The Advantages of an Agency: Insurance Agent Contracting and Resources for Independent Insurance Agents

In today’s world, the modern insurance agent works in an industry that is full of change; there are new insurance companies, new products, new technologies, and an environment where customers have more choices than ever. 

Fortunately, agents don’t have to face these challenges on their own. The term “insurance agency” has been around for a long time, but what exactly does it mean today? Agents have heard the terms FMO (Field Marketing Organization), IMO (Independent Marketing Organization), NMO (National Marketing Organization), and many other similar terms throughout the years.

While they all sound different from one another, in reality, they are all insurance agencies regardless of their size or scope. A successful agency has one central goal around which everything else revolves: making their agents successful. 

At Savers, our primary goal is to help our agents find their professional success. Whether that’s providing them with additional independent agent training, additional resources, expanding their portfolio, or professional network, we’re here to assist every step of the way.

How Insurance Agencies like Savers Marketing Help with Agent Success

 

How does an insurance agency make independent agents successful? By providing the support they need and removing additional barriers that prevent them from their central job: selling products and policies. The mission of making our insurance agents successful entails many things, including: 

  • Providing the right balance of insurance companies and products
  • Providing the best available first-year and renewal commissions
    • Independent insurance agents deserve to be adequately compensated for their hard work. By partnering with an agency, agents will receive competitive first-year commissions and renewal commissions.
  • Offering additional bonuses and sales incentives
  • Providing sales and marketing support
    • As a new agent or experienced agent, there are moments where you’ll need additional support. An agency is capable of providing agents with insurance sales support through sales training, new carrier information, and keeping an open line of communication.
  • Offering prospecting and lead programs
    • When it comes to where to get insurance leads, agents and their vast network of insurance carriers, give agents the ability to find highly reliable insurance leads in a matter of days versus months.
  • Making sure agents have access to the latest sales tools and technology
  • Conducting training and professional development to ensure agents are at the top of their game
    • Regular insurance agent training is essential in this profession. Agencies can provide online training, one on one personalized training, and offer additional assistance.

As you can see, there are a wide variety of services agencies provide their agents. Let’s take a look at all of these aspects in more detail.

Insurance Company Relations: Health Insurance Products and Life Insurance Products

 

Having the right mix of Insurance Companies (also called “Carriers”) and products ensures that agents always have a solution for their clients. At Savers, we are constantly evaluating insurance companies and their products to determine how they will benefit your clients, so you can provide them with the best possible outcome. Agencies also help strengthen the relationship between agents and carriers, by providing product updates and information to agents.

Insurance Commissions and Insurance Commissions Renewals

 

You work hard and deserve the compensation that shows it! At Savers, we negotiate with carriers for the best commissions available. This includes competitive first-year commissions and renewals to help you build a continuous stream of income. Rather than deal with a complex commissions system, we want our agents to be paid fairly and on time. At Savers, we also use Forma, a new commissions system that’s designed to help our agents track any commissions paid directly by Savers Marketing. It gives agents additional functionality and simplifies the way you manage your commission data. 

We also reward top producing agents with higher commissions when available. If you’re an agency owner and have agents that work with you, we can offer commission packages with competitive overrides. 

In addition to regular commissions, commission advances can be an important part of a stable income stream, especially for newer agents. Advances are available from most carriers on most products that agents sell.

Insurance Sales Bonuses & Incentives

 

In addition to offering top commissions, our agents will have access to various bonuses and other incentives to reward your sales achievements. Many agents add significant income to their bottom line with these bonuses. Other incentives include all-expense paid attendance at carrier conventions for top producers and Amazon Gift Cards rewarded based on sales of qualifying products.

Insurance Sales Support & Insurance Marketing Support

 

One of the most important functions of an agency is to act as an intermediary between insurance companies and agents. This includes advising agents of missing application information, making sure commissions are paid on time, providing the correct sales and marketing materials, and helping agents stay in compliance with company guidelines and State and Federal regulations.

Prospecting & Lead Programs

 

Finding new customers is one of the biggest challenges facing agents so we work with some of the best lead companies in the business to get you the leads you need. Whether your preference is Medicare Advantage Leads, Medicare Supplement Leads, Life Insurance Leads, Final Expense Leads, Annuity Leads, or Turning 65 Leads, we have a provider and resources readily available for you. We currently offer lead programs such as:

  • Turning 65 Tool
    • This tool is available to all our agents and gives them the ability to find highly qualified leads that are turning 65 based on their date of birth.
  • Direct Response Leads
    • These are leads that have already been submitted by a prospect requesting more information about Medicare Options, Final Expense or Life Insurance.

Insurance Sales Tools & Technology

 

New technology has revolutionized the insurance industry in the last 25 years and the change is becoming exponential. E-applications, mobile quoting and comparison software, email, and text signature options are just some of the tools that were unheard of a generation ago. 

