Is this true?
43 replies (most recent on top)
Looks like Ad Services needs to order p–per scoopers when they have agents in contract meeting. OMG
71we- most mills dnt know what they want until mommy or daddy tell them, Do we want to run a business around that segment. Sooner or later they grow up and they do value the relationship. I will tell you what they don’t want, 45 minute hold times in the queue waiting to get a wrong answer from someone in a call center. Heck, we might as will outsource all that stuff to India, At least they speak coherent English.
7kda Probably would be a good idea you stop thinking. You probably cant even run a 7 Eleven or handle the drive thru at McDonald. Wonder why we are getting k–l. Wow
Thinking aloud is right. Our execs need the number one spot for their ego. The agents want it for the story. It really doesn't matter if you're number one by taking on the castoffs from other companies. Our operations peeps wouldn't mind being 2 or 3 if they didn't have to deal with stuff being flung at them from the sales side of things. Experienced agents figure this out. Part of the book they build on the way up brings peace when it falls off on the way back down.
Relax, this company does not move that fast, I was told Necho was on the way out 20 years ago yet here we are. If the co woke up this morning and was serious about rolling out a new agent contract it would take them 3-5 years minimum to roll it out.
The Mills dont want an agent!!.....when will SF adjust to this model....
I don’t think there is going to be an option going forward on any new contract. I think we are going to here it’s about making us competitive in the future. I’m pounding money away everywhere.
Under the a97 failure was almost unheard of, if for the sake of argument renewal comp is reduced who might be crazy enough to take on what already is a tough gig on the a05 contract with even less resources, only the most uninformed I would think.
@5jwy...people will still open and successfully run State Farm agencies. They don’t have to be fools, but just like always, they have to have initiative and guts. Some will fail....just like always. You have to be a little crazy and take some risks to do this....just like always. I remember in my Agency interviews many many moons ago, I was asked if failure was a possibility. I said of course it is. But 15 years down the road, I could live with having failed. I could not live with never having had the guts to try.
That’s the difference between an agent and a cubicle dweller with a headset.
$300k A05- Nobody said it was not possible to make that kind of money on that contract just improbable. Taking nothing away from you but roughly to net 300k you have to gross $500k plus. You may be an animal and earn a $150k scorecard of just have a huge book. I can assure you and I am sure you know this is the exception, most ao5s I know are $50 -75k and that is busting it, not exactly an awesome living for the hours and stress involved. As far as what agency looks like in the future, I doubt anyone on this site has any inside info regarding that including me. I am a 30 plus yr agent on the 97 contract, it’s certainly possible there are changes in the future, 5% renewer comp doesn’t work, even 7% is tight, agents are very good at expense mgmt, staff gets cut first, smaller offices, clusters of 2-3 agents per office to save expenses, reduce or eliminate the marketing budget. I see the majority of agents just milking it until clients are gone. Company drops to #3 or 4 is that such a bad thing by the way? What is so special about being #1 anyway? Bragging rights? Why not aim to be the most profitable? What does the company head count look like if we are #3 - think chopping another 10000 plus employees over the next 10 years, maybe many more. Just thinking out loud here, it will be an interesting ride, all one can do is be prepared financially for any eventuality.
Has anyone heard when they are taking over SFPP and added cars? We have CCC doing added cars during the day in our market now. A case shows up and we were open ready to do the change?
Not sure whats happening? My SL said we could see an adjustment in renewal comp within the next two years. I hope its not drastic reduction.
I have been an agent for 10 years and on the new contract and I am making more money now than 5 yrs ago and net is 300k. Happy for the opportunity and saving 60 percent of income just in case things change. Be prepared.
State Farm mutual funds? That conversation again? Defend that investment 'tool' .
State farm agents are toast. Only a complete fool would think of starting an agency. Open your eyes, use your brain. Watch what they are doing; don't listen to a thing they say, it doesn't make sense anyway.
30 year operations employee...worked with the best agents and staff for 2 decades....once consultants entered the picture...nothing but bad happened. I retired. No Personal SF policies now...cut my insurance expenses in half. Saving over a thousand annually. Pretty sure same is happening country wide.
Word is 5% on P&C renewal comp. Are they still going to do AIPP?
Service/renewal comp will be cut as more service is provided directly by TC-similar to Allstate strategy but not voluntarily obviously. P&C modernization will inform timing. Raw new comp will be increased so the same gross is possible.
Ive been on for over 20 years, if you think they aren’t going to cut renewal comp you are on a another planet.
Yep, we were once the class of the insurance industry, best claims, best products, customer first. You could sell the State Farm premium even when you were higher priced. I can’t sell that anymore, know why? It DOES NOT EXIST ANYMORE. Kind of hard to get a client to pay a 30% premium for nothing but average. But hey, keep buying those internet leads, it will work out. This is why our current lapse/can is 15% you can steel the business but when the client realizes it is a higher priced illusion they go elsewhere or as soon as a long time client shops and realizes they have been getting fkd for years they are never coming back. The best marketing idea they have is to go back and try to resell your defected clients, news flash- save your time and postage these people are never coming back.
Been an agent a long time. It's never been worse. Incomes dropping significantly. Feel bad for my brethern who got their kids involved. That will definitely be a backward generational wealth step. Agents who are candid about their careers admit this gig was a gift. Any other small business or franchise costs a fortune to get started and fails most of the time. Back when I started you had to be a real goof or have something catastrophic happen to fail. The new agents have been given a broken model and told to make it work. Change is inevitable. Most of us who got started in the seventies or eighties had the best timing possible. It will never be the same.
