First, do your research on Combined. Google "Combined Insurance FSA UK" and you will see why they shouldn't be trusted.
The problem I had, as a sales agent, was I didn't feel like I knew enough about the insurance market to best advise people on what coverage they needed. And it all starts with the training.
The training is in a classroom setting for 3 weeks with other individuals who are able to breathe oxygen. I don't mean this to be pompous in any sense, but when you're sitting next to someone who can barely speak English, you wonder how they made it past the interview. And this problem is systematic with Combined Insurance. They’re more concerned with quantity over quality of sales agents.
Your first week is to get you past the exam. You have to score a minimum 60% on this provincially mandated exam to determine whether you're qualified to sell health and accident insurance - life insurance is a different ball game. The teacher will ensure they can do everything in their power to get you through this exam (practice quizzes, group help, etc.) The teachers are honestly great. However, I scored 85% on the exam and still felt like I wasn't qualified. This leads in the two subsequent weeks of learning nothing but Combined products. Specifically on how to sell Combined products. Can you memorize their sales script you've been hammered over the head with for the past two weeks? CONGRATULATIONS! You're now eligible to advise people on important financial decisions regarding their health. Oh, all of this is done while slowly being indoctrinated into their cult-like club. You practice chants and are must sacrifice your first born to their founder (see deity) W. Clement Stone. Okay, the last part isn't true, but hopefully you can see how this is structured like a start-up religion.
Now you're out in the field with your sales manager. You're ready to take on the world, with the help of your manger of course. Except your sales manger never attempts to make a sale or pushes you to make a sale. Rather, you drive around aimlessly collecting renewals and spending whatever money you made that day on your four break stops. Now, I realize this is somewhat of an isolated incident and you may very well have a sales manager who pushes the very foundation of your existence, however, this all comes back to the "quantity over quality" theme presented in this post.
You’re simply not given the support you need as a new trainee. The majority of sales managers are not interested in developing you as a sales agent. Sure, their incentive is that they get a small percentage of your sale, but why take the time to develop someone new, who, due to the high turnover, will probably leave at some point, when the sales manager can just focus on their sales. Not to mention that many sales managers are simply not qualified to be a good trainer. And this is where the system fall flat on its face.
I'm now on my own and decide to start it off easy with some renewals. WRONG! I cannot tell you how many people said, "another new face!?!" - Quantity over quality. You immediately realize that even through the renewal process, arguably the easiest part of the job, you have no idea what you're doing. Simply put: clients will ask you questions your training did not prepare you for. You either have the option to call the underwriters at head office (a process that takes 3-8 minutes) or you simply say you don't know. This really inspires confidence in the client that the company has their best interests at heart. Again, I consider myself to be a pretty smart guy. I mean, after all, I am able to assemble IKEA furniture in a relatively, non-rage induced fashion - yet I was ill-equipped to deal with clients' concerns.
Within a month of selling NOTHING, I was offered a sales manager position from not my sales manager, not my district manager, but from someone higher up. WHAT!?! Maybe they saw something else in me, I don't know, however, what I do know is that they were adamant that I could head my own sales team - quantity over quality.
So I was quickly whisked off to sales manger training, where, guess what? The main focus was on finding individuals for your own sales team and, in general, just finding personnel to join "our growing and exciting company!" - Quantity over quality.
If you made it this far through this post, I congratulate you. Thank you for sticking with me through this review. This company is a farce, unethical, and wolf disguised as a sheep. Do not work for them. I want to warn as many people as I can and I hope this review helps.
TL; DR - This is a baaaaaaaahd (sheep noise) company.
*I fully expect the combined PR to be in full force.
