American Family

[buckeyes772]

I am considering opening up with American Family. I have a little over one year of Insurance sales as a "Producer", and can't stand the people I work for. Anyone out there have any feedback or information "dirt" on AmFam?

[yotes fan]

what the hell is their real name? American Family?

AMFAM?

if you go captive, you want the name branding,....I dont get that with AMFAM

[wlunday]

Depends on where you are, Buckeyes (Ohio?). When American Family first entered Washington State a few years ago they really looked "good", with low rates. But it didn't take too long for the loss ratios to jump, and now they are not as competitive as many indie carriers like Safeco, Travelers... you get the drift. So, if they are "new" to your state, factor that in.

Anyway, one year as a "producer" isn't enough unless you have some other business experience. There is a lot to running an agency... or any business for that matter.

Now, as far as American Family "dirt", all I can really say is that the agents I know that represent them seem to be doing well, the training is very good and the company actively promotes "outside" educational experiences like the LUTC & FSS courses, CPCU and other industry opportunities. This may be a reflection on the regional management, but probably the company is behind it, too. Hope so.

I don't know how they do on commission percentages or the portion of the agency expenses they cover, but if they do basically the same as Farmers and State Farm I would choose AMFAM first. I know they do have a life / health production requirement for new agents, and it is fairly steep. However, the products are pretty good, too. So, if you enjoy (or don't mind) marketing the financial products you will probably do OK as long as you know how to run a business in the first place.

Have a great 2009!

Wayne Lunday, LUTCF, CLU, ChFC

[chopper]

I don't believe there are more than 10 CPCU or CLU titles in the whole agency force of over 4,000 agents. I also believe their turn over rate for new agents is extremely high. I think their success rate on new agents is 20% or less. Commissions are half of those of an Independent and the demands for company programs is very time consuming. American Family has one of the highest loss ratios of the top 50 companies for 2006 & 2007, and I've heard 2008 is worse. If you really want to know about AMFAM, check the Arizona and Colorado agency force past and present. They seem to be leaving in droves.
You have to wonder why so many agents are leaving American Family for Independent agencies if they are the place to work.

[buckeyes772]

Thanks to all for the feedback. I am in Ohio, and they (AMFAM) are willing to set me up with 600 policies, and many other perks. The commission structure is higher than State Farm, and Allstate, but I am concerned with the name recognition. I am for sure going to start with one of them, (Except Farmers) and am grateful for the feedback from those that have posted.

[AlstonCPCU]

My best friend is a big agent for one of the direct writers. He has a huge book but they still hassle him to sell a bunch of financial products that he is not really qualified to sell. He is not comfortable with those products. About once a year their upper management herds all of the agents into a large auditorium and insults them with unfair ultimatums and tell them "that's just the way it is."

[pkaflic]

I was an american family agent for TWENTY FOUR YEARS...I would suggest you stay away from them. They tell you it is your Agency and next thing you know...they are telling you what to do. They only way you have any self direction is if you are AFLIC and ALL-American.

You give up your rights as you belong to them. They have you do reports upon reoports....meetings are required...You are an Independent Contractor---what a joke.

They dont know what a hard or soft market is, with American Family it is always "lets raise the premium" regardless of market conditions!!!!

If you really want to sell insurance and have imput and direction of where you want to go...Be an Independent Agent

[chopper]

ANY LOSS FIGURES OUT ON AMERICAN FAMILY YET?

[gregcw]

Thanks to all for the feedback. I am in Ohio, and they (AMFAM) are willing to set me up with 600 policies, and many other perks. The commission structure is higher than State Farm, and Allstate, but I am concerned with the name recognition. I am for sure going to start with one of them, (Except Farmers) and am grateful for the feedback from those that have posted.

I think that the "(Except Farmers)" is a good idea. Where I'm located is a small population base on the Oregon Coast. They have attempted to start several agencies in this area with NO SUCCESS So it may that population is a factor for success. One of the downsides in this area is the number of new FIG (Farmers Insurance Group) agencies that are out there.

I am considering opening up with American Family. I have a little over one year of Insurance sales as a "Producer", and can't stand the people I work for. Anyone out there have any feedback or information "dirt" on AmFam?

