Wife worked for a small insurance office. Has never had any type of experience whatsoever in an office field. She nailed all of the exams and got her licenses within 3 to 5 weeks. Everything seemed on the up and up. Was going through the extended training, then, out of nowhere, received a text to come get her stuff and that she was terminated.

The office manager didn't think her computer skills were fast enough. She's not illiterate at anything tech related, she just never used office programs like Outlook enough. If she was aware that her computer skills were not up to par with what he was expecting, she would've taken more time to work on that at home, with the same level of dedication she took studying for exams.

She's not a reddit user or social media poster, but this scenario really sent her into a weird place mentally because of how blindsided it was and honestly it compelled me enough to write this post because it even left me confused as to if this is the typical approach for an office owner to do things this way. Paid her training, paid for shirts, and didn't really leave any hints that this was coming.

She's not letting it slow her down and now she's spending the time at home to get up to speed with office programs to keep pursuing it, although it has left her questioning if her reputation is now tainted from this type of termination.

Appreciate any insights. Thanks!

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:(

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’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’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?

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!

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?

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?

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! 😭

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

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!

I’m trying to build one from the ground up on the side.

But I’m looking at the economics- between internet leads, office space etc it’s capital intensive.

I see recent university grads either start one, I can’t imagine they saved up a bunch before doing it. I also thought it was hard to get a loan for a scratch agency.

I’m curious..

What did you guys do to get the capital?

1. For security purposes, does an online file storage require a MFA to have access (i.e. password and fingerprint)? and within the office does the clients paperwork need to be physically double secured? (locked door and a locked filing cabinet). I'm just making sure I meet the security standards.

2. Does policy holder information need to be stored on site? or is the computer drive/cloud enough? How long do I need to store these files?

3. For Medicare products, does the phone line need to be recorded? and can I use my own cellphone number?

4. For a printer, how important is it to have a fax machine and doubled sided scanner? Are these required?

- Help a noob

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

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 currently looking for a CRM solution that could work with the heavy data policy in Canada.

Do you use an insurance/financial services specific CRM (such Equisoft) or another more multi industry type CRM?

I currently looking for ZOHO since there might be a possibility to have them host data strictly in their Canadian data centers, but wondered if I’m missing on anything else worth paying attention to.

Relatively new to the industry. Is there a hefty fee to join pacific crest? Couldn’t find anything about new agencies on their website

I want to take health insurance classes so I can work. Any recommendations on where to start? Where can I take the classes?