Exclusivefocus - National Association of Professional Allstate Agents ...

featureThe Emergence of the “Indeployee”BY NANCY FISH,ASSOCIATION MANAGER AND FORMER AWARD-WINNING ALLSTATE MANAGERDuring the campaign and election ofthe 44th president of the UnitedStates, Americans saw unprecedentedevents unfold before their eyes. I watchedthe candidates closely and learned a lotfrom those competing for the highest officein our land.As the economic situation has worsened,one thing has become abundantlyclear. Our best hope for recovery goingforward is not divisiveness, but unity.Now is not the time to focus on individualinterests, but the needs of all citizens.The importance of pulling together forthe common good of the country cannotbe overstated.This spirit of “all for one and one forall” is not unlike the many calls NAPAAhas made for agent unity since its foundingnearly 20 years ago. NAPAA is focusedon the needs of the entire agencyforce, not just the narrow interests ofindividual board members or individualagency owners. As an organization, ourpassion is grounded in our sense of commonpurpose. Every time an Allstateagent’s contract is terminated withoutjust cause, every Allstate agent suffers aninjustice. Each time the company rejects,for no apparent reason, a seemingly giltedgedbuyer, with impeccable credentials,a clean background check and a passingscore on the track test, it increases thepossibility that the same thing couldhappen to other sellers. Whenever anagent is forced to attend training sessionsdue to lack of production or for otherreasons, then other agents lose some oftheir autonomy.In recent years, we have witnessedunprecedented employee-like controlsfoisted upon agency owners. These controlsinclude the imposition of the “ExpectedResults” quota system, mandatedoffice hours, ever-changing “make upthe rules as you go along” buyer approvalstandards, compulsory call forwarding,and mandatory meetings, just to namea few.Most recently, the company is attemptingto force agents and staff to useits “Good Hands® Coverage Checkup.”We can only assume that the companydoesn’t want agents using their own policyreview methods because of its keendesire to follow the lead of McDonald’sand other national franchises to createthe same experience for customerswherever they are. This one-size-fits-allapproach might work well for the purveyorsof Big Macs and Whoppers, butinsurance? Could it be that the companyis gearing up to convert its agencies intofranchisees or is it just trying to act likea franchisor?In addition to telling agents how toperform customer reviews, the companyhas also strongly suggested that agentsbegin “Quoting the lowest price availableevery time.” So now, not only areagents being told how to perform customerreviews, they are being told howto sell auto insurance policies by managersthat have little or no insurance salesexperience. Leaving no stone unturnedin their quest for increased auto production,managers are now counting agentquotes, calculating agent closing ratiosand, in some cases, requiring agents toreport their production on a daily basis.If this isn’t bad enough, some agentshave reported that they’ve been askedto develop and submit a plan to theirmanagers for “approval.” In most casesthis is being requested during the annual“Agency Review” process.The preceding paragraphs offer sev-44 — Exclusivefocus Spring 2009