Independent Vs Prudential or Others?

[steveb1956]

Hi
I'm a relatively new agent and have been working with a "sleepy" brokerage firm.
They really just exist to attempt to extend their existing term Life clients.
I'm not really getting much support.
I AM getting lot's of experience making calls and am having a little success on small ( mostly term Life) sales
I really enjoy the business and would like to become a professional and grow in the direction of becoming more of a financial consultant
I'd like some input on the positives and negatives of joining an organization such as Prudential
Thanks

 

[Bwell86]

I'm with Prudential. It's great for Life Insurance, variable annuities, and mutual funds. I don't know of many agents who work much with individual stocks or bonds.

Training and everything is going to depend on the office and agency you're in. My training experience has been awesome, however I do wish I was trained better with prospecting. I was given tons of orphaned clients, but now I see that orphans don't last forever and weren't usually very good quality.

Learn all you can in the beginning.

 

[scottstreet]

Pru is not abad place to start get your 6, 63 & 65 on their dime. Some good basic training , Will emphasize the sale of var. annuity. No training on par wL products as they don't sell em. spend 1-2 years there if you like the office. LEARN to PROSPECT. It's a weakness of their training but the weakness is industry wide.
Alternately consider Combined-aflac-colonial in the short term. They are a different animal with inferior products mostly sold as voluntary benefits. The advantage of these places is you will learn to hunt quickly. You can then move on to better product shops or go indy.

 

[Bwell86]

Pru does have an expansive ( from my perspective at least) out brokerage. I can sell WL through MetLife, MOH, etc. These sales still count toward non core product bonuses.

My only complaint is that you are completely on your own for training and support with these out brokerage products. It's very nice to be able to offer clients choices though.

 

[scottstreet]

Bwell, agreed the outbrokerage isn't terrible. I liked that they counted it toward your contract. That was cool. But no MM,ONL,Penn,Guardian,.... Funny thing about the orpahans is that manny of them (ymmv) are blown up UL's from the late '80's and those were pissed off people in my experience. Had I been more experience at the time I may have been able to soothe it over and make a sale. But, at the time I was fairly intimidated by angry policy owners. (those were the policies that were the subject of a giant class action suit)

 

[Arookaria]

Do any of you guys know about the prudential office in Denver, if they might be a good agency to work with? What their training is like etc...

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[scottstreet]

Sorry, I was in NY & CT. Training will probably be similar but effectiveness will be very dependent on the culture of the office and your sales manager (MFS) . Ask them tough questions at the interview (remember it's more a opportunity than job) Ask how many agents are between years 2-4, don't be swayed by being introduced to people there 20 years. Apples v. oranges. You want an office that can demonstrate an abillity to nurture young agents.

 

[Arookaria]

Sorry, I was in NY & CT. Training will probably be similar but effectiveness will be very dependent on the culture of the office and your sales manager (MFS) . Ask them tough questions at the interview (remember it's more a opportunity than job) Ask how many agents are between years 2-4, don't be swayed by being introduced to people there 20 years. Apples v. oranges. You want an office that can demonstrate an abillity to nurture young agents.

One can't just get the series 65 to work with Pru? You have to have the series 6 and 63 as well? There is no option of being "fee only" ? What products did you specialize in while there?

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[scottstreet]

When I was there 6 & 63 were mandatory. (they want you to sell the variable annuity)

 

[Arookaria]

When I was there 6 & 63 were mandatory. (they want you to sell the variable annuity)

Ok thank you for the advice

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