If your getting beat by 20-30% in this market then you either don't have the right markets or the insureds are not giving you all of the information.

I am not directly appointed with Unigard but have the BOR on a fairly large fleet. Does anybody know of an MGA or SLB that has access to Unigard in CA?

CIC and CRM classes are like comparing apples and oranges. CRM classes were much more difficult for me. Do you have any sort of an accounting background.

Here is my 2 cents after a long day of prospecting while killing time before a 7pm board meeting: There are many insurance marketing guru's out there that will claim to have the secrets that will make your phones ring off the hook... but there is no magic bullet. You need to cold call, use direct ma...

I keep things simple by using the carriers proposal. I don't feel like a pretty proposal will sell an account so I try to differentiate myself in other ways. With small "main street" accounts it is all about the relationship and bottom line pricing and if you have the relationship... you c...

Steve,

CIG and Safeco are my two favorite personal lines carriers to work with. Travelers and Allied are very competitive in my area but I prefer to work with CIG if I have the choice.

I am not a big fan of Primerica because their products are overpriced. I'll echo what Big Dog said and suggest your friend look for a different financial services company if that is what he/she wants to do. It is a tough time to start but Edward Jones has a strong training program and the highest re...

I hated dealing with this situation when I worked for a large agency. Older producers would "claim" just about every prospect in the area. I figured if they had such a great relationship with the owner... then they should have written the business at some point. We eventually went to using...

I don't think you will get direct appointments with those carriers unless you were a rainmaker as a captive agent and could document that very well. You should look into various clusters and aggregators that could give you access to those and the costs associated. Sending out certs is the very simpl...

email me at volstrike3@yahoo.com

Well... it seems like we got our answer. There are several rational people saying it is a typical MLM set up and there are two "one post wonders" making big claims, spouting self help platitudes and attacking others. It doesn't sound like an organization I would want to be a part of. Dalla...

Not at all. Chances are with the prolonged soft market and the economy the way it is... you have already lost a significant portion of your income from where you were in 2005 or so. Things are going to be pretty ugly for the next year or so which means you won't be missing out on much while your get...

What is the difference in base? Is it a true salary or a draw against future commissions?

I get annoyed by his constant emails, faxes, voice messages, etc but he does what he needs to do to stay in front of his prospects... we could all learn something from that. I joined the quantum club for 6 months and went to his marketing bootcamp in Chicago. I don't really care for his personality,...

Option number 2 IMO. Sounds like the agency principal in that situation is looking out for your interests long term. It is always tempting to take the upfront money but you need to think about what happens if you don't produce enough (in this economy) to justify the large salary...