New Agent Information-MassMutual

[dougman]

I am young and quite ambitious and looking for any information I can on MassMutual and their current culture and agent support. I have had a couple interviews with them and I am trying to get some more information. I am looking at MassMutual as mostly a launching pad into indy but if it ends up being a place I can launch my career and be successful I would not mind staying. The benefits seem to be worth it if I do stay. Some of the questions I have are:

How much can I expect each month in E&O costs?

Is your book of business yours to keep?
-How difficult is it to take brokered business later on down the road?

What are the Production requirements like?
-Are there any proprietary production requirements?

What is their training program like? How does it compare to other similar companies?

Any information would be helpful!

I am also going back for another interview soon and am wondering what other types of questions I should be asking. For all you insurance experts out there if you have any advice that would be great.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Do a search on the forums, you will find all your answers

 

[jboussea]

Plenty of mass mutual threads..there are a few agents here who started with Mass Mutual..

The general consensus seems to be that the training seems to be pretty good.but the work culture depends on which office you work for so it Might be beat to interview a few different Mass mutual offices.

Never worked for them but this just a summary of what i see from most of these threads

 

[DHK]

I am young and quite ambitious and looking for any information I can on MassMutual and their current culture and agent support. I have had a couple interviews with them and I am trying to get some more information. I am looking at MassMutual as mostly a launching pad into indy but if it ends up being a place I can launch my career and be successful I would not mind staying. The benefits seem to be worth it if I do stay. Some of the questions I have are:

How much can I expect each month in E&O costs?

My E&O costs were $70/month... but I also had securities licenses when I started at Mass.

Is your book of business yours to keep?
-How difficult is it to take brokered business later on down the road?

If when you leave, you sign up to be a broker with that same agency, it's easier. However, don't expect your GA to sell you on leaving their agency. Look at your non-solicit agreements and it will certainly help.

What are the Production requirements like?
-Are there any proprietary production requirements?

It's all about selling MassMutual products... but you're allowed to sell outside products (not including indexed life or annuity). There is MMLIA where you can at least get some sales credit for selling outside products, but through the MassMutual Insurance Brokerage division: https://mmliai.ashbrokerage.com/

I have also attached a PDF regarding MassMutual sales club requirements. The requirements haven't changed much since I was at Mass 9 years ago.

Let's simply say that you need to set a goal to hit Leader's Club every year. It might actually be different, but that's not an unreasonable expectation.

First-year commission thresholds by class year:
Year 1: $30,000 FYC
Year 2: $40,000 FYC
Year 3: $50,000 FYC
Year 4: $60,000 FYC
Year 5+: $65,000 FYC

New: Hybrid GDC/FYC threshold (all class years)
$80,000 GDC and $30,000 FYC

Blue Chip Council is $120,000 FYC.

Top of the Council is simply the top 125 agents/advisors.

Wealth Management Conference is the top 125 advisors with the securities side of the business.

To get an idea of what it would take to be in the top 125, look here:
https://careers.massmutual.com/benefits

(GDC is securities commissions & fees production while FYC is first year commissions on life, disability, LTC, and annuity production.)

Looking back, these numbers are actually quite low... but even then, my old agency had only 5 agents that hit Blue Chip Council back then? And only 2 of those agents were in the agency. The rest had "detached offices". (No one in my agency hit Top of the Council.)

What is their training program like? How does it compare to other similar companies?

Depends on the local office. My office had a 3-part training program:
1) Learn, use, and pay for the LEAP system
2) Work jointly with senior agents and split cases to learn the LEAP system.
3) Learn, use, and pay for the e-relationship system.

In short - there was no in-house training as it seemed to all be outsourced to these companies to make it more expensive and complex than it needed to be. (Yes, it's true, and yes, I'm still a little bitter about it.)

Personally, I would plan on learning tried and true training from a 3rd party as most agencies don't have a clue on how to train. I recommend the Insurance Pro Shop for tools and online video training. You may want to start with their member's only site for $35/month and then purchase a selling system for $500-$1,000 one time. (It's far cheaper, faster, simpler, and easier than the LEAP system at $2,500 per year.)

Any information would be helpful!

I am also going back for another interview soon and am wondering what other types of questions I should be asking. For all you insurance experts out there if you have any advice that would be great.

Ask about ALL your agency costs and when they kick in - cubicle, phone, internet, copies, etc. You may get 3-6 months of it all for free, before you are charged.

