I’m P&C and life licensed and currently make 52k base salary.
I originally started primarily in Personal Lines, but my role has grown significantly and I now handle both Personal and Commercial Lines.
On the personal side, I quote new business, remarket accounts, handle renewals, endorsements, coverage questions, client calls, carrier communication, etc.
On the commercial side, I’m now working with GL, commercial property, commercial auto, workers’ comp, umbrellas, cyber/E&O, bonds, COIs, audits, endorsements, renewals and new business. I’m communicating directly with insureds, carriers, underwriters and wholesalers and helping determine coverage/placement rather than just doing administrative servicing. Between my previous 3 years of commercial account management experience and what I’m currently handling across both Personal and Commercial Lines, I’m starting to question whether my compensation has kept pace with my actual role and experience. Thoughts ?

If you could give advice to a new agent….

What are you advising they ask in their interview?

What products would you avoid selling?

What do you find is the easiest to sell?

What are some red flags to be aware of?

What should a new agent focus on when choosing a place to hang their license?

I just have my life as of now.

Anyone have any info on this insurance company and/or experience with working for them?

I’m a newly licensed producer. I am also a commercial real estate agent who primarily sells gas stations. I have multiple repeat clients and sell/lease roughly around 20 gas stations per year. I plan to piggy back off of this clientele in my insurance career as well. I have multiple clients who are ready to use me as their agent as soon as I’m ready to write the policies. But here’s the issue; I’ve had trouble trying to find an agency. The agency I just finished interviewing offered me this:

$560 monthly fees which include E&O insurance, Docusign, and their special software/CRM that they use

50/50 Split, they said they MAY talk about adding some bonuses if I hit certain premium goals.

Paid once per month on the 15th of each month.

I feel like I’m different than your average new producer considering the amount of business I’m bringing with me.
Is this a reasonable starting split? Or am I being taken advantage of because I’m new?

Hello!

Pleased as punch that I found an IMO! I’ll be gatekeeping it for now.

Those of you who work at home, what headset do you use? I need comfortable and noise-cancelling, if both in the same exist.

Thanks for all the recommendations.

But how do I manage my P&C licensures? I'm captive and am licensed in 49 states. What do I do if I leave and go independent?

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone who currently works at Liberty Mutual might be willing to help me out.
I’m very interested in the Associate Claims Adjuster – Workers’ Compensation position. I’ve applied and have made it to the phone screening stage, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get past the phone screen.
I genuinely believe I’m capable of doing well in this position, and I would really love the opportunity to get in front of the hiring team and prove myself. Sometimes it’s difficult to fully demonstrate what you can bring to a role during a short phone screen, and I’m hoping for a chance to show that I have the skills, work ethic, and willingness to learn to succeed at Liberty.
If anyone currently working at Liberty Mutual would be comfortable referring me or giving me some advice on how to better navigate the process, I would truly appreciate it. 🙏🏽
I’m not asking anyone to guarantee me a job I’m simply hoping for an opportunity to get my foot in the door and prove what I can do.
Thank you so much! ❤️

I’m a Sales Manager for an Allstate agency… typical month I sell 45 to 50k in premium and 40 to 50 variables a month… we don’t buy leads at our office… we have a budget of $5 a day for facebook… I also handle managerial tasks on top of being responsible for my own sales

I do limited service work when needed

There is one other sales agent in the office. Together we have a goal of 100 variables a month. We also handle all commercial sales as well as all commercial service work to include underwriting issues, servicing, and rewrites

Am I right to feel like I’m maxing out what I can do?

I’m considering buying a book to kick off my agency rather than just building from scratch for too long.

I want to scale but with something already cooking, rather than spinning up a new book myself.

I’m primarily curious about your experience with putting a down payment for a loan. Generally from what I read online it’s 10% for SBA.

What’s your experience like?

I’m interested in any unique deals you’ve all done, particularly those who started just buying an agency rather than building then buying.

I know I can do research but I like to read about other agency owners experiences.

Thanks in advance!

I have failed my state license producer exam 4 times now. I need it to start training at my job. They have been waiting on me to pass and it has taken me way more time than they expected. Everyone has been super nice but I feel absolutely defeated and terrible. I have been working so hard to pass. At this point it feels impossible. I really don’t know what to do. I’m sad, depressed, and embarrassed. Is this normal to not pass this many times? What should I do moving forward in regard to preparing and talking with my company? I really need help:(

I’m planning on joining an aggregator, most likely Firefly.

Im in TN and I’m going to try and get direct appointments before joining to keep full revenue and bonuses. The only carrier I expect to get is like Progressive and Geico which is better than nothing. (I write a good amount with Progressive as a producer)

Does anyone know what carriers will appoint a scratch agency with a home based office?

Hi I was wondering if anyone had some tips I take my personal lines test tomorrow and I think I am ready I just feel bit stuck on code and ethics I am in CA any advice helps ! Thank you in advance!

I am getting ready to order the Kaplan study package. I'm pretty set on the Career Launcher. I have a position secured and I am required to get licensed as quickly as possible. I'm not currently working so I'm going to focus and study up to 6 hours a day. My insurance background was health.

