Insurance Agent Forum

[Joe Moore]

Seems releases are a big topic on this forum.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty and start a real discussion. I know I will be attacked, so bring it on and shoot your best shots. This is called a "discussion board", not a board where I think someone should be called "dishonest, a crook, or other various names" that I have seen myself being called on this board.

What I am asking for here is a civil discussion about what I view as misconceptions and greed by a lot of agents.

We have granted many, many releases for agents that have a reason to be released. Finding somebody that would give 5 points more in my estimation, is not a valid reason.

Let me tell you how I think wholesale releases from any IMO, FMO or any type of Marketing Organization are a potentially disasterous idea, even for insurance agents.

Does anyone ever remember learning in school about Standard Oil Company in the mid 1800's, which brought about the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. I remember my American History Teacher telling about in the 1920's-30's where Standard Oil would have gas stations on 3 corners at a major intersection, and would sell their products at well below cost to drive their competition on the 4th corner out of business. Once competition was broke, Standard either bought the 4th corner at pennies on the dollar, or simply let the 4th corner close. Once their is no competition at this intersection, Standard Oil would double their price.

I think most of us on here would agree, there has to be stability in the insurance industry. I also think most would agree that IMOs and FMOs can more economically and faster call attention to insurance products than an insurance company can. We (as an IMO, FMO or Marketing Organization) are a very important part of the distribution effort of an insurance company.

We probably save insurance companies at least 80-90% of the marketing costs they would have to pay to reach the agents if we were not in the picture. Why do you think insurance companies go to this outside method of distribution? The answer is they have no outside marketing costs until something is sold. They collect money before they have to pay out. In other words, it is more profitable than if they tried to do it themselves.

The companies can spend their time on running the home office, and developing the products without having to deal with actual selling of the products or attracting agents to their company.

We also are much closer to the agents than any home office ever could be. When an agent has a problem that they cannot get solved, we usually know where to go to get the problem addressed and hopefully solved. A lot of us have come from the sales field and understand sales problems that a home office does not have a clue about. By the way, I still work in the field after 21 years in this business so I personally can relate with most any field problem an agent may have.

In other words, in my opinion Marketing Organizations serve a vital purpose to insurance agents, and insurance companies.

I do not feel we make profits "off the back of insurance agents". If you think this way, every insurance company, company officer, company employee, state insurance commission and their employees make their living "off of the back of insurance agents". To the contrary, I feel we bring many new opportunities to the insurance sales community. Naturally, we are here to make a profit and living if we can; just as any insurance agent is in the business to make a living and profit.

IMOs, etc. do compete with each other to recruit agents under the present structures. This is one reason high commission contracts are readily available. You simply can compare what captive companies are paying to determine the difference. We spend many dollars to attract agents and contrary to popular belief by some insurance agents, our income is not all profit. It is also very hard to recruit good insurance agents. If you saw debit balances we have eaten, you would understand some of the problems of running a Marketing Company. We have been bitten by agents we were trying to help; sometimes when nobody else would help. We co-sign all our agents debit balances.

OK, you have heard me preaching about the value of Marketing Organizations, let's get back to my Standard Oil comparison. Let's say I am an IMO sitting on a bunch of cash and I find an IMO structure who will give releases for any reason. I have a great living already made, and will continue to have a great income without any new recruiting or new agents. But, I have found this easy target (a very soft hearted, good old boy IMO) that will give an agent a release for any reason.

This IMO just lost all of his agents to me. I can give this new-found block of business 100% of their normal commissions and all my overrides for a year or so (or even more than 100% of my income from this block of business), just to get the agents, and drive this IMO out of business very fast. If I could do this with every IMO for this company, I would be in complete control--of all agents of this company, and all sales of this company. At that time I could pay the agents what I wanted. A 100% contract could suddenly become a 70% contract, or whatever I wanted agents to have. I would be in control. It could be a scary thing for the company and all it's agents.

Also, what would prevent an insurance company home office to simply offer each agent 5% more, and cut out its IMO marketing structure? If the IMO had pre-agreed to release for any reason, then this would be a reason for a release.

OK, I have presented my thoughts on releases. This is coming from an IMO who works in the field and has been in direct selling of insurance products for over 21 years (mostly senior market). I have sold for 21 years, sat on National Advisory Boards for home offices, been involved with developing insurance products, and am not even close to being a rookie in this business.

