Mass Mutual Vs NYL Career Agency
- Thread starter JimYoung
- Start date
- 11,274
Too many other variables.
The #1 deciding factor: The agency
- How is the agency management, training and accountability towards your success? Who will be doing this at each agency? How will they hold you accountable to your goals? How will they help you achieve them?
- What about opportunities for joint-work with senior agents? Will senior agents work with you at your level... or will you have to bring in cases that are at their level?
- Will the agency require that you focus on the basics of this business & industry before getting into anything more expensive & advanced (such as LEAP or some other advanced "financial planning/selling" system)?
The #2 deciding factor: Prospecting & Marketing
- Who is their ideal customer? Age? Income? Education? Occupation? Family Status? Homeowner? Business Owner? Assets? Liabilities? Health Status?
- Will the company's products be competitive towards your ideal customer profile? Can you use your company's products to help your ideal customer's to solve problems common to their profile?
- Can the new agent get in front of the company's (or their own) ideal customer profile on a regular basis so they can sell enough of their company's products to have it be a profitable venture?
- Will the company help you develop or use a method of cold-market prospecting to capture the interest of your ideal customer's in the problems you can solve with your products? (After all, who are you going to sell to after you run out of family/friends and initial referrals?)
#3 Deciding Factor: Compliance requirements for each case
- Will compliance require a full & complete fact-finder for every single case you ever write? How many pages is that fact-finder?
- Is there a set of minimum information required for the file? (A copy of the application and notes from the agent should suffice, but compliance people will want to justify their existance by making the agent's life harder.)
- Will the fact-finding process help you help your prospect to make a buying decision by identifying their top priorities... or does it just 'gather information' so you can take it back to the office to print out a 50+ page of boilerplate financial recommendations?
Note: the higher the compliance requirements for each case, the more profitable each case must be, and the higher status in life your prospects must be. If that's the case, can you still get in front of enough people that fit your ideal customer profile on a regular basis and get them to buy your products?
Just a few things TO ASK THEM when choosing between agencies/companies.
The #1 deciding factor: The agency
- How is the agency management, training and accountability towards your success? Who will be doing this at each agency? How will they hold you accountable to your goals? How will they help you achieve them?
- What about opportunities for joint-work with senior agents? Will senior agents work with you at your level... or will you have to bring in cases that are at their level?
- Will the agency require that you focus on the basics of this business & industry before getting into anything more expensive & advanced (such as LEAP or some other advanced "financial planning/selling" system)?
The #2 deciding factor: Prospecting & Marketing
- Who is their ideal customer? Age? Income? Education? Occupation? Family Status? Homeowner? Business Owner? Assets? Liabilities? Health Status?
- Will the company's products be competitive towards your ideal customer profile? Can you use your company's products to help your ideal customer's to solve problems common to their profile?
- Can the new agent get in front of the company's (or their own) ideal customer profile on a regular basis so they can sell enough of their company's products to have it be a profitable venture?
- Will the company help you develop or use a method of cold-market prospecting to capture the interest of your ideal customer's in the problems you can solve with your products? (After all, who are you going to sell to after you run out of family/friends and initial referrals?)
#3 Deciding Factor: Compliance requirements for each case
- Will compliance require a full & complete fact-finder for every single case you ever write? How many pages is that fact-finder?
- Is there a set of minimum information required for the file? (A copy of the application and notes from the agent should suffice, but compliance people will want to justify their existance by making the agent's life harder.)
- Will the fact-finding process help you help your prospect to make a buying decision by identifying their top priorities... or does it just 'gather information' so you can take it back to the office to print out a 50+ page of boilerplate financial recommendations?
Note: the higher the compliance requirements for each case, the more profitable each case must be, and the higher status in life your prospects must be. If that's the case, can you still get in front of enough people that fit your ideal customer profile on a regular basis and get them to buy your products?
Just a few things TO ASK THEM when choosing between agencies/companies.
- 436
I agree with DHK in that the agency is the number one variable, and will ultimately shape your attititude about the company.
I met with several NYL GA's as well as several Mass GA's back in 2009 after leaving NML. I can tell you that NYL is very much a coporate enviroment/feel.....the agency leader/GA is not the owner of the agency, rather someone appointed by the home office to "steer the ship" and be a figure-head for the Home Office. At NYL everything is about NYL...you won't find too many reps doing much business outside of the company.
Mass is a much different enviroment, and when I say that think more "entrepenurial". First, they are ok with experienced producers using their own "doing business as" business name. Mass also has over 25% of their field force that have their own detached office, meaning that they do not go to the core agency office to go to work, they acquire their own office space and Mass pays them a "detached office allowance" to help off-set their expenses. Also, a fact that many do not realize about Mass is that there are more than a dozen Mass Mutual General agencies across the country where the average rep in these offices only sends roughly 50% of his total annual insurance/annuity business through Mass.....that would not fly at all in any Guardian, New York Life, or Northwestern general agency.
Finally, Mass is a "financial planning culture" in that many reps do financial plans/needs analysis for the clients, run it through the Corporate RIA that Mass has, and then charge the client between $600-$2500 for the financial plan itself before making any product recommendations.
I met with several NYL GA's as well as several Mass GA's back in 2009 after leaving NML. I can tell you that NYL is very much a coporate enviroment/feel.....the agency leader/GA is not the owner of the agency, rather someone appointed by the home office to "steer the ship" and be a figure-head for the Home Office. At NYL everything is about NYL...you won't find too many reps doing much business outside of the company.
Mass is a much different enviroment, and when I say that think more "entrepenurial". First, they are ok with experienced producers using their own "doing business as" business name. Mass also has over 25% of their field force that have their own detached office, meaning that they do not go to the core agency office to go to work, they acquire their own office space and Mass pays them a "detached office allowance" to help off-set their expenses. Also, a fact that many do not realize about Mass is that there are more than a dozen Mass Mutual General agencies across the country where the average rep in these offices only sends roughly 50% of his total annual insurance/annuity business through Mass.....that would not fly at all in any Guardian, New York Life, or Northwestern general agency.
Finally, Mass is a "financial planning culture" in that many reps do financial plans/needs analysis for the clients, run it through the Corporate RIA that Mass has, and then charge the client between $600-$2500 for the financial plan itself before making any product recommendations.
- 4,132
While the previous posters are very much correct with their statements in the fewest possible words it comes down to this;
What is the environment of each office you're looking at? It isn't going to matter whose letterhead it is if it's a crap office to work for. Both companies you mention are excellent insurance companies, as many others are as well. What really matters is what they are like at a local level, because all companies have "crap" offices.
Trust your gut when you visit and observe, look and see how the agents are there length of service wise. Slice every monentary statement the sales manager says in half.
Anyway good luck and I hope your choice is a wise one.
What is the environment of each office you're looking at? It isn't going to matter whose letterhead it is if it's a crap office to work for. Both companies you mention are excellent insurance companies, as many others are as well. What really matters is what they are like at a local level, because all companies have "crap" offices.
Trust your gut when you visit and observe, look and see how the agents are there length of service wise. Slice every monentary statement the sales manager says in half.
Anyway good luck and I hope your choice is a wise one.
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