David88k
New Member
- 16
Hello Everyone
I am in the process of trying to decide which direction to go and with which carrier. First let me give you my background to better understand my situation. I was with a big name bank in southern CA for a few years and as time passed by the corporate structure and the branch structure changed completely and I decided it was time to move on. I wanted to get in a field where I did not have to answer to anyone and I was in charge of my own actions so I got licensed and left the bank shortly after.
Being green I had no idea where to begin so I joined an independent insurance group close by in hopes of receiving good training and some guidance on which direction to go. Long story short what ended up happening was that I received no training at all and the only thing I did was a project 200. They helped me get a few sales but my approach was completely wrong and I ended up ruining a lot of good relationships.
Fast forward a few months I saw this guy on TV who is known as the insurance guy in the community. I went to his office and spoke to him hoping to get some training but all that was done was that he got me contracted and that was it. He's a great guy and I have nothing bad to say about him but his no teacher and even though he puts out big numbers all he really does is run his ads on TV and have his staff set up appointments for him. (autopilot)
During this time I spend a lot of time "Getting ready to get ready" and I did a lot of research on this forum about prospecting, marketing and product training. I also was recommended to look into the Insurance Pro Shop which was very helpful. I did their training and I learned their fact finding which has been extremely helpful but now I want to get with a good company and start selling.
I never got the career agent training that a lot of people go through and I think it would be very beneficial for me to also receive that training. I want to represent a big mutual because I do believe in participating whole life, but I also believe in IUL (assuming its right for the customer based on their situation and the policy being reviewed with the customer once a year).
I narrowed everything down to MM vs Guardian. My first choice would be MM because I already have a broker contract and I am familiar with their products but Guardian office might be a better choice and I have an appointment next week to see what they have to offer. I know its not the company and its the office that matters and the office structure so I want to get some feedback on what to expect and what type of information I need to be asking them.
One big issue for me is having a location to put on a business card that has a few conference rooms where I can meet a client if they decide that's what they want to do. Mass offers that and I am sure that Guardian is the same. I looked into Penn Mutual and Ohio National but Penn doesn't have a local office and their marketing director who is the only one close to me didn't really seem very excited about getting together. I think he works out of a home office.
MM has 3 Ga's where I am located. The first office that I went to has been around since 1911 and they have many locations around here with around 120 agents. The other two Ga's have less locations but again that doesn't matter because I don't know what each GA offers. My goal is to visit with each GA to see what type of an offer they put on the table and compare that between the 3 to get the best deal possible. I am trying to decide if I should go Career or if I should go broker. I was told I can do career and if I don't hit my numbers than I can switch over to the broker side. My concern is to know what can be negotiated within the offer.
Career side they have 55% starting and it can go up to 80-83% with bonuses.
Can those bonuses be negotiated? And how high can I get them to go. They mentioned Trippe AAA, Office Allowance, Allowance for Assistant, Persistency Allowance and E & O payed for.
I will ask them in detail what numbers need to be hit in order to qualify for everything and get that in writing to compare it to the other GA offers and make it easier to negotiate.
Guardian GA that I spoke with mentioned salary and a bonus to sign on but I am thinking about asking for a higher commission pay out. At this point a salary would be nice but I feel like with salary comes Micro Management and I am not interested in that. If mass offers salary to compete with guardian can I use that offer to ask for higher comp?
Second is the broker side which is same as career at 55% and the only other variable is the ERA.
Here is the schedule for it that the first GA office offered.
0-24,999 at 15%
25,000-49,999 at 20%
50k-74,999 at 30%
75k-99,999 at 40%
100k+ at 50%
I was told that I can put their business address on my card and use their conference rooms if I need to meet a client inside the office and that's very helpful and I like the fact that I can do that. But again I would still like to get the career training and have an office to go to where there are top producers that I can learn from.
One thing that I can't decide is how beneficial would it be for me to use the mass mutual name on my business card vs lets say my own DBA or the agency name. Does using a know name make a difference in the way customers perceive you? I plan on using a lot of pre approach letters before contacting a potential prospect in a drip marketing style. I will be sending them at least 4-6 pieces of mail and calling them 2 times during that time frame to get in front of them. Would them receiving a letter with a Mass Business card make a better impression vs anything else? Or is the information in the letter that makes a difference? Also I plan on doing a lot of networking, getting involved in community evens and joining different clubs.
