Carrier Appointments: When to Add and When to Drop

The cost of an appointment

Adding a carrier appointment looks free; the carrier doesn't charge for it, and the producer is enthusiastic. The hidden cost is the operational tax: another login portal, another statement format, another set of underwriting eccentricities, another set of compliance touchpoints when audit season arrives.

A reasonable rule of thumb: each active carrier costs the agency 15-25 hours of administrative time per year, before you write any business. Multiply by your bookkeeper's loaded cost.

When to add

• You have specific clients you can't place today. Not clients you might write someday — clients in your active pipeline, with declined applications you can point to.
• The carrier offers a line of business your producers regularly need but don't currently have access to.
• The contingency tier structure works for your volume. Mid-size agencies routinely sign appointments with contingency tiers calibrated for top-100 agencies and earn nothing.

When to drop

• You haven't written a new policy with the carrier in 12+ months and you have an in-force renewal book of less than 25 policies. The administrative tax exceeds the renewal commission.
• The carrier's statement format is materially worse than your other carriers (image-only PDFs, inconsistent column ordering, frequent late deliveries).
• Their underwriting bench has rotated and your relationship has effectively ended. Producers who can't pick up the phone and reach a familiar underwriter eventually stop quoting.

A quarterly review

Every quarter, run a report of: appointments held, premium written in the last 12 months by carrier, renewal book size by carrier. Anything in the bottom 10% on volume that hasn't grown in two quarters is a candidate to drop.