If you don't have years of experience, a solid book of business, and already know Allstate systems...don't go there!
Pros
My boss (agency owner) was a nice guy - that said, see cons below. Very flexible with time out of office for personal and family events. Allowed a bit of work from home.
Cons
Nice guy (from pros above), but new to insurance, starting from scratch (did not buy a book of business) and not motivated to network in community. Also had to ride him about two days of pay that was missing from first two checks, the education bonus he promised (was glad I had that in writing) and don't think he ever did reimburse co-worker for business lunches, donuts for brokers or mileage. A bit slimy (feeds in to insurance agent stereotype!) Our regional support staff was horrific! They'd show up occasional, eyes glazed over (stepford like) spouting their mantra-"cold call - at least 50 a day per person." One guy told me, when he was an agent, he would call until the prospect told him "to go to hell!" (No wonder he's not an agent anymore and Allstate's name is tarnished). (He's also the one that intentionally misstates info in app for better rates...sure that helps loss ratios!) Our other support person doesn't remember you from one visit to the next and has never been an agent...she's frazzled, tired, trying to hold on until she can retire...basically, she's worthless. We got rammed through licensing and training to meet specific dates so the agency could open on appointed date. No pay for hours of online training (and major headaches with IT getting home PCs compliant enough to do training as office wasn't open yet.) Did an extra, very repetitive session on Life and we can't even sell it ourselves-we have to refer to special Life agent! Tons of typos in training materials and some elements did not work at all. The webinars we received after in office (some mandatory/some elective) are the worse I've ever seen in my 25 years in business! It's apparent they are reading a script- a poorly written one at that, with conflicting and confusing information. And, worse of all, the presenters are completely unable to answer participant questions. Some did not mute callers so was distracted during entire presentation (mostly by people leaving call!) On site training in Lone Tree, CO wasn't much better. Basically cold calling all day. One day (of 3 day training) no instructor (task master) even bothered showing up! Majority of 3 day trainings do not provide hotel accommodations - they expect you to drive back and forth each day (4 hour commute for our office...without any traffic, weather, accidents!) and provide no compensation for mileage. Trying to get regional help with policy issues /questions is a joke. One regional employee actually hung up on a co-worker who was trying to resolve a roofing issue for a new client (they had replaced roof after inspection/pending cancellation-he was trying to get info in system to stop cancellation and was having issues w systems). No training in place for endorsements/issues such as this and systems are not intuitive. Aren't enough reasons to sell Allstate - the only price advantage for vast majority of insureds are those with new houses and brand new roofs. Weren't usually competitive in any other area. Claims satisfaction guarantee, deductible rewards, accident forgiveness, cash back....don't mean much up front, especially since you pay more to get them with no guarantee that they'll ever pay off. And don't get me started on Commercial insurance - it's pathetic! Insurance is still about the bottom line premium for majority of consumers... if you can get them to talk about it! I swear, more people will talk to you about death and taxes....they don't understand and hate insurance! Spent my days staring at the phone...cold calling...which felt like throwing spaghetti at the walls all day....spaghetti that wasn't cooked! Calling during business hours is a waste - the types of clients you want are working then! And those that called us or walked in were scary....living in half way houses, wanting insurance with drivers permit only, SR22's....lovely. And, of course, the clincher.... Allstate does not offer agents any insurance benefits despite being in the business of selling them! You are contact....all the work, no benefits beyond commissions.... which are meager carrots that you can only get once you jump through hoop after hoop (with no guidance or real training!) Go elsewhere....independent agency perhaps. Trust me, you'll be glad you did!
