12/2/2021 - PGI Commercial Lines - State of the Department
Dear Premier Agency Owners,
Commercial Lines continues to return record results in 2021.
So far, year to date, commercial lines has grown over 40%, and PGI is on track
to finish the year at over $65,000,000 in commercial lines premium!
Congratulations to all agents who are seeing the rewards of
their efforts in writing commercial!
Also, a reminder of the benefits in developing a commercial
lines book for agents interested:
- Higher premiums in commercial leads to higher
profitability in your agency. - More policies per client in commercial lines leads to
higher retention. - Diversification of book protects against technology
driven personal lines competition. - Opportunity to write the business owners in your
current personal lines book. - Defensive positioning to keep other commercial agents
from poaching your personal lines book.
We’ve listened to our agents over the course of 2021, and
have some amazing new enhancements to the commercial lines department coming
before year end…
- Continued support to our agents who are building their own
commercial practice… those agents who prospect, write and service their
own commercial lines policies.
We’ve
developed a best-in-class consulting team for CL training, strategy and
business planning, market access, risk placement guidance, proposal reviews, etc.
Additionally, starting in Q1 2022,
PGI will be offering a COMMERCIAL LINES PRODUCTION SCHOOL! This
program is intended for agents with a commitment to building and growing their
own commercial lines practice. The 16-week program will consist of 8 learning
sessions and complementary in-agency activities designed to turn you and your
agency into high performing commercial lines professionals. The program will be
free to PGI Agents! This is a true value, as carrier production
schools can cost thousands of dollars. Each session will be limited to 30
participants, so please reach out to me ASAP if you have an interest. I’d be
happy to provide further information.
Furthermore, PGI is now offering a COMMERCIAL
LINES PRODUCER LOAN PROGRAM! PGI will provide a loan up to 50% of base
pay (up to $50,000), and with goals met, offer to forgive up to 50% of the loan
amount. Over 5 years, PGI would be willing to forgive 50% of up to $75,000 of
total loaned funds. This is FREE MONEY intended to help you grow your agency.
Please reach out to me ASAP if you have an interest, as the funds available are
not without limits.
- Starting 1/1/2022, PGI will be offering a BRAND-NEW
COMMERCIAL LINES SERVICE CENTER! This team will handle the
day-to-day servicing of commercial lines policies holders. Agents who
choose to utilize the CL Service Center will have a team of licensed
commercial lines professionals that their clients can contact directly for
billing and payment support, commercial proofs of insurance, endorsement
processing, renewal processing, audit support, and more. Additionally, our
CL Service Center team will help you to upsell and round your commercial
accounts.
To take advantage of the CL Service Center the agent will agree to the
following:
- PGI’s CL Service Team will service the agent’s ENTIRE
book of commercial lines policies. - There will be a 50% agent / 50% PGI commission split on
the agent’s ENTIRE book commercial lines policies. - Cash paying policy holders will be ineligible.
Ideally, agents who choose to
utilize the CL Service Center are those agents who have a desire to learn and
produce in commercial lines but may have a concern with their capacity to service
those clients they onboard. At any time, the agent can choose to remove their
policy holders from the CL Service Center and regain the full commission split
per their contract.
The Commercial Lines Service Center
is not designed to be a sales engine for your agency (other than upselling and
rounding).
Additionally, PGI will not be
able to service policies for agents if they choose not to participate in the CL
Service Center.
- Continue to offer a COMMERCIAL LINES SALES AND
SERVICE solution. Titled “CL NOW”, this program will offer agents
who elect not to pursue commercial lines an opportunity to capture
commission from referrals sent to PGI.
To write commercial lines
effectively, as well as to protect against E&O exposure, it’s important to
dedicate yourself to understanding coverage, carrier products, and the service
commitments of commercial insurance. This solution has been created for those
agents whose sole focus is personal lines, or those agents who feel
uncomfortable with writing commercial.
To participate in the Commercial
Lines Sales and Service Program, the agent will agree to the following:
- Refer 100% of the commercial opportunities that come to
them over to PGI. - There will be a 25% agent / 75% PGI commission split on
all commercial policy sales, and renewals. - Commercial policies referred to PGI and sold through
this program will be ineligible for agent ownership and vesting per their
agency agreement.
A copy of the new Commercial Lines Service contract addendum
is attached to this email. This Commercial Lines Service contract addendum will
have options for agents to engage with the Commercial Lines Service Center or
elect the Commercial Lines Sales and Service solution.
Please
read this document thoroughly.
We understand that there is a lot to unpack here, so we’ll
be hosting several webinars in early December to review all these options with
our agents, as well as any questions you may have.
Commercial Lines Service Webinars (Click to Register):
If you do not execute a decision on the addendum and
return it to PGI by 1/1/2022, our assumption is that you will remain in 100%
control of all the sales and service of the policies in your commercial lines
book.
Lastly, in 2022 you can continue to look forward to
additional enhancements and offerings from our Commercial Lines Team. We’re
developing:
- An internal team to help agents mine their PL book and
cross sell with CL policies. - A commercial insurance exchange, where agents can refer
commercial business to one another, and thus keep the value of the sale
within the agent network. - and… SO MUCH MORE!
We’re tremendously excited to bring these new services to
you and look forward to seeing you in one of our upcoming webinar sessions!
Sincerely,
Director of Commercial Lines
