Posted On: January 23, 2006, 2:52 pm CST

Posted By: Big Insurance

Contingent commissions are a relic of the past, when in the glory days of IAs, we placed the business, we billed the policies and we controlled the client. Today we have sophisticated underwriting models that are not suggestive or manipulable and we have direct billed accounts. There was a time when agents were rewarded for "profitability". Today the emphasis is on growth - no matter how profitable your book, you have to grow to get the bones. I say, pay us what we are worth to begin with, and then call it what it is - a sales bonus pure and simple. Get rid of the moving targets, and the formularies that disguise the motivation of the carrier. If they could get away with paying you nothing, they would. (I am getting a bonus from my various carries by the way; I'd rather have the latitude to put them where they are best served rather than just with a carrier that presents the best opportunity for a bonus.