NLIC.org

Franklin Said:

Buying individual health insurance: Why do some say a small independent broker is best?

We Answered:

First....how do you make these spammers go away...

To answer your question: Insurance is regulated, so if you called the company directly, used an agent of the company, used broker A, or broker B you would pay EXACTLY the same price. Nobody can change the price. So, from a price standpoint it makes no difference. You wouldn't want to use a large company that uses what's called a "call center" model because then you're dealing with a 'customer service rep' who may have limited experience and/or limited in scope.

Brokers that are set up on the model I run on are the best place to do business because the knowledge and product availability is much more vast. Because you don't ONLY want someone who can help you out now, you want someone that'll be there three years from now when the company gets a new product....or another competitor has a new product...or any number of issues that can arise. You want a trusted, familiar voice on the other end of the phone. And, when you're dealing with a smaller broker you're dealing with the owner of the company that has more of a vested interest in helping you rather than selling you -- because he/she knows that helping you pays far more dividends than just selling you.

Hope that helps.

Jeff

Beverly Said:

which insurance software to use if working as an independent agent/broker for?

We Answered:

We use AfW (AMS for Windows) for our agency management software, Facsys for faxing from our desktop. We are cancelling SetWrite (who now has changed their name to Silverplume quoting - the ISO forms website - since they recently purchased them) for quoting (owned by AMS) because it doesn't work well. We use each company's website for quoting. This is the most accurate & quickest & most companies can issue policies directly from the website after quoting.

Samuel Said:

I want to become a P/C Insurance broker.. any ideas how?

We Answered:

One way to go about it is to apply for an underwriting position at an independant insurance company. As an underwriter you will be in contact with many independent agents. The experiance will help you formulate a more specific approach to your goal.

Bobby Said:

Can anyone recommend independent broker/dealers that I can security licenses as well as selling good products?

We Answered:

There are a number of them out there (I work for one myself), but you'd be an independent contractor with little to no financial backing. Our reps pay us a percentage of their income to handle things like compliance, commission tracking, paperwork processing, setting up E&O coverage, etc. Our reps rarely handle accounts with less than a million dollars, though.

Very few brokers can go out on their own without building up a substantial customer base first. Your best bet would probably be to find a successful broker at a small broker/dealer, go to work for him (he'd be your OSJ and get a % of your income), then, when your client base is solid, you can become a satellite office and eventually your own OSJ.

Our firm requires a minimum of $250,000 per year in commissions (we don't count financial planning fees either in our charges or our minimums) so we're not talking small customer accounts.

There are firms out there with less stringent requirements, so you might check around with other brokers and in the trade magaizines to see which firms are looking for what type of brokers.

And no, I'm not naming any firms (including mine) because that would be a no-no.

Good luck in your chosen field.