Not all our contracts are direct IMO company contracts. We feel it is sometimes to our advantage to go under someone who knows the company or industry better than we do. We have even actually asked to be placed under a more experienced IMO in some instances. I do not mind someone making money off of my efforts, as long as I get paid the agreed upon amount. However, I feel we are close enough to some of our uplines, if we needed a release (for a good reason) we would get it. A nickel more commissions is not a good reason.

All I am asking is that the hot-heads on this forum, please try your best to present your best case for releases without name calling and screaming. I am not trying to blow smoke up your..., just asking for a civil discussion on what seems to be a problem with a lot of folks on this board.

Joe Moore joe@asurco.com
National Senior Benefits
Asurco Insurance Marketing
www.asurco.com
PO Box 1954
Morristown, TN 37816
1-800-226-1004
1-423-581-1004

[GreenSky]

The bottom line here is that I am an independent agent. No marketer has a right to my business.

The release issue is one of honesty. Show me one contract that discusses the fact that I am bound to a FMO/IMO. It does not exist. This information is NEVER given to a prospective agent. It is a totally dishonest system and any marketer that does not disclose this information is dishonest.

Everyone has a right to make a profit. But if an agent (who rarely needs the help from an IMO) can make more money, how dare the marketer stand in his way.

It's a dishonest system. Disclose the indentured servitude clause upon signing a contract and I would have no reason to bitch about it. Instead of 6-12 months of inactivity, change the system to 3-6 month notice while still being able to write business.

The current system screws the agent. Plain and simple.

And yes Joe, you are dishonest.

Rick

[healthagent]

What system would you suggest to protect agents against unethical FMO's.

Use this example:

ABC FMO recruits a new agent - offers a commission reduction in exchange for free leads. Agent signs up, gets a few leads here and there, then the leads dry up.

Again complains - where's all those leads you promised? FMO - no returned calls or emails - finally gets back to the agent with "sorry, the lead system has changed. Leads are $25 a pop now."

Agent says that wasn't the deal, wants out. FMO says "talk to the hand."

And that's game, set and match for the agent. The FMO will not release, the carriers don't want to hear about it, it doesn't even matter if the promise of leads were included in writing since the FMO knows the agent doesn't have the time or money to sue.

Broken system - 100% protection for FMO's - absolutely 0% protection for agents.

Simply not a fair system.

Another example - promise of training and support. Agent signs up - zero training, zero support. Agent wants out....talk to the hand - no release.

So again, as an adult conversation - which system can be put in place to offer some protection to agents.

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Originally Posted by Joe Moore

I know I will be attacked, so bring it on and shoot your best shots. This is called a "discussion board", not a board where I think someone should be called "dishonest, a crook, or other various names" that I have seen myself being called on this board.

Joe, I think your expectations are a little off...

To come onto a public forum and expect that you are going to be able to dictate the tenor of the discourse is naive at best, and controlling at worst.

You're gonna get what you're gonna get. If you don't like it, don't post.

[jdeasy]

It's not up to you decide if 5% is a good reason to leave. It's the agent's decision. Of course, that's just a bs response anyway. I would doubt than very agents, if any, would leave a good service FMO/IMO over 5%. If they did, there is more to it than the 5%.

In your 5th grade analogy, if you did gain control of all the agents and cut their contracts, they would leave you as well.

Fact is, you are being dishonest if you refuse to realease an agent over any reason other than a debit balance. Even with a debit balance, you should release the agent if he clears up the debit.

I've been trying to get realeased from Parker and Asses for a;; of this year. Not because of a higher contract somewhere else, but, because they are crooked. I can get higher contracts elsewhere, but, I would happy to work with them if they were honest. Their basic dishonesty is borne out by their refusal to release.

The good IMO/FMO/GA folks that I work for will grant an unconditional release. It's not an issue because I don't want to be released from them. I just had a guy offer me a 20% higher contract on a life contract than I have through anexcellent GA. I'm not taking it because I have a great relationship and support from where I'm contracted now.

You can try and justify your selfishness all you want, it won't fly with agents that have learned the hard way about FMO/IMO people like you.

I don't know you from Adam except from this board. That's enough for me. I would not contract with you under any circumstance and for any level of contract. You may believe that you own the agents, you do not. You have a temporary hold on them until they learn the real deal.

[salpro22]

Does anyone ever remember learning in school about Standard Oil Company in the mid 1800's, which brought about the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. I remember my American History Teacher telling about in the 1920's-30's where Standard Oil would have gas stations on 3 corners at a major intersection, and would sell their products at well below cost to drive their competition on the 4th corner out of business. Once competition was broke, Standard either bought the 4th corner at pennies on the dollar, or simply let the 4th corner close. Once their is no competition at this intersection, Standard Oil would double their price.

