Page 95 - The UnCaptive Agent

68 THE UNCAPTIVE AGENT

you may want to share it with the first people you hire
to help make that plan a reality.
A very critically important audience for the business
plan will be insurance companies. In order to be in busi-
ness, you must contract with insurance companies. And
you go a long way towards ensuring your success if you
can contract with several of the best insurance compa-
nies in the marketplace instead of a bunch of no-name
carriers that only you have ever heard of. You want those
insurance companies to see that you are organized as a
businessperson (not just an insurance producer!) and have
a plan. They will want to see that your plan demonstrates
solid thinking about how you are going to be successful
in marketing, selling, and servicing their products, as well
as operating a professional insurance agency business.
You may want to consider becoming a part of a
Market Access Provider or even an Agency Development
and Coaching Organization like mine. We require all
start-up agencies applying for membership with us to
prepare a business plan. We know that it dramatically
increases their chance for survival and success.
Another potential reader of your business plan is your
bank. If you’re seeking bank financing for your business
on any basis, they are going to want to see a business
plan, along with accompanying financial projections.
Remember that as you write the plan. Remember, too,
that a budget is not a business plan. But a business
plan requires a well-considered budget. The financial
projections made in budgeting are an integral part of
the business plan and demonstrate the financial results
expected from executing the business plan.
Here are some things that your plan should include:
written goals for premium growth, written goals for
retention, written goals for growth in the number of
accounts that you will write and service. These goals are