Re: Opinion of Bankers Life and Casualty
I worked for Bankers in their Warwick, RI office. What I've learned about Bankers and other companies that recruit like them is that it all depends on the office in which you're working. I'll try to give you the positives and the negatives as I see them.
Positive: They're dealing with the senior market and they have a broad product mix. Their fact-find is pretty thorough, which allows you to walk out with a sale without costing your new client much out of pocket. This is extremely helpful if you find a senior with lots of mis-allocated assets. It's not unheard of to find $400,000 sitting around in a couple of forgotten bank accounts in some the worst neighborhoods.
Negative: Bait & Switch --Your phone pitch talks about medicare, when you get to the prospect's home, you probably will say very little about this subject past March. You're going to aggravate a lot of people.
Positive: You can earn while you learn (at least in our office) on your first day in the field. We were paired with an experienced agent when going on appointments. If a sale was made, we split commissions 50/50. If you are paired with great sales people, it's a perfect training opportunity
Negative: Small commissions. The average commission is 50%, making your half only 25% of the sale.
Positive: Endless leads -- This has its strengths. You will have hundreds of people to call. Newbies get all the non-responder leads. Most of the sales made in that office were from these leads.
Negative: Very angry prospects. In our office, there were 50 people making phone calls on the same days, many times calling the same homes several times a day with the same pitch. Getting yelled at is part of the routine in a Banker's office.
Positive: Lots of Appointments. If you get good on the phones and you don't mind spending 8-10 hours on the phones three days per week, you will have 12-18 appointments.
Negative: Lots of No-Shows: Because of the number of phone calls they receive, many seniors will schedule an appointment with you to get their phones to stop ringing. In that environment, the goal is to book appointments. That's how you get to work with the top producers. No-shows are a major waste of time, but are a fact of life in that environment.
Negative: They're not your clients: You've built a book of business, but you see greener pastures elsewhere. Say goodbye to your clients and all your hard work for at least two years. These are Bankers' clients.
Negative: Their Customer Service Sucks! If your client has a question and they call Bankers, they will wait for a minimum of 15 minutes to get an answer. If you, as a good agent, try to get answers for them, you will waste a half-hour waiting for assistance.
Check out AM Best for their Rating.
I left Bankers because I hated the way we prospected. Unfortunately, I went into another environment (a Torchmark company) that did group interviews and promised you the world. What I found was that I picked up some good experience from both companies. Bankers helped me to overcome my fear of the phone. Torchmark's company taught me how to close a sale on the first appointment, but more importantly, to NOT believe the hype that this is an easy business. I also got to see people who would do just about anything to close a sale (both companies), throwing their integrity (and in one case a license) right out the window.
On balance, I think Bankers (at least that office) was a good, supportive training ground. I think their failure is that they give you the impression that this business is much easier than it is. They also don't tell you that your manager is going to ride you more than you ever imagined to produce.
If you don't like being told what to do, stay away from Bankers and any other shop that does group interviews. That's just the way things go in those environments.
If you want to spend some time at the school of hard knocks and learn about the senior market, they may not be a bad place to start. The one thing you'll find is that you are working for a very poorly rated insurance company and, if you care about your reputation, this may be a problem. The one thing people forget is that the Client is not usually buying the company. He's buying you. There are better commissions awaiting you from better companies to sell. Why not keep the fruits of your own labor and protect your name. You had mentioned the non-compete clause. Don't worry. You can't use their leads, recruit their agents, approach their clients, or replace their policies for two years. That does not mean you cannot sell insurance for two years. Don't worry about it.
If you're under the impression that they are going to make it easy for you, forget about it. You'll pay your dues wherever you go. Why not make as much money as you can in the process.
I don't think my experience at Bankers was terrible. I rather enjoyed it overall, actually. It just wasn't for me. I met many very nice, sincerely committed, helpful individuals there. In fact I met some true success stories and some of the most fascinating people I've ever met in my life in that office, but I didn't get into this business to be married to any one company nor to have anyone else manage or supervise my time. Regardless where you go, this business is hard work, and you probably won't make much money your first year. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth. I hope this helps.