Did consumers have the ability to go to other gas stations that were not twice as expensive in a different area? If so, Standard Oil would have had to reduce prices to remain competitive or offer value added services, such as cleaning windows and fluids.

It is also very hard to recruit good insurance agents. If you saw debit balances we have eaten, you would understand some of the problems of running a Marketing Company. We have been bitten by agents we were trying to help; sometimes when nobody else would help. We co-sign all our agents debit balances.

Yes, and most of the insurance carriers REQUIRE IMO-FMO's to co-sign debit balances. Some even charge the IMO/FMO's interest on advances, so what's your point. It's not like any sane person would want to co-sign if they didn't have to!

OK, you have heard me preaching about the value of Marketing Organizations, let's get back to my Standard Oil comparison. Let's say I am an IMO sitting on a bunch of cash and I find an IMO structure who will give releases for any reason. I have a great living already made, and will continue to have a great income without any new recruiting or new agents. But, I have found this easy target (a very soft hearted, good old boy IMO) that will give an agent a release for any reason.

Pardon me if this offends anybody, but if an IMO/FMO will release an agents for ANY reason and hasn't put protective measures in place that person deserves to go out of business because he is an idiot!

This IMO just lost all of his agents to me. I can give this new-found block of business 100% of their normal commissions and all my overrides for a year or so (or even more than 100% of my income from this block of business), just to get the agents, and drive this IMO out of business very fast. If I could do this with every IMO for this company, I would be in complete control--of all agents of this company, and all sales of this company. At that time I could pay the agents what I wanted. A 100% contract could suddenly become a 70% contract, or whatever I wanted agents to have. I would be in control. It could be a scary thing for the company and all it's agents.

What's your point???? You'are talking about a monopoly and there is PLENTY of business to go around. In your scenario that would only last long enough until somebody else found a way to beat your system. This is friendly competition.

If I open up a gas station directly across from my competitor (has anybody seen this before???) it's my mission to make an honest living and I'll either find a way to help each other to increase profits or I will put the other guy out of business and take his business.

There is nothing wrong with that as long as you have a set of fair ethics. An example of something unethical would be resorting to behaviors like siphoning gas from the other guys gas station, while offering a gift card for every fill up to a local ice cream shop in exchange for profits would be something value added I could use to steal business without compromising my ethics.

I see what you're trying to get, but it sounds like you're against competition. Rick already talked about his thoughts regarding the lack of transparency amongst IMO/FMO's/Insurance Carriers and agents and I agree with him, but the way around that is to be upfront with agents and reach an agreement about what happens should they decide to part ways. I'm not saying that agents should know how much commission the IMO is receiving, but they better be bringing something to the table besides commissions.

Most IMO/FMO's don't operate this way because they have a need to protect their interests. There is nothing wrong with that, but you want to have your cake and eat it....

-J.R.

[retread]

I am a firm believer that competition is good for business.

I also believe in full disclosure. I have been snake-bit by a marketing organization when I first became an agent. Some papers were thrust in front of me to sign (including work history, w-4s, etc.) and when I asked for copies, got only the first page... ostensibly that was all I needed. I expected to get copies of the counter-signed agreement after being processed. I did not. Furthermore, with all the hustle and bustle of learning product information, regulations, etc., I shelved this issue until later. When the time seemed appropriate to resolve this open issue, the upline broker took an affront.

I find a lot of new agents are suckered into signing a contract when they don't even know it is a contract. It was presented to me as a request for appointment that I had to have to sell their product. No discussion about it, no other signatures or counter-signs, no process disclosed for terminating the contract or provision for book of business. A paper just slipped into the stack of others to sign and get on with it.... and don't be late for the sales meeting!

I approached this marketing organization with the promise of training, leads, and mentoring. I got a verbal response that this is indeed what they intended to provide, complete with a schedule of training sessions. The training petered out by the end of the first month, leads dried up by the third month, and the mentoring consisted on how to "sneak up on seniors". Sales method was essentially door to door (selling MA plans) which I determined was illegal. I quit in disgust, and it took most of the following year to extricate myself from the contractual commitments I did not know I had made. This broker, when asked, claimed to not even know what an FMO was, nevermind who he was. Yet the overrides and next year commissions went to him "somehow".

Does this say enough?

