NO PRODUCTION PRESSURE

For the average salesperson selling any given product or service, production requirements are a part of normal business operations. If you were employed to sell cars and you failed to sell a car within the first one or two months, it is likely that your employment situation would be in jeopardy. This analogy is just as relevant in the insurance industry. If you were to pick any number of insurance carriers, request an appointment to sell their products but failed to provide any production, they would terminate the relationship. At the end of the day, insurance carriers are in business to make money for themselves, their policy holders and/or their stockholders. To develop a lasting, mutually beneficial carrier relationship agencies must meet or preferably exceed stated carrier production requirements.

For a young or start up independent insurance agency, carrier appointments are critical and can mean the difference between having competitive products to sell and being uncompetitive altogether. Because there are a number of influences that determine how competitive carriers are over time, the best plan to hedge against betting on just one carrier and only insuring one risk is to appoint with multiple carriers. This approach allows agency owners to remain competitive across the market for numerous risks. Assuming that you can get the appointment with the largest carriers even though many preferred carriers have an ideal agency in mind when they provide appointments, you now have production requirements with each and every carrier that you are now appointed. Herein lays the challenge of the small independent insurance agency with numerous appointments. As an agent of the agency, you must continue to “feed” the carrier or risk losing the appointment.

Although the Pacific Crest Alliance has faced many of these same issues in the past, we have now established a position in the market, based upon policy volume that negates the need to implement production requirements upon our agency force. Given the size and structure of the Alliance, carrier requirements are satisfied and agents are free to sell any policy that best serves their client. This approach benefits the agent by allowing them to focus their efforts in competitive markets to increase production and benefits the client with the most comprehensive insurance coverage at a competitive price.