Insurance Companies

I’m new to a major insurance company’s marketing dept and was looking for new and creative ideas on incentives, promotions, contests, etc. to help drive and motivate our agents to increase business/profitability in their personal lines property/casualty book of business. Any ideas are appreciated whether general or very detailed. Thanks.

Just do some creative thinking. Most of the things being done have all been done before. Ask the agents what they would like and go from there. Sometimes the little things work the best.

I have a 5 year home-based business selling bird diapers. My work is done over the internett. It is a registered with the state of CA as a mail order business. I live in a condo that I own, and my front bedroom is dedicated to my business. I have about $25,000.00 in inventory and equiptment for my business.

I know it is important to get things insured quickly, but I am not sure who to go with and what I need. For the last week, I have been talking
with someone who just sent me the paperwork for a plan. It is to cover $25,000 of property. Their is a $1,000.00 deductable and the annual cost is $675.00. I do not know how this compares to other companies’ policies. Many of these things are included and I do not understand why I would need them. Here are some: Fire Dept, Service Charge, Loss or damage to water heating equiptment, Tenant’s Glass, Damage of Premises Renting to You (under liability), propery off premises, ordinance or law coverage including tenant improvement and betterments increased cost f construction, automatic increase in building, etc.

My building is insured. I have homeowner’s insurance. I do not understand why I would need to have all of this stuff in my insurance policy. My building has fire extinguishers outside and I keep them inside. The fire dept. would be here even if the business did not exist.

I do not understand why I would need to pay to have all of these things in my policy. I told the insurance rep. what my situation was like. People do not come to my home. I am in a zoning area that does not allow people to sell directly from their home

The policy that I am looking at is with Hartford Casualty. I am sure they are an excellent company.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I need and a company that will provide me with only the items I need, and not a lot of extra things that do not apply? I would appreciate any suggetions? Thank you ahead of time.

You indeed need that coverage. If you were to experience a flood, or fire, or any other disaster that wiped out your inventory, your homeowners insurance will not cover it. Yes it may seem redundant, but you need it to cover your household items and your business equipment and inventory. Although everything is located in your home, they are separate, and should be insured separately.

Actually, that is a pretty good price for a policy.

My husband has been doing insurance for only a year, he has his own branch but the company terminated his contract and said he was not producing enough, right when our first year renewals were going to start. We have a 200,000 premium property and casualty book (yes we do own it so we can sell it) and i think thats great for your first year if insurance. but we now need too sell before they take it from him in 90 days. Anyone have any ideas how much we could sell it for or how we find out what would be a fair price? We had one offer for 25,000 bucks but i don’t know how she came up with that number, and shes jumping on it really fast so i want to make sure we are getting a fair price for it.

I had an independent P&C agency that I built from scratch. I had to sell it in 2006 do to health problems.

One agent offered me 150% of the annual renewals, but wanted to pay me as the renewals were paid. His brother offered me 175%. I sold it to him for cash. (certified check)

My advice is not to sell it for the renewals as they are paid, because the business will dwindle away,and you will not receive the total amount, because the purchaser will not grow that book.

The going rate for an agency purchase in my area is 150%-175%. If your husband’s book is $200,000, his renewals are between $20K and $30K. Just figure the true amount and multiply that by 1.5, or 1.75.

As TOM Z said, that a one-year old book of business might be harder to get the going rate, because of the volatility of the business. (loss ratio, persistency, a lot of non-standard, etc.

Go to www.agencies4sale.com.

Have your husband to call all the independent agencies in his area, especially the ones already licensed through his companies, and try to negotiate a deal. Keep in mind that he would have to sign a non-compete clause in the sales contract with the purchaser.

He may be able to find other carriers and roll the business to them and keep his agency. That would be the best way to go.

Best wishes.

My husband has been doing insurance for a year, he had his own branch but the company terminated his contract and said he was not producing enough right when our first year renewals were going to start. We have a 200,000 premium property and casualty book from his first year. we now need too sell before they take it from him in 90 days. Anyone have any ideas how much we could sell it for or how we find out what would be a fair price? We had one offer for 25,000 bucks but i don’t know how she came up with that number, and shes jumping on it really fast so i want to make sure we are getting a fair price for it.

These always sell at a huge discount because the sellers are : retiring, getting laid-off, in the hospital. Most buyers want to make payments to you. They would pay $15,000 max but you would get no cash today. For a cash-today sale the price would be $8,000. Your husband was not in the business long enuf to cement his relationships with customers. My guess is that the first offer was not a true offer..

My husband has been doing insurance for a year, his had his own branch but the company terminated his contract and said he was not producing enough right when our first year renewals were going to start.(even though i think thats great for a first year agent) We have a 200,000 premium property and casualty book (yes we do own it so we can sell it) we now need too sell before they take it from him in 90 days. Anyone have any ideas how much we could sell it for or how we find out what would be a fair price? We had one offer for 25,000 bucks but i don’t know how she came up with that number, and shes jumping on it really fast so i want to make sure we are getting a fair price for it.

Normally a book of business sells for one and half to two and half times the annualized commissions. In my opinion in your case it will probably be closer to the only one time the rate of commission or even less because the clients are new and there is no loyalty, i.e. it is just about the same as buying leads.

