who is the redheaded stepchild of allstate's Distribution system?

to pay our employees to watch it. That’s
money down the drain and a waste of valuable
production time, but many of us do it
because of our bonus. In fact, the company
ties everything that it wants to our bonus.
If it were up to us, we wouldn’t voluntarily
spend money on woople or yellow walls.
C’mon, yellow walls and a non-stop commercial
running on a TV that nobody
watches In today’s environment, there are
very few office visits by customers anyway.
Most everything is done over the phone.
Compelling us to conform by withholding
bonus dollars if we don’t seems like blackmail
to me. Painting our walls yellow and
force-feeding us woople has nothing to do
with growing our agencies. Instead, it is all
about appeasing those in Home Office,
who have never sold a thing. Not a motor
club, not a renters policy, not an auto policy
or a life policy; but, of course, they know
what’s best for those of us in the field. The
problem is that unless there is adherence to
these crack-pot philosophies, your career,
your life savings and your retirement are
all in jeopardy. Who are these people and
what planet are they from
Then there is the question as to where
we as a company are headed. I’m still trying
to understand the direction the company
is taking regarding the agents. We
are supposed to be independent contractors.
That means that it costs the company
nothing to just let us be. Ideally, they
should be mostly hands off, allowing us to
build and maintain our books as we see fit.
But no, they have meddled with the IRS
rules and now we are employees without
benefits. Do they really think that firing
us and hiring a truck driver or a beauty
shop owner will solve their problems Do
they think that inexperienced new hires
have more ability to retain and nurture
the books of business that it took us years
to build What’s been the success rate of
those kinds of hires
As I said, we are lost; a rudderless
ship without an effective captain. There
is a lot of pressure on Tom Wilson now,
ironically because of the stock price that
he loves so much. A change is desperately
needed, and I hope it comes soon.
But even if it does, it will take a very
long time to transition to a new model.
There’s an old philosophy that says the
longest journey starts with the first step.
I hope that first step starts soon.
There may be a reprieve on the horizon.
Word has trickled out that there
will be no more terminations for production
until the end of 2012. That is good
news, but it hardly scratches the surface
of all the other problems that exist in our
environment. There are a lot of agents
who are leaving voluntarily, so maybe the
exodus has been greater than anticipated.
Or maybe management is fearful that a
large number of lawsuits will erupt because
of the mass terminations, causing
regulators to revisit the Private Letter
Ruling with the IRS, which defined us as
independent contractors. They certainly
don’t want that looked at too closely. In
any case, the cessation of terminations
for Expected Results is a good thing.
However, we have learned from past
experiences that we cannot always trust
the things we hear. To paraphrase “Rule
#3” from Runningclock, Ron Harper’s
newspaper, “Don’t listen to what they say,
watch what they do.” Ef
Possible Legal Relief for Allstate Agents
NAPAA continues to seek solutions for Allstate agents who have been, or will be, adversely affected by the
company’s unreasonable and heavy-handed management strategies.
Recently, we had the opportunity to speak with the law firm of Beal & Blitch, LLP, a litigation firm in Atlanta,
Georgia, which is investigating claims regarding the repurchase of agencies by Allstate from those agents
who are classified as underperforming. Specifically, the firm is investigating the right of Allstate to impose performance
requirements and other controls on its agents when they are classified by Allstate as ‘independent
contractors’ as opposed to employees. Beal & Blitch is also investigating a variety of other issues surrounding
the buy-back of agencies, including any type of discriminatory enforcement of performance requirements.
As we understand it, the firm is interested in speaking with any agents who may have information regarding
Allstate’s attempts to repurchase their agencies. Interested agents should contact the law firm for more information.
Their contact information and website address is listed below.
100 Peachtree Street
Suite 640
Atlanta, GA 30309
(404) 688-2700 ext. 116
email: abeal@bbllp.com
www.bbllp.com
24 — Exclusivefocus Winter 2011/2012