My personal experience with Aflac

[jb123]

seeking advice on starting with AFLAC

I'm thinking about starting with AFLAC. I would appreciate any unbiased advice (not regional or district coordinator's recruitment pep talks) on the company. Especially if you have recently started with them and what a realistic salary is and how soon until you will see income.

Thanks,
JB

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Many former agents have claimed the areas they marketed in were flooded but that would obviously depend on the area. Claims have been made that when cold-calling business you're the 3rd, 5th, 8th agent who's solicited them.

Also complaints on heavy charge-backs since they're signing up hourly workers for benefits.....then the workers see the effect on their check and cancel, also you have people quitting/fired/laid off all of which results in a chargeback.

Not to say you can't make money, just be aware.

 

[zackarychapple]

Advice on working for aflak, don't. Even Sti's favorite non med policies can beat their term rates. We have a lot of ex ducks in NAA. I'm helping to contribute to some of their agents chargebacks.

 

[WBunch]

Advice on working for aflak, don't. Even Sti's favorite non med policies can beat their term rates. We have a lot of ex ducks in NAA. I'm helping to contribute to some of their agents chargebacks.

NoBody said they were known for Life Insurance. They have great cancer and accident policies. Thats their bread and butter, of course there life is going to be high. Don't pump yourself up on that fact.

 

[Bob_The_Insurance_Guy]

If you want to sell supplemental coverage, go through Colonial or Mutual of Omaha, not AFLAC.

They are a churn m and burn m type of business, and as was stated earlier, you will always have to worry about chargebacks.

They are the Blue Cross Blue Shield of the supplemental coverage arena.

 

[K-Dub]

I started and got licensed with AFLAC, if it weren't for them I wouldn't even be in the insurance business right now. That's about all I have to say that is good. I had a district manager who had no idea what he was doing, was greedy and a liar! No support what so ever! Of course I failed doing it! Like John said, they are so heavily flooded with agents around here it was difficult to ever talk to someone.

The one good thing is you will get dirt cheap E&O with them as your sponsor! There are better options out there! I would go with Combined/AON and their worksite side before the duck!

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I can only speak for the Baltimore/DC area but they might as well hire newbies in our football stadium and take them out in the field in busses.

 

[cadylou]

Don't do it - but do take advantage of the cheap E&O!

 

[NHB_MMA]

As mentioned, one of the biggest drawbacks to AFLAC is the heavy market saturation. If you live in a rural area, or are willing to work in a rural area, it's probably not nearly as bad. I'm sure chargebacks are a probably too.

Now, I will say what I believe is probably good about AFLAC...you'll learn how to do business-to-business sales. AFLAC is a tough gig and many people don't stick with it. I know of one guy that came to NYL and still does AFLAC too and he did okay at AFLAC. His B2B skills were very polished there and now that he is selling larger policies targeting owners and not simply payroll deduction he is making an absolute killing with NYL.

 

[jfs]

Getting started with Aflac - my problem or Aflac's

I am trying to get started with Aflac. I have 22+ years experience in field sales of technical products, and have a lot of confidence in my general sales skills. Being paid on 100% commission is a plus to me, as is the flexibility and freedom of setting my own schedule. I received my life and health license about 3 weeks ago. So far I have made several field trips with my district sales coordinator. He and I get along very well.

The problem(s): Last week was the formal training class. My DSC told me late the week before that I would be one of the best prepared for the class. I wasn't. Being as objective as I can, I was one of the least prepared, in terms of script knowledge, quality of qualified leads, and product knowledge. This shook my self confidence to the point that I dropped out of the last class day. On what would have been the last class day I went in and talked to him about the experience. He was surprised by my assessment, but didn't try to convince me otherwise.

Also: I had talked to him a couple of times about the gatekeeper scripts, in that based on my experience, they seem high pressure, and could be considered marginally deceptive. I asked to see someone who was experienced, do prospecting and cold calling. The requests fell by the wayside. During our last conversation, I reminded him that I really wanted to see the gatekeeper scripts in action. He finally got up and we arranged for me to accompany his coordinator in training the next afternoon (a Friday). Mid-morning I received a message from her that she can't go prospecting after all, she has an enrollment that is going to go far into the afternoon. We can either try to do it very late that (Friday) afternoon, or see about rescheduling some time next week. To me the common sense answer was to reschedule.

So now I am forced to ask myself, is my focus on this part reasonable? I have never had any questions or reservations about the rest of the scripted and non-scripted sales process. It seems completely natural to me. Is the apparent difficulty of a seeing the gatekeeper portion live, an aberration of this office? In the opinions of the experienced agents, is it likely to make a difference anyway, or should I revisit my decision to do this at all?

Many thanks in advance.