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I am a licensed insurance producer in the state of Maryland. I mainly do personal lines. I do not feel as if I am being fairly compensated for what I sell. What percentage of the premium on a personal lines policy should go to the producer? What should the base pay for a producer be? Thank you
jessica

any kind of advice is welcomed, I would like to approach this topic with my employer (asap) and need to know how much I should be making. Right now I am making 5% commission less the cost of the lead which isnt much. Last month I sold 28 home/auto policies totalling $11,000.00 and my commission check was for $300!!!

Jessica, you should be getting at least 50% of the first year commission. At a similar position in my past I received 50% first year & 10% for renewals or any "orphaned" policies that I ended up servicing.

I was receiving $1,500 a month as a base, most of which was eaten up by taxes & health insurance. If you are going to survive in the personal lines world on this type of program you either need to have a huge book of business or target high-end clients.

Don't forget that you should also be getting a cut of any contingency checks since you helped earn those dollars.

Good luck!

Jessica,

I am now retired, but during my working years (over 49 years), I have hired a number of agents. If you are working full time, and you need financial help, you should negotiate a draw with your agency, which does not need to be validated. If you sold $11,000.00 of premium for the month, you are not producing enough business to be valuable to your agency. Assuming an average of 13% commission you produced a gross income of $1,430.00. But please remember that your agency did not earn that money immediately. It might take up to 3 months to be paid. If you work on straight commissions, without any benefits, getting 50% is generous. Insurance is a business of renewals and time. I know you are hungry now, but it takes time, maybe several years, before your renewal account builds up. In the meantime you should sell some life insurance, at hight commissions (90 to 100 per cent), to help tide you over. Look for commercial accounts as well. They might take less time than some personal lines, with equal effort. Good luck!

<_< The last reply was absolutely the best. Sell more! Work longer hours! Delegate all servicing! The more follow up calls, the more mail you send, and the more activity you do, the more sales you will have.

You should be lucky to be getting any commission...

Some of us work Salary only!

Remember, the agency has marketing expense and overhead to consider, but 50% sounds kind of high and 5% sounds too low. I've read articles stating that a personal lines producer should make around 15-30% of first term commission and 0% for renewals if they don't service the business themselves. I've used this system for employees and I do it myself. It seems to work well.

If I was in your shoes Jessica, I would give the agency manager a chance to realize your value. If they don't, then I am sure that you can find a better position elsewhere that will pay you an equitable split. I'm sure that with some experience and a license, it would be fairly easy for you to pick up a position at another agency in your area.

In response to the comment to "Sell more Life Insurance"
It's always good to sell more life insurance, but realistically, even if you are on the 5% split on life sales, then you are like a hamster on the wheel: You will never go anywhere.