FARMERS RESERVE AGENT: NOT A GREAT DEAL
Pros
They DO give good training, at least the district office I was in. You will have the opportunity to use their Dashboard and do online quoting, rating, and verifying. You will have a pretty intense exposure to underwriting and other product specialists for their personal and commercial lines.
Cons
This insurance company, like many others thrives on an endless revolving-door hiring binge of new reserve agents,( mostly thru CraigsList) whose sole purpose is to sign up their friends, relatives, and acquaintances for insurance. When they are done with THAT, they will then see the true cruel reality of attempting to sell property, casualty, auto and life insurance to NEW accounts in today's dismal economy: IMPOSSIBLE. There are already thousands and thousands of struggling insurance agents EVERYWHERE calling prospects around the clock. PLUS you cannot call homes anymore for life insurance due to strict DNC regulations. And forget auto, they are WAY overpriced. Did I mention its difficult to write new P&C business due to their strict underwriting criteria? Just ridiculous. Farmers does almost NO advertising and will NOT pay for your leads or mailers. (Might as well start your own insurance company while you're at it!) AS A NEW AGENT, YOU WILL BE OUT THE DOOR WITHIN FOUR TO SIX MONTHS, THERE IS NO WAY. CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY. Because if you STAY, the pressure to crank out new business that CANNOT be cranked out, will only increase. They will put the screws to you like no other. Sorry to be so overly scathing, but there are equally scathing web forums just for FIG. Get their excellent training if possible and then GET OUT.