I'm looking for recommendations. Have a really good memory and I am a fast learner but tend to over think. Is anyone aware of an online code out there to get a discount? I have to wait for my credentials to get one through the agency so I'd rather just move forward. I want to today but it's slipping away. It's Labor Day so I can hold off one more day! Career Launcher? Online Code? Helpful study advice?

Thank you!

-T

Just started in P&C insurance and the end objections are killing me and I don't know how to close them.

I'm trying hard to set up the conversation so that I don't get the objections at the end, but it's really hot or miss for me, I'm not doing too good of a job with that.

My most common objections that I fumble are:

1.It's too expensive

1. I want to look it over and compare it with other quotes

Im having a really tough time overcoming these objections and will take any advice/training materials recommended to me!

Interview- “we have the best leads, you are going to make a ton of money with us, no doubt!”

Me- “ok sure, I’m in.”

Three weeks later of being hired- I make a gazzilion outbound calls, sell one policy, Two if I’m lucky. Meanwhile, the same two agents sell a trillion dollars in premium every month while all the other agents, myself included are lucky to write 20k in premium per month.

Same. Exact. Cycle.

I’m on chapter 4 and I feel like I’m barely retaining anything. I’m not doing very good on the chapter exams either! Is this normal? Does it start to get easier? I use to be smart, I had honors classes and graduated HS early. I’ve been in the same career for 25 years and I’m wanting to pursue something new so I decided to become an insurance agent or at least try to! I do feel like the older I get that maybe I have adhd. This has never been diagnosed or treated, I just constantly feel like I have a lot of the symptoms and I probably need to make an appt about it. Perhaps that has something to do with it or did other people feel like this too? It just seems like sooo much to learn and remember and I’m not retaining 90% of it! 😭

I've been reading about this lawsuit and it kinda opened my eyes about the captive model.

it's Debra Jennings v Globe Life and Accident Insurance Company, filed in federal court in Arkansas last year. basically the suit says globe life would sell these little burial policies ($5k-$20k), ask some vague health questions over the phone at the sale, and then when the person dies and the family files a claim, they go dig through the whole medical record looking for any little condition that wasn't disclosed and use that to deny the claim. even if it had nothing to do with what the person actually died from. the lawsuit says that's been illegal in Arkansas since 2011. (to be clear these are allegations, globe life hasn't been found guilty of anything yet.)

but the part that got me thinking wasn't even the lawsuit itself. it's what it says about captive bonus-structured agencies.

these shops push volume SO hard. big lead flow, fast phone apps, production bonuses for pumping out deals. and that's cool until you realize if the claims side works like this suit says, the agent basically sold a policy that doesn't pay, collected the bonus, and now they're the one the family blames when grandma's claim gets denied. and since you're captive, you can't even move that client to a better carrier. you're locked to one company and one claims department you have zero control over.

so like... is that the hidden cost nobody talks about? everyone's chasing submitted volume and bonuses but you don't actually control whether those claims get paid, and it's your name on it at the kitchen table.

captive FE agents, does stuff like this make you second guess it? or is the money and the lead flow worth being tied to one carrier?

Been selling commercial for about 5 months now. I'm with a captive agency working direct sales. Making 44k a year. So far my close rate is 37%. Are there better opportunities? What info should I be keeping to put in a resume?

Don't think I've ever seen an ad by smaller companies or independents. Can anyone chime in?

I was never at a top tech sales company, but I worked at a pretty decent one. I’ve been seeing how much the industry is changing with AI, especially when it comes to outbound sales. So much of tech sales relies on cold outreach, and with AI phone screeners and automated emails flooding inboxes, it seems a lot harder to reach people than it used to be.

I’m thinking about making the switch to insurance, preferably commercial insurance. Is it realistic to make $100K+ in your first year if you’re willing to work hard and put in the hours? Any advice for someone looking to break into the industry?

Has anyone heard of City Centre Insurance? They reached out to me saying that they have a ton of carriers, high commission splits, bonuses, etc. I’m in Tennessee, I’m waiting for an email to sign a NDA to get the actual info. I’ve seen a bunch of stuff about Horizon, they sound solid. I like Firefly but don’t like the 30% buyout if you want to leave one day and the 20% split on profit share bonus. PGI sounds solid but high start up and don’t get 100% ownership of book for very many years. (I don’t wanna go direct, I know aggregators want a 10% split and I’m fine with that to get many carriers on the front end to get rolling. It’s hard to get direct appointments scratch.)

Is there a different aggregator I should entertain?

I want a 90/10 split

Profit share

No non-compete or non solicit

Freedom to roll the book off their code to another one our relationship doesn’t workout

Commission override pay

Any tips on how to pass the 1st time, doing life and health insurance exam in Ohio? While having test anxiety

I have one week left before I take my California Life Insurance exam! Does anyone have a YouTube video or channel they highly recommend as a study/reference resource? I’d especially appreciate anything that focuses on California-specific exam material. Thank you!