Help, Starting As Producer for State Farm Agent

pesmay

New Member
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I was just offered a position with a state farm agent in AZ with a base of 24k a year. What i am worried about are the production requirements. I would need to produce 20,000 - 30,000 in new P&C and 20 policies and would need to have a minimum of 4 life apps per month. I would receive up to 10% of the P&C commissions if i write 10 life apps a month. 4% if i write 4 apps and etc. etc. Is this reasonable? It is my first year in the industry. I dont want to take something and find out the expectations were not reasonable. Thanks for the help
 
Re: Please Help- Starting As Producer for State Farm Agent

I would think you can hit those goals if they let you work off their current customer base.
State Farm life insurance products are not even close to being priced competitively but if you are working loyal State Farm customers they usually won't shop you.
 
Re: Please Help- Starting As Producer for State Farm Agent

I think I'd run from this offer. How long is he willing to give you that salary if you're not meeting production requirements? Do you get any renewals from the P&C? What portion of the life commission do you get? How much is he going to be there for you when you have questions, need help? Where are your leads going to come from? How many other producers are in the office, how successful are they? How long has he been with State Farm, is he a TICA that is in danger of getting canned?

If you got a street life contract at 70% (which you can do better, but sounds like you need a lot of hand-holding).

4 life apps x $1,000 yearly premium = $2,800. More than his salary
10 life apps x $1,000 yearly premium = $7,000.

I suspect that if you write this guy 10 life apps and 20 P&C apps, you won't make 7k total. Now, I will say that the life apps you write with him will probably be for lower premium amounts. State Farm just wants apps, they don't care about the premium amount at all when it comes to life.

So, only you can decide if this is a good offer for you or not, but just make sure what you get is worth what you are giving up to get it.
 
Re: Please Help- Starting As Producer for State Farm Agent

Volagent covers it pretty well. It doesn't sound like a very good deal to me but I don't know exactly how SF works. For me a P&C account is a household (home, autos, rentals, toys, etc) but I remember one SF agent telling me that they counted each auto as a separate policy... if that is the case than the number is attainable. 20 complete households per month is tough to do on a consistent basis without multiple quality lead sources. The life goals sound high to me unless he has a huge customer base that he is allowing you to cross sell.
 
From what i understand there would be lead sheets we would receive from telemarketers everyday. Each telemarketer is required to produce two pages of leads. The rest would be done by myself i believe besides what comes through the door. The agency has been in business for 14 years now but was just moved to a new location because the other SF agents in the area are not producing enough business so SF brought her in to make the market more competitive. I was also told that a producer in the office was let go after 3 weeks due to production requirements and work ethic. I think there are 3 - 4 other SF agents within a 3 mile radius. As far as 20 households a month goes i believe that includes autos and renters or fire. Thanks for all the help
 
Each telemarketer is required to produce two pages of leads.

Danger Will Robinson!

See all the threads about internet leads. This sets up the circumstances for the telemarketers to pad their results to make sure and fill that sheet everyday.

Also, that is what the SF agent told you. But is that the truth? I'm not saying she is lying or even stretching the truth, but there are always two sides to every story.
 
Re: Please Help- Starting As Producer for State Farm Agent

Is this reasonable?
As they say, "you've got to pay your dues to sing the blues." As someone with minimal experience, if you're in it for the long term you'll learn an awful lot. What other offers do you have?
State Farm life insurance products are not even close to being priced competitively...
Yes and no. If you're talking about term insurance, I would agree - but SF has a 10 Pay life that has been one of the strongest "cost-index" performers amongst whole life contracts for many, many moons and suns. Granted, a newb is probably not going to know how to sell it...
The life goals sound high to me unless he has a huge customer base that he is allowing you to cross sell.

With the number of folks coming through the average SF agency in a week, if you can't find one term life app in there - you're either not asking, or you suck.
 
I would really be most concerned with the fact that they released another producer after 3 weeks due to lack of production. Thats nuts... It takes a while to get things going.

Personally, I think 20 to 30 new business policies per month is not unreasonable. It just depends on a lot of different factors.

Are they going to provide quality leads to you? Telemarketing leads are all over the board. Can you work cross selling on existing clients?

Expecting you to produce like that in the first month is unreasonable. But in a stable atmosphere, that involves training, support and a commitment to your development it might be a good opportunity.

My point is dont rule out the concept, just maybe this setting.
 
Could anyone tell me what would be a great offer? I would love to go back to talk with the agency owner with another proposition. I also met with another state farm agent today who says they have a minimum of 10,000 a month and that the goals that are set at the agency i got the position for has some pretty lofty goals especially for a newbie like myself. Any help would be great. What should i go back and ask for as far as reasonable goals a month and commissions/ bonuses based on production. Thanks again.
 
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