If you own the book (of course make sure that that is the case before you do anything), I would try to get a contract with another company and do a book rollover and keep your business. Why are you willing to give up so easily? When I first started my scratch agency, I could not even get a company to give me a contract ostensibly because I was a woman and a minority. I had to broker business for years (i.e. splitting commissions with another agent who had the contract) until I was able to find a company willing to give me a contract. Yet I did not give up. If your husband could sell $200,000 in his first year, he should be able to sell at least another $100,000 in his second year which is very good for a new agent. Don’t give up! There are companies out there looking to appoint new agents. Depending on your area, I would check with Erie, Travelers, Firemen’s Fund, etc. Of course there are a couple of other options–merging with another agent and then rolling over the book to the companies written by the other agent or obtaining a position as a sales producer at another agency and rolling over the book there. Of course you need to make sure that either the contract with the agent that you merge with or with whom he goes to work for will let him still retain ownership of his book so that if he decides to go solo again he can have that option.

I hope this helps. Good Luck!

My husband has been doing insurance for a year, his had his own branch but the company terminated his contract and said he was not producing enough right when our first year renewals were going to start. We have a 200,000 premium property and casualty book we now need too sell before they take it from him in 90 days. Anyone have any ideas how much we could sell it for or how we find out what would be a fair price? We had one offer for 25,000 bucks but i don’t know how she came up with that number, and shes jumping on it really fast so i want to make sure we are getting a fair price for it.

$200,000 in premium, is only about $20,000 in income. That’s NOT MUCH.

Does he OWN that book? Does he have the RIGHT to sell it? He’d have to sell it to an agent that ALSO has that contract. Depending on the loss ratios for the book, $20,000 to $40,000 is fair.

I am taking a class for property and casualty this coming weekend for a license and have an offer with a well known and respected company-I just really don’t have clue what to expect salary wise and how many hours are required to make a decent salary? thanks!!

Just like with ANY career – that differs GREATLY by region. For a beginner….

When I worked in coastal NC, I started at an agency -indoor office, of course at $10/hour – and that was an hourly wage with NO commission – the agent who owns the agency got all the commission….
When I worked in Michigan – near Detroit – they had proofreaders making $12/hour and the licensed agents made $20/hour + some commission.

Life & Health agents are typically the "on the road commisioned agents" you hear about that are commission only…I’ve never worked in a property&casualty environment & made commission only – until you own the agency, or course.
But I don’t know what region you’re in

I currently work for a Farmers agent, and recently had my second interview with another company and was asked how much money was I looking to make. I have my Property & Casualty license and have a 1 1/2 years in the insurance business as auto insurance broker and customer service. What should I be making or whats the average pay for someone in my similar position?

Obviously, it depends on your location, but here in Houston, with 18 licensed months under your belt, working on personal lines, I’d expect you to be making $18 – $23K a year; a bit less if you’ve only done auto work.

I was in the mortgage industry and have now switched careers to the insurance industry. I am working in my home town where I have a TON of personal as well as business contacts. I just passed my property and casualty test so as far as production, it’s still a couple of months out. I have already sent an email to the people I know letting them know about my new endeavor. I am looking for some help from you (the professionals) regarding what I should do to start ramping up my business and contacts before I start producing. I am working for a national insurance company and need to concentrate on branding my name rather than the company name. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I am not an independent agent. I work with a large branded company. I do not/can not afford to pay for tv, radio spots on my own as of yet. I’m looking for the cheapest, most effective way to get business.

1) I run a custom embroidery company and you need to create your cooperate identity. Create your logo and business name on your cooperate apparel.

2) Put the logo on your Auto

3) Make up business cards and hand them out. Every time you see someone you know hand several of them out. When you give people your business card, always give them more than one and ask them to give them to their friends/coworkers, etc. Print or flyers and post them on public boards if there are any near you and post in a forums that related to your location if there are any!

4) The key for this kind of business is word-of-mouth. Think of some clever ways to encourage your existing clients to tell people about you. Perhaps you could start with a friend or family member to be one of your "spokesperson". I owned a convenience store for 10 years and a lot of business deals started in the checkout line by strangers. Tell everyone about you and ask if they know anyone that could use your service. Ask for a referral from an existing client

5) Start a website as a way to advertise you. Let your website work for you and your clients swap links. When making your own web site do some research on how to optimize your site so that you get a good ranking with a natural search. You do this by embedding smart key words. Your website could show your community involvement and you could have questions and answers on the site.

6) Look for websites that you can advertise for free. Advertise in the Yahoo local. Find free on-line classified web sites for your community. Typically the local chamber of commerce will offer such a service. You can advertise here for free: http://www.hits2u.com/?149843

http://goldbizz.localads.co.uk

http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?48605

http://www.koolplaz.com/

Post a link to your site for free when it is allowed
Try These:
Craigslist http://www.craigslist.com
Google Base http://base.google.com
Yahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/
US Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/
Text Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/
Recycler.com http://www.recycler.com/
Classifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/…
7) A Yellow page ad seems to work great also.

Try to get your local newspaper to do a free article on your business.

9) Sponsor local sport teams or ballparks that hang up banners. There are also inexpensive ways to advertise like a local penny saver newspaper, high school yearbooks and newspapers, etc.

10) Call radio show call in and contest and always answer or make the statement with "your name and company name and you have been working hard" free radio ads are great.

I’ve filed with the State of Illinois for age discrimination against my former employer – an insurance agency. I’ve also filed with the labor board because my former employer would not send me documentation on my final paycheck which is commission based. They just sent me a net check and didn’t tell me how they derived the check amount.

I want to find a lawyer that understands how insurance agents are paid. I am in Property & Casualty and my commission are sometimes from 2 or 3 months in the past because of the way the company collects the premiums.

Does anyone know of a good resource to find a lawyer with experience in insurance? I can find them who are experienced on the "employer’s" side but not the "employee’s" side.

The state labor board or insurance commission should be able to help you.