Looking for an opinion

[Mannyace]

I am currently a captive agent and want to go Independent next year. I am little by little building an agency and specialized in a Commercial where I have selected my market in a very careful manner. Lot of people ask for personal lines products. I know that personal lines is a time consuming and requires a lot of services but it also brings monthly income which can be used for overhead expenses. Since I am handling that office in a part time basis and have some people working there, I was wondering if anyone of you would have any advise on this subject or an indication as to what would be the best way on handling it.

Thanks for any positive advise.

Mancy

[d's insurance store]

Just about the best business advice ever given to me 40 years ago when I had a small sandwich shop and resisted selling certain items that I deemed to be 'wrong' or 'unprofitable', someone observing me called me over and said 'you're a jerk...you need to sell what people want to buy'.

I will offer the same advice to you, minus the part about being a jerk. If you have people asking for an insurance product and you can make money doing it, then I suggest you figure out a way to get some personal lines appointments on your 'side' business and start selling.

You're already working the system by remaining a captive agent while starting to work your own independent operation...just work the system more throughly.

Good luck.

[FFA]

D makes a good point. Someone wants to write you a check, find someone to take it - Commercial or Personal lines.

As far as violating your captive contract, you need to be aware of what you are doing. I was a captive agent for sometime. I could always find a reason for decline if I did not want on on their books. I also found a GA to hide my name.

When your ready to make the leap, you can offer a carrier something and make it easier to get the Appointment.

[jtownagent]

Every business owner you insure, owns a home, cars, boats, toys, nver mind life, disability, long term care, health etc. Take care of all of their insurance needs and keep out the competition. The insurance marketplace is cyclical. Having all of your eggs in one basket makes your business cyclical too. Diversify your products and you "smooth out" your income stream. If you can't do it all, hire some help, but do not pass up business. Automate appropriately and personal lines can bring in lots of commission and profit while being handled efficiently. Also as you start out on your own remember, profitability is important, but most business fail due to cash flow issues. Personal lines will smooth out cash flow. Many small commission account vs. a few big ones. The loss of a personal lines account does not hurt as much as a large commercial account....well maybe it does sometimes to your ego, but not your pocket book. Try to contract with a few different carriers, and do not put all of you eggs in one insurance carrier. That way when a carrier changes there appetite (leaves a market) you are not rewriting all, or a large percentage of your business. Sadly this has happened all too often as of late. This rewriting process can cause quite a disruption in an office.

[Mannyace]

Thank you so much for the advise. I will follow it through as I know the business and I do know for a fact that personal lines brings the money on the table to pay overhead expenses and cash flow.

I really appreciate the thoughts.

Mancy

[RKunz2]

Thank you so much for the advise. I will follow it through as I know the business and I do know for a fact that personal lines brings the money on the table to pay overhead expenses and cash flow.

I really appreciate the thoughts.

Mancy

Dear Mancy,

Excellent points made by other contributors. I'll take it a step further because if I understand you right, you're looking for a way to access personal lines markets in the interim, until you have the volume to obtain a direct appointment. You need an aggregator; like AgentSecure, InsuranceNoodle, etc. I'm not advocating for any one company in particular, you should do a search in the IJ forums and you'll find tons of practical experience with the top 3 or 4 aggregators. Now, you won't be able to always get down in the trenches with the big captives, but you will win some price battles and if you're good at packaging, it'll provide an outlet for your customers that are dying to give you their personal lines business. D's is right, they want to buy from you, so give them the opportunity and leverage the relationship aspect.

By the way, some GA's will also have access to personal lines, but unless you dabble in high-value HO, high brush risk, or non-standard auto, you'll find pricing to be an uphill battle.

Best of luck and good hunting!

[Mannyace]

Excellent points and feedback from all you guys, will look into the possibility to get some aggregators, I have some good GA's that have personal lines specially homes in the high, medium and low values and some of them are expensive some others are acceptable.

I really appreciate all the feedback from you guys which has been very positive. I've been around for awhile so I know the business very well and how to service it.

Sincerely,


Mancy

[robmejia]

I never looked at it that way and it got me thinking that maybe it is better to have different carriers. The company i used to work for has the same principle.