Exclusivefocus Spring 2013 - National Association of Professional ...

ful, would have been less problematic. As
I saw it, I had three choices; cut back on
property production, kill myself trying to
complete the inspections, or mount an
agent protest, which is what I decided to
do. It was this protest that led me to my
first encounter with Market Sales Manager
Nancy Broussard at the regional
kick-off meeting on that cold January
morning in 1990.
It was pretty simple. I hired a button
maker to make some campaign-style lapel
buttons that said things like, “I LOVE
MY JOB BUT NOT ENOUGH TO
WORK FREE – Support Compensated
Inspections.” All told, there were six different
catchphrases with similar messaging.
I then went to the public library
and located copies of all the major phone
books in the state and began to look up
as many Allstate locations as I could find.
When I had the addresses, I mailed an
anonymous letter to the agency force,
asking them to show up at the regional
meeting wearing the buttons that I had
enclosed in the envelope. That was it.
I arrived at the meeting hotel and
stepped into the elevator and there was
Nancy. She was with some agents from
her district who were not wearing their
buttons, so I asked, “Where are your
buttons” As I recall, their excuses were
pretty lame and it was clear they didn’t
want to rock the corporate boat. But they
would be in the minority that day.
A majority of the agents wore their
buttons and senior management seemed
genuinely surprised. When the RVP got
up and spoke, he was visibly shaken and
pleaded with the agents to remove their
buttons. Since the agents had made their
point, they slowly began to remove their
buttons in deference to his wishes. The
intent was not to embarrass or humiliate
local management; instead, it was a way
to show our collective displeasure over
the mandatory inspection program. Believe
me, they got the message…
It would be years after that chance meeting
that Nancy revealed that those agents
in the elevator had asked her beforehand
whether they should wear the buttons or
not. She didn’t tell them not to, but that they
should decide for themselves.
Two years later, Nancy was transferred
to my market and became my Market
Sales Manager (MSM). We got off to a
rocky start, but with the passage of time
I came to understand that she was actually
a friend and defender of the agents,
and I grew to appreciate her. As a manager,
she would zero in on each agent and
determine what she could do to assist
them. For some, it was developing and
implementing processes and for others it
would be something else. For my good
friend Terry Hanson, she volunteered to
inspect and photograph homes. And because
I was so fastidious about proper app
completion and service work, I rarely let
anyone else handle it for me. As a result,
I pulled scores of customer files a week
for information and they would pile up
in stacks until I could re-file them on the
weekends. Nancy saw this as a way she
could help me and offered to come to the
office on weekends to put the files away.
It helped me tremendously.
Converting from employee status to
the EA Agreement was a big step for me
and I spent several months preparing for
Reporting “Questionable Business Practices” to Allstate
NAPAA receives many inquires from agents who call to complain about unethical conduct by other agents. It
seems unethical behavior is becoming more commonplace, which is why it is up to the agency force to police
itself. And reporting bad behavior is easy and will help protect our rates. Following are selected excerpts from
the www.AlertLine.com website, operated by Global Compliance, a third-party provider contracted by Allstate.
“The Allstate i-Report process is designed to allow employees and non-employees to report potential compliance,
unethical business practices and/or raise business issues.”
“The Allstate i-Report Process is based on these principles:
• Fairness: Every concern will receive individual consideration and be evaluated consistent with the commitment
of Allstate to the employees.
• Promptness: Concerns will be promptly directed to areas within the company that have the authority and
responsibility to review, investigate and resolve the issues.
• Safety: Concerns can be voiced without fear of retaliation.
• Confidentiality: Concerns will be kept confidential. Information will be disclosed only to those who need
to know in order to review, investigate and respond to your concern.”
“Global Compliance Services (“GCS”), pursuant to an agreement between its clients, provides a website to
collect from employees and others wishing to report information. This information includes but is not limited to
allegations of misconduct, questionable business practices, violations of a company’s code of conduct or other
events and behavior which may result in harm, injury or liability. The information collected and submitted is forwarded,
without review or modification by GCS, to the client’s designated contacts.”
To file a report, agents should go to www.AlertLine.com or call 800.427.9389.
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