I worked for Bankers in their Warwick, RI office. What I've learned about Bankers and other companies that recruit like them is that it all depends on the office in which you're working. I'll try to give you the positives and the negatives as I see them.
Positive: They're dealing with the senior market and they have a broad product mix. Their fact-find is pretty thorough, which allows you to walk out with a sale without costing your new client much out of pocket. This is extremely helpful if you find a senior with lots of mis-allocated assets. It's not unheard of to find $400,000 sitting around in a couple of forgotten bank accounts in some the worst neighborhoods.
Negative: Bait & Switch --Your phone pitch talks about medicare, when you get to the prospect's home, you probably will say very little about this subject past March. You're going to aggravate a lot of people.
Positive: You can earn while you learn (at least in our office) on your first day in the field. We were paired with an experienced agent when going on appointments. If a sale was made, we split commissions 50/50. If you are paired with great sales people, it's a perfect training opportunity
Negative: Small commissions. The average commission is 50%, making your half only 25% of the sale.
Positive: Endless leads -- This has its strengths. You will have hundreds of people to call. Newbies get all the non-responder leads. Most of the sales made in that office were from these leads.
Negative: Very angry prospects. In our office, there were 50 people making phone calls on the same days, many times calling the same homes several times a day with the same pitch. Getting yelled at is part of the routine in a Banker's office.
Positive: Lots of Appointments. If you get good on the phones and you don't mind spending 8-10 hours on the phones three days per week, you will have 12-18 appointments.
Negative: Lots of No-Shows: Because of the number of phone calls they receive, many seniors will schedule an appointment with you to get their phones to stop ringing. In that environment, the goal is to book appointments. That's how you get to work with the top producers. No-shows are a major waste of time, but are a fact of life in that environment.
Negative: They're not your clients: You've built a book of business, but you see greener pastures elsewhere. Say goodbye to your clients and all your hard work for at least two years. These are Bankers' clients.
Negative: Their Customer Service Sucks! If your client has a question and they call Bankers, they will wait for a minimum of 15 minutes to get an answer. If you, as a good agent, try to get answers for them, you will waste a half-hour waiting for assistance.
Check out AM Best for their Rating.
I left Bankers because I hated the way we prospected. Unfortunately, I went into another environment (a Torchmark company) that did group interviews and promised you the world. What I found was that I picked up some good experience from both companies. Bankers helped me to overcome my fear of the phone. Torchmark's company taught me how to close a sale on the first appointment, but more importantly, to NOT believe the hype that this is an easy business. I also got to see people who would do just about anything to close a sale (both companies), throwing their integrity (and in one case a license) right out the window.
On balance, I think Bankers (at least that office) was a good, supportive training ground. I think their failure is that they give you the impression that this business is much easier than it is. They also don't tell you that your manager is going to ride you more than you ever imagined to produce.
If you don't like being told what to do, stay away from Bankers and any other shop that does group interviews. That's just the way things go in those environments.
If you want to spend some time at the school of hard knocks and learn about the senior market, they may not be a bad place to start. The one thing you'll find is that you are working for a very poorly rated insurance company and, if you care about your reputation, this may be a problem. The one thing people forget is that the Client is not usually buying the company. He's buying you. There are better commissions awaiting you from better companies to sell. Why not keep the fruits of your own labor and protect your name. You had mentioned the non-compete clause. Don't worry. You can't use their leads, recruit their agents, approach their clients, or replace their policies for two years. That does not mean you cannot sell insurance for two years. Don't worry about it.
If you're under the impression that they are going to make it easy for you, forget about it. You'll pay your dues wherever you go. Why not make as much money as you can in the process.
I don't think my experience at Bankers was terrible. I rather enjoyed it overall, actually. It just wasn't for me. I met many very nice, sincerely committed, helpful individuals there. In fact I met some true success stories and some of the most fascinating people I've ever met in my life in that office, but I didn't get into this business to be married to any one company nor to have anyone else manage or supervise my time. Regardless where you go, this business is hard work, and you probably won't make much money your first year. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth. I hope this helps.
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