Comments for Is being a contractor/broker with no benefits the average set up at an independent agency?

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starstarstarstarstar 		Not a broker shop
by: Ted

The commission structure is probably pretty competitive. You can always check around with other agents. That is how I started, I contacted several agents and picked their brain.

When you start selling, you hang your shingle out like any new business. It takes time to build a client base. However, it is all related to how hard a person works at it.

If your selling property and casualty insurance that is one market, If your going to sell life insurance/health insurance that is a complete different market.

You need to find out what kind of training program they have. Your sales background is a plus, however, the insurance career requires a person to sell an intangible product. It is not like selling cars, furniture, etc.

As far as recession proof. One of the great things about the insurance business is that you have the ability to move from market to market. As an example when farmers are having a down year, I move to another market that is prospering during that time. Again, it is up to the agent to be innovative.

Hope this helps.

Ted
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starstarstarstarstar 		Ted is correct
by: Mike McCoy

I work in the marketing department for a large IMO (www.laaminc.com). We are not set up to train new agents, and when they call us asking for assistance, we advise or direct them to work under another experienced agent until they are ready. The hard part might be finding an agent that would be willing to take on the challenge and time to train you. But don't lose hope, there are plenty of great agents out there.
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starstarstarstarstar 		Not a Broker Shop
by: Anonymous

This is a small independent agency. Is that still not the place for someone new to the game? I am an experienced sales person. I've just never sold insurance. I'm asking if the commission percentage is fair. As someone who is older, I am worried if it would take me years to get up and "running". Also, how recession-proof is the industry? That's a selling point, for sure.
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starstarstarstarstar 		No benefits as a broker.
by: Ted

This is usually the case for most broker shops. Most new agents do not understand that working for a broker means you are self employed. Most broker shops are not a good place for new agents to start, as they are not set up for day to day training and monitoring of new agents.

Broker shops are created for that experienced agent that has several years of selling under their belt.

The other problem is that when you are licensed with several companies there are minimum goals you must meet to keep your contract with each one. In my opinion, new agents need to focus in on one target product with one target market to become successful. There is the crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run theory. An independent or broker shop is the latter.

Read this article on why insurance agents fail or succeed>>https://www.an-insurance-agents-career.com/Whyinsuranceagentsfailorsucceed.html

Then read this articles and the associated links in this article related to broker and captive agents to get a clear picture of what to expect. https://www.an-insurance-agents-career.com/insurancejobs.html

Make sure you sign up for our monthly newsletter or use your favorite social media to stay in touch. See links on the our web page.

Keep in touch and let me know how I can help

Ted Wolk

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