At Savers, we stay on top of the latest technology developments from our partners to make sure you have the best technology and most efficient prospecting, quoting, and enrollment tools at your disposal. Our Insurance Quoting Software is designed to serve the agent and customer first, so clients can get the answers they need faster than ever. Our quoting software helps agents find the best coverage for clients in just a few minutes.

Plus, E-Apps eliminates the need for paperwork and submit your clients’ applications for processing instantly. More efficient sales mean additional sales and happier clients!

One of the most important additions that we have made using MedicareCENTER.

  • MedicareCENTER 
    • Gives potential clients the ability to review, compare, and sign off on the Medicare Plan of their choice. They’ll be able to find a specific Medicare/Medicaid plan that fits their needs on our MedicareCENTER platform, while agents review and save all the necessary documentation on their own files.

Insurance Agent Training & Professional Development

 

Prioritizing ongoing training to stay current with new products and changes in the industry is a vital part of being a modern insurance agent. We provide access to carrier training and training conducted exclusively for agents that partner with us. To see what our training calendar looks like, review our on-demand training events.

We also provide access to E&O Insurance (E&O) and Continuing Education (CE) courses at special pricing to agents that work with us. These are a required part of our profession and we want to help agents meet these requirements easily and at the least expense possible.

At Savers, our mission is to provide our agents with as many insurance resources, tools, and training they need to be successful. Whether that means providing additional insurance agent training, insurance sales support, insurance sales bonuses, we’re here to do the heavy lifting alongside our agents. Our agents work hard enough on behalf of their clients. When you partner with Savers, we promise to provide you with everything you need to exceed your professional goals.

Savers Marketing: Product Lines and Carrier Partners

 

Health Insurance Products

 

At Savers Marketing, we are currently partnered with many health insurance carriers, so our agents can provide their clients with the individual health coverage they need. No matter the age or health of your client, our carriers are here to prioritize their needs above everything else. Our health insurance carriers offer a variety of products, such as:

  • Medicare Advantage
  • Medicare Supplement
  • Prescription Drug Plans (PDP)
  • Major Medical
  • Dental, Vision & Hearing
  • Short Term Health Insurance
  • Home Health Care
  • Hospital Indemnity
  • Short & Long Term Care
 

Additionally, Savers can provide in-depth training about specific products and policies, so if you’re looking for additional information on behalf of a client, we have you covered. We represent many well-known and highly-rated health insurance carriers including:

  • ACE Medicare Supplement
  • Aetna
  • Aflac
  • Allstate
  • BlueCross BlueShield of NC
  • Cigna
  • Devoted Health
  • Gerber
  • HealthTeam Advantage
  • Heartland National
  • Humana
  • ManhattanLife
  • Mutual of Omaha
  • National General
  • United Healthcare
  • Wellabe
  • Wellcare
  • Woodmen Life
  • And so many more!
 
 

If you’re interested in learning more about individual carriers, review our complete list of Individual Health Insurance carriers. For more information, contact our office directly.

 

Life Insurance Products

 

In addition to our health insurance partnerships, Savers Marketing also works with multiple life insurance carriers, to provide your clients with the protection they need when they need it the most. Our life insurance carriers include:

  • American General (AIG)
  • American National 
  • Assurity
  • Boston Mutual
  • Illinois Mutual
  • Lincoln Financial
  • ManhattanLife
  • Mutual of Omaha
  • North American
  • Oxford Life
  • Sentinel Security Life
  • Standard Life & Casualty
  • United Life
 

For a closer look at carrier-specific information, review our life insurance products and plans.

 

Annuity Products

 

If you have clients that are looking for a safe place to put savings or provide for a steady income later in life, an annuity might be a great option. By purchasing an annuity, your clients will be able to receive income on an annual basis, in various payment installments, depending on their preference. Fixed annuities, indexed annuities, and immediate annuities all have great benefits for anyone with money they need to invest for retirement income. We currently sell annuity products from a select group of clients, such as:

  • EquiTrust
  • Lincoln Financial
  • Mutual of Omaha
  • Oxford
  • Sentinel Security
  • Thrivent Financial
 

For more information about annuities, contact our office directly, or view our annuity products and plans directly.

Insurance Agency Contracting through Savers

 

If you would like to get contracted with a carrier that Savers represents, we make the process simple. We offer two different ways to get contracted with a carrier quickly. 

The first is a streamlined online insurance agent contracting process that applies to most of our carriers. As an agent, all you have to do is complete a profile that you can continue to use later and for multiple carriers. Once the profile is complete, you can begin appointing with the carriers available on the platform.

The second option is to complete our carrier form which can be found on our get contracted page. Simply select the carriers, states, and products that you’re inquiring about, and we will get back to you promptly with additional information on insurance agent contracting. At Savers Marketing, we keep insurance agent contracting simple. You have enough to worry about – let us take care of the paperwork so you can start selling to your clients. If you’re an independent insurance agent who needs a partner that can help you take your business to the next level and beyond, it’s time to call Savers Marketing and experience the difference today!