This is a fair point, but remember that every company will have its issues. I've done a lot of reading on these boards since I joined, and there's a great deal of gold here. If a newbie were to follow three steps they'd be helping themselves quite a bit:
1. Starting off it's best to work captive, in my opinion, because of the product training, sales training, marketing training and exposure to the systems, compliance and regulations issues you absolutely have to know for the long run.
2. Research the company and its lead products. New York Life approaches things differently than does Met Life, but they're both very good companies. If you're more comfortable with Whole Life and higher end clients, NYL may be your choice. You'd also look at Mass Mutual, Northwestern and Guardian. Met Life would in general be a step down in terms of quality of clients, but the pool of prospects is bigger. Understand the companies, research them, understand what they focus on and who their target market is, find three or four that fit you and what you want to do.
3. Interview with at least three, because -- and here's where newbies make a big mistake -- the quality of your training will depend in large part to your manager(s) at your location. So Mass Mutual might be a better bet in your town than Northwestern, but in the next town over NYL may be better for you. This isn't easy, you have to try to talk to agents, you have to have the guts to drill the manager during the interview, but it's worth it.
I would add one thing that might get some pushback here: Once you've done your research and made your choice, drink the Kool Aid. No system is perfect, so pick the best one for you and commit to it 100%. Yes, keep your eyes open to the negative, but drink the Kool Aid. Those who dwell on the negative (and every company will have the negative, as does being independent) are handicapping themselves. This job can be difficult enough. Choose it, run with it.
My two cents.
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Thanks for the info. I'm glade I looked here first, I almost went to Bankers. Now its back to the search....
