easily. Non Standard Auto is about the only contract you can get easy and some of them have requirements that make it difficult for a newbie.

Insurance Noodle is OK. Superior Access, Smart Choice, Agent Secure are others to look at. One that you should look into is SIAA. www.siaa.net They have a master group in STL and would be easy for you to tie into. I know a few agents that have used SIAA and are pleased with them.

E and O will cost you at least 1500 and maybe as much as 4000 depending on how much you shop and how they will treat you as a newbie. The state association has a company that they work with. I think it is UTICA. If you are involved with someone like SIAA you can get a break through them or share with them. Keep in mind that they require an initial investment to work with them but I personally would look very hard at them.

As far as life and health you can hook up with about any GA and get the good companies. The key is as you will find on other posts is what the GA/IMO offers you as a producer. Most are very aggressive to get you involved but many give up after they hook you. Since you are in STL I would talk to Crump.

Paid leads can be good but you must realize that the best lead out there has to be worked smart or you will feel that all leads are bad. Be careful chasing the leads that are being sold to 10 producers. These will eat up your time and burn you out.

I hope this helps. I just touched on some of your points. Just not the first year expenses. Hopefully others will chime in.

Gulliver

[CR in STL]

Gulliver, thanks for your response. I have done a lot of research on this site and am well aware of the diffuculty of not getting any direct appointments being new thats why I was asking about Insurance Noodle and the other sites.

Are you (or if anyone reading this is) familiar with SIAA or any of the other companies and have any comments to how they would negatively impact my business or being able to write business?

[moeasadi]

I recommend finding GA like Allrisks.com who specialize in what you want to market like contractors. Insurance noodle or superior access don't have any markets for contractors.
I believe this is a very good market to focus and you need to find the best whlesalers in your area. It took me one year to find a competitive market for a G.contractor who does EQ retrofitting. But I finally closed
It and booked the account that brought me $4300.00 in commission.This was small contractor.
I brought this up to give you an example of how lucrative it is but at the same time it's tough to placeit and all have high maintenance.Good luck.

[CR in STL]

Allrisks is not in Missouri, any other suggestions

[Gulliver]

I think you have to take a look at SIAA being new. They are the best I've seen for all out performance. You can basically be a 20 million dollar agency instantly with all of the good contracts. Valley Insurance is the master in the STL area. You also create your own name.

You could also look at Alternatives. You take their name (franchise) They aren't too bad. Most of the good agents have been able to make Alternatives work. Missouri,Illinois Insurance Broker - commercial, home, auto, boat, motorcycle, health, life, bond, insurance. - 1star Insurance Services TM Home Page - www.alternativesins.com. Rick is the contact there for agency development. They are based in STL. STL has tons of aggregators that would allow you to get involved with them on a shared revenue basis. I think most of them are very good too.

Look at SIAA and Alternatives first and keep posting. I can give you some other aggregator names if needed.

Gulliver

[CR in STL]

Thanks for all of the help