If you ever consider becoming a Mutual of Omaha Career agent, read this first...

[Mike_Golden1]

Last September I had a meeting with a Mutual of Omaha Texas regional manager and decided to enter their Career agent program. I thought that having a business card with a known entity would help me get in the door more often and would have more success on the life insurance side of my business.

MofO doesn't require exclusivity and gives you a package that kind of gets you to about 90% commission rates if you do some production.

After I went through the interview process I found out that the District Manager, a 30 year old, would be my manager. From day one he was exactly the kind of person you would never want to be associated with-repetitive, condescending, and a pain in the ass.

My biggest problem with life insurance is that way too many people who want insurance are uninsurable, and that trend continued with MofA in spite of promises that had been made to me about having cooperative, dedicated underwriting.

To make a long story short, I decided to pursue health insurance as my focus in January, shared that with the District manager, and told him that I would route as much of the follow on business for life and disability through MofO as I could.

I submitted several apps in the January/February timeframe and have several more in the pipeline. Much to my surprise, on March 6th, 3 days before the cutoff for payment of commissions for completed business for the first commission payment date of the month, I received a letter informing me that my contract had been terminated and that no more advances would be received until 'the debit balances in my account stabilized'. Which is a convenient way for them to say we aren't paying anything to you for the next 6 months.

So I lost a $2,000 commission payment and was given no notice or warning.

I did get a very nice birthday card from the regional General Manager the day before the cancellation letter. I thought that was a really nice touch.

So, my advice to anyone even thinking about taking this route is.....DON'T

Just get contracted through an IMO for a higher commission rate and, as long as you write the occasional app, you will always get paid. And consider other companies before the Wild Kingdom folks, they suck.

 

[jay_best30]

Good info, I considered working for this company after an acquaintance contacted me about a few openings there. I'll do more research before making a decision.

 

[LGilmore]

This situation isn't exclusive to M of O. This is common. In this business if you aren't helping your uplines independent or captive, they have no use for you. IF you aren't going to make an agency money through bringing in business, what would you expect to happen?

While I appreciate the original poster's honesty, he was also stupid at the same time. DO NOT TELL anybody what your personal plans are until you are well into them. TELL THEM what you feel they want to hear. The interaction between agent and sales manager is not an honest one in most cases. Understand that. Again if you aren't making them money, they have no use for you. Let that sink in.

Most sales managers play the numbers game, rather than the training good hire game. Again this isn't exclusive to MO, it is an office trait of many carriers, whom may have a spotless reputation as a carrier, but the local office may be crap. That is why it is more important to get a feel for the office, rather than just the name brand of the company.

 

[F150]

thx for rehashing a SEVEN year old thread.....

 

[LGilmore]

That's good luck waiting 7 years to answer the question...

sorry didn't catch that while I was ranting.

 

[kwonder]

I just want to make a note here - because I am familiar with the compensation and contracts for Mutual. To date, you are required to write 3k in net first year commissions with the use of needs based products. Health policies are not needs based, which was either explained to you during your contracting process or during your final interview. So, my guess is that within the first 90 days of your contract, you did not write the appropriate business, and since you said you were denied a commission check of 2k, it sounds like you didn't even write enough business to qualify for a career contract even if you DID write needs based business.
Because of these facts, it sounds like you had more of a personal problem than a problem with Mutual of Omaha.

 

[MW Agent]

It's like Gilmore said, you and the sales manager are not on the same side of the table. He wants to maximize his income, the same thing for you. Those do not always align. To exist peacefully in the career agent world, you need to be committed to the company model or be such a big hitter that they look past the rest because you are profitable to them.

 

[rousemark]

I just want to make a note here - because I am familiar with the compensation and contracts for Mutual. To date, you are required to write 3k in net first year commissions with the use of needs based products. Health policies are not needs based, which was either explained to you during your contracting process or during your final interview. So, my guess is that within the first 90 days of your contract, you did not write the appropriate business, and since you said you were denied a commission check of 2k, it sounds like you didn't even write enough business to qualify for a career contract even if you DID write needs based business.
Because of these facts, it sounds like you had more of a personal problem than a problem with Mutual of Omaha.

And you are certain the requirements you speak of were in effect 10 years ago when the OP had their problem? Can't imagine MoO hasn't changed anything in their contract in the last 10 years.

 

[goillini52]

And you are certain the requirements you speak of were in effect 10 years ago when the OP had their problem? Can't imagine MoO hasn't changed anything in their contract in the last 10 years.

He sounds like a MOFO company man.


Did anybody notice that Sti edited the Original Post 4 years after it was made? Multiple accounts?

"Last edited by STIBROKER; 03-01-2011 at 07:06 PM"

 

[xrac]

Always tell your up line what they want to hear otherwise results will probably be described as above. Never tell anyone your business plans.