Rethinking my Start with Farmers

tmproper

New Member
2
I have decided to switch career paths from grocery retail to insurance. I want to eventually be a financial advisor/planner, but I want to learn and get experience in L&H/P&C first, and build from there.

Having my initial meetings with Farmers, I thought they were a good choice. I just met with them again and I'm not so sure. I'm really concerned about the financial investment. Also the DM told me that there was only 1 spot and I had 60 days to complete the reserve program. They are pushing me to be a career agent before 2015 is over. I have read a lot of horror stories and I definitely don't want to fall victim to this either. I've read about the independent route, but really I want to find somewhere to learn and grow to be the best agent.

What other companies would be a good start for me in central Indiana?
I appreciate any feedback.
 
Anybody but Farmers, State Farm, or Allstate.
 
Anybody but Farmers, State Farm, or Allstate.

Find an independent shop that has a career channel. They are out there. My advice is if your ultimate goal is to be a financial planner / advisor, skip the p&c side and dive into life insurance to start building your client base.

I'm not a fan of farmers, State Farm, either.

Good luck
 
I work with a large, independent P&C group. Give me a call and I may be able to help.

Justin Hobick
Premier Group Insurance
317-989-0735
 
I'd second staying clear of the shops already mentioned and add Northwestern Mutual to that list.

I'd also second the idea of forgetting about P&C, get some time under your belt with L&H, then get your securities license once you're ready. P&C shops focus on P&C and everything else is secondary so your L&H and financial planning production with them would be fairly limited just because that's not their focus.

If you want bigger name recognition than you can find with a small shop I'd check out Mutual Of Omaha, MassMutual, Guardian, or MetLife. Many small shops will pay a bit better than the big names and most people on this forum will tell you a small shop or going full indy is the way to go. I'd say most big name shops offer better support and training which is what you really need starting out.

Regardless don't let anyone bully you into thinking this is your only shot at this career and you have to commit now. Farmers is being aggressive to get you to sign without looking elsewhere. Their claim that they only have one opening is laughable. The turnover rate in any sales industry is huge, if you're intelligent enough to pass the tests needed to get licensed and reasonably friendly most places will hire you as you'll be paid on commission and they aren't really risking much by offering you a chance with them.
 
lol, if you don't see right through the "only one spot" line, then you're too green to be doing ANYTHING on your own in sales. No offense intended in that statement, but that's a desperate sales pitch at its finest (lowest?).

The big names will give you good training, but you'll also have to "forget" some of what you know when you go independent. I will also second the notion that if you want to be a financial guy, don't worry about P&C and just do life.
 
lol, if you don't see right through the "only one spot" line, then you're too green to be doing ANYTHING on your own in sales. No offense intended in that statement, but that's a desperate sales pitch at its finest (lowest?).

The big names will give you good training, but you'll also have to "forget" some of what you know when you go independent. I will also second the notion that if you want to be a financial guy, don't worry about P&C and just do life.



Thanks for the feedback. By the way, I didn't believe the "only one spot" line...
 
I work with a large, independent P&C group. Give me a call and I may be able to help.

Justin Hobick
Premier Group Insurance
317-989-0735

I would call Justin. An independent may be the best place to start.
 
One thing to consider when reading advice here is that most all of us started out in a career agency. And for more reasons than days in the year, we left those career agencies. So advice may be a bit skewed. You're asking people about a career outfit whom for the most part had bad experiences with career houses.

If you're really interested in financial planning side however, you won't find it at a P&C shop. They make their money in P&C, the other stuff is gravy. So if you don't want to be a P&C guy, stay away from P&C houses.

There is nothing wrong starting out at a career shop and learning the business. Most will provide excellent training, a bit "the house is the answer for every product need." but over all if you want to learn the mechanics of planning, look into a NYL, a NWM, Guardian and a few others that offer training.

Now, the big thing to look at is the environment of what ever office you look into. Mother company may be great, but if your office is full of A holes, no matter who's name is on the application, your experience will suck.

Office environment matters, while they're looking at you, look at them HARD. Any body smiling there? Are there other new agents? how many agents are there in their first 5 years? Who does the teaching? Is it a dedicated trainer or are you going to be passed off to an agent to follow?

The office environment matters. Learned that the hard way. Even great companies have jerks working for them. So look at how "workable" the office is along with the name of the company. Good luck
 
I have decided to switch career paths from grocery retail to insurance. I want to eventually be a financial advisor/planner, but I want to learn and get experience in L&H/P&C first, and build from there.

Having my initial meetings with Farmers, I thought they were a good choice. I just met with them again and I'm not so sure. I'm really concerned about the financial investment. Also the DM told me that there was only 1 spot and I had 60 days to complete the reserve program. They are pushing me to be a career agent before 2015 is over. I have read a lot of horror stories and I definitely don't want to fall victim to this either. I've read about the independent route, but really I want to find somewhere to learn and grow to be the best agent.

What other companies would be a good start for me in central Indiana?
I appreciate any feedback.

Definitely go the Independent Route. Check out:

EagleInsuredAdvisors.com

My Agency just created this program for entrepreneurial people just like yourself.
 
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