36 — Exclusivefocus Winter 2011/2012

As a successful agent who toiled for more than 20 years building a $3.4 million “Ideal Agency”

from scratch, it was time to finally end the misery and mayhem that has befallen the agency force over the past 10 years.

Long gone are the days of agent and local leadership camaraderie. The wall between the agency force and manage-ment has grown steadily over the past decade and now has become both intol-erable and insurmountable. To Allstate agents of yore, this kind of division was unthinkable and only found at other cap-tive carriers – never at Allstate.

As a “player” and once a do-or-die company man from Upstate New York, the shift in the upper brass finally did me in. There was too much inbreeding at the top ranks of the Sears family and they migrated to Allstate. Each of them had a penchant for implementing unfounded tactics to reinvent the wheel. They just didn’t realize it wasn’t broken.

As I said, I was a true do-or-die com-pany man. Whatever the promotion was – co-op opportunity, cost share marketing scheme, recommended lead companies, ART program sales pitches and telemar-keting programs condoned by the com-pany – I bought in 100%, based on the

expectation of a much-anticipated ROI as

for all of these things, buying dollar bills for $1.50 each. But at least I was recog-nized as a “player” and as such, I was told, “As a region we put folks like you at the top of our list for pilot programs, etc.” I even went as far as purchasing a new building and designed floor plan with the Branded Retail Environment look – from the furniture to the paint scheme.

That very same year, I made National Conference and sat a few tables away from

Award” for top manager, which was an-nounced while we waited for dinner to end and before Bon Jovi took the stage. I was one of many agents who busted their hump and spent their money to help him pave his way to recognition. In spite of our efforts, he did not acknowledge me or thank me or any of the other agents sitting at our table for our contributions to his success.

Maybe it was because he was sitting next to one of the top brass, who was both condescending and generally ignorant – or maybe I should say, “clueless” – when it comes to the value that top-performing agents play in the success of their manag-ers and the health of the company. At any rate, I’m sure all of the agents who helped

him achieve the Eagle Award felt slight-ed. You could feel the mood change as the atmosphere changed from one of buoy-ancy to one akin to solemnity. I left the conference asking myself, “Why should I try so hard, when I’m underappreciated?” I’m sure the other agents at our table felt the same way.

The next year I fell short of National Champions because the goals were ridic-ulously high. Even so, I still made Honor Ring and I hit the minimum Expected Results. Apparently those results weren’t quite good enough and I was transferred to an IDL manager! All of a sudden, I be-came an outcast, assigned to the dregs of the agency force because I was deemed a “slow growth” agency. What kind of mes-sage does this send to agents, especially after winning back-to-back awards—Na-tional Champions and then Honor Ring? And how do you think it made me feel? It most certainly was not motivational.

As any agent could imagine, the frus-tration that followed and the lack of communication from the IDL made it pretty clear what was forthcoming. IDL agents get little support and relations with leadership crumble because you are no longer worth their time. Despite that, they still wanted our participation with mini-promotions. They would lie to us to get us involved and then would not pay up when we hit the numbers they wanted. They even solicited my staff ask-ing them to do this or that as if they were employed and being paid by Allstate.

After careful consideration and watch-ing very good agents in my market get terminated for not hitting financial num-bers, I began looking at other career alter-natives. When I decided to pull the plug after only missing one full year of Expect-ed Results, I had a meeting with a man-ager to discuss my decision. Although my

Gestapo-like Tactics in Upstate NYA true story as told by a former agent from Upstate NY

feature

Winter 2011/2012 Exclusivefocus — 37

mind was made up and my business plan completed, I wanted to give Allstate one more opportunity. I wanted to see if they would give me some sort of gesture to change my mind. After all, I was an Ideal Agency in good standing, fully-staffed and my office was decorated in yellow and blue—all the things they said they want-ed. I guess I don’t need to tell you what happened next, because we’ve all heard it before. But I will anyway.

The manager made no sincere effort to “save” me. He said he would “hate to lose a good agent,” but that I needed to read my agent agreement to understand my obligations. This pretty much cemented my decision to leave.

A few weeks later, I formally submit-ted my written notice to terminate my relationship with Allstate on 10/31/2011

the TSL not set foot on my property due to their failed leadership and for irrepa-rably destroying my agency’s faith and trust. As one can imagine, my IDL called and said, “Wow, did you shock the region and send a message!” As I continued to fulfill my obligations to the company and my clients, I told my customers as I spoke to them that I was “voluntarily” terminating, and I thanked them for their business over the years.

Three weeks later, I received a call from my IDL, who called at the behest of the TSL, who was not welcome to contact me. My IDL asked if I wanted to leave before my 90-day notification was up on 10/31/11 and stated that I was disrupting the market because I was a “player” who had suddenly decided to leave. I replied “No,” unless I would be given a significant monetary settlement in exchange for leaving early. True to form, the company would not even seri-ously consider it.

Two weeks went by and I was inter-rupted by my office manager who told me there were three managers waiting to see me in the office lobby. They had shown up unannounced. She said they told her they had urgent issues to dis-cuss. Lots of thoughts flashed through my mind. Maybe they had a change of heart, or maybe the company agreed to pay me off for an early-out.

One thing was for sure, a “wish you well and best of luck” wasn’t on their agenda. I went to greet them and, lo and

them; if you recall, I had specifically requested that he would not be permit-ted on my premises. I asked all three to step out into the parking lot, as I did not want them in my office. Once outside,

declared that he was there to close my office effective immediately. I then asked them nicely to get off my property. Of course they weren’t deterred and insisted that I turn over my customer files and demanded access to the phones so they

them and their demands, I gave them an ultimatum to leave or I would physically remove them in 10 seconds or less, guar-anteed. When they saw the smoke com-ing from my ears and my now bloodshot eyes turning an evil shade of red, they turned and fled away in two separate vehicles. It was then I really knew my career with Allstate was over and I was somewhat relieved.

My relief didn’t last long, however. Within five minutes the three returned with 10 police cars rushing onto my premises as if a drug raid was about to occur. Of course, when the police offi-cers exited their vehicles and saw it was me, the property owner and community leader who had grown up there, and the agent who insured many of their fellow officers, they listened to my side of the

edge of the parking lot with their empty boxes and portable dolly, poised to enter my office to load up my customer files. What happened next completely sur-prised them; they were evicted from the property because they did not have per-mission to enter the building.

It was a small victory per se, but I felt good -

nies failed to get the better of me that day. I was not about to allow them to trample, bully or control me or my staff. The follow-ing day and on my terms, I agreed to allow entry to a different set of company reps into my office. They were much more profes-sional and respectful of me and my staff.

That incident was an unfortunate end-

other company managers seem to think they can walk all over us and are better than us, even though most have never sold a policy or operated a successful agency. I am now free of these kinds of managers and am an independent agent as of a week ago. The carrier reps I’m working with now are respectful and overwhelmingly warm and friendly. I can’t believe the difference; it’s like night and day. Already, the stress level has de-creased significantly and I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Good luck to all of you, whether you choose to stay or leave. Just remember, there is life after Allstate and a lot more dignity and respect, as well. Ef

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