I have been an agent for Mega for about three weeks and am interested in becoming an independent broker. What do I do? Who can I talk to? Where do I start?
Total Comments: 10
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:23 pm Post Subject:
awood49,
First let me say I applaud your desire to have your own agency and be independent but at the same time someone with three weeks experience can barely spell insurance.
The job of an insurance agent is to contact people who you suspect need your product and services and do that over and over and over again, ad nausem.
Also to be successful you need to find what forms of insurance interests you. I could never sell P & C. I'm simply not interested. But I've spoken with P & C agents who started in Life, Health and Annuities and hated it but think P & C is great. So go figure.
I can tell you that how you are initially trained and exposed to the insurance industry will have a lot to do with your long term success.
There are agencies out there that use new recruits as nothing more than a prospecting tool for the agency and once you've sold your warm market you're out of the business.
Also, recognize it's not necessary to be all things to all people. There is more Life Insurance, Annuities, Estate Planning and Long Term Care business within a 10 mile radius of my office than I could possibly write in 10 lifetimes.
My point with this dissertation is find out what form of insurance you personally have interest in and are passionate about and go sell that in which you believe in to those who you suspect have a need.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 02:39 pm Post Subject:
Thank you for the response. Seeing as how I am just 25 years old and plan on going to business school within three years it is probably not the wisest decision to become an independent broker for only a marginal period of time. That being said are there any other weays I can use my insurance license outside of sales? Or is sales the only way to make money using your insurance license?
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 03:00 pm Post Subject:
awood49,
Simply sell insurance part-time while you are going to school.
You'll be killing two birds with one stone.
On the one hand you'll get the insurance experience you need and on the other hand you'll be advancing your education. Plus since you'll be in school you can get training from different agencies with different target markets and products and services until you find what interests you.
College students need Short Term Major Medical and their parents need more life insurance to make sure Jr. makes it through school if they don't survive the ordeal and they BOTH need you to be their "on campus" agent!
True story:
The guy who trained me started working as an insurance agent part-time while in college. His major was in economics and he was going to be an "International Banker." The only problem was by the time he graduated college he was already making double the money selling insurance part-time than what a full-time "International Banker" would earn so he started his own agency and never looked back.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 03:36 pm Post Subject:
thanks for the good advice. Seeing as how I am still new to insurance I guess I am wondering are there any other avenues where I can use my insurance license? Is the only way to make money as a licensed agent through sales? Or are there means where I can be contracted using my license and not have to worry about how much I am making on a weekly basis geting paid through just commissions.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 08:28 pm Post Subject:
Yes, there are companies who will pay a licensed agent an hourly rate of pay to do their thing.
I have friend who is an enrollment agent for a company and they pay her a salary to enroll new employees. She has a steady paycheck, vacation, 401k, sick pay and holidays paid.
The downside is she's earning about 1/3 of what the average experienced agent with 5 years or more in the business would make.
So she's "costing" herself huge sums of money not to be commission only and works like a typical employee. Of course she's not bringing in the business either the "real agent" establishes the group benefit plans with the employer, then she does all the work and he makes all the money.
But at least she has a paycheck every week.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 08:34 pm Post Subject:
I hear you. Again I only plan on doing this for a couple of years max. Its more of a means to an end and I can certainly heed your advice and be an agent while in school. I need to do some more research on the pros and cons of being an agent versus being paid on a salary. It also could be that I work for a shoddy company with a less than stellar product which I am beginning to figure out
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 02:26 am Post Subject:
If you will email me at markcrosenthal[at]aol.com I can help you get started.
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 02:02 am Post Subject:
There are a few companies out there that have a system in place to sell Life over the phone and PC. PJP Insurance Services has a nice set up, where you make the sell and your done. They will handle all of the back end work for you. Mountain Financial has something similar. You will earn less commission, but would be well worth it for someone in your shoes.
If you can master the art of selling over the phone, you could do very well for yourself while in school.
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 05:13 am Post Subject:
I have been an agent for Mega for about three weeks and am interested in becoming an independent broker.
So you started up as a captive agent and merely continued for 3 weeks. What could have caused you to severe ties with them so early?
I'm asking this 'cuz I'd see people with an ambition to start up their own agency wouldn't prefer to take such a step right at the beginning of their professional. More over this could have been the right opportunity for you to learn key selling strategies by working amongst experienced professionals.
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 05:37 am Post Subject:
Instead of doing direct insurance sales you could try to get a General Agent Appointment with an Insurance Company and then recruit other licensed agents to sell the product while you take an over ride from their sales. You would recruit and train interested agents about your products and most likely provide leads.
