Farmers Insurance Reserve Agent Program

[Glad2bHere]

Gladtobehere-
Are you in the reserve program right now? Are the rates horrible in your state also? Just curious

Hi, Denise:

The short answer is "yes", but its not just the rates. For people who are shopping rates there are a half-dozen companies cheaper than Farmers. Add to this the terrible customer service that my clients received, the ineptitude of my DM and the mercenary sensibilities of the corporate culture in our area and I knew I would not be staying with Farmers. I have been able to get on-board with New York Life and while its still a tough career path, at least these folks approach what they do with an obvious level of professionalism. My biggest challenge right now is to be able to take folks at their word coming off the experience I had at Farmers. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[Denise509]

It's true that the rates vary in different areas. It's also true that Farmers will raise their rates every quarter, so you may have gotten someone a good deal today but wait until their renewal and see if that rate is still the same..... The thing is this: Do you really want to work for a company that will dump you if you miss your quota by one or two policies? There goes all your work....but hey to the people who are sticking up for that EVIL company, "birds of the same feather flock together". Just yesterday I quoted a Farmers client and saved them $102 bucks a MONTH on their auto insurance....and I gave them better coverages. True story..
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Hi, Denise:

The short answer is "yes", but its not just the rates. For people who are shopping rates there are a half-dozen companies cheaper than Farmers. Add to this the terrible customer service that my clients received, the ineptitude of my DM and the mercenary sensibilities of the corporate culture in our area and I knew I would not be staying with Farmers. I have been able to get on-board with New York Life and while its still a tough career path, at least these folks approach what they do with an obvious level of professionalism. My biggest challenge right now is to be able to take folks at their word coming off the experience I had at Farmers. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

I'm glad to hear that you left that company and I wish you the best of luck with NYL

 

[rlubnau]

What most people going into the Farmers Program fail to realize is that it is a business. If you go into it with that in mind, your success is going to be greater. What I saw is people thought of it as a "Job" and failed miserably. If you opened a gift shop, I am sure you would do whatever it takes to keep it going.....the same holds true for a Farmers Agency. It takes work, forget the name behind it and just sell the $hIt out of insurance and you will do fine.

If you get into the trap of thinking that Farmers is going to help you, your agency is doomed from the get go. I would see new agents come on board, not listen to new ideas, sit there and hope that business would come their way, pack up at 5:30, refuse to work weekends, etc. and they would not validate the contract.

If you read through the lines of the website Farmers Insurance Sucks, you will see that this happened to that person. You cannot rely on other people to make your success, it takes dedication, blood, sweat and alot of highs and lows.

 

[Guest]

What most people going into the Farmers Program fail to realize is that it is a business. If you go into it with that in mind, your success is going to be greater. What I saw is people thought of it as a "Job" and failed miserably. If you opened a gift shop, I am sure you would do whatever it takes to keep it going.....the same holds true for a Farmers Agency. It takes work, forget the name behind it and just sell the out of insurance and you will do fine.

If you get into the trap of thinking that Farmers is going to help you, your agency is doomed from the get go. I would see new agents come on board, not listen to new ideas, sit there and hope that business would come their way, pack up at 5:30, refuse to work weekends, etc. and they would not validate the contract.

If you read through the lines of the website Farmers Insurance Sucks, you will see that this happened to that person. You cannot rely on other people to make your success, it takes dedication, blood, sweat and alot of highs and lows.

If you have a product that is a third or double the rates of other companies, how are you going to sell the $hIt of out it?

 

[rlubnau]

I am sure that we can go back and forth on how people feel about the rates, and opinions are like @$$holes.....everybody has them, but it can be done, and I did it. It is all about putting blinders on to the competition and believing in the product. The problem with Insurance Agents is that they have commoditized the product they sell and only sell on price. I bet if you took a poll on how many agents have read the contracts they sell it would be less than 5%. So agents turn around, not knowing their product, and sell on price alone. All Insurance Contracts are not equal, and if you understand your product, you can sell it.

 

[Denise509]

I am sure that we can go back and forth on how people feel about the rates, and opinions are like @$.....everybody has them, but it can be done, and I did it. It is all about putting blinders on to the competition and believing in the product. The problem with Insurance Agents is that they have commoditized the product they sell and only sell on price. I bet if you took a poll on how many agents have read the contracts they sell it would be less than 5%. So agents turn around, not knowing their product, and sell on price alone. All Insurance Contracts are not equal, and if you understand your product, you can sell it.

