{"id":1143,"date":"2014-05-01T10:36:50","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T14:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2015-02-02T16:41:55","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T21:41:55","slug":"myths-about-using-an-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/myths-about-using-an-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Myths About PEO Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peopros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Single-Question-Mark.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/peopros.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Single-Question-Mark-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"why use an agent\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1144\" \/><\/a><big>W<\/big>hy does a PEO need an insurance agent for their master workers&#8217; comp policy?  What does an agent or agency know that they don&#8217;t?<\/p>\n<p>Why not just go direct?  Cut out the middle man!  Doesn&#8217;t it cost more money to have an agent involved?<\/p>\n<p>Sounds good but in &#8220;real life&#8221; things don&#8217;t work out that way.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some myths exposed about using an agent in the PEO Master Policy process:<\/p>\n<p><b>Myth #1: Using an agent will cost the PEO money<\/b><br \/>\nSounds reasonable doesn&#8217;t it?  After all, the agent gets a commission and it&#8217;s a zero sum game isn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p>No it&#8217;s not.  Carriers pay commissions to internal sales people if there is no agent involved, since the commission is already budgeted in to program costs.  Also, an agent can <b>negotiate<\/b> a better deal, not having to worry about conflict of interest problems.<\/p>\n<p>We recently examined two similar, master policy with a captive type deals from the same carrier.  One with an agent, one direct.  Guess which deal had more profit built in for the PEO.  Go ahead.  Guess.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hkk6JeWNwrc?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<b>Myth #2:  The agent doesn&#8217;t do anything except for initial binding and renewals.<\/b><br \/>\nThis one may have some truth in it.  These agents are called &#8220;Star Trek&#8221; agents.  They &#8220;beam in&#8221; for the renewal and then &#8220;beam out&#8221; again, not to be seen again until next year&#8217;s renewal.  These agents don&#8217;t hold on to clients very long.<\/p>\n<p>A good agent, with a good agency, will provide support on almost a daily basis.  Processing new client submissions, advising on risk management, issuing certificates, etc, are all functions of a healthy agency in the PEO \/ carrier relationship.<\/p>\n<p><b>Myth #3: Agents can&#8217;t help out with problems<\/b><br \/>\nWho is better to act as a third party negotiator but your agent?  Licensed and trained to do so, an agent, with the power of their agency (and their book of business) often has significant leverage with a carrier, and can greatly influence the outcome of disputes.  Certainly it always helps to have another view point in a disagreement.<\/p>\n<p>What it comes down to is who do you trust with your money?  When you business is a must, who do you trust?<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/usxn1ZeOOgA?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why does a PEO need an insurance agent for their master workers&#8217; comp policy? What does an agent or agency know that they don&#8217;t? Why not just go direct? Cut out the middle man! Doesn&#8217;t it cost more money to have an agent involved? Sounds good but in &#8220;real life&#8221; things don&#8217;t work out that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,20,7],"tags":[405,406,403,404,13,164,165,10],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-businessinsurancenews","category-featured","category-workerscomp","tag-agent-for-master-policy","tag-agent-for-peo-comp-policy","tag-master-peo-policy","tag-peo-comp-agents","tag-peo-master-policies","tag-peo-master-policy","tag-peo-master-workers-comp-policy","tag-workers-comp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1187,"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/1187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peopros.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}