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

opinion
A Silver Lining Shines Through
By Dave Thorpe
The company is changing and I’m
not sure all the change is for the
bad. One big change is a matter
of style as well as substance. Up until now,
Tom Wilson has been willing to throw
older agents out of the company, like the
Eskimos left their forbearers adrift on the
icebergs. But at least the Eskimos left their
older folks with some whiskey, jerky and a
little dignity.
I believe that thanks to a lot of bad ink,
which includes articles written in Exclusivefocus,
the stance is softening. It looks like
older agents may be able to stick around a
little longer, albeit at 9% compensation.
Look, something’s got to happen to
keep a publicly traded company like
Allstate afloat. The stock price has declined
60 percent since 2007. Productive
agents who continue to grow profitably
deserve structural bonuses that
compensate them at 10 percent plus.
The nine percenters that emerge will
still have a chance to change and grow.
If they can’t or are unwilling to pull it
off, I would hope under the emerging
deal they’ll have a better opportunity to
sell without interference and leave on
their own terms and with dignity.
One way to change is to start selling
profitable lines. If the agent is selling
$30,000 or more in AFS, management
will likely bend over backwards to keep
that producer. But listen up. If an agent
makes $35,000 a year or more in life commissions
and bonuses, that will help make
up for the 1% loss on P&C business and
may actually move him above 10%.
One thing I get a little tired of hearing
is, “I was hired as a P&C guy. That’s
what I sell.”
That statement is invalid. Every Allstate
agent I’ve ever known was indoctrinated
early in his career with the need
to sell life. Besides that, life sales can be
very creative and fun. Granted, I’m in the
minority because I always found P&C
boring. For those of you who dislike life
sales, use a life specialist. This is a brilliant
scheme thought up by senior management.
You can work your own deal
with an EFS. You can even be paid the
same money in commissions as if you’d
gone solo, or you can create your own
split with the specialist. It’s all very legal,
although Allstate isn’t interested in the
details of your arrangement.
Find an agent that has been successful
in this arena and take him to lunch to
pick his brain. Keep in mind that it is a
partnership, so you will have to do your
part to provide your EFS the leads he or
she needs to fulfill your quota.
Speaking of which, when Allstate first
jumped into banking, I thought it was
a return to the golden years of the ‘80s
when we were affiliated with the Sears
Financial Services Network. I still have
all my old finance drafts, which we used
to finance cars for our customers. When
a client would come in with a purchase
order on a new or used car, we’d explain
that we could save him hundreds, even
48 — Exclusivefocus Winter 2011/2012