NAILBA Perspectives Summer 2019 | Page 38

TECH: COMMISSION SOFTWARE
Added benefits of
tracking commissions
The idea of reviewing
every carrier
statement, potentially
hundreds of pages,
line-by-line with a
calculator, sounds
mind-numbing.
Shane Brown
Commission Tracker Software
Shane has been the president and
senior developer of Commission
Tracker Software for the past 18
years. Commission Tracker was
specifically designed for insurance
agencies to help them reconcile
commissions received and calculate
commission splits owed. Shane can
be reached at shane@commission-
tracker.com.
It’s always in the back of our minds – “are my carriers paying me correctly?” Let’s face it,
a carrier statement is great at itemizing the commissions you are being paid, but not so
good at listing the commissions you were NOT paid. The idea of reviewing every carrier
statement, potentially hundreds of pages, line-by-line with a calculator, sounds mind-numbing.
Fortunately, today there are technology and software options that save time and provide
additional insights for business efficiencies. Below are several points to keep in mind when
tracking commissions.
Track your agency’s value and growth
By initially loading your current book of business, and then capturing all the information
from each carrier statement, you will be in report heaven.
You can calculate the premium and commission value of your agency’s entire book of
business and track its growth each month. If you ever decide to sell your agency, this data
will be priceless!
Subtotal your commission earnings by carrier. Use these totals when you renegotiate
contracts with your carriers. Track when you have reached a target with a carrier, so you
know when to be moved to a new commission tier.
Subtotal your commissions by type of coverage. Did you earn more money from health or
life policies last year (accounting for both first year and renewal commissions)? Use this
data to determine where to focus your sales and marketing strategies.
Ensure accuracy for maintaining strong relations
If you are paying commissions to brokers, ensure you pay them correctly. By tracking the
commissions coming into your agency, you can easily and accurately calculate the commissions
you owe to other brokers. The technology that is now available in the industry allows you
to track each commission you receive from a carrier and analyze it to determine if you owe
someone else a split, as well as how much is owed. If you are not accurately paying out
commissions, the confidence to work with your agency will quickly be lost.
If you have a commission dispute with a carrier or even a broker, you will be able to
quickly report the payment history for the entire life of the policy and address the issue.
Most carrier statements can be downloaded and imported into your commission
software product of choice, so you don’t have to manually enter them. There are also
services available that will take your carrier statements each month and do all of the
work for you. You just receive the reports without doing any of the dirty work.
Remember, mistakes do happen. I have personally worked with agency owners to find
commission errors worth thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. Your commission
statement is your pay stub, so it pays to review.
The technology and software available can accurately keep track of the commissions,
allowing you to do what you do best.
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©2019 Ritter Insurance Marketing, LLC. All rights reserved.
38
Perspectives
Q3 2019