Exclusivefocus Summer 2012.pdf - National Association of ...

featureTerminated? What’s the Big Deal?By Dave ThorpeWe all remember FDR’s famousstatement that gave solaceto a frightened nation; “Theonly thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”Many of you in various regionsthroughout the country remember acertain high-profile RVP who madehis mark by terrifying agents, territorialleaders and local sales leaders. He alsospent a lot of time in court defendinghis and Allstate’s actions. His style wasmanagement by intimidation. And itworked. He scared the hell out of me. Hewas perhaps best known for the lawsuitshe was party to. I’m not going to use hisname in this article for fear of a redux ofprevious litigation. I thought about quittingback then, and to this day wonderwhat would have happened had I doneso. I decided to contact a few agents wholeft Allstate either voluntarily or otherwiseto see if they were better off.I was instrumental in the hiring ofWade Rohrs back in the late 1970s.Wade was an adopted child and after hisadoptive parents died, he changed hisname to his biological mother’s name,Hatton. We worked together sharing asales booth in a Sears’ store.Problems surfaced right away. He wasa handsome lad who was easily distractedby the Sears’ girls – and they loved hisattentions as well. He felt restricted inthe confines of Sears and thought theagency manager to be slow-witted. Sohe decided to walk out and try his handat catching bigger fish. On his plane rideout of town to Newport Beach, he happenedto sit next to a procurement officerwho worked for a small local airline. Theofficer complained about the pedanticattitude of his then commercial insuranceagent.Largely as a result of that meeting,Wade decided to go into commercialinsurance covering airlines. He kept incontact with the aforementioned procurementofficer and when licensed,wrote up the airline. That segued intoselling coverage for municipalities, titlecompanies, fast food restaurant chainsand global business entities. He becamea multimillionaire and 30 years later,bored by insurance, sold his agency. Hebought a high-end hotel at the foot ofthe San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, Arizonaand renamed it the Hatton House.You can say hello to Wade by emailinghim at mhatton2006@yahoo.com.Mike Conley is a bright lad with an artisticbent. He sold a 10-year-old agencyof medium size in 2000. He wanted thefreedom of a self-employed entrepreneur.He started Boundary Waters Pools andSpas. He designs pools, gazebos andSummer 2012 Exclusivefocus — 23