Posted On: December 16, 2004, 2:33 pm CST

Posted By: Nearly Former Agent

I'll repeat it ...FINALLY!!!

This company has been in desperate need of change for many years now, and I hope Paul Hopkins is the guy to do it. I have met him and think there's a chance. He has the personal skills to get it done. He has the ability to connect with the agents and rally their support.

However, it will be interesting to see if he's blended into the kind of Martyistic type of leader. If he doesn't take the management company into a new world, this move will simply go down as the next step towards a fallen empire.

All I can say is, good luck Paul. You've got a huge job to do in changing the agents' real, inside feelings ...not the one's they will give you when they're trying to impress. The morale is horrible and the blame lies stricktly with FGI Inc.

Here's some advise from a corner of the world you won't visit. Straighten up the company's act, give us a competitive postion (not necessarily the cheapest) and then allow some time for wounds to heal. Give those agents that have made business moves, that were necessitated by our company, a legitimate chance to see the new-company's positive changes before they hammer them into termination and maybe, just maybe, Farmers can get back to the Premier position we were ready to take 10 years ago. I sincerely hope you can do it!

In the meantime, see ya Marty. Don't let the door ...well, you know. Besides, we know that door won't hurt with pockets overflowing with all the ill-gotten policyholder money and agent capital you've grabbed. Have a life!