As independent agents we are up against the big boys, the mega agencies, the Goliaths of life insurance. They (Selectquote, Accuquote, Intelliquote, etc) give the perception in their advertising of being so big and well run that they can do the job better, faster and for less cost than us. Just like Goliath those guys have a couple of weak spots, where you and Special Risk Services can win every time.
Let’s just start with the most obvious. We’re not just independent agents, but impaired risk independent agents and we have at our disposal one of the best impaired risk agencies. If we do our homework and shop a case correctly there is no reason we should ever have the second best quote. If someone gets a decline from one of the big boys they just fell right into our area of expertise.
The mega agencies, in spite of their use of keywords to pull all the traffic they can, don’t know impaired risk and they don’t shop their cases. They have a favorite company and they probably have an underwriter on staff that is well versed at quoting that company, but for them it always comes down to comp. That favorite company will pay them good comp and a huge year end bonus if they have remained faithful. When I was with Eterm.com using Federal Kemper the owners of Eterm got 95% comp on everything they wrote, no matter the term length, with Kemper. If they reached their goal and they always did by never seriously quoting anyone else, they got another 40%. It was fast, efficient and usually at least in the top ten prices.
Those agencies do very well when their company happens to be at the top of the leaderboard, but when you and I are willing to write whatever company will have the lowest premium in the end, nine times out of ten we’ll come out on top. As Tim Fuller at SRS and I have talked many times, the comp for second place is really bad. I would rather quote Pru, a company very few mega agencies will quote, and win the day and get 75%. Or maybe we make the same 95% that the big boys do, but we do it with a company that comes out ahead in the end.
Whatever advantage those agencies have in advertising, they lose in placement ratio. If you have any questions or want to discuss why you’ve come in second on a case, call Rich or Tim directly at 800-933-5491 or rfuller@srsinc.com and tjfuller@srsinc.com.
-By Ed Hinerman, manager of Risk Life Insurance and Hinerman Group.