Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Becoming A Successful Independent Insurance Agency

by Tony Veteto

So the question is what does it take to become a successful independent insurance agency. The answer (truthfully it would take a novel to answer this question) is deep and wide, yet there are some quick highlights I will point out that are suitable for a quick read.

  1. The agency owner must be a driven sales focused machine or find producers and employees who are.
  2. There must be an atmosphere of professionalism and integrity at the core of the organization.
  3. Clear vision on what type of clients the agency will be built on from day one. Preferred insurance agencies tend to bring better multiples when being sold due to higher retention and better profitability in the books of business.
  4. Highly efficient and automated work flow and technology. An agency in today's world will find it tough to grow without a good client management system, comparative rating system, and creating paperless files.
  5. Carrier selection must be chosen based ease of doing business, high commissions, and strong products. Travelers, Liberty Mutual, Safeco, The Hartford, Metlife Auto & Home, Kemper Auto & Home, just to name a few are carriers that are highly automated, offer service centers, and paperless documents.
  6. Focus on direct bill business, i.e. personal lines and small commercial. The excess and surplus lines business which is agency billed must always be touched every renewal just to get the policy renewed. You spend all your time touching files rather than selling insurance to new and existing clients.
  7. Marketing on a consistent basis through multiple means is extremely important. For example, a consistent cross-selling campaign, referral capture and reward program, account rounding for all mono-line policies, networking in the community, building referral partners like Realtors, loan officers, attorneys, accountants, direct mail campaigns, Internet leads, carrier co-op advertising, Internet advertising, social networking, seminars, niche marketing, etc. You do not have to do all of these at once, but certainly the more you do consistently at the same time the better your lead consistency will be.
These are seven quick points and hardly did I scratch the surface. Tague Alliance is a master agency with SIAA (Strategic Independent Agents Alliance) and our goal is to help our members build their agencies. We provide direct carrier appointments, high commissions, profit sharing, marketing support and resources, training, agency consultation, vendor discounts, and much more.

We have a small primer on the Steps To Setting Up An Independent Agency. Go to our website at www.taguealliance.com for info about our organization and SIAA. Click on So You Want To Be Independent and request the "Steps" document. It will be sent to you with no obligation and no sales pressure from us. If you have a need for help we would enjoy seeing if there is a mutual fit between your agency and Tague Alliance.

Have a great day!

Tony Veteto
VP Agency Development
Tague Alliance
760-729-1143
tv@taguealliance.com

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