Another issue with using a Mass logo is that I have to get everything approved and I do want to use a lot of the Insurance Pro Shops marketing letters and booklets. Their not the most attractive looking pieces but the information in them is good and I feel like it would get a better response than anything that mass has which is talking about a products. If I use the agency name or a DBA then I can do pretty much anything I want.
One thing about Mass is that they don't allow IUL, I was given two conflicting answers but I haven't spoken to the GA yet so that's something to also consider. I don't want to not be able to offer IUL just because of that.
Can someone weigh in on the importance of company recognition?
On the Guardian side. They have 2 agency's here and one of the agency's is actually in the same building as Mass. They also have lots of locations thought the city.
The GA or the managing partner that I spoke to seemed like he was very confident in himself. I was told that the training lasts 6 months and that I will be on salary plus a possible bonus. Again I will consider the salary but am I correct in assuming that salary comes with lots of Micro management? He said that they have in house marketing for agents which I didn't get to discuss in dept. Can someone tell me what he was talking about?
Big thing that I didn't like about what he said was that they want new agents to work with experienced MDRT agents that they have and they want those agents to close the deal for you. My full commission would be split 50% to me, 30 to the experienced agent and 20% to the back office for taking care of the paper work? His excuse was that they don't want agents to be focused on none profit making activities. To me it sounds like a rip off because I have no problem doing the paper work and closing my own deals. Plus my focus is going to be on big whole life or IUL cases. If I was doing lots of term I could understand but not for whole life commission.
Mass mutual managing agents I believe get a override on your commission, so your overall commission is not effected but they still get paid for helping you. I didn't ask them this but am I correct in assuming that this is how it works?
Mass office under this GA has a two week full training course that goes over pretty much everything and I think its a huge plus for them so I need to discuss the guardian side more with them.
Some other questions that I want to ask each office I visit are:
Full expense disclosures (I want to know what I am paying for and what numbers I need to hit to avoid paying expenses)
How many 1-4 year agents they have?
How many 5-10 year agents they have?
Production Minimums?
Ash brokerage contracting. Can someone tell me what type of contracts they give out? Are they negotiable and how much credit do they give you towards your Mass production?
What do benefits look like?
Also what type of prospecting methods their going to teach me?
marketing support?
Am I missing any other questions I should be asking them?
Thank you to anyone that takes the time to respond to this. This forum has helped me tremendously and I want to thank all the members
I am in the process of trying to decide which direction to go and with which carrier. First let me give you my background to better understand my situation. I was with a big name bank in southern CA for a few years and as time passed by the corporate structure and the branch structure changed completely and I decided it was time to move on. I wanted to get in a field where I did not have to answer to anyone and I was in charge of my own actions so I got licensed and left the bank shortly after.
Being green I had no idea where to begin so I joined an independent insurance group close by in hopes of receiving good training and some guidance on which direction to go. Long story short what ended up happening was that I received no training at all and the only thing I did was a project 200. They helped me get a few sales but my approach was completely wrong and I ended up ruining a lot of good relationships.
Fast forward a few months I saw this guy on TV who is known as the insurance guy in the community. I went to his office and spoke to him hoping to get some training but all that was done was that he got me contracted and that was it. He's a great guy and I have nothing bad to say about him but his no teacher and even though he puts out big numbers all he really does is run his ads on TV and have his staff set up appointments for him. (autopilot)
During this time I spend a lot of time "Getting ready to get ready" and I did a lot of research on this forum about prospecting, marketing and product training. I also was recommended to look into the Insurance Pro Shop which was very helpful. I did their training and I learned their fact finding which has been extremely helpful but now I want to get with a good company and start selling.
I never got the career agent training that a lot of people go through and I think it would be very beneficial for me to also receive that training. I want to represent a big mutual because I do believe in participating whole life, but I also believe in IUL (assuming its right for the customer based on their situation and the policy being reviewed with the customer once a year).
I narrowed everything down to MM vs Guardian. My first choice would be MM because I already have a broker contract and I am familiar with their products but Guardian office might be a better choice and I have an appointment next week to see what they have to offer. I know its not the company and its the office that matters and the office structure so I want to get some feedback on what to expect and what type of information I need to be asking them.
One big issue for me is having a location to put on a business card that has a few conference rooms where I can meet a client if they decide that's what they want to do. Mass offers that and I am sure that Guardian is the same. I looked into Penn Mutual and Ohio National but Penn doesn't have a local office and their marketing director who is the only one close to me didn't really seem very excited about getting together. I think he works out of a home office.
