My personal experience with Aflac

[J-Ro]

My friends neigbor works for AFLAC. She put me in contact with im tonight. He's an independent broker and he swears by them. Says if I talk to the guy in charge down here, they'll put alot of time and energy into training me. He's a "holy-roller" and seems to be upfront and honest. I suppose to call the AFLAC office and see what the deal is tomorrow. Advice? Thoughts?

 

[STIBROKER]

He's a "holy-roller" and seems to be upfront and honest. I suppose to call the AFLAC office and see what the deal is tomorrow. Advice? Thoughts?

stay away from holy-roller's.........

 

[VaDwayne]

Well i checked the commissions at AIG, and they are roughly half those of AFLAC. That gives me enough motivation to quack my way through life as a duck. :lol:

Who are you going to sell to as a AFLAC agent. I sell for Colonial and AFLAC is in 95.999% of the businesses I go into. The good thing about Colonial is I can either replace the AFLAC or simply co-exist with them by offering different products.

If you, as an AFLAC agent walks into a business, they WILL already have AFLAC. What will you do then? Colonial is a much better company... Read ripoffreport.com and jobvent.com. Type in AFLAC and look at the complaints, the type in Colonial.

 

[J-Ro]

stay away from holy-roller's........./quote]

LOL.....Why is that?

 

[Guest]

Perhaps in the South where the economy is not as bad selling worksite is still viable. But out here in the parts of CA where we have unemployment of 11% and rising, it is a "challenge."

All of the semi-captive worksite companies have piss-poor commission schedules such that if you compute the total time you work on a deal vs. what you get paid for it... you are better off flipping burgers at Mickey D's.

The semi-captive worksite companies spin you a great story but they count on you opening a few groups and then leaving such that you lose your renewals which end up going to the district manager and above. It's all about "churn, churn, churn" and "recruit, recruit, recruit." That's how the money is made (by the district managers and above.)

If you want to sell worksite, I'd advise against Colonial or Alfac and look instead at TransAm. I learned the hard way. Don't make the same mistake I made. (No doubt you-know-who (the evil one) will have an insulting remark to make, but he's an *** so pay it no mind.)

 

[Newby]

Perhaps in the South where the economy is not as bad selling worksite is still viable. But out here in the parts of CA where we have unemployment of 11% and rising, it is a "challenge."

All of the semi-captive worksite companies have piss-poor commission schedules such that if you compute the total time you work on a deal vs. what you get paid for it... you are better off flipping burgers at Mickey D's.

The semi-captive worksite companies spin you a great story but they count on you opening a few groups and then leaving such that you lose your renewals which end up going to the district manager and above. It's all about "churn, churn, churn" and "recruit, recruit, recruit." That's how the money is made (by the district managers and above.)

If you want to sell worksite, I'd advise against Colonial or Alfac and look instead at TransAm. I learned the hard way. Don't make the same mistake I made. (No doubt you-know-who (the evil one) will have an insulting remark to make, but he's an *** so pay it no mind.)

Al, I understand that it's better to sell against AFLAC (as explained in VADWAINE's post) but what is the advantage of TransAm to Colonial? I'm not real familiar with any of these company's products so feed me the basics please.

 

[Guest]

Al, I understand that it's better to sell against AFLAC (as explained in VADWAINE's post) but what is the advantage of TransAm to Colonial? I'm not real familiar with any of these company's products so feed me the basics please.

I wish I could be of help but I am not that familiar with the TransAM or MoO or other carrier worksite offerings... because I only sold for Colonial. Even with its less than terrific commish schedule I would still sell for them (as a side-line, of course)... IF there was a local manager I trusted not to screw me out of my earnings (yeah... they can do this... and do do this... and did do this to me and several others here) AND IF the area's economy was more "open" to voluntary benefits.

The saying is true. "All politics is local!"

My area has 11%+ unemployment... perhaps you have seen the video of the tent city that has started (about 30 miles from where I live.) Maybe you've seen the interviews of these people on your local news. Most of us are sorry about their plight... but these were guys making good money in home and office construction here for a lot of years.

Why didn't they take fifteen cents out of every dollar and put a few pennies a risk-free or risk adverse financial products... some in CDs, some in a whole life policy and some in highly secure corporate or muni bonds? Instead they bought homes they could not afford and plasma TVs with money they didn't have.

And what I don't understand is that from what I can gather these are mostly Rush Limbaugh hard-hat, hammer-and-nail, mucho-macho... conservatives... as opposed to so-called "pointy-headed" Barny Frank ("let's hug") liberals.

Anyway, I digress. My area (and state) is an economic train-wreck and when you call an HR guy/gal or the boss about introducing worksite he/she says "Al don't talk to me about benefits... we're looking at laying off people... and it hurts us badly to do it... these are are friends and co-workers."

Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of worksite benefits, but I find that the business model of Aflac and Colonial to be less in favor of the agent on the street and far more favorable to the many levels of management. They have a local manager, a territory manager, and a regional manager who all get a piece of the premium, leaving the agent with about a 22% average on the sale... unless he also enrolls which will give him another ten points... but it is somewhat problematic to do both the sales and the enrolling (a story for another post if asked.)

With Aflac and Colonial... they both say the average employee spends $50 a month and you get about a 60% participation rate. So on a group of 20 you might get 12 people. Do the math and you might make $1656 (probably less) for you efforts (FYC... renewals are far less... if you live long enough!) That would be fine... except the amount of time it takes in pre-sale and pre-enrollment for the average agent to get the final signature and then set-up for enrollment is huge. You can easily spend 70 hours on the case over three months, giving you about $23 an hour for your labor. And you can be sure that 20% of those who enrolled will lapse or quit or be terminated... and if you were advanced the commish, you are now in a debt position.

Both Colonial and Aflac have a provision that if you don't write a certain amount of premium ($12K for Colonial) in the following year your contract will be terminated and you are not vested so you lose the renewal commissions (which are not high to begin with). Where do they go? To whom do you think?

There is a real incentive for managers to recruit, recruit, and recruit with the idea that everyone writes two or three groups, they quit, and the renewal commission flows to them and those above them.

I'm not saying it is unfair. I was OK with it as it was disclosed up front... until the local manager decided to give 50% of my commission on a case to another agent who did minimal work on the case. I would have been OK with 10% split, but not 50%. So I took a hike. I never wrote that much with them anyway... the pay is better doing health or life... and the work is much easier.

As I've said... if you are going to write for a company and you are going to be "managed" (i.e. someone has a say in what you get paid) you need to make sure your guy or gal is honest and trustworthy. It's really hard to do... I know I was fooled... but coming to this industry from the information tech sector where there is more differentiation among products and solutions and where all the sales guys knew each other (and often worked together on a large project) I'm probably more trusting than most of you.

As for TransAm, I'm working on getting group life and DI benefits for a small (stone mason) association. I won't use Colonial or Aflac. I met the TransAm woman and looked at their products and their appointment papers and it is nothing like Aflac or Colonial... with non-compete clauses and chapter and verse about production quotas.

Of course TransAm offerings are not as comprehensive as Aflac or Colonial, but you may end up with more cash in your pocket for (what I'm sure will be very extensive) time and efforts.

Anyway, even with TransAm I think it will be more time and effort than it will be worth by the time I've made a presentation to the board and everyone blesses it.

At the end of the day I'll probably end up writing multi-life DI with Principal and working with each member on their life (West Coast or Ohio National) because I'm sure the association will not want to kick in any money.

Perhaps the TransAM life (no-paramed) package would work... but their UL has a 14-year surrender charge and I find their term to be expensive... but when you consider it is basically GI, I'm OK with it. As for DI, there are not a lot of choices for LTD in my state... and short-term DI in California is a non-starter because of the state's SDI program... so I'll probably decide to write non-group para-med multi-life with Principal... which is fine (my GA will do most of the work!!)

Aflac and Colonial really want to own you if they can. TransAm has a (more) standard contract, similar to that you see with health and life carriers.

There is nothing wrong with most of the products of either Colonial or Aflac, you just have to find an honest district manager in a district where the economy can support the payout of an extra $50+ a month by employees. Neither are in MY area right now, that's for sure.

 

[Winter_123]

Aflac and Colonial really want to own you if they can.

.

I think there are different problems with Aflac at different levels. In the beginning they may not want to own you. In fact they are just recruiting hordes of agents to cover the same old businesses that have said no to twenty other agents already. They may assign someone to train you who has been with them for two years and is making 30,000 a year. They are not committed enough to you at that stage to even think about trying to own you.

However, if you become more successful then the games begin with your commission and commission splitting etc. In other words, once you have some meat on your bones the vultures take more interest in how to pick it off. District managers also complain bitterly about the fact that when they recruit an agent who actually produces big that the State Managers or whatever make that agent a District Manager which takes them out the original hierarchy and channels the dollars upward- leaving the original hiring District Manager high and dry as a reward for all his work and with another competing District Manager on his turf.

Aflac could be a better gig if the business model was more around exclusive territories or something instead of the current model of just having roving gangs saturating and irritating the business community which are replaced in three months by new recurits. And so it goes.

 

[Jammin]

I called them and signed up here in my area. I had THREE sales already sold.........


No one could take the time to help quote them, or even show me which paperwork to fill out....

rah rah rah...

Let the kiddies do the cold calling, I had sold business... I will never sign up with them, I let my appt lapse.

Not much good to say about them here.

 

[Aflac Northern Colorado]

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