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Indy Reps Hiring Brokers?

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May 8, 2006 4:53 pm

I am wondering if any Indy Reps have chosen or considered hiring a broker for the override? Coming from Jones and all the volunteer mentoring work, it would be easy to hire a newly licensed and train him/her.

Maybe do 3 yr or so contract, give new Rep chance to build up his/her business then go out on own, but if he/she doesn't make it my Rep would keep all accounts? Does that sound typical?

I have seen that Zacko has elected not to do this now, does anyone else have any thoughts on this? Or - Has anyone done this, and have any thoughts on proceeding?

May 8, 2006 5:34 pm

Hiring an associate is definitely in my business plan, but it's down the road probably 18-24 months yet.  I'm starting to tell new accounts below a stated minimum that I can bring them on, but they will most likely be working with an associate at some point, assuming they stay below my stated minimum.  I've got a lot to work through in my head before I make such a hire.  Obviously, I don't want to handcuff an associate as that goes completely against my mantra.  At the same time, I want to make the move profitable for both myself and the associate, so I've got some thinking to do.

Risks are that the associate doesn't do well and soils my reputation in the process, so I seriously doubt that I'll take on an unlicensed/newbie individual that I have to train pretty much from ground zero.  My big concern there is how will they make it financially during the training/licensing period?  Also, I want to make sure that the associate is like-minded and a good fit for my business, since I'll be trusting some clients (albeit B&C's) to him/her.  Conversely, I don't want someone with extensive experience that is set in his/her ways and thus, untrainable.

Eventually, I would be happy with an office-sharing arrangement as two separate independents.  The only question in my mind is working out an equitable way to handle walk-ins at that point, but to be honest, I hope to not be concerned about walk-in traffic by then.

May 8, 2006 6:14 pm

This is my business plan also, with the exception that I want to hire/work with an associate that is more specialized in insurance (health, life especially) and take an override.

Probably not for about the same time frame 18 to 24 months down the road.

May 9, 2006 2:58 am

I think anyone who functions in the independent world would NOT

consider themselves as an incubator program for the young broker’s

world.



If I were to consider hiring anyone to assist in certain aspects of my

practice, you can be assured that they will be employees. I think that the

best ‘broker’ employees are those who recognize they can still do what

they love, but do NOT have to worry about their paychecks. There are

TONS of good advisors out there that don’t have the ability to run their

own practices. Those are the people I have a sincere interest in hiring.



If you want to make an override on someone’s business you need to

maintain control. I wouldn’t have any interest in kicking someone out of

the nest if they are successfully working well within a portion of my

practice. I look at them as employees who work for the general good of

the practice, and not as individuals looking to further their cause.



You own the business, they work for you. There are TONS of people who

value stability and can be happy employees contributing to your practice

for years to come.



I don’t see the value in having someone fail, only to have their book revert

to my practice in exchange for their failure.



Just my opinion.



C

May 9, 2006 4:23 am

That’s a valid point…I was assuming that if they came to me, they would probably be interested in doing the same for themselves some day.  Obviously, I would keep them in house as long as they wanted that and were working out well…

May 9, 2006 6:58 pm

Good point captain. At Jones we never wanted local guys n gals to "die on the vine" so we could scam their assets.