Exclusivefocus Spring 2013 - National Association of Professional ...

fice in order to attend company meetings
and training classes. So the staff was basically
working with me on a daily basis
instead of the new agent/owner. As a
result, questions with no answers began
to pile up and decisions had to be made.
What do we tell our customers What
about vacation time the staff already
planned before the new owner took over
What would be the commission rate for
new business All these were considerations
that needed to be discussed, but I
couldn’t provide any answers because it
was not my business anymore.
Next, we had the Allstate affiliates,
such as LBL, Northeast Agencies,
Hagerty, etc. The new owner had to set
up all of these on the fly as he settled in.
Sure, these things could have been set up
ahead of time, especially since the company
knew he was going to be the buyer
before I did. But why make things easy
Next came the MAIF account, the staterun
high-risk pool, which nobody told
him about either.
So the new owner is running around
trying to secure appointments with the
various Allstate affiliates while, at the
same time, attempting to learn everything
else all at once. Meanwhile, the office is in
my hands and the old staff. My thought
was, “What if the staff quit” Who would
operate the office What would happen
Then I thought of the Allstate location
down the street where the new agent/
owner hasn’t set foot in the office since
purchasing it a month ago, and now it sits
empty with no one to answer the phones
or take payments. Hmmm… I guess that
answers my question.
When the company makes a new hire,
it should hold someone accountable to
help the new agent get up to speed. Apparently
– and I find this particularly
shocking – the company was content to
just let me train the new agent. What
happens when buyers have no mentors
to lean on Most managers can’t help because
they don’t have the skills either. It’s
almost as if the company wants to test
the survival kills of its new hires, and if
they fail, so be it.
New agents should have someone in
the office on a daily basis – at least for the
first few weeks – to help with the transition.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen
when managers are paid hiring bonuses
with no teeth. A hiring bonus should
only be paid after a full-year of successful
agency ownership. That way, management
is incentivized to ensure success.
Right now, new agents are thrown
against the wall to see if they stick – kind
of like the way the company used to run
life promotions on a “submitted premium”
basis, instead of an “issued premium”
basis. Agents received accolades
and went on trips for a bunch of business
that was rejected or turned down by the
customer because the policy had been
rated up for a medical reason. Those who
wrote the business were heroes, but the
company was the loser. Likewise, when
new agents fail, the company loses out
too. They lose someone who could be –
with a little TLC – a great producer: they
lose up to $10,000 in referral fees paid,
hiring bonuses for the FSL responsible
for hiring the agent, time and energy expended
for new agent school and training
and, perhaps most importantly, they
damage their reputation every time an
agent is forced to shut down an agency.
Sadly, the hiring manager doesn’t care
– he’s got his inground pool and is already
looking for a replacement agent
for the one he just hired. This is akin to
the wacky thinking that went into believing
that paying agents on submitted
life business was a good idea. Why not
pay agents for submitting auto apps on
drivers with multiple major violations It
makes about as much sense.
None of my ranting herein is to discredit
the agent who bought my book
or any other new agent. My beef is that
many, if not most, new agency owners
get short shrift in terms of basic job-related
information and practical training.
I am now finished with my three
month commitment with my buyer.
He now seems pretty well trained and
is focused on bringing in new customers.
Keeping current customers, however,
does not seem to be on the training
agenda. This surprises me, since growth
is much harder to achieve with an 80%
retention ratio than a 90% retention ratio.
As always, there are two sides to every
coin and I wish him all the best. Ef
WRIGHT BEAMER, Attorneys
SERVING NAPAA AND THE AGENTS OF ALLSTATE SINCE 2000
DIRK A. BEAMER, ATTORNEY
EXPERT CONSULTING FOR AGENTS AND THEIR ATTORNEYS ON:
• ALLSTATE CORPORATE SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS
• BUYING & SELLING BOOKS
• ALLSTATE EA AGREEMENTS
PH: 248.477.6300
WRIGHTBEAMER.COM
DBEAMER@WRIGHTBEAMER.COM
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