I understand that, my point is when we ceased being the best at claims and putting the policyholder first our only differentiator is the service an agent provides, cut that by reducing agent comp ( reducing agent staff to service) and its game over. No way a service center provides consistent first class service like an agent will that has a vested long term relationship with the client.
I don’t think the other post was saying agents would be gone. Once the Farm takes over servicing
Income stream would be reduce. They sure are pushing hard to get agents back on board with MF and Mortgage.
This looks exactly what’s going on at the Farm.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/insurance/will-it-be-war-allstate-and-agents-square-yet-again
Bottom line here is the personal lines insurance industry marketing to consumers WILL NOT involve an agent in the future. Is that point in time 5 years from now? Probably not, 10 years from now maybe, 15 years I would say certainly. Technology makes this possible and probable. I am a 35 year agent and while I hate to see it I pride myself on being honest with myself and I believe this is the future. I don’t think a new agent today will have a 30 year career in this industry. One only has to look around at all the outdated and bankrupted industries to realize there is nothing special about the commodity we sell for a living that would make us exempt from this, sad but still true.
Mutual funds and mortgages, geeze. The company has been in and out of so many products and that’s part of the problem. Fortis, variable products, bank, Rx d–g plans, long term care, etc,etc,etc. NONE of it generated more than a couple percent of most agents compensation. Want to know what we DO NOT have, a competitive AUTO, FIRE, of LIFE product. How about we start there if you are interested in growth. And maybe think about shoving the whole computer scoring program up whoever thought it ups azz. FYI I am also ok with no buyout, I can ride this to the end and be just fine also.
The new agents have been getting hammered since the Ao5 contract, please try to keep up.
I don’t Think the problems about future income is going to be coming from SF, it’s going going to be from the outside. Agents that thought the the 15th and 30th was going to keep riding like before are in for a big surprise. It’s going to be a big reality check. The new agents are the ones that are going to get hammered.
No buyout coming, it’s the deal or nothing maybe a three year transition like 97. Why do you think they are pushing mutual funds and mortgages. I would worry about Amazon getting into the auto ins business. That’s when things will get real.
Aaaaa, maybe. For the $360,000 a year they’re not going to pay me for the next 10 or 15 years, It’s simple math, but if you get stuck your phone probably has a calculator on it.
Buyout....really.....for what/?
I would start to worry
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/insurance/will-it-be-war-allstate-and-agents-square-yet-again
Yeah, my gut feeling is when they quit giving us the quality compensation instead of having us earn it we should probably start looking over our shoulder. Until that time comes I believe they need us.
2ydd....My thinking exactly. I’m not ready to voluntarily retire yet, but if SL walks in tomorrow and says we’re done, I’d be OK. Would jump all over a buyout if offered, but right now it seems like TC is desperate to keep us here, smoothing this mess over with the customers. I have a feeling that when it finally changes, it will happen quickly. My gut says I may make it to the 100 anniversary Convention, but will definitely not be at the one after that.
Nope, I just checked my agent contract, no mention of metrics anywhere.
2vvnn agency must not have to put up with the metrics nonsense the rest of the company does. It’s set up for factory work and the best people that are taking care of the customer look the worst and the number game players look the best. I think being a new agent s—s as you are selling tickets for a cruise on the titanic. I have been around for a long time and The older established agents live in a mansion, drive a Mercedes and have a lake home and cry all the way to the bank, but as they retire I think the party is over.
Hiroad is a State Farm experiment currently in RI only where we have no agency force, too early to tell on that. LemonAid where all profits are donated to charity ( assuming they make a profit someday ) yeaaaa, sounds cool maybe they can insure all the millennials scooters. I will put my money on the SF agency force for the foreseeable future, if there was a current viable alternative we as agents would have already have been shown the door. Is one coming? maybe, I am ready one way or another. A buyout offer would be awesome.
What metrics are in place to show there value?
A lot of hard work for $200k. I couldn't do it.
2nha- now that’s an accurate reflection of agency. It’s hard to explain how difficult the first 5 years of agency are to a non agent, I did not make more than $30k/ year and I was a top producer. You pay all taxes for you and your team, rent, benefits, health ins, utility bills, postage , etc. After a while you build your book of business and 10-15 years down the road when you are making $200k a year you have to listen to some jealous jag internal tell you you don’t deserve what you have bled for, my reply to all of them is FK off, come and try it, give up all your job security and benefits if you have the balls to go for it, not many have the courage. This his is NOT for the faint of heart,
@1znk....from your vantage point, as somebody who has no idea what happens in an agent’s office everyday. I spent a decade in Claims and Underwriting, then a year in Agency training. Then I opened the doors and the reality of how hard Agency is hit me right in the face. 60 plus hour weeks and no net pay for a couple of years. And every single piece of mail that TC sends out says to call me if there are any questions. Not the same as your phone, where no customer can ever navigate the maze to get through to you. Took me three weeks of intensive claim school to learn the Auto policy as a claim rep, but out here I’m just expected to somehow know everything about every policy and every procedure of every department in this company....on my own and while doing the job live.
It’s getting much harder now that nobody in TC actually talks to us anymore in our efforts to help customers. We just have a layer of management that emails us constant reminders that our agency is not meeting the arbitrary and unrealistic sales numbers they made up in Bloomington.
They should be upset because the company has a bullseye on their backs and wants them out the door. Most don’t do much anyway from my vantage point as an employee and a policy holder.