[Winter]

[quote=Joe Moore;90746]I also think most would agree that IMOs and FMOs can more economically and faster call attention to insurance products than an insurance company can./quote]

Kool-Aid

No content there.


Winter

[retread]

Joe...

You talked about Marketing costs in another thread, and you did not respond adequately (in my opinion) to the challenge to justify your "marketing" expenses.

Sales Aids: You did not provide a typical cost of developing, printing, and distributing brochures and other sales aids, etc. I assume it is because you don't do this. I find that product sales aids are produced at the carrier's expense. General sales aids are scarce, with most printed matter being sales promos or recruitment ads.

Sales meetings are only held for agents local to the FMO's corporate office. Independents scattered throughout the region are on their own.

To bridge this gap, some FMOs are providing online broker portals. Some are minimal, giving only one page contact info, others are fairly rich with links to carrier product info. Not all FMOs are equal in this respect, so the cost would vary appreciably. A website is certainly a lot less expensive to maintain than distributing hardcopy of sales aids. The burden of printing costs is therefore shifted to the agent.

Sales Promotional material: Rare as hen's teeth! Luckily one carrier I am appointed with provides some really cool stuff. All the rest dole out a few pens or notepads at recruitment seminars. Most agents who get any of this stuff are captives since it comes from the carrier. FMOs just don't put this into their budget.

Training: All the training I get is available online, (and is required for CMS certification in the MA market) and is provided at the carrier's expense. The only intervention I am aware of is the FMO providing email alerts that the training is available and where to go to log in. (The FMO usually sets up the line of products he authorizes those agents for certification, but that is a minor administrative task.)

Leads: Leads are almost always purchased by the agent from a third party. The only privelege is the extension of discounts to their favored lead companies who may or may not sell good leads, but this is hardly a cost to the FMO. Most likely the FMO gets a kickback.

Mentoring: There is hardly any personal contact with an FMO. The most is perhaps at an annual or semi-annual recruitment seminar. (A phone line is provided for contact to field administrative problems, and is probably one of the FMO's biggest expenses. I expect it is in the neighborhood of a couple hundred dollars a month.) I know of no FMO that provides mentors in the field. A downline broker may or may not provide this service, but this is obviously going to be the entry point of the heirarchy and he will have to subsidize this expense, not the FMO.

This leaves the FMO with the expense of recruitment. This is the FMO's business expense and a direct cost of doing business. It is not the responsibility of the agents in the FMO's downline to subsidize this expense, but this is what is happening. Why should an agent pay an FMO to recruit agents who will compete with him?

So Joe... what expense do you actually incur on behalf of your downline?

[jdeasy]

Retread is not being fair here, those questions are tooo haaaard!!

[kuhn123]

Joe
I respect your frustration, but the bottom line is that as agents, we must have the power to put ourselves in the best position possible to remain competitive. Sounds like you may have just have a had a bad run of losing agents lately, and are trying to justify not granting releases. If you truly are ..."a very soft hearted, good old boy IMO that will give an agent a release for any reason", that's the way it should be. Aside from maybe owing a large debit balance or other debt, there really aren't any reasons that you shouldn't grant a release.

Maybe, rather than trying to justify not granting releases, you should start a thread inquiring how to retain the agent's business in the first place. We all understand that an IMO is in business to make a profit (duh!), but it simply cannot take place at the agent's expense (low commission., bad service, inferior products, etc.) I am not accusing you of any of those, b/c I do not know you, just saying in general that poor IMO's are the reason that releases need to be freely granted so that agents are not stuck in bad situations.
Matt
kuhn123@gmail.com

[The Rabbi]

I have less than three years in this businesss and I could teach the MOs a lot about support. Since the ones that I have encountered don't know the meaning of support, they are of no use to me. When I need support, I go to the carrier.

Keep your FMOs unless they can give me a better contract than the carrier. I wouldn't look to them for anything else. And by the way, I want to be paid direct by the carrier.