You must be one of those stalker types of agents who constantly calls/emails/sends crap mailers until people are forced to buy from you LOL. AND YES NORMAL people DO care about the price....I don't care what you say....What the heck, are you drugging people to buy your crappy products or something?! Maybe slipping something in that water you offer them?? I wanna know what you're doing to make people think, "hmmmm I can go with a good company and still save $50 bux a month on my insurance....NAH I'll just sign up with this guy because....I don't know why I feel so drowsy....Yes I'll take this policy through Farmers because he says it's the BEST for me".

 

[rlubnau]

You must be one of those stalker types of agents who constantly calls/emails/sends crap mailers until people are forced to buy from you LOL. AND YES NORMAL people DO care about the price....I don't care what you say....What the heck, are you drugging people to buy your crappy products or something?! Maybe slipping something in that water you offer them?? I wanna know what you're doing to make people think, "hmmmm I can go with a good company and still save $50 bux a month on my insurance....NAH I'll just sign up with this guy because....I don't know why I feel so drowsy....Yes I'll take this policy through Farmers because he says it's the BEST for me".

Nice attack Denise! I don't stalk clients, and BTW, before you make assumptions, you need to know I am no longer a Farmers Agent. My point was that most people join the Farmers program thinking that they are going to make it big. They do not take the time to research the product, program and fall for the BS that the DM's sell them. It is a business and should be run as such. If someone opened a Doughnut shop and sunk a bunch of money into it, they wouldn't turn around and blame Dunkin Doughnuts for their failure! They only have themselves to blame.

Also, maybe the Farmers policy is the best for some people. Understanding the contracts and being able to sell them has allowed me the ability to understand most contracts out there. Sure there are wholes in any K, but that is true with any company!

 

[Glad2bHere]

Mmmmmmm...... I really don't want to get in the middle of something, so I can only speak for the experience that I had.

I challenged my District Mgr to provide the sort of support I was lead to believe I would get...and was NOT getting. Rather than give me that support I found myself getting fewer and fewer responses and getting put-off more and more (IE. "Sorry, Bruce, but Matt's in a meeting"). Gotta tell you that my DM had more damn meetings than holes in a screen door!

Guess what happened when I contacted Chris Peoples-- the Illinois Rep for Agent Development? No returned call, but I was cut-loose from Farmers a couple days later. And you know the handful of accounts I wrote? Those were classified as "abandoned" and were turned back to Farmers.

As I say, I can't speak for everyone. What I can say is that I was given to believe that I could expect very high standards of professionalism from Farmers, and was disappointed at almost every turn.

Now....is there a silver lining to this grey cloud?? I think, maybe, yes. What I do now is keep my own counsel, and work not to tie myself to the limitations of the people around me. A career in Insurance is not rocket science, but the company culture is very often more troublesome than helpful. I can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone who will tell me why something can't be done a particular way. I say F*** 'em. Its easier to get forgiveness than permission. Lifes too short to sit around waiting for everyone to like me and to like what I do or the way that I do it.
IMHO.

Best Wishes,

Bruce
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Just a touch of Thread Necro to up-date on how things are going since I started on March 30th. .

1.) I hit a glitch with getting my contract approved, but it finally went through on April 19th. No big deal except it upset the usual flow of the process of getting set-up. I'm behind in getting my business cards, getting computer access and having my brochures done-up. Sorta feels like trying to Box with one hand stuck in my waistband.

2.) I was pretty unhappy about the training at first. Lots and lots of generalities and not a whole lot of solid information. Can't say that now, though, since I had a class today that blew my socks off and if it keeps up like this I'd have to bust my butt to fail.

3.) Not sure how I feel about the office culture. Lots of kids about the age of my middle son (40-something). Some of the folks are pretty dedicated and some seem to spend most of their time playing the angles. Got a taste of the upper managers when one of them came in and started our day off by berating us about how little we seemed invested in what we were doing (IE. not enough appts; not enough referrals etc etc). I figure him to be a graduate of the Idi Amin School of Diplomacy, Sheesh!

4.) One of the things I definitely need to do is keep my distance from the "garage rats" (def: weasel-ly little critters who hide in the corners and watch others work). I'm pretty highly motivated but if you hang-out with people who are into short-cuts.....well...might as well start backing the calendar down until they show me the door, right?

Anyhow....thats how things stand right now. I'll do another update in a couple of weeks. I need to go review my scripts...tonight is my very very first appt and I want to knock it out of the park from Day One, right?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[munda4545]

Hello experts,
I am a new P&C agent. Just join farmer as a Reserve agent.
Any Idea to survive...since having a no experience,no job & No other financial back up >>> P..L..E..A..E..S..E

 

[pdubb]

If you are currently a reserve agent with Farmers....You need to run!