farmers insurance agent- good career choice?

[grizzlybear]

like title, I have a chance to start up with farmers. Is it a good choice? thoughts?

 

[why]

These 'careers' generally require you to take out a loan and work to pay it back. It's a fairly well-known scam.

 

[grizzlybear]



These 'careers' generally require you to take out a loan and work to pay it back. It's a fairly well-known scam.

i wouldnt be paying for anything, i believe youre thinking about becoming an independent which would require you to take a loan to start your own business. i'd pay roughly $450 to get my licence and classes etc to be able to start selling insurance through farmers.

 

[why]



i wouldnt be paying for anything, i believe youre thinking about becoming an independent which would require you to take a loan to start your own business. i'd pay roughly $450 to get my licence and classes etc to be able to start selling insurance through farmers.

And then you work entirely on commission. It's just a way for them to get your friends and family to buy insurance. There's really nobody else to sell to after that.

If they were really interested in you they'd be paying for the real certification. I know someone who went into one of these 'interviews' (which was more like a sales pitch). The $450 is just the 'Farmers certification' (i.e. you pay $450 to Farmers). You can't actually sell policies yourself at that point.

Essentially, you pay them money for the 'certification' to cover their HR department costs and then work completely on commission. It's a win-win for them: no investment yet the possibility of return.

 

[grizzlybear]



And then you work entirely on commission. It's just a way for them to get your friends and family to buy insurance. There's really nobody else to sell to after that.
If they were really interested in you they'd be paying for the real certification. I know someone who went into one of these 'interviews' (which was more like a sales pitch). The $450 is just the 'Farmers certification' (i.e. you pay $450 to Farmers). You can't actually sell policies yourself at that point.
Essentially, you pay them money for the 'certification' to cover their HR department costs and then work completely on commission. It's a win-win for them: no investment yet the possibility of return.

they actually dont get any money from it, I pay that money to get my P&C and another license, and i wouldnt be selling to friends and family because they dont want me to do that. the deal is that after i sell 44 policies i get a monthly salary of about $2500 + commission on whatever policies i sell

 

[why]

I don't know the details because I only heard about this from someone who went into an interview. He quickly walked out. It's designed for you to fail after signing up all your friends and family with Farmers.

You can Google this and see lots of information on it. From the looks of things, you're better off selling used cars.

A quick Google search returned the following quote from an email solicitation that was seemingly sent to people who had their resumes online:

Through the first two years, Farmers provides an excellent subsidy program with a guaranteed base of at least $84,000 for hitting the minimum requirements.

I'd be very wary of this, because it sounds like a way to get you on the hook.

And I absolutely would never take a job that's sent as unsolicited emails through job search websites. There's a reason they do this: the goal is to have tons of agents who sell insurance to friends and family and then never get past basic commission. It's the insurance equivalent of Amway.

 

[Dakota rube]

I know a Farmers agent. IIRC, Farmers has a really attractive training program that will actually pay your bills while you're building a book of business.

However, he — like a lot of long-time agents — is getting killed by the internet. All the national insurance cos are taking apps and writing coverage, bypassing the local agent.

 

[grizzlybear]



I know a Farmers agent. IIRC, Farmers has a really attractive training program that will actually pay your bills while you're building a book of business.
However, he — like a lot of long-time agents — is getting killed by the internet. All the national insurance cos are taking apps and writing coverage, bypassing the local agent.

does he have to pay anything back?
everything i talked about with the manager he made it seem like its a good career and what not (obviously he will) but i'm trying to get to the so not sugar coated stuff

 

[grizzlybear]

anyone?

 

[MrG]

Dude, how about you just tell us exactly how many people are going to have to say, "it's a bad idea" before you listen. That way, you can meet your quota and this thread can slip into oblivion.

FWIW, I received the same type of solicitation why describes after I posted my resume on Monster at the end of grad school. I was confused, so I called them back. They described their model, and it was really obvious it was a scam. Yours sounds like the same type of thing.

That's three of us.

 

[Piobaire]

I had a friend that was deeply into AL Williams (I think it's called Primerica now) the big MLM life insurance company. This guy was a true blue believer and relentlessly tried to get me to go to one of the meetings. He put a big push for this one particular meeting as some big shot was going to be there. So finally I relented and went. The big shot speaker started off with, "If you think you're going to earn 100k at your day job next year just leave now." I got up and started walking out. People freaked. I guess it's the first time anyone ever got up to leave.

 

[otc]



I had a friend that was deeply into AL Williams (I think it's called Primerica now) the big MLM life insurance company. This guy was a true blue believer and relentlessly tried to get me to go to one of the meetings. He put a big push for this one particular meeting as some big shot was going to be there. So finally I relented and went. The big shot speaker started off with, "If you think you're going to earn 100k at your day job next year just leave now." I got up and started walking out. People freaked. I guess it's the first time anyone ever got up to leave.

 

[Hoofit]

Just walk away. I did this about 5 years ago, because my family has an agency with Farmers. I ended up not making the numbers and walked away before I had to pay anything back. Their contract has changed and not in your favor. They have all the control over rates, and if they are high in your area you wont make the numbers. If you really want to sell insurance get in touch with a local independant agent and start as a producer. You will get an idea for the business and have the ability to place business with more than one company. Did I mention that Independant companies pay better commissions than captives.

You would be suprised at how many agents they try to put on. I would say that 10% make it past the 2 year mark with Farmers. Unless they are going to be giving you a ton of policies from a retiring agent I wouldn't consider it.

 

[itsanillusion]

Let me tell you from personal experience. I started this "start-up" franchise/ pyramid scheme a couple years ago. Was there almost 2 years. I was promised the stars and everything seemed to go as they said it would. Qualified for the subsidy loan and even meet goals to get it waived. Then after several months of being involved with it. I started to seem some changes. You see I started off with using my savings to help me get started. You have to reach goals before you can get any subsidy assistance. Just as I ran out of all my savings, the subsidy did kick and the pressure was off as I started to make sale and then of course the subsidy money. Well things change and that included the contract that I originally signed. Goals changed and then of course we started to see the insurance rates for our customers go up. This was ok at first as we were still competitive. Then are started to see the rates go up more and more. Pretty soon I could not get any business because the rates are to damn high and then the renewals came around.. Well, lets just say there was a lot of angry clients. I started to see cancellations, complaints, service problems and underwriting issues come from all different directions. My life turned into a nightmare I could no longer make any sales calls as I was too busy putting out fires. What seemingly started to be a great career turned into the worst living nightmare of my life. I am now completely broke, have no savings left, owe a lot of money (subsidy) to the company and have lost friends and angered family members because of the kind of business farmers is. This company has found a way to hire a bunch of people, get them to sale their friends and family, then jack the rates on them while spending all their savings and borrow money from them in the process while reaping the profits. Now I have left them and went on to better things and all I have left of this experience was more debt, pain and nothing to show for the hard work put forth.

 

[itsanillusion]

this is very true