[TRK3031962]

Tell me Joe, If I can get the same contracts that you offer, the same commission, the same service from the FMO...and they offer unconditional releases, why in the world would I want to go with you?
You see Joe, I'm going through a situation right now where my upline is refusing to give me a release. Why? GREED! Why do I say greed? Well, he has become an alcoholic and doesn't want to work anymore. He recently told me he's not interested in building an agency anymore. I've been doing his work and mine for the past 3 years and then he springs this on me! Throws me to the wolves and then won't give me a release which he stated to me and all the agents he and I hired that he would at any time. See Joe, you just never know what's around the next corner. I've been looking for different FMO's and probably would have called you, but for one reason, no release. I'm not about to get bitten twice for the same thing by the same greedy dog.
You have the ability to raise and lower commission levels at your whim, don't you think that's enough control over your agents? What? You want to tell me where I can go and how much I can make? As you can see Joe, all the analogies in the world can't justify your thinking, not on this forum. You're dealing with agents that collectivly have way more horror stories than you have. This forum is mainly for learning and sharing and hopefully we will enlighten all the agents that come here of not only what to do to be successful, but the "what not to do's" too! Contracting with an FMO that won't give you a release is right up there with being a captive agent!! Don't do it!! RUN, RUN, RUN!!
You come in here trying to justify your greed by saying that an agent shouldn't want a release for just 5% more, and you're probably right, it's not worth it. But because YOU say it's not a good reason....that tells me You're just as guilty by wanting to hang on to the agent for 5% more! That's called greed Joe, go look in the mirror and tell yourself it's not!!
Why would you want to work with an agent who doesn't want to work with you? Can you think of ONE? I can, GREED!!

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Joe,
Your scenario doesn't make sense. If you stole all the agents from one FMO then they deserved it and should have been offering a higher contract. No one leaves for 5% on a life contract, I would for a med supp contract though.
Example....
Street level with Loyal American..... 16%
FMO level........ 24%
What do you do to deserve that 8%?
I should be able to leave you at any time fif you were paying me 16% and someone else offered me 20%. If you don't like it then you should pay higher% instead of losing business. Not picking on you, just using you in the example.

[xrac]

Originally Posted by TRK3031962

Tell me Joe, If I can get the same contracts that you offer, the same commission, the same service from the FMO...and they offer unconditional releases, why in the world would I want to go with you?........ Contracting with an FMO that won't give you a release is right up there with being a captive agent!! Don't do it!! RUN, RUN, RUN!!.....

Joe,

Stated above is the bottom line! If we know better and don't have to why would we? It looks like what you are using to keep agents in the fold will also keep knowledgeable agents like on this forum out of the fold. As sites like this one become more and more well known it will be harder and harder for FMOs who will not grant unconditional releases to recruit anyone except uninformed agents.

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Man, he sure did open a can of worms and took off.

[xrac]

Originally Posted by senior-advisor-indiana

Man, he sure did open a can of worms and took off.

Ditto! Can anybody name one reason an agent should sign with an FMO who will not grant unqualified releases as long as they have other comparable options?

[patch36]

For the most part I do not get the constant uproar over releases. I have only had one company cause me release problems and that is Parker and Associates.

Why would an IMO/FMO want an agent that is unhappy? I can understand not releasing an agent for a Debit Balance or the future risk of a Debit Balance. That is hardly ever discussed here other than by the folks representing IMO's. But if that risk is assumed by the new IMO (highly unlikely) then there is no reason financially not to release an agent. The problem of course is, no IMO is going to take an average agent on or his potential to incur a Debit balance with an insurance company, especially when the IMO did not share in the profits or the original commissions. That opens up a can of worms for the IMO and the agent. Chargebacks in general can be mede against the agent for as much as a year and of course depends on holdbacks, whether full commission is paid, ect.

How do you folks that think an agent should be able to get a release whenever he wants think the Debit Balance issue should be addressed to protect the IMO? That is or should be the only real issue with an honest IMO that keeps them from releasing an agent.

[GreenSky]

Joe:

See, even if others don't call you dishonest, you're not making friends.

As my mother used to say, "straighten up and fly right." You need to earn our business, and so far, you've only proven you are not the kind of MO anyone here wants to work with.

By the way, did I ever mention that the way you do business is perhaps slightly south of honest?

Rick

[Joe Moore]

Originally Posted by senior-advisor-indiana

Man, he sure did open a can of worms and took off.

No, I didn't take off. Some of us have to work on Saturday afternoons. But, I can see I really opened a can of worms.

And contrary to some questioning comments, times have been very well lately for us. With a new final expense product coming on that we helped to develop, we have been very, very busy. Recruiting has been very good because of the quality of the product. It is amazing what a company can develop if they listen to what the sales organization is saying.

The way we try to operate is probably much different than most IMO's. We try to give agents and agencies the most points we can give and still try to make a profit. We have tried the "Free Lead" situation and we are not smart enough to do it, and still pay the agents well. By the way, we do not want to pay our agents (or handle the agents money). We do not have an agent contracted that is paid directly by us. We would rather let the companies do this, and really do not want to handle the agent's money.

