| Topic Name: |
agency |
| Message Name: |
Support vs. Dialogue |
| Date Posted: |
03/06/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
Have you ever read customer reviews of products on amazon.com? If so, you've no doubt come across this scenario: a product gets universally high marks, except from one guy that you learn happened to get a lemon that didn??t work properly. The guy writes a no-star review for the product, and in the review makes it clear that he thinks that the product stinks, the manufacturer doesn??t care about quality, and that anyone even thinking about buying one is an idiot.
Frank, my perception is that you??re coming across as that guy in reviewing your State Farm experience. I am sorry that it didn??t work out for you ?? you got a lemon for some reason ?? and it does help me to consider the painful possibility of trying and failing in the endeavor. But dude, you??re opinions are so negatively slanted that I almost can??t take them seriously at all ?? they simply don??t match up with many of the facts I??ve gathered elsewhere.
Why would anyone be ??desperate?? enough to consider being a State Farm agent?
1. Flexibility ?? top reason for job satisfaction that I??ve heard from successful agents. They work hard, but they all also take full advantage of managing their own time. Golf, coaching little league, many weeks of vacation, etc.
2. Compensation ?? the average multi-line exclusive agent earned $148,000 in 2004. That??s an average of 9 of the biggest companies out there, and this is from an independent report I got from an insurance industry consultant. 25% of all agents with 10 years or more experience earned over $250,000. And State Farm agents likely average higher than these income figures.
3. Enjoyable work ?? every agent that I??ve spoken to enjoys working with their customers, and really feels that they provide a great service in protecting their customers from life??s potential disasters.
4. Great way to start your own business ?? you think $25,000 is too much to start a business, but you recommend starting a UNIQUE business instead? That??s crazy talk. Nearly every small business opportunity that I can think of carries FAR higher entry costs, and FAR higher failure rates. This is your own business, but with the support of a huge, successful company.
So why doesn??t everybody do it? Because you have to have the right mix of skills, knowledge and luck to make it through the painful first few years. Only 56% of new agents that started in 2000 were in the business in 2004. (That??s from the same study above, although State Farm and Farmers both claim to have success rates of over 80%. I believe both companies are higher than the average, but I??m not sure about 80%.)
The first couple years probably suck. Potentially no income, plus the uncomfortable need to scratch up new customers every day. Seems to me that the skills needed to make it through the first couple of years aren??t really the skills needed to thrive as the business matures, when you need to be a trusted financial service provider to clients. I suspect that??s why the business model isn??t right for lots of people.
So I??m wondering, Frank, why it was that you ever chose to be an agent in the first place? Had you done your homework and felt that it was a great fit for you? Or did you enter the field through your own desperation? And maybe try to take it easy on Larry and me ?? we??re just asking questions to try to learn more about the opportunity as it relates to us, and objective, knowledgable opinions are what we need.
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| Message: |
Snaggle,
I??ve gone back and read some of your other posts and it seems that if there is an opinion here that differs from yours, you discount it as unreasonable or personal. Yet if you read the negative opinions, there are some very good points that should raise some very important questions about what SF is not telling you.
It is apparent that you only ??see what you want to see.?? Go back and read previous posts here. Sorry, but there are not any ??universally high marks here.?? The only positive post??s I??ve read are from people considering going through the new agent program. Boy, what does that tell you? The people with the least amount of experience, or none what??s so ever are the people who are touting the opportunity. I guess these newbie??s are using this as a forum to support their decision making, not as a resource to gain additional information other than that which is spoon fed to you by SF. Why are you, someone with virtually no experience with the program selling it so hard?
What is really interesting is that when I was at the same point where you are in the process I was selling it hard too. This pattern of behavior must be a way to seek support for a very difficult decision. Maybe by continuing to sell others you are continuing to sell yourself. So can you really consider the positive opinions expressed here by the newbies as valid when they are basically regurgitating almost word for word what their AFE??s are telling them?
It is apparent that you are here to build support for your decision rather than to engage in dialogue about the pros and cons. If you want to engage in dialogue I will be more than happy to relay my experience. If not, I??ll just let you continue to build your support structure.
To answer your question, I did do plenty of homework and was an AFS prior to going though the process. I had prior sales experience and it did seem like a good fit. But also it was a move of desperation for reasons I can explain later. I will be more than happy to relay my failure if you are interested.
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