Vantaggi
I felt I had the moral obligation to write a review of Farmers Insurance for the people who may be on the fence about joining with the company. I was involved with a cohort in a NJ location about a year ago, of 20 agents or so people. By the end of the first quarter, there were only 3-4 of us that had hit the first initial policy count, most of those policies being family members. I left Farmers Insurance for a much better position in NYC about 9 months into the program that actually had a Base salary and Commission. I think it taught me how to hustle, and sell in an industry that was completely unfamiliar to me. I hit my numbers through my whole, short lived career at Farmers, but knew it wasn’t the path for me. Recruiters, like some of the earlier post portray, have an extremely difficult time onboarding new agents. In order to be an agent, you must pass four insurance tests (very passable) and about 800 dollars in total out of the newly hired agent’s pocket. The most confusing part about the onboarding process, is the recruiter trying to explain and justify the “Subsidy” that Farmers against survive on. Like they will tell you, it is a business loan for you to jump start your insurance business. Since I have left the company, I have received many letters regarding my Subsidy, but no phone calls. Even though, I did very well, and lead my peers in numbers month after month, I am 16,000 dollars in debt to Farmers Insurance. Something that I didn’t think would be a big deal and may forgot about itself (yea right) but I now have a lawyer’s office in Philadelphia sending me letters to collect. They pitch the idea of “run to daylight” which is extremely hard to attain. If all the factors are in your favor, I would assume there is a 1 in a 1000 new agents that hit the desired requirements. Don’t count on making the run to daylight hours. And the successful, happy agents, you may see around the office, are in debt up to their eyes, and are too afraid to leave because of the constant fear of the Subsidy loan. While at Farmers Insurance, most of my peers were burnt out “business-men” who are desperate for work. A degree is not required to sell insurance, so the majority of the new recruits are uneducated and destine for failure. But the recruiter doesn’t care, because as long as the new agents stay on for a certain period of time (may be the completion of the first quarter), then they get paid. So these new hires are being boarded onto the “Farmers Dream” and digging themselves into thousands and thousands dollars of debt. It is clear from the first day of training, of who may have a fighting shot at opening their own agency, and those who were hired to get the recruiter paid. And trust me, the recruiters are working off of commission and are desperate to hire new recruits to get paid. I think overall, the experience can be a good one for those who have prior sales experience with insurance. Timing was also a big factor, because the cohorts before mine, were given 10X the amount of leads and much more quality ones at that. When Farmers Insurance first started in NJ, their leads were coming from their online division (21st Century) and going straight to the agents. They were given 40 new leads (prospects had interest in attaining insurance in the last 24 hours) and 20 old leads (prospects were looking for insurance greater than 24 hours ago). When I started, there were so many classes (or cohorts) of agents, the leads when I started were at 10 a day, and then eventually trickled down to 0 leads a day. Most of the agents that were successful were involved in the very beginning of Farmers Insurance in NJ, and tend to have an existing book to clients to sell to. The insurance business is mostly a family run operation. For instance, an agent may do well because his father did well and was well liked and known in the community. If you have that case, then this route of insurance career is right for you. I am also writing this review, because I can’t past agents somehow uniting and beating the Farmers Subsidy. There is a whole army dedicated to destroying Farmers Insurance, but it tends to be unhappy policy holders. If someone has an idea how to beat, or best approach the Farmers Subsidy, please email me. Feel free to also email if you have any questions regarding my employment and if it may be the right path for you.
Svantaggi
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