Ask about your medical benefits and how much you are responsible for paying them.

Ask if they have TRUE in-house training by the sales management team. And no, not a week of orientation of learning "who does what" in the agency. You need to learn how to properly promote and introduce yourself (prospecting), how to begin a fact-find, how to present financial concepts, how to prepare proposals and illustrations, and how to ask for and get referrals.

If all they say is "LEAP Systems, Bill Cates, and E-relationship"... you might be in trouble because they are SUBSTITUTING 3rd party tools as training, rather than using them to ENHANCE in-house training.


My experience at Mass would've been far better, if they had REAL in-house training. But I bought into the kool-aid (from another forum I was participating on a lot at the time).

Read between the lines in this sales manager recruitment video:


Managerial companies (like New York Life) are an extension of the home office in terms of training protocols, etc. New York Life is well-known for their regimented training (generally speaking).

While MassMutual, a GA system, "allows each General Agent in their portion of the country to do the business as best as they see fit. They aren't dictated to the same way of doing things as the other ninety five agencies around the company."

Her conclusion that "it leads to a spirit of entrepreneurialism" also means that they allow different office standards according to the General Agent's vision of wanting to do things.

So, each office can be run and managed differently. Go in with eyes wide open the best you can.

Now, in 2012, nearly all the GAs in California were fired and replaced with new ones, so you don't have to worry about being hired by my old GA, even if you're interviewing in the same office. Things may have changed. For new agents, I certainly hope so.

 

[VolAgent]

Yep, still good ol' Mass. If you make contract, you make leaders. (Meaning you wrote enough business to keep your benefits contract with Mass). I recall that is was 66k WCC (almost the same as WRC but not quite) to make contract and leaders was only a little higher. WCC was all but the same as FYC.

The agency I was at offered at trip for making contract. A few years before I joined they changed to going to all inclusive resorts. The reason is why is some of the older agents told the GA the new agents were packing food in their suitcases, it was the only way they could afford to eat on the trip. Even though they were making contract, they really weren't making that much after expenses.

At least use to, FYC on a whole life was 55%. So you will need to sell roughly 120k in premium to keep your contract and make leaders. If you sell term, which was 45%, then it goes to roughly 147k.

And as a new agent, you better be selling proprietary life. That is where everyone makes their money. DI is ok. I don't know if annuities and LTCi are on the same level as life and DI. They have been and then they haven't, it all just depends on the business mix the home office is looking for.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Great info Vol. LTC Sig. 500 ltc can still be sold via captive and is the top ltci product, brokers have to wait for the new product (600) coming out this end of summer, so right now only captives can sell their ltc.
Their annuities are horrible, and their DI is great for white collar workers. They really want agents to write term and DI at the same time (Essential Protections campaign) and convert the term to whole life as the years go by.

 

[VolAgent]

Great info Vol. LTC Sig. 500 ltc can still be sold via captive and is the top ltci product, brokers have to wait for the new product (600) coming out this end of summer, so right now only captives can sell their ltc.
Their annuities are horrible, and their DI is great for white collar workers. They really want agents to write term and DI at the same time (Essential Protections campaign) and convert the term to whole life as the years go by.

If you can successfully sell term and DI to white collar professionals all while planting the seeds for conversion, you will have a very, very long and successful career.

You will have the best annuity Mass offers. A lifetime of conversion commissions. Plus great renewals on the DI and life. Also as a whole, DI is extremely sticky, it almost never lapses or is replaced. Just make sure you put wavier of premium on every term policy. Don't even make it an option, just do it.

Also, take over the book of anyone leaving, even if it is small. Go in there, service their clients, get the referrals and the conversions.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Also, take over the book of anyone leaving, even if it is small. Go in there, service their clients, get the referrals and the conversions.

That's a smart idea. There's a ton of turn-over in this industry (retiring or otherwise) and the local agencies aren't immune to that..

 

[MichaelBurton]

If I could do it over, I would probably go the P&C route, honestly. Does Mass have that capacity since they bought Met's agency group?

You can really accrue a nice renewal income stream with auto and home etc. Less up front though.

Holding on to renewal trails in the life business often requires you to stay with your career contract for the duration, which is something that is very, very rare these days.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Family has a P&C agency, very profitable, thought about buying him out, and they dont even cross sell life or health or do commercial. Unfortunately going the P&C route means you need a decent brick and mortar spot with employees which is a huge startup cost agents (especially new ones) usually dont have..