The execs keep talking about the need to reduce expenses and are laying people off, yet they are paying over $120 million to get all the agents together in Las Vegas and spending an additional $15 million on incentive trips for said agents. Oh know gas prices increases costing us more…how about cancel the trip?!? Paying for Pink to entertain agents and executives…disgusting!
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Let’s be totally honest, agents and their teams are the only glue holding this ship together. It’s been a very long time since any part of our claims department could be called first class. Underwriting and service are a joke. Life service is still pretty good. The only people who have a vested interest in keeping our policyholders happy are the agents. Having said that the writing is on the wall and I believe agent compensation will be reduced at some point. Why has it not happened yet you ask? Reread the above post for your answer.
Some agents are good, and worth the money, some. Most are over worked salesmen bullies who have over sold their market, under service, and equipped with an army of untrained staff members that set the customer up to be mad when a claim happens, because they do not understand the products they sell. They then put it on the claim hander being bad to the customer, and pit customer against claims. Yeah claims is a rough spot to be in and lots of bad handlers, but it starts with expectations from agency, who will say anything to sell a policy.
I cant tell you how many times ive set liability that was very straight forward, only to have the customer flip out because the agent gassed them up, then i get another call from some "i was hired a month ago" staff from agency pretending to be a big shot yelling, then after the actual agent who will just try to get me fired for setting liability. It su-ks. I had one with a single car accident i had to tell the customer, and like 5 people from agency about how i have to set liability on NI there were no other people to blame. two of them sent massive wall of text emails to my boss trying to get me fired, which didnt work and was a good chuckle with my TM....but thats agency outside of selling thing....they make my job harder and just mirror the customer vs being professional.
Not all are like this, but many are. I cant stand the agency and think they make thing worse for their massive, insane, cost.
You want to know why they pay agents so well? It’s because they are worth it.
The only thing SF doesnt have money for, is attracting talent and keeping its customer facing workforce happy. We got money to waste on decorations for over priced offices no one wants to commute to however. Do our policyholders know? Unhappy customer facing workers is not pro-customer by any means.
@fj go on X. Wanna see serious waste of SF money. They pay people to do that? Waste of money!
Don't forget that $20 million dollar Super Bowl Ad! Halfway There Insurance and Livin on a Prayer, which basically describes this companies existence! Sh-t hole!
Pretty awesome of Statefarm to have money to sponsor a golfer to go play at Augusta, I wonder how much that costs. You think that sponsorship will bring in new customers?
Dont forget to add, cost of training agents staff for them. Most agents are mad state farm doesnt send their staff to class for them, and instead of properly training, uses Underwriting call ins to teach them their job. This is now what we want UW to be, but thats what it is. Agency is a MASSIVE drain on the company.
see bringing people into off ice means they can get rid of pesky, expensive, american workers, and theyll replace those with indians and a barely functional AI.
Were trying to be a garbage cheap insurance company not a good insurance company, if its not obvious. Our board of directors wants this. Probably hold stock in progressive.
@OP your calculations are a little over blown but agency is a huge expense problem. Right now State Farm's expense ratio is around 28% which is one of the lowest in history. Main reason is they are charging way too much premium hence the record dividends, layoffs in U/W and enormous understaffing in claims. We have about 21,000 agents with an average compensation of $527,000 a year. Plus the expense to support them from a systems standpoint, all the staffing required to support their useless calls, field discounting and claim coaching they are realistically half the expense to the company right now. In compensation alone we are spending over $11 billion a year on agents. Our entire claims workforce of 23,000, Auto and Fire, cost about $2 billion a year. Let that sink....place is a scam! Trash dump!
@OP are you kidding?