We have settled on the idea of trying to help find the best lead sources at a reasonable price and put our agents into contact with these sources (no we do not get a rebate from anyone).

For this new final expense product we are developing a new lead piece. We are testing it in Morristown, TN and surrounding areas, We are doing the lead ourselves, using a local printer and a local mailing house. But we have only ordered 10,000. Our cost is about $460/1000. This is not competitive. But to do what we want to try on the lead, it is worth a costly trial. This is the type of behind the scenes activity we are always trying. Some things work, some things don't

Our contracts vary with points just as all contracts do. We cannot make a profit at a 5% markup, with the risk associated with contracting and co-signing agent debit balances. All of our agents have direct company contracts and we try to have a 10-20% higher commission than we pass along to agents and agencies. To get a 10% less commission, we need to see the possibility of $100-150,000 or so in net paid production credit.

We are not a super-large IMO, and we also do not have the expenses of the monster IMO's. My son Greg Moore and I are the main office personnel, with one other marketer. We have had 3 marketers (telephone recruiters) in our office, but seem to do better with less people that understand the products, agent problems and know what they are doing. Our volume is a little over $1 million life premium , and maybe 1000-1500 Medicare Advantage plans (I have no clue how you figure these as production volume). We have 300 or so agents contracted and about one out of five will produce business on a monthly basis.

Put the pencil to our profits. I feel I still have to personally produce to try to survive. Ok, we do $1 million with an average 15% mark-up, that's $150,000 , we do 1200 or so Medicare Advantage Plans with maybe an average $60 mark-up, thats $72,000, total of $222,000. Our expenses are about $200,000 per year to run the office. That is $22,000 profit per year. I cannot live on $22,000 per year, so I personally sell and yes, I do have a lot of renewals to fall back on (thank goodness). I ran for mayor in 2007 in our hometown and my wife was thankful I lost. She was wondering how we could survive on $8400/year. I have to agree, we could not have survived. I am also glad I lost.

When we are giving contracted agents all we feel we can do and still survive; and they are in the 100-105-110-115% range on commissions (depending on company and product). With these high commissions, I feel the agents should be able to afford leads out of their pocket.

I remember 12-15 years ago, my son and I sold many life insurance products with a 75% commission and I was more than glad to bust my butt for this 75%. I really needed the money. I did not care what someone else was making as long as I was getting my 75%. I felt their markup was really none of my business.

One of our top life agents, probably doing $150,000 in life premium this year with us has probably collected $3-4000 from us this year in bonuses, plus his 105% commission. He called us last month and asked if we would pay for him and another couple's lodging on his vacation-the answer was yes we will, at a cost of about $1200 for 4 days. If he asked for a release, I would wonder why. He has never had it so good. We have given him just about anything he has asked for. If he has a problem with a company, we try our best to take care of it even if it take someone a full day. We are always doing behind the scenes things for our agents.

It seems I may be the only IMO willing to respond to the gripes of agents (especially on the issue of releases). I may be stupid to do it, but I believe the only way to operate is by communicating with people agreeing with you, and also those disagreeing with you. In Tennessee, they say plain talk is hard to misunderstand.

This is the way we try to operate. Will I sign off on an automatic release just because an agent wants it? NO! Most of the times, the agent has been promised "free leads" that never materialize. Our release agreement protects our agents more than us, and gets them away from the company promising, but not delivering "free leads". It allows the agent to come back to us at any time they want to in the first 24 months. Many have come back to us because the "free leads" do not work out, even at 40-50% less commissions than they had with us.

I feel we do everything for our agents that we can afford to do. Most of the times we have actually been asked for a release, it has been granted, but sometimes with conditions.

As one of the comments says, an IMO that has not put protection in place to lose his agents is stupid, I subscribe to that theory. We will continue to give our agents the most we can afford to, and hopefully still survive. But a blanket automatic release, NO!

Darn, I remember the times when all I had to worry about was who my next customer would be. Those had to be the "good old days".

By the way, I do appreciate the way most of the comments are on this forum. Except for some bozo still calling me "dishonest". I am trying to be as honest as I can, but sometimes the best effort is not good enough. We should all be able to agree to disagree.

Just because I have a difference of opinion than someone does not make either of us "dishonest".

Joe Moore joe@asurco.com
National Senior Benefits
Asurco Insurance Marketing
www.asurco.com
PO Box 1954
Morristown, TN 37814
1-800-226-1004
1-423-581-1004