I would recommend reading this document before you invest the capital and time in adding Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance lines to your existing business model.
It’s very common for business owners that have a current database of clients to consider adding P&C to their practice. It makes sense from a financial perspective at first glance but a deeper dive into the details should be done to understand the roadblocks that may exist. I have spoken to several Life and Health agents over the years that considered the addition of P&C but after discovering how much labor really goes into managing each client compared to the reward, they often reconsider.
P&C insurance sales are very time consuming and require a full-time commitment. You will want to allocate someone who is P&C licensed and experienced to manage the P&C sales and service obligations for your business. That person should be responsible for the day-to-day tasks such as networking to drive new business activity, sales, and servicing existing clients. If this person is dedicated to the P&C activity, they will learn how to work with not only the clients but the carrier partners as well. The technology platforms, processes and procedures coupled with a mix of carrier appetites and guidelines can be very difficult to learn unless the work performed here is somebody’s primary duty. As a business owner, you too should be involved enough to learn the business to prepare for any situation that may leave you servicing the clients or working with carrier partners. The captain should know how the ship works before he/she takes the helm.
P&C commissions are not that attractive at first, thus it's a long-term play that takes time to build a reasonable income stream. It is not uncommon for Health and Life agents or even Financial Advisors to grow tired of the workload from P&C compared to the reward. You should take this into consideration prior to making your decision.
Building a P&C insurance agency takes a large commitment and shouldn’t be taken lightly. It can be very rewarding on many levels for your business, but it can also distract you from what you are already doing very well. If you choose to take the leap and add it to your practice you should prepare yourself for a very involved learning curve and slow growth of income from your efforts. However, done correctly and thoughtfully, a slow stream of renewal income can turn into a river if you have the right team in-place to manage your businesses P&C activities.
In summary, P&C can be an attractive method to monetize your existing client base, but it will require a dedicated staff to be successful. If you have already identified team members that will be accomplishing these tasks, we would love to talk about how your business can become profitable by adding P&C insurance. Not ready for a team or dedicated staff to pursue P&C sales? Let’s talk about how you can receive compensation by providing P&C to your clients without doing any of the heavy lifting of sales and service.
Want to learn more about how to start an independent insurance agency? visit our website at www.pacificcrestservices.com or contact us at 888-938-4197.