Thinking of Joining Combined Insurance As Agent

[newagent001]

I have been approached after I sent them a resume and had a interview. At end of Interview got offered a job to start this Monday with 3 weeks Training school They will execute a binding Independent Sales Agreement and sales school Addendum upon arrival for training school.
My concerns are these.
1. They told me training is provided by them and they put you up in hotel for those 3 weeks. You get a small training wage per week and hotel stay and breakfast included. But then I have this form which says there will be a cost of $2600.00 that they will advance me the cost of training . and then they sate sales school is not free. I called them after reading this when I got home from interview and he said don't worry about that, it is only if you decide to leave during the training that we will charge you due to the fact that they put faith in me to work for them and then I up and leave. He said there will be no charges for the training, but it says in black and white that there will be I said, and he said, Don't worry about it if you got to school, study and pass the exam there will be no charge.
I am concerned, I am not signing any agreement. Any advice for me would be great. Any one else been through training with Combined Insurance? Also, starting off must be hard on the pocket book and since I have been unemployed for a while my pocket book is empty.
Looking for some help here if people could through some advice my way that would be good

 

[thomasm]

I have been approached after I sent them a resume and had a interview. At end of Interview got offered a job to start this Monday with 3 weeks Training school They will execute a binding Independent Sales Agreement and sales school Addendum upon arrival for training school.
My concerns are these.
1. They told me training is provided by them and they put you up in hotel for those 3 weeks. You get a small training wage per week and hotel stay and breakfast included. But then I have this form which says there will be a cost of $2600.00 that they will advance me the cost of training . and then they sate sales school is not free. I called them after reading this when I got home from interview and he said don't worry about that, it is only if you decide to leave during the training that we will charge you due to the fact that they put faith in me to work for them and then I up and leave. He said there will be no charges for the training, but it says in black and white that there will be I said, and he said, Don't worry about it if you got to school, study and pass the exam there will be no charge.
I am concerned, I am not signing any agreement. Any advice for me would be great. Any one else been through training with Combined Insurance? Also, starting off must be hard on the pocket book and since I have been unemployed for a while my pocket book is empty.
Looking for some help here if people could through some advice my way that would be good

I think I would be a lot farther along in my career if I would have started with personal lines P&C. The old days of banging on doors and cold calling for life and health just seems to be getting harder and harder to do.

You're competing with agents who have bigger marketing budgets than you.

But home and auto, you can still go out and bang on doors for a few hours a day and come back with plenty of leads to keep you busy.

Then when you come back with your proposal, you pull out the needs analysis for the life and supplemental health.

I would go to work for an independent agency if I were you. And be willing to bang on doors or work the phones like a madman for a few years! Learn everything about this business on someone else's dime!

 

[DHK]

Three weeks is rather long for training school with Combined. I think mine was 10 days back about 5 years ago.

As long as you complete training school, you should be fine. I never heard of this kind of agreement, nor was one shown to me when I was with them. I was never charged for the training. Of course, I had no intention of backing out of it either. I didn't have to pass any exam - unless we're talking about the insurance licensing exam, but I did that about 12 years ago.

Combined will teach you to prospect in-person. They'll also have some lead cards for you to work on as well. I wasn't exactly thrilled with their products here in California, but I believe it's much better in other states due to California insurance codes, etc.

Relax. Go to training. Take notes and excel. Combined is a good place to get your feet wet.

 

[thomasm]

Relax. Go to training. Take notes and excel. Combined is a good place to get your feet wet.

Do they still bang on doors and train you to shuffle your feet while saying, "mind if I come in?"

 

[DHK]

They actually didn't teach that as they emphasized more business canvassing over residential.

----------

Every firm that teaches some kind of prospecting... has their prospecting "thing".

For example, Edward Jones has the "Jedi mind trick" of putting your head down and getting ready to write a phone number... so they'll give you their phone number.

I'd cite more, but not too many firms teach prospecting.

 

[thomasm]

They actually didn't teach that as they emphasized more business canvassing over residential.

----------

Every firm that teaches some kind of prospecting... has their prospecting "thing".

For example, Edward Jones has the "Jedi mind trick" of putting your head down and getting ready to write a phone number... so they'll give you their phone number.

I'd cite more, but not too many firms teach prospecting.

I remember doing that. One of my first apps was an Assurity Accidental DI policy. Wrote it up while the mechanic was replacing an alternator. He got grease all over the app! lol!

 

[HoosierLife]

They actually didn't teach that as they emphasized more business canvassing over residential. ---------- Every firm that teaches some kind of prospecting... has their prospecting "thing". For example, Edward Jones has the "Jedi mind trick" of putting your head down and getting ready to write a phone number... so they'll give you their phone number. I'd cite more, but not too many firms teach prospecting.

I do that when I ask for the social. I always ask for inconsequential data and things they've already given me, like birthdate, phone number etc. Then I just say, "And your social..?" Head down while I put it on the app.

I've had maybe 2 people balk in 5 years.

 

[newagent001]

Thank you for your feedback. Very much appreciated. Any more information would be greatly appreciated. especially from other people who have worked at Combined Insurance, I literally have 24 hours to decide if I am going to do this. Thanks.

 

[rousemark]

They actually didn't teach that as they emphasized more business canvassing over residential.

----------

Every firm that teaches some kind of prospecting... has their prospecting "thing".

For example, Edward Jones has the "Jedi mind trick" of putting your head down and getting ready to write a phone number... so they'll give you their phone number.

I'd cite more, but not too many firms teach prospecting.

I wonder if they still divide it up into life divisions and health divisions so that agents are forced to specialize?

 

[DHK]

Last I recall, it was individual vs work site.

Individual Market:
- Critical Illness
- Hospital indemnity
- Accident Only (the little big one)
- Cancer policy
- Disability
- Non-par WL up to $100k

And in certain markets, they had a medicare supplement.

The work site had all the above as well, but also a term & UL policy and sold them through VPD - voluntary payroll deduction.