Obtaining Carrier Appointments | Building the Right Carrier Relationships

In Episode 179 of the Scratch Agency Podcast, Stephen Turnbull and Shawn Fitzgerald tackle one of the biggest early challenges for independent insurance agency owners: obtaining carrier appointments. When you're starting from scratch, it can be tempting to believe that having more carriers automatically makes your agency stronger. Stephen shares how he initially said yes to almost every carrier opportunity available to him—only to realise that having too many appointments meant having too many relationships and production requirements to manage. The conversation explores a different approach: go deeper instead of wider. Rather than chasing dozens of carrier appointments, Stephen and Shawn discuss the value of building strong relationships with a smaller group of carrier partners that align with your market, business plan, and long-term vision. Shawn shares his own experience starting with only a handful of appointments and adjusting his original business plan around the carriers he could actually access. They also discuss how geography, prior insurance experience, existing relationships, and market conditions can significantly affect which appointments are available to a new agency. For agency owners struggling to get direct appointments, Shawn recommends getting involved with local insurance associations, attending meetings, meeting carrier representatives, and building relationships with established agency owners who may eventually help make introductions. They also discuss aggregators, wholesalers, carrier-specific business plans, and why you should carefully understand any contract before committing to an aggregator relationship. 🔍 If you're starting an independent insurance agency and wondering how to get carrier appointments—or whether you actually need more carriers—this episode breaks down how Stephen and Shawn approached carrier access and what they've learned about building stronger carrier partnerships. 🕒 Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome & HawkSoft 01:29 – The Carrier Appointment Conversation 01:59 – Do You Really Need More Carriers? 02:29 – Stephen's Early Carrier Appointment Experience 02:57 – Going Deeper Instead of Wider 03:54 – Building Strong Carrier Relationships 04:46 – Geography & Carrier Availability 06:07 – Shawn's Carrier Appointment Journey 06:42 – Starting With Only a Few Carriers 07:32 – Growing Carrier Relationships One by One 09:06 – Aggregators, Wholesalers & New Agency Owners 10:35 – Using Local Insurance Associations 10:46 – Relationships Can Unlock Appointments 11:45 – Choosing the Right Aggregator 12:44 – Make Carriers Understand Why You Want Them 13:08 – Treat Carrier Reps Like Prospects 13:31 – Community & Closing Thoughts 💼 Sponsored by HawkSoft https://www.hawksoft.com A family-owned and operated agency management system serving independent agencies with teams from one to 300+ employees. In this episode, Stephen highlights HawkSoft's customer success team and the value of having real people available to help agencies get where they need to be. 🔗 Links & Resources: 📘 Join the Scratch Agency Podcast Community on Facebook to connect with other Scratch agency owners, ask questions, access community conversations, and contribute ideas for future episodes. 📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thescratchagencypodcast 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7hutxCZ5NUPqF5hRdC79Hl 🌐 Visit Our Website: https://scratchagencypodcast.com Thank you for tuning into another episode of the Scratch Agency Podcast. 👍 Like the show. 📤 Share it with another scratch insurance agency owner. 🔔 Subscribe to the YouTube channel so you don't miss the weekly episodes, updates, and shorts. Most importantly, remember to dig down deep, believe in yourself, and own your own future.