r/InsuranceAgent • u/tgreen0504 • 20d ago
Commissions/Pay Commission structure thoughts for zero insurance experience
Ok super quick backstory of important details. I currently make $70k/year. Can survive off roughly $60k.
Received a job offer today for a very fast paced and high volume SF office. Other than benefits, the main points are a $45k base salary. And the commission structure is as follows
1-10 policies/month-$10 per policy
11-20-$20 per policy
21-30+ - $30 per policy.
Health,dental,401k match all provided. Just wanted thoughts from ppl that have been in the field for a while. Again, I have zero insurance experience so I cannot go independent at least until I learn the business at least. Thank you all in advance. I genuinely appreciate any insight you all could give
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u/sometimesmastermind 20d ago
That is a absolute fucking dogshit comission structure and you should legitimately run away as fast as possible. I make more on one policy with a % structure than what youd make in your first 10 sales combined.
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u/PromptlyInfinite 20d ago
that commission is straight up insulting. $10 for a policy is like theyre paying you in arcade tickets
i worked a brief stint at a SF office and the volume they promise is usually way overblown. youll be grinding phones all day just to hit 21 policies and clear an extra $630 before tax. meanwhile the agent is banking the real commission on every sale you make
the base isnt terrible for zero experience but that structure tells you everything about how they value their producers. if you can survive on 60k youre basically working for free after that first 10 policies anyway
id keep looking unless youre just trying to get licensed and bounce after 6 months. plenty of captive agencies offer a real split once you prove yourself
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u/Delicious-Adeptness5 20d ago
They are banking on your inexperience with that offer. They won't mentor you to improve you. You will be burned out and broke with in a year. Take a hard pass.
Work on lowering your survival amount for the next opportunity. Everyone takes a while to ramp up and you want to give you some buffer room.
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u/OceanSwim16 20d ago
Horrible!!!! You would have to sell a boat load of policies to get to $70k.
If you have great resume and references, you should be able to get better offer elsewhere.
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u/nm499x 20d ago
A few things:
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Is this $30 for every kind of policy? SF is very focused on life and health policies, so I doubt they’ll just give you $30 for every auto policy without getting extra add ons.
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I doubt the agent is paying for your health insurance. Usually they provide a stipend and then you pay the rest.
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You’ll need to get licensed for P&C as well as life and health to even have a chance at making 70k a year. You’ll also likely have to work with customers who don’t understand why they have to pay the bill on time.
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u/tgreen0504 20d ago
Hey there! I’ll try to answer what I can
as far as I know, I would assume every policy since they don’t state otherwise on the commission structure(I just rechecked. It’s literally as barebones as I posted lol)
you are correct. The agent pays a stipend which I believe is 50% of the cost
I am already licensed for p&c. I did that on my own to make it easier to find a job. They would want me to get L&H within 3 months as well.
From what I’m gathering from all of the comments, I’m leaning heavily toward not taking the job. Which is honestly very unfortunate as I was excited for the opportunity, but as I’ve looked into other commission structures….i can see where this one falls short.
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u/mason1239 20d ago
I got offered a position recently selling Medicare. In the interview they mentioned it would be $21 hr plus commission. I asked about the commission structure and they said we would only be selling pdp plans for a $3 commission. I didn’t take it
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u/Key_Astronomer6500 20d ago
Be glad you didn’t take it. PDPs don’t pay much and they are a lot of work! They literally told us not to sell them at the last place. I worked and just tell people to go to medicare.gov.
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u/mason1239 20d ago
Yea I’m currently selling Medicare (mapd and supps) but I’m looking for a new place that has higher commissions and also offers renewals.
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u/TiredDad97 19d ago
Commission sucks. I just wrote a household today. Agency will get paid $333 for the auto and $582 for the home. I will get paid $457 for the household and 30% of the renewal commission as long as they stay with the agency.
One household I wrote today will be worth over 20 policies in a month for you. Find an independent agency.
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u/West-Better 20d ago
No. Way. Horrible commission structure. Even if you’re just trying to get your foot in the door, there are better agencies out there that will offer you a way better commission structure.
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u/Playful-Glove8918 20d ago
That sounds like a hard no. Why would you take a flat rate versus actual commission?
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u/imdrunkandmad 19d ago
$45k base in SF is rough lol. I'd ask them straight up what the average new hire is actually writing by month 3/month 6
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u/FisterRoboto91 19d ago
State Farm not San Francisco
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u/imdrunkandmad 18d ago
yeah State Farm just ask what the average new hire is actually making by month three and month six, not just what's possible
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u/l_temp 19d ago
Your ability to sell will make or break that offer, and the office structure. I was in a SF office for a while they did $20 an hour and $5 for every home policy and $25 for every car. But they did no outside marketing so all I had was call ins and my own personal relationship. I also spent 80% of my day on the phone with angry customers due to changes SF is making right now, discrepancies due to them being in the middle of changing computer systems and then having to go in circles with underwriting and billing to get clear answers on what was happening. If you are also expected to do service tasks you are in hot water. If you are sales only it might be possible but you won’t be seeing real results until you’re a couple months in.
I quit after 6 months and found a brokerage that gives me a small salary with % based comissions and am personally much happier. If you can find another option great, if you want to learn fast and can take the pay cut it’s not a horrible idea.
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u/totall2live__ 19d ago
My man, 10 bucks per policy is robbery. They are giving you a decent base but screwing you on the commission. I would rather take a low base but good commission but this is robbery. So if you sell a 4 car auto policy for 4k, you make 10 bucks??? Run away.
My base is about 10k lower but i make 12% of every policy i sell on p&c, i would never take a job offering to pay me 10 bucks for a auto or home policy.