It's not an 8% cut, it's actually a 20% cut: 15% x .80 = 12%. Despite the cut, many agents will think it's great for awhile. Travelers will be highly competitive and get us to write our new business and force us to move many of our existing customers there with their new, lower rates. Then they'll g...

Folks, that's why we've got to strongly favor the regionals with our business. Most of them truly appreciate their agents and generally provide much better compensation, especially as regards profit sharing. They should win all ties. Can you imagine what the nationals would be paying us if the regio...

I don't see how you can even get to a breakeven point with 30% of the commissions. A simple way to look at it is to divide your your expenses by your gross commissions. For example, if your rent, payroll, etc. is $200,000 and your gross commissions are $500,000, your expenses would be 40%. Under tha...

I think many folks have gotten paranoid after attending E&O seminars sponsored by the E&O carriers. As I stated in an earlier post, I have not been able to locate a single published opinion holding an agent liable for inconsistent phone calls to their insureds on lapses. Please remember, eac...

Thanks to GPilat for posting the cite, Slovak v. Adams, 141 Ohio App. 3d 838 (2001). Despite what the E&O seminars state about agency calls on lapses, I have never seen a decision in favor of the insured on this issue. If anyone is able to find a contrary decision, please post it. Even putting a...

I know you Farmers agents are probably laughing, but I had high hopes when it was announced FOUR YEARS AGO (March 5, 2008)that Farmers was going to "purchase" ZSB. As FFA correctly states, ZSB is not a competitive market. In fact, they haven't been a good market since about 2002. I thought...

As a lifelong independent agent, I am fascinated by this discussion. I must say that Zurich does not leave its independents totally unscathed. They are perhaps the only insurance company in the industry that gives its agents "reverse profit sharing." Every year about this time, ZSB takes a...