Colonial Life Worksite Benefits

[thebig_j]

I am currently running away from farmers as fast and hard as possible. Before the door was even closed behind me a friend called me. She runs a small consulting firm and works regularly with Colonial life. She has come upon the oppertunity to start a new district and has asked me to come along as her first agent. After Meeting with her today I am very interested.

It basically looks like we will be learning together, her with 4 weeks of training and from what I understand I'll have about a week. I respect this girl alot and think she will be great support and motivation. She is also very confident in her territory manager. Training sounds good even including the territory manager selling my first few appointments and comming with me while I sell my next few. Sounds amazing compaired to farmers kick in the pants and here go sell.

So my question is does anyone have any expirance wit colonial life? The products, underwriting, difficulties and upsides? How reform will effect this market?

This oppertunity sounds good. Not to good just good. No agents in Illinois at all and supposedly products that no one else sells (medical bridge). The ability to enroll for an extra 15%. The ability to pick up health... and other carriers and possibility of moving up to agency development.

Any and all thoughts appreciated.

If you tell me its hard to make more than 75k here... I don't care.I'm not.greedy and I think I could do just fine with 75k

 

[pcbinsurance]

I know they are constantly hiring. That should tell you something right there. I would check again about your assertion that there are "no agents in Illinois at all....."

 

[thebig_j]

A quick Google search doesn't show a ton of jobs. None listed on monster and 4 positions listed on careerbuilder nationally. A company hiring fairly often could mean expansion if done right. I would imagine if it were predatory hiring (like farmers and aflac) job listings would be more abundant. I don't know everything, I could be wrong...just my thinking.

 

[pcbinsurance]

To be fair, I haven't noticed a huge hiring from them (I haven't paid attention either) lately....but I know not too long ago, it seemed like a constant with them due to very high turnover.

 

[rousemark]

I am currently running away from farmers as fast and hard as possible. Before the door was even closed behind me a friend called me. She runs a small consulting firm and works regularly with Colonial life. She has come upon the oppertunity to start a new district and has asked me to come along as her first agent. After Meeting with her today I am very interested.

It basically looks like we will be learning together, her with 4 weeks of training and from what I understand I'll have about a week. I respect this girl alot and think she will be great support and motivation. She is also very confident in her territory manager. Training sounds good even including the territory manager selling my first few appointments and comming with me while I sell my next few. Sounds amazing compaired to farmers kick in the pants and here go sell.

So my question is does anyone have any expirance wit colonial life? The products, underwriting, difficulties and upsides? How reform will effect this market?

This oppertunity sounds good. Not to good just good. No agents in Illinois at all and supposedly products that no one else sells (medical bridge). The ability to enroll for an extra 15%. The ability to pick up health... and other carriers and possibility of moving up to agency development.

Any and all thoughts appreciated.

If you tell me its hard to make more than 75k here... I don't care.I'm not.greedy and I think I could do just fine with 75k

Don't believe the part bout products no one else has.. Several companies that do payroll deduction offer a "medical bridge" plan.

 

[thebig_j]

Are they competitive? I don't mind others having the same products as long as I can compete. Anyone sell these types of products. I see the importance of them as my dad is terminally ill and on long term care at the age of 60. I think I can sell this stuff. Just trying to avoid another farmers disaster.

 

[shonceman]

I worked with Colonial for about 6 years. This was several years ago, so some things may have changed. (I left because I just enjoyed Final Expense & Home Service more.) They were a good company. They paid claims well. It can be a tough gig, though, depending on where you're working. Some areas are already highly saturated with worksite marketing.

Your main competitor is AFLAC, who is very aggressive, and has incredible brand recognition. They get thrown out of a lot of groups, though, for being too aggressive. This can present an opportunity in some groups, but can sour others. Colonial is more low-key in their approach, so group retention is usually decent. When I was doing it, AFLAC was about the only real competitor. These days there are several more companies who are very active in this market, including Allstate & American General.

I liked the company, and the products. But like any company, the quality of your experience will depend a lot on the particular office and manager you're working with. The insurance business, in my experience, seems to be rife with managers who will take advantage of you if they can. But if you can find people to work with, like your friend, who you can respect & get along well with, it can be a positive experience.

A couple tips: 1) If they're still doing a "roles" contract (which means that they separate the job into account opener, coordinator, & enroller), you'll make more money as account opener, but quicker money as an enroller.
2) Avoid groups with high employee turnover, like construction companies. They'll kill your persistency!

 

[thebig_j]

Yes they still have the roles split up. Did you find it possible to both open and enroll? Adds an extra 15% ontop of commissions.

 

[shonceman]

Yes they still have the roles split up. Did you find it possible to both open and enroll? Adds an extra 15% ontop of commissions.

That was possible with my original contract. For one year, though, I was strictly an enroller under a special contract that allowed me to work national accounts (big mistake! I hope they've trashed that contract!). You can do both roles, but if you're good at opening accounts, you'll make more in the long run if you focus on that & let enrollers handle the "grunt work". However, some markets do better than others with that arrangement. For example, we had a guy come to us from San Antonio, who reported that everybody, both openers & enrollers were making good money with that system. But it didn't work as well in our area (Norfolk, VA area), because it was a smaller area with less growth & opportunity, with a heavy AFLAC presence. You'll definitely want to bring enrollers into larger accounts, even if you participate in the enrollment. Smaller accounts that can be enrolled in 1-2 days by one person are more appropriate for you to handle yourself.

 

[hammerken]

Colonial Life is solid, good lineup for worksite. I agree with the previous poster on the point of looking hard at what role you choose. Also a good point on retention vs. AFLAC. I would be surprised if you were the only agents in IL though.