It's much easier to assess the financial strength of a carrier in the world of Property and Casualty insurance than in the world of Health insurance. Several organizations have standard rating systems to assess a P/C carrier's strength and financial performance. A broker can quickly compare the financial viability of various P/C carriers using an assigned rating. Brokers usually don't even bother to look at an unrated carrier.

HIRING THE RIGHT PRODUCER ...

Most insurance agencies would like to be driven by a regular flow of new business from their producer force. However, most agencies find that their producers (owners or not) spend most of their time caring for existing customers, with production relegated to a secondary position. They only have time to prospect and sell when they can break away from service tasks.

However, the producers feel that they should be making more money, whether for non-sales tasks they perform for the agency, for servicing existing customers, or from sales to new customers. Unfortunately, if an agency isn’t growing through the efforts of its producers, it has little additional income available to further compensate these key employees.