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:23 pm Post Subject:
awood49,
First let me say I applaud your desire to have your own agency and be independent but at the same time someone with three weeks experience can barely spell insurance.
The job of an insurance agent is to contact people who you suspect need your product and services and do that over and over and over again, ad nausem.
Also to be successful you need to find what forms of insurance interests you. I could never sell P & C. I'm simply not interested. But I've spoken with P & C agents who started in Life, Health and Annuities and hated it but think P & C is great. So go figure.
I can tell you that how you are initially trained and exposed to the insurance industry will have a lot to do with your long term success.
There are agencies out there that use new recruits as nothing more than a prospecting tool for the agency and once you've sold your warm market you're out of the business.
Also, recognize it's not necessary to be all things to all people. There is more Life Insurance, Annuities, Estate Planning and Long Term Care business within a 10 mile radius of my office than I could possibly write in 10 lifetimes.
My point with this dissertation is find out what form of insurance you personally have interest in and are passionate about and go sell that in which you believe in to those who you suspect have a need.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 02:39 pm Post Subject:
Thank you for the response. Seeing as how I am just 25 years old and plan on going to business school within three years it is probably not the wisest decision to become an independent broker for only a marginal period of time. That being said are there any other weays I can use my insurance license outside of sales? Or is sales the only way to make money using your insurance license?
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 03:00 pm Post Subject:
awood49,
Simply sell insurance part-time while you are going to school.
You'll be killing two birds with one stone.
On the one hand you'll get the insurance experience you need and on the other hand you'll be advancing your education. Plus since you'll be in school you can get training from different agencies with different target markets and products and services until you find what interests you.
College students need Short Term Major Medical and their parents need more life insurance to make sure Jr. makes it through school if they don't survive the ordeal and they BOTH need you to be their "on campus" agent!
True story:
The guy who trained me started working as an insurance agent part-time while in college. His major was in economics and he was going to be an "International Banker." The only problem was by the time he graduated college he was already making double the money selling insurance part-time than what a full-time "International Banker" would earn so he started his own agency and never looked back.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 03:36 pm Post Subject:
thanks for the good advice. Seeing as how I am still new to insurance I guess I am wondering are there any other avenues where I can use my insurance license? Is the only way to make money as a licensed agent through sales? Or are there means where I can be contracted using my license and not have to worry about how much I am making on a weekly basis geting paid through just commissions.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 08:28 pm Post Subject:
Yes, there are companies who will pay a licensed agent an hourly rate of pay to do their thing.
I have friend who is an enrollment agent for a company and they pay her a salary to enroll new employees. She has a steady paycheck, vacation, 401k, sick pay and holidays paid.
The downside is she's earning about 1/3 of what the average experienced agent with 5 years or more in the business would make.
So she's "costing" herself huge sums of money not to be commission only and works like a typical employee. Of course she's not bringing in the business either the "real agent" establishes the group benefit plans with the employer, then she does all the work and he makes all the money.
But at least she has a paycheck every week.
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 08:34 pm Post Subject:
I hear you. Again I only plan on doing this for a couple of years max. Its more of a means to an end and I can certainly heed your advice and be an agent while in school. I need to do some more research on the pros and cons of being an agent versus being paid on a salary. It also could be that I work for a shoddy company with a less than stellar product which I am beginning to figure out
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 02:26 am Post Subject:
If you will email me at markcrosenthal[at]aol.com I can help you get started.
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 02:02 am Post Subject:
There are a few companies out there that have a system in place to sell Life over the phone and PC. PJP Insurance Services has a nice set up, where you make the sell and your done. They will handle all of the back end work for you. Mountain Financial has something similar. You will earn less commission, but would be well worth it for someone in your shoes.
If you can master the art of selling over the phone, you could do very well for yourself while in school.
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 05:13 am Post Subject:
I have been an agent for Mega for about three weeks and am interested in becoming an independent broker.
So you started up as a captive agent and merely continued for 3 weeks. What could have caused you to severe ties with them so early?
I'm asking this 'cuz I'd see people with an ambition to start up their own agency wouldn't prefer to take such a step right at the beginning of their professional. More over this could have been the right opportunity for you to learn key selling strategies by working amongst experienced professionals.
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 05:37 am Post Subject:
Instead of doing direct insurance sales you could try to get a General Agent Appointment with an Insurance Company and then recruit other licensed agents to sell the product while you take an over ride from their sales. You would recruit and train interested agents about your products and most likely provide leads.
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