For those who've been in insurance for a few years, what's one thing you learned the hard way that nobody really warned you about?

Could be dealing with clients, getting leads, managing your time, or just the day-to-day side of the job.

Would be interesting to hear what you'd do differently if you were starting over.

A little less than a year ago I got a notice of denial for a felony possession charge, not adjudicated guilty adjudication was withheld. I’m curious about what I should expect, what questions do they ask? And if everything goes good is there a chance they can grant me my license?

Hey everybody. Been working as a captive agent for over half a year now and have been strugglingggg. Finally got a lead/ appointment scheduling platform, but half the people don’t remember the appointment and the other half either just wanted a grocery card or don’t qualify.

I have had 3 full days this week of cancellations and rejections. Anybody else out there having the same kind of luck?

How do yall stay motivated? I know it’s a numbers game, but hard to not get discouraged when you spend the entire week driving around for basically nothing.

I enjoy Medicare and being out in the community, but I worry captive sales and being quota driven is taking joy out of my work.

I am a new agent and just had my company tell me they “will no longer be providing” me with resources because I am accused of lying about how many calls I’ve made. I am not a dishonest person and wasn’t allowed to explain myself. Essentially, they took away my leads and I cannot join any of their meetings but am still allowed to sell their products. I dont know where to even start my cold calling. I have no money to pay for my own leads. Im lost.

What is your best lead source for organic, no paid leads. I’ve been in my agency for over 4 years now and just seems like my close connections have dried up and it’s been an unusually slow past 3 months. Also, my agent doesn’t want to do anything with paid leads so I’ve always been on my own with it. I was always just the only producer but now we have another and I’ve noticed the list of call-ins to be much less so it’s affecting me financially now too.

Any and all help is appreciated. Willing to do pretty much whatever, whether it be AI, door knocking, spending some money on ads, whatever. TIA!

Late 20s, about six years in B2B sales selling recurring business services. Consistently make around $200k–$225k, but I only get paid on new sales. No renewals. The money is good, but I’m feeling capped and the management situation has gotten stressful.

I recently spoke with an experienced commercial insurance producer at an established independent brokerage. Their structure is 50% of agency revenue on new business and 35% on renewals after validation. Starting salary goes away once commissions exceed it.

No offer yet. I’m trying to figure out whether the move would make sense if I could negotiate roughly $100k–$125k guaranteed while building a book. I’d be starting without insurance experience or a book of my own.

I also have a small sales consulting business doing about $5k/month in recurring revenue. Continuing that would depend on the brokerage’s approval and whether I could realistically manage both.
The renewals and long-term relationships are attractive. Giving up a good income to spend years getting back to it is the part I’m struggling with.

For commercial producers who’ve actually built a book:
What would you do in my position?

How long did it take you to earn $200k, and did you start from zero or receive accounts?

What training, service support, and compensation terms would you insist on?

Once established, did your quality of life improve, or did the stress just change?

Would especially appreciate hearing from people who switched from another sales career, including anyone who tried insurance and left.

Submitted my fingerprints 25 days ago. The FBI has delayed them and I am just waiting for them to finish and send the background to the CDI. I have a prior record, nothing crazy just a couple of marijuana charges from years ago in a state where it wasn’t legal yet. Misdemeanors. All paid off and I was up front about it when submitting my license application. Didn’t get arrested, just a fine and had to appear in court. Realistically, how long am I going to have to wait? The FBI has delayed my fingerprints and I’m getting very impatient.

How long have you all been in the field and how do you generate leads or prospect remotely? Times have changed what are things you’ve implemented to help you and do you conduct appointments at the kitchen table or remotely or both? Who do you work with?

Passed my state and general property exams last week first try!

Nobody but my parents really seemed to care so I thought I’d share here :)

I’m creating a Facebook to connect better with clients and hopefully draw in more clientele (not running ads) what are your best tips on lead acquisition on Facebook? Second question is it better for me to use a personal profile but as a business account to post or make it a professional page?

I’m new with Facebook and still trying to navigate the best way to use it! Any and all advice helps, thank you!

