Letter from a Prudential Agent:
I'm new enough to be amazed, and seasoned enough not to be, at the similarity and resonance between the Farmers agent program description and my experience as a Prudential agent. I was heavily recruited by Prudential and made a mid-life career change because of a personal relationship I had with someone there, and then there were all those promises attached to smiling, cheering faces. Ahhh, to turn the clock back. Now that I have my licenses, along with knowledge and experience, I've been looking at options. You called it the 'exit strategy' - nicely put :-) I've been looking at Farmers, and weighing it against just going Independent. It's been somewhat challenging to find solid, guiding information about how to do this. I've taken a full-time job to provide income stability while I gradually build an insurance business (this is against the rules and the position hasn't yet started - so will have to leave Prudential soon). Maintaining a source of reliable income is definitely the way to do it rather than going through all your resources building a new business. Umm, 'building your own business' is also a misnomer as you have pointed out. What you're doing is using your resources to support a billion dollar company.
I could write much more (perhaps a website of it), but wanted you to know that I have now spent many hours reading your entire site and would like to be in correspondence. I appreciate that you took the time to make the information available, and that you've also included a range of opinions. There really should be a site that has all the insurance industry agent programs available for comparison.
You seem to speak highly of State Farm, but I've talked with them as well. They want me to come on-board with them too. I imagine that will be true of most though and don't take that necessarily as a compliment to me. I chose (not executed yet) Farmers over State Farm because of the hybrid nature of Farmers and IA, but what you're telling me is that reality is different from the recruiting information. State Farm may give me a book, etc.. but the information I have is that significant capital is required, and they can provide start-up costs, but the 'subsidy' is repaid over time from commissions. State Farm provides the book, and some advance funding because they do require the storefront, staff, etc... This path is not an undertaking to be considered lightly, it's a full-on commitment, and at this point having my experience with Prudential, I'm not jumping into any insurance agent program that requires a captive, quota based commitment on my dime. I'm very entrepreneurial, and I realize that any business has start up costs and profits come from sales. At the same time, if it's my business then I won't have my hands tied behind my back while trying to make a profit (captive agent), and the fruits of my efforts will belong to me. I won't have people who don't pay me dictating to me, or consuming vast quantities of my time.
When my ability to feed myself is based on selling something, then my time is my own and best spent with clients and prospective clients. Of course, I'm referring to mandatory meetings that never stop. Constant check-ins (Prudential calls them PEP sessions) so you can write down, tell about, list, or otherwise communicate the number of phone calls and appointments you're making. Alright, I said I was going to stop writing. I know this site is about and for prospective Farmers agents, so 'job well done' to you, but is there a way to share other insurance company information too? Is this a good place to ask questions about IA? Thank you in advance.
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