Insurance Agent Forum

[jeremyw81]

I was offered a job with aon corporation a office out of ohio here. They want me to do the ride along with a a agent then if i like it send me to chicago for 2 weeks. I have no insurance background at all IS THIS A GOOD CAREER MOVE OR BAD. AND CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THIS IS THE RIGHT COMPANY TO START WITH?

[fostever]

Sounds like an Aflac type contract. I looked into that and did a ride along,which turned into a conversation at a Burger King. He didn't sound to excited about what he was doing and didn't have any appointments set up or just didn't like tag alongs. They are a solid company, but I saw it as a foot soldier captured agent contract with alot of ifs and no salary. I figure a captured agent contract should at least have base salary instead of just benefits and incentives. You do get some existing business and affiliation with BBB member lists. If you have a base salary and traditional products they are an old established company. Clement Stone, the founder, died at 100+ years old, a few years back. I partied with his grandaughter 20 years ago. Boy was she spoiled by old grand pappy.

[Cenla Agent]

Sounds like Combined Insurance. It's about as easy to go to work for them as it is to go to work selling cars. There are several threads about them in the archives. They are a revolving door and are always hiring. I know in my area, every time I update my resume on Monster and Careerbuilder, I get an email from them, and sometimes a call.

They do have pretty good training and will train you to get your license. But a lot of the training is psychological "Positive Mental Attitude" stuff, b/c the man who started the company, W. Clement Stone was a pioneer with that.

It might be better in urban areas like Chicago (where it started) but generally they will send you all over rural areas collecting semi annual premiums (they want bank draft business now but they still have a lot of old policies that have to be picked up) and knocking on doors to try to sell little accident and sickness supplemental policies. I was in the same situation as you about 6 years ago and they misrepresented how far they wanted me to travel, so I quit a few weeks later, but not after them throwing a hissy fit and berating me over the phone etc. I've had several others tell me they've gotten similar responses when they quit. They do have good licensing training, but their sales methods are horribly antiquated IMHO. They also tout their PAL method of training, but there's no guarantee your trainer will be committed to it since it consists of you riding with them and them basically giving you sales. They are also captive. I'd recommend Colonial or someone else who is in the same market but who isn't captive. I think the way Combined gets a lot of people is b/c they will get you licensed. Because the policies are small supplemental policies, you have to sell A LOT of policies to make it with them.

I guess the bottom line is if you like cold calling door to door (both business and residential) and you want to do that long term it might not be so bad. If you don't see yourself doing that, forget about it. I think you can probably do better elsewhere. Maybe try to find a local agency that would be willing to mentor you, or something like Monumental, Western-Southern or someone else that will pay you a salary while you learn.