MM has 3 Ga's where I am located. The first office that I went to has been around since 1911 and they have many locations around here with around 120 agents. The other two Ga's have less locations but again that doesn't matter because I don't know what each GA offers. My goal is to visit with each GA to see what type of an offer they put on the table and compare that between the 3 to get the best deal possible. I am trying to decide if I should go Career or if I should go broker. I was told I can do career and if I don't hit my numbers than I can switch over to the broker side. My concern is to know what can be negotiated within the offer.
Career side they have 55% starting and it can go up to 80-83% with bonuses.
Can those bonuses be negotiated? And how high can I get them to go. They mentioned Trippe AAA, Office Allowance, Allowance for Assistant, Persistency Allowance and E & O payed for.
I will ask them in detail what numbers need to be hit in order to qualify for everything and get that in writing to compare it to the other GA offers and make it easier to negotiate.
Guardian GA that I spoke with mentioned salary and a bonus to sign on but I am thinking about asking for a higher commission pay out. At this point a salary would be nice but I feel like with salary comes Micro Management and I am not interested in that. If mass offers salary to compete with guardian can I use that offer to ask for higher comp?
Second is the broker side which is same as career at 55% and the only other variable is the ERA.
Here is the schedule for it that the first GA office offered.
0-24,999 at 15%
25,000-49,999 at 20%
50k-74,999 at 30%
75k-99,999 at 40%
100k+ at 50%
I was told that I can put their business address on my card and use their conference rooms if I need to meet a client inside the office and that's very helpful and I like the fact that I can do that. But again I would still like to get the career training and have an office to go to where there are top producers that I can learn from.
One thing that I can't decide is how beneficial would it be for me to use the mass mutual name on my business card vs lets say my own DBA or the agency name. Does using a know name make a difference in the way customers perceive you? I plan on using a lot of pre approach letters before contacting a potential prospect in a drip marketing style. I will be sending them at least 4-6 pieces of mail and calling them 2 times during that time frame to get in front of them. Would them receiving a letter with a Mass Business card make a better impression vs anything else? Or is the information in the letter that makes a difference? Also I plan on doing a lot of networking, getting involved in community evens and joining different clubs.
Another issue with using a Mass logo is that I have to get everything approved and I do want to use a lot of the Insurance Pro Shops marketing letters and booklets. Their not the most attractive looking pieces but the information in them is good and I feel like it would get a better response than anything that mass has which is talking about a products. If I use the agency name or a DBA then I can do pretty much anything I want.
One thing about Mass is that they don't allow IUL, I was given two conflicting answers but I haven't spoken to the GA yet so that's something to also consider. I don't want to not be able to offer IUL just because of that.
Can someone weigh in on the importance of company recognition?
On the Guardian side. They have 2 agency's here and one of the agency's is actually in the same building as Mass. They also have lots of locations thought the city.
The GA or the managing partner that I spoke to seemed like he was very confident in himself. I was told that the training lasts 6 months and that I will be on salary plus a possible bonus. Again I will consider the salary but am I correct in assuming that salary comes with lots of Micro management? He said that they have in house marketing for agents which I didn't get to discuss in dept. Can someone tell me what he was talking about?
Big thing that I didn't like about what he said was that they want new agents to work with experienced MDRT agents that they have and they want those agents to close the deal for you. My full commission would be split 50% to me, 30 to the experienced agent and 20% to the back office for taking care of the paper work? His excuse was that they don't want agents to be focused on none profit making activities. To me it sounds like a rip off because I have no problem doing the paper work and closing my own deals. Plus my focus is going to be on big whole life or IUL cases. If I was doing lots of term I could understand but not for whole life commission.
Mass mutual managing agents I believe get a override on your commission, so your overall commission is not effected but they still get paid for helping you. I didn't ask them this but am I correct in assuming that this is how it works?
Mass office under this GA has a two week full training course that goes over pretty much everything and I think its a huge plus for them so I need to discuss the guardian side more with them.
Some other questions that I want to ask each office I visit are:
Full expense disclosures (I want to know what I am paying for and what numbers I need to hit to avoid paying expenses)
How many 1-4 year agents they have?
How many 5-10 year agents they have?
Production Minimums?
Ash brokerage contracting. Can someone tell me what type of contracts they give out? Are they negotiable and how much credit do they give you towards your Mass production?
What do benefits look like?
Also what type of prospecting methods their going to teach me?
marketing support?
Am I missing any other questions I should be asking them?
Thank you to anyone that takes the time to respond to this. This forum has helped me tremendously and I want to thank all the members
