Page 96 - The UnCaptive Agent

PLANNING 69

there primarily to assist you in making staffing and time
management decisions and to show insurance companies
what they can expect from you. Remember, agents don’t
get to spend premium dollars, those monies are carrier’s
revenue. So, you will also need to express plans and goals
for commission and other revenue receipts and growth.
Your plan will need to include brief comments on
your marketing and advertising plans. The details of
these plans are discussed in this chapter. You can decide
to include all of them in the business plan or you may
want to organize them separately. How are you going
to obtain new accounts? How will you advertise? Will
you be using social media to drive business? How and
what results do you expect?
How will you service your business? Will you use
employees? When will you hire them? Do you plan to
use insurance company service centers? (As a side note,
if you agree to use service centers, you will dramatically
increase your chance of receiving an appointment. Many
carriers will not appoint new agencies without service
center usage.) What technology do you plan to use?
How do you intend to invest the agency’s money in
improvements, assets, and people during the period of
the plan?
Your plan should include the types of policies you will
sell. It should describe your market territory and why
you selected it. You should have pertinent facts about
any submarkets you plan to go after and what level of
penetration you need to achieve to be successful.
I’m often asked what the period of a time a business
plan should cover. This reminds me of Helmuth von
Moltke’s famous dictum that “No plan survives contact
with the enemy.” I think the initial plan should cover a
relatively short period of time. Certainly, no more than
three years with great emphasis on the first year. And