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You're making some ASSumptions here Mike.
If you don't need training and you don't need support, just go find the best contract you can find and stick with it. If you want a release guaranteed upfront in writing because you're going to leave over the first perceived injustice, I would happily tell you to walk down the street and find someone else that wants to sign up for that. Maybe you'd stick around, maybe you wouldn't, but generally speaking the agents that are fussing about such things aren't going to be producers in any volume and they're going to be the ones that are huge time wasters. Are there exceptions to that rule? Absolutely. Do recruiters miss out on some good agents if they don't offer a written release upfront? Sure. Is it worth the hassle? I don't think so.
The OP seems sheepish about wondering about the release policy and wonders why the uplines aren't forthcoming with those. That's the question at hand. The answer is that only on this forum have I *ever* heard of something like that. It's *not* standard operating procedure. It's a weird document that one agent in particular has heavily supported and as irony would have it, the same document and request he's expected of others came back to bite him for all the reasons I've mentioned before.
I don't have a grudge against agents, not by a long shot. As a recruiter though, if an agent isn't looking to commit, I say no thank you. I'm very upfront with folks about what I'm offering and what to expect and they're more than welcome to not sign on the dotted line. They're welcome to shop around and look for whatever they want and if someone has something they think is better for them then I strongly encourage them to go for it.
To go back to your assumptions, you're not being held hostage. You signed on the dotten line on a contract and agreed to it. If you don't need training and support, you know full well you can command a higher contract level.
What type of time and effort do you expect an upline to invest in an agent that wants to be able to leave at a moments notice for a few more points. The real kick in the shorts is when you do spend time and energy training and supporting an agent only to have them "figure everything out" and then after you've made $1/hour for supporting the agent they want to walk down the street to another upline that doesn't have to train them anymore so now they've taken advantage of you. As an upline, I don't have to sign off on anything either. I don't have to give a guaranteed release upfront and in writing, I can say no thank you, try giving Todd a call or a list of other uplines.
Mike, since you made the personal claim that it seems like I have a grudge against agents, I'd like to point out to you that I've cut checks to agents that were working with me and not producing out of my own pocket because I know they were working AND I was giving them free leads. Tell me ONE OTHER upline that you know of that has opened up THEIR checkbook in addition to footing 100% of the lead bill (obviously in exchange for a reduced contract). When I'm committing to thousands of dollars in lead generation for an agent, you're damn right I don't want to give them a release as soon as they want to walk down the street.
How many agents do you see fail because they don't have leads, training, and support? What do you think the failure rate would be if agents committed to their uplines and their uplines had a real vested interest in their success.
