The Typical Day of an Insurance Agency Commissions Professional
Managing commissions is a crucial part of all health and life insurance agencies. Depending on your agency, your commissions professional may be a dedicated role (or dedicated team of people), or they may be someone who wears multiple hats.
To learn more about the day-to-day life of a commission professional, I interviewed four AgencyBloc users of varying roles to better understand how they process commissions, their tips and tricks, and the tools they use to find success.
Read their responses below.
What is your role at your company?
Which types of products do you process commissions for in your agency?
Group and individual health insurance
Life insurance
Ancillary products (dental, vision, critical illness, cancer)
Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, and RX plans
—Matt Tharp
Group and individual health insurance
Life insurance, supplemental life, and AD&D
STD and LTD
Ancillary products (dental, vision, critical illness, cancer)
Travel insurance
—Becca Duvall
Medicare
Life insurance
Annuities and other retirement-related products
—Kyle Kay
What kind of hierarchies and splits do you manage?
We mainly process in-house agent splits. We also have some agency splits for agencies who have partnered with us to write their Medicare referrals.
—Matt Tharp
We allocate overrides internally and commissions internally and externally.
—Becca Duvall
We have both inside (employees) and outside (1099) agents, so we have separate splits for them.
—Ashley Ellison
We keep our commission hierarchies very simple for both the agent and the agency to follow. We typically will see commission splits evenly between two agents. Often the splits occur between a seasoned agent and a less experienced agent.
—Kyle Kay
How many agents and downlines do you run commissions for in your agency?
100 external agents and 7 internal employees
—Becca Duvall
13 agents
—Ashley Ellison
The number of agents changes as we keep newly licensed agents in LOA contracts until they have met an agreed-upon production value. After the production target is met, we then change the commission structure to street level general agent commissions paid directly from the carriers. We process commissions for both LOA and GA agents simultaneously to maintain an accurate measure of production.
—Kyle Kay
How often do you process commissions?
We process commissions daily for incoming and twice a month for payout.
—Matt Tharp
We pay commissions on the 30th of every month.
—Becca Duvall
We process commissions periodically throughout the month (4-5 times) and then the last week of the month. I usually devote two days to finishing it up for payroll.
—Ashley Ellison
We process commissions every week with agent statements transmitted each Friday.
—Kyle Kay
How do you set yourself up for success each commission run/pay period?
Making sure the carrier commission statements are correct before uploading them. There always seems to be some sort of manipulation on my part.
—Matt Tharp
I have a master spreadsheet which is essentially my checklist to ensure that each carrier statement is processed and each agent receives their commission statement. I also utilize my calendar’s reminders for monthly reports and dates that must be met.
—Becca Duvall
Making sure my import maps are up to date (carriers sometimes change their statements slightly), knowing when statements are available, and budgeting time.
—Ashley Ellison
Our goal is to keep an accurate track of production and client enrollment details. Running commission feeds from the carriers keeps our client roster up-to-date so we can minimize omissions of client enrollments.
—Kyle Kay
What primary tools do you rely on for efficient commissions processing?
My really strong Excel knowledge and AgencyBloc.
—Becca Duvall
AgencyBloc and my notes.
—Ashley Ellison
We download commission statements from each carrier via Excel and have AgencyBloc commission templates customized for each carrier. We also receive a commission override download from our IMO for Medicare production.
—Kyle Kay
What is your #1 tip for efficient commissions processing?
Get your splits set up to process correctly. In addition, have your statements set up with as little manipulation of data as possible. Since I deal with commission and override, it is a little more challenging, BUT I could not do without AgencyBloc to continue having success in processing my commissions.
—Matt Tharp
Create a standard for each carrier file. I have import instructions saved for each carrier, so I know what needs to be altered on each file before it is imported.
—Becca Duvall
Do the work up front and set up your rate tables, payee schedules, and import maps, so things run smoothly throughout the year. And allow for extra time for unexpected issues!
—Ashley Ellison
I try not to get fixated on perfection with a commission download. Instead, I focus on keeping the commission management consistent. Over time and with practice, I have developed confidence in the process and the analytics that I rely on in AgencyBloc.
—Kyle Kay
All of these professionals use AgencyBloc's Commissions+ solution to help them manage their incoming and outgoing commission payments and streamline their processes. To learn more about AgencyBloc's Commissions+ solution, request a personalized demo of AgencyBloc.
Agencies using AgencyBloc's Commissions+ solution have reported:
- They spend 75% less time processing commissions
- They’ve uncovered tens of thousands of dollars in missed commissions from carriers
- They’re able to streamline processes and better focus their efforts on other revenue-generating initiatives
See AgencyBloc's Commissions+ Solution for Yourself!
Request a 1-on-1, personalized demo to see AgencyBloc and get your commissions questions answered.
Request My Demo!
Posted
by Allison Babberl
on Tuesday, February 8, 2022
in
Commissions+
- client retention
- commissions
- data management
- productivity
About The Author
Allison is the Content Lead at AgencyBloc. She manages the creation and schedule of all educational content for our BlocTalk and Member communities. Favorite quote: “Conversation is the bedrock of relationships. Without it, our relationships are devoid of substance.” -Maribeth Ku
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