| Topic Name: |
agency |
| Message Name: |
My Story |
| Date Posted: |
03/08/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
I am extrememly interested in your experience from being motivated going into it (even the reasons of desperation)to being disenchanted and negative about the experience. I have had almost zero time with SF AFE's and AFC's. They have a developmental AFO during your training period now. I've had very little exposure to anyone leading in this compacity. I haven't had any company line crammed down my throat (yet). Being in business and having a library of business books, this is just how I talk.
If you could walk us down the agency road you took from training to agency to where you are now...and what changed along the way, I for one would be grateful.
For those of us that are going to do it regardless, I can see where you are coming from with the support structure, and you are probably closer to the truth then we would like to admit.
Hinging from that knowledge, could you advise what you would have done different to make it a better experience, and any suggestions that we could use to get us started on the right path/foot.
You had to have known agents that liked agency and what they did to continue to enjoy it, motivate themselves, and continue to challenge themselves. This is not in anyway a knock on you as everyone is just built differently.
Your time and experience is of great value here and I thank you in advance.... |
| Message: |
I had sales experience prior to joining SF and had known a couple SF agents at the time. I always thought it might be a good career choice for me. I worked for SF for 3 years prior to becoming a Agency Field Specialist (AFS). I took this position as it was designed to be a stepping stone to become an agent.
I formulated most of my opinions about agents and becoming an agent while an AFS. I would have to say that the majority of my opinions and fact finding was influenced by being on the AFO management team and management opinions of agents. This was in the late 90??s after both hurricane Andrew and the Northridge earthquake. SF??s Fire company was hurting and they had completely shutdown the ability for agents to write any homeowners insurance in the state were I was located. Auto rates were not competitive and SF was rolling out a new contract with lower commissions. There was a lot of pressure on the agents at that time and they were a very negative bunch, and rightfully so. Yet, upper management??s take on them was that they were lazy, mostly absentee, and should be at least selling life insurance. Being that I was in management I wrongfully took management??s opinion. I knew when I was going to be an agent I would work very hard, wouldn??t be absentee and write tons of life insurance. I studied the life products very hard and even became pretty knowledgeable in advanced uses of life insurance.
Back then SF was only allowing employees from SF to apply to become an agent. I always wanted to own my own business and I had prior sales experience. I was also desperate as I hated my boss, I didn??t want to back to work in SF operations, I was really only qualified to work in insurance outside of SF, and I know if I was a successful agent like I thought I??d be I would increase my salary much faster than if I stayed in operations.
The agency program was a great deal at the time as you only needed $10k to use for cash flow advances of which SF would reimburse you for. Basically, SF picked up the tab for everything. The program was very intense and lasted between 1.5 ?? 2 years. You were constantly being evaluated and had to pass many interviews, tests etc?? The training that took place during this time was top notch. It was basically small business school and covered sales, marketing, accounting, HR and other misc. stuff. As it turned out, this was the largest benefit to me.
It all went downhill after the training. SF would choose a location for you. If you didn??t like it, you could back out of the program and re-apply in 6 months and go thru the entire program again. Negotiating location was difficult as not only did you have to consider your physical location in relation to your own personality and image, but you also had to consider the AFE of that location who would be overseeing the development of your agency. Unfortunately neither was a good fit for me, but at that time you were considered lucky to be a part of the program.
My AFE had a reputation in the region as someone who only had her job because she was a minority female. She had no respect by her peers nor bosses, but she was untouchable due to the company??s need to promote diversity as they had lost a $55 mil lawsuit in the 90??s due to what I understand as not allowing women to become agents.
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