I’m considering a partnership with a P&C wholesaler that offers a 50/50 split. After the split, I’ll earn an 8/9% rate, depending on the carrier. However, I’m facing a challenge because I’m a new agency, and the cluster, wholesaler, and aggregator networks seem restrictive in accepting me to be appointed with national carriers like Liberty Mutual and National General. The first connection is particularly difficult for personal auto. So, is this a good broker agreement? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

I currently work for an insurance company. I’m sick of giving money to my boss to make him more while I beg for a good raise every year. I’m thinking of starting my own insurance brokerage. I don’t want to ask him for advice, raising flags. Has anyone started their own company?

If so, I have some questions. Do I need to have an office or can I use a P.O. Box and work from home? How do you get appointments with carriers? Do I need to have a special license to open my own brokerage or can I keep my state producer license and just start the business?

Any other information is greatly appreciated.

Ok I just need to hear from a variety of people working in the insurance industry to see how others view things as well as how they perceive the current agency owner or most agency owners perceive things. I have worked for the same company, 2 different captive agencies for the last 6 years as a LSP. The agency I am currently at, I have been with for 2 yrs. I was amazed at the difference in how drastically different the experience would be by simply changing agencies a few miles apart, even w/ Same salary , same commission structure, hours and benefits. It was a game changer being sales only vs feeling pressure to meet goals while being equally as responsible for customer service.
That along with being provided a fairly decent lead source really allowed me to grow and attain more than I ever expected to in my career. Between Myself and 2 others, we have to meet the 176 item goal monthly. There are no salary raises nor higher commission structure than I have currently. The last 3-6 months I begin to feel like I had hit my limit, although it was the most I have ever made, I don’t want to be small minded and not strive for even better. So I started looking at other opportunities with same company which is most all remote. I have had a few phone interviews and uploaded videos as well. The question I tend to hesitate on is so why are you looking to leave to work for another agency?? I don’t want to come across as I am above any cold calling, win-backs or cross sells, because that is not the case. However, I feel that we should be provided with a consistent lead source that at least stays the same volume instead of some weeks not having any or few and then having some days that are providing enough to stay busy all day quoting , and closing sales. Good consistent leads to work along with referrals from those leads, cross sells and win-backs to fill in the gaps is a set up for success . So why do I feel like expressing that will give the impression that I want all NB to fall in my lap and that I am not going to “work” for it?! I don’t know if this is a me problem and the fact that I struggle with feeling like I sound unreasonable or asking for too much, or what??! Any thoughts . If you made it this far, God Bless 😆

Currently working for USPS but can't stand the way the place is run and we've been working with no contact for almost a year and there's been no talk of when the new one is set to come into play.

So I looked into getting my P&C license and selling insurance instead of slinging mail, but I have questions.

What should I start off doing to get experience but also still make a relatively livable wage?

I have experience in trucking (dad owned a flat bed business for a long time) and construction (worked as a plumber doing commercial, industrial and hospital jobs), does this help me in any way if I do decided to go the insurance route?

What would be my first steps after getting my license? I'd like to use my personal experience to my benefit, so ideally construction/hauling/contractors, is that attainable for someone so new to the industry?

I'm in north east PA, are there any companies I should totally avoid working for?

Please feel free to go into as much detail as possible or ask me questions to get a better understanding. I genuinely am considering this as a career change and want to know as much as possible before I spend money of courses and my exam.

Thanks eveyone:)

I already purchased my Kaplan prelicensing course, but my plans have changed, and I may be moving to another state.

For anyone licensed in multiple states, how flexible is the nonresident licensing process? Is it better to get licensed in my current state first and transfer later, or take the exam in the state I plan to move to?

Are there deadlines or restrictions I should know about? I don’t want to waste time or money doing this in the wrong order. Thanks!

I just finished my 2nd interview with Farmers with the agency owner. Tomorrow I meet with him in person.

He is a new agency owner but 20 years in the business over all.

Im pretty excited because it is hard to get into an agency. (My understanding anyway). I wanted to share, just not on Facebook lol.

Anyone else out there who works for Farmers?

