Agency owners, what program to handle commission splits

[dev1nsan]

I currently pay employees on salary plus percentage of broker fees. I'd like to start paying on percentage of the commission as well and I figured an agency management system would be able to download the detailed commissions and do this for me, but after looking into my first agency system, it looks like there is only a hand full of insurance companies that actually do this. One of the companies I have that doesn't download detailed commissions, I have over 500 customers and I can't imagine looking up each client to see who wrote it and adding it up every two weeks. How are you guys getting this done.

[JasonBHBCo]

There are several options in the current management systems that allow you to track and pay out (to producers or otherwise) on commissions as a percentage of the commission that the agency receives.

As you mention, some companies do offer direct bill commissions download which will automatically create entries based on the commissions that the carriers are paying.

However, to be able to run production reports and see how much needs to be paid involves invoicing each premium-bearing transaction and subsequently a decision on whether to reconcile these transactions once the companies' pay commissions (some agencies do not feel the time/effort involved to do this second "step" is a value add).

Some of the management systems also have functionality that will assist in the creation of invoices based on the premium amounts for each transaction that is downloaded (obviously won't help if the company doesn't at least download).

Either with this functionality or manually invoicing each transaction (as a step in the workflow) you will have what you need to be able to pay your employees a percentage of the commissions. Again, whether or not you reconcile (or have direct bill commission downloads set up) to "close the loop" on the commissions paid out versus what you receive from the companies is a business decision you can make.

As a side note, most systems these days have a very easy invoicing function and as long as account managers/CSRs are trained how to, and the expectation is set that they will, invoice each premium bearing transaction, commissions are not difficult to track.

Regards,
Jason
Jason@bhbco.com

[memcom]

DataTracker by dbCache.com handles commission splits. See a demo at http://www.dbcache.com

[aharmon]

Hello, I am with QQ Solutions. We are starting to see more and more companies starting to download commissions which is great news for agents. I know in our new management system QQ Evolution you can set up deafults for your agency and producer commissions and as long as the insurance company sends through the premium information we can calculate your commissions for you. You have the ability to pay commissions on company and agency fees as well as percentages or a flat rate on the commissions. The commissions structures for agency and producer are very flexible. The one thing you will need to do on the policy itself is select the producer but then the commission will be calculated for you. We are currently developing direct bill commission statement processing which has an estimated release date of December 3rd, 2009 and making customer suggested improvements to the downloads. But please don't just take my word for it, visit our web site at http://www.QQSolutions.com for more information.

[mclureins]

I outsource my production to the Paulmar Group. www.paulmargroup.com The cost is very little compared to having someone perform this data entry for me. They manage all production for multiple locations each individual producer. They can even manage all different commission levels for direct bill and agency bill. They even balance every company statement I receive from each carrier. They are starting a new program in January that may enable the agent (with proper training) to input data. But I am really pleased with outsourcing. I used to use other systems like AMS360 and such. They are fantastic for the front office but not very good to manage an agents book and production. I highly suggest you give them a call. They also provide full training for account management. I think you can test run for free about 3 months. And then decide if it is something you want to do.