I went back and re-read this thread and saw that you have only one year in the industry. One more question I have for you to consider is "Are you financially prepared to be a start up agency? I think that you should think about this hard. Even assuming that my area is not typical for American Family, the failure rate for scratch agencies anywhere is high. 600 policies is a start but you will have to remember that these are orphan policies. The agent that placed them is no longer an agent, at least with American Family. There may be, and probably is, no customer loyalty. In essence you still have a scratch agency.
I also do not know what types of "Guarantees" American Family offers or how good their guarantees are. When I started out with Farmers I was 'Guaranteed" a monthly subsidy that I was TOLD I could live on. It was really a subsidy for me to operate my agency with. Although I could use some of it for living expenses it wasn't enough to use it for both living AND operating expenses.

I also don't know what American Family offers for training. At this point you are just beginning to learn how to spell the word "Insurance". The only claim to fame that Farmers has is that they can train to sell. How well they can train in insurance knowledge is debatable. You need to find out about this area with American Family. One of the posts here was by one of their agents. You should talk to othe American Family agents for their perspective. It should be a mix of seasoned and new (under 5 years) agents.

If you do decide to do this you should definitely get involved in The National Alliance for Insurance Education & research I would not suggest the CIC Certified Insurance Counselor program for you at this point in time due to your length of time in the industry. I would recommend their CISR Certified Insurance Service Representative program. It is more basic and will allow you to build your knowledge with less time out of the office since their sessions are only one day instead of three days in the CIC. You can also take that program on line as an alternative, although a lot of the value is in having interaction with both the instructors and the other participants

This is the link to their website http://www.scic.com/

[commercialconcerned]

Does anyone have information on the Farmers/ Zurich Small Business plan? Concerned about IA's with Habitational and restaurants in captive states?

[gwendolynU]

I have been on this insurance company for 10 years now and I can say that I have had an exceptionally positive experience in bundling home and auto. Also, their agents were always available to completely answer my questions, without making me feel uninformed or less than intelligent.

[Eagleeye]

Buckeyes772,

gregcw gave you really good advise. It appears that he does not have a side agenda when he resonded to you. One of the things I am glad that he pointed out to you:

"gregcw wrote:
Even assuming that my area is not typical for American Family, the failure rate for scratch agencies anywhere is high. 600 policies is a start but you will have to remember that these are orphan policies. The agent that placed them is no longer an agent, at least with American Family. There may be, and probably is, no customer loyalty. In essence you still have a scratch agency.
I also do not know what types of "Guarantees" American Family offers or how good their guarantees are. When I started out with Farmers I was 'Guaranteed" a monthly subsidy that I was TOLD I could live on. It was really a subsidy for me to operate my agency with. Although I could use some of it for living expenses it wasn't enough to use it for both living AND operating expenses."

If you do not have a guarntee income and your Orphan Policies leave, now you do not have enough money to sustain an agency. I have started my own scratch agency before and now I do a lot of consulting for other agencies. One of the factors that I have encountered is that if an agent is less than 5 years in the business many times he/she does not have the fortitude to build a "scratch" agency. Like gregcw pointed out is that if those orphan policies go by the wayside to another company and you have not been busting your butt to write new business, you will not be able to sustain the costs of an agency. Plus, one of the area you can help your agency out in the income department is writing commercial accounts. However, it has been my experience over the last several years in Ohio that AmFam/American Family does not have a big presence in the commercial arena. Nor do they seem to want to pursue this area as I did interview with them in early 2000. When I asked them about their commercial department their reginal manager I was interviewing indicated that they really were not in the commercial market except for the small mom and pop shops.

If there is anyway you can hook up and an Independent Agent in your area or close to you that can help mentor you through your first few years it would be worth your while. It is great to have a company behind you like American Family or State Farm, or Farmers, but you are owned by those companies and they can dictate to you what you can and can't do or write. There are many "Perks" to writing with them, but after you are in with the for 3 to 5 years and you would rather do more things than write home,auto,life, and really small mom and pops, your hands are tied and you have locked yourself in to these areas.

Last, I would really reconsider Allstate as I have a good friend that was with them in Ohio for over 20 years and he left them to join an Independent agency. His Allstate agency was a nice size agency with several CSR's in it. However, they kept pinching him in many areas and he was tired of the fighting he would have on a daily basis just to get simple claims settled.

Last, not everyone can do a "scratch" agency and be successful. As long as you realize that it takes 12 to 16 hours a day of dedication the first few years and knowing up front that you have Feast and Famine times those first few years, AND you have the financial backing that will allow you to "Live" and support a family, then you are good to go. I am NOT discouraging you from doing a "Scratch" agency. But, I totally concur with gregcw and that you need to have your blinders off and see the "Big Picture." If you have more questions please do not hesitate to send me a message. I will respond ASAP.