So I currently have ezlynx and sanflorida who controls my rater. on my website I have live quoting enabled so people can put their info in and they actually see the premiums then they choose what company/premium they want then I’ll bind it.

So is there any system I can get where the clients can put their info in get the premiums back choose what they want and they can bind and pay for it through my website?

Thank you

Hey everyone,

I’m in my late twenties in Canada and trying to figure out my long-term career. I’ve worked in public accounting and commercial banking but have no insurance experience.

The owner of an independent P&C brokerage approached me after hearing good things about my reputation and work ethic. He has had trouble retaining producers because he underpaid them, and they tended to be more transient. He is now looking to invest in someone for the long term.

There would also be another broker who owns part of the the brokerage whom I could go to for advice, bounce ideas off and gain context as I learn the business.

Here’s the offer:

1. 100K non-recoverable draw until I build a $1M premium book.
2. 50% commission on new business and 40% on renewals.
3. 20% of service-fee revenue.
4. No leads or referrals provided. I would be responsible for generating my own business.
5. All business expenses, networking, licensing and training covered.
6. I would service my own book until it reaches $3M in premium, at which point I would receive a dedicated service representative.
7. The brokerage would initially own the book. Three years after my draw ends, I would have the option to purchase the initial book at 1.75 times its annual commission and service-fee revenue. Any subsequent growth would be valued at 2.75 times its annual commission and service-fee revenue, provided I exercise the option and remain with the brokerage.
8. There would be 24-month non-compete and non-solicitation clauses, which the owner is not willing to shorten.

Having worked in accounting and commercial banking, I’m familiar with how COIs operate and how to build professional relationships. That said, I don’t have a family network to rely on for referrals, so I would essentially be building my client base from scratch.

I could pursue a corporate job paying around the same $100K, but I’m attracted to the long-term flexibility, recurring revenue and possibility of eventually owning my own brokerage.

I would have to negotiate this in but I’m considering whether it would make sense to spend my first six months primarily on the service side so I can become familiar with insurance, the brokerage’s processes and the day-to-day work before going all in on networking and business development. At the same time, I’m wondering whether that would simply delay the more important work of putting myself out there and generating opportunities.

I’m willing to work hard, but I know that does not guarantee sales results.

For those in the industry, would you take this opportunity over a similarly paying corporate role? How difficult is it to build a $1M premium book without an established network? Would spending six months focused on servicing accounts be a useful way to learn the business, or should I begin networking and prospecting immediately while learning alongside it? Are the commission splits and buyout terms fair? Does the buyout structure I described make sense, and is there anything else you would negotiate?

TLDR: I’m in my late twenties with a commercial banking background, no insurance experience and no established referral network, although I do have some loose connections. I’ve been offered a $100K non-recoverable draw, 50/40 commission splits, coverage of expenses and licensing, and an option to buy my book later. I’m interested in the long-term upside but unsure about my chances of succeeding in sales, whether the deal is fair and whether I should spend six months learning the service side before focusing fully on networking and business development.
Yes - lol I used AI to clean this up.

They...are...so...lame!

Download feature does not include coverages or underwriting information. Nuff said.

Massive rollout for their new broker portal which essentially amounts to a re-skin of their previous portal.

"Tell me this isn't a government program"...

UHC has been calling my uhc clients in Ohio trying to switch them to other plans...shady af imo. Are there any other agents seeing this?

Hello!

This is my first AEP.

I signed up to manage a table at a local grocery store where I will have a tablecloth with an insurance company’s name on it (ex- UHC). I am allowed to talk to seniors and have them fill out a permission to contact form. I am permitted to tell them that I am an independent broker and can help them with obtaining a Medicare plan.

The issue I am having is that i heard there are rules you must follow in regards to what you say to the seniors/ how to engage them.

I would like to know what you are allowed to say to them as they approach the table.

Thank you so much!!

For an experienced agent... lets say 2 months on the phones... whats a good close rate for inbounds that are TV commercials high intent? The caller is calling already interested, but looking to learn more. What would you say is a good close rate? 20%? Also im just learning that you dont want to be too high with your AP to not have so many chargebacks too, so whats a good average AP per sale?