Profit and loss is top of mind for every agency and network as we enter into the fourth quarter. That means now is a great time to revisit your profit and loss ratios with each of your carrier partners. ASNOA wants to continue our profitability trend, paying out agents with bonuses for jobs well done. Because of our pooled volume, we are able to qualify for most carrier profit-sharing benefits as a network. I want to take a moment to lay out a few tactics that can help agent owners keep track of their progress toward year-over-year growth and year-to-date loss ratios with carriers. These processes have helped me as an agency owner to keep track of my profit and loss and can help you understand where you stand toward your year-end goals.
Tips and Tricks to Track Profit and Loss:
- Run a report in Applied Epic to identify your top five to seven carriers by written production (WP) volume in your agency.
- If the WP volume report is not available online to you directly, request the year-to-date (YTD) Profit and Loss (P&L) report for your agency from each carrier’s local sales manager.
- Confirm whether each carrier meets the minimum WP volume threshold to share in any bonuses paid for the network (check your agency Alliance Agreement for more details for ASNOA Agents).
- For the carriers that meet the minimum, I suggest running the written production (WP) volume report for 12 months. That way, month-to-month you can see growth or loss in your WP and Policies-in-Force (PIF) growth. The key question to ask yourself: are you growing?
- Another key figure to look at is your Loss Ratio (L/R). Typically, 55% to 65% L/R with positive WP growth is required for profit sharing/bonuses.
- Finally, determine if any of the losses on your detailed agency loss report have outstanding reserves that can, or should be, closed out. You can course-correct early by running these reports and gauging your performance in the third and fourth quarter. That way you can prevent a possible negative L/R ration for the first quarter with a carrier. And that can mean the difference between qualifying for a bonus or not qualifying at all.
There certainly are a lot of bonus dollars to be had year-over-year; especially with the agreements that ASNOA has put into place with our carrier partners. Many carriers also have implemented growth components to each of their bonus plans if they did not have them already. Organizing your carrier tracking now will help you stay profitable in the long run.
Stay involved, stay engaged, and stay profitable!
Cordially,
Michael A. Petrocelli
Executive Vice President
The Agent Support Network of America (ASNOA) is a fully integrated service and support provider that helps independent insurance agents grow their business.
We provide more than just carrier access.
More than 90% of our staff focuses solely on serving you with accounting, licensing, systems onboarding, marketing, skills training, and continuing education – and it all comes with your membership. You get to extend your staff without the associated costs and hassle.