insurance agent

benefits advisor

agent

enrollment specialist

account manager

Aflac

I worked with the location in colorado springs for over a year. I had the perspective of being new to the industry so i did not know what to expect. The contracting and liscencing was very easy, the liscencing was the most beneficial thing i got out of my expirence. I was paired with an awesome District manager who had a very good understaning of how to run his business, as independant agents we are able to diversify our expertise in many situations. During aflac trainning you are not being paid. The only time you get paid is when you write business. This wouldnt be an issue for many people, but the problem lies in the required activity by regional managers. I found that not one piece of business was wrote with the training. I was spending well over 20 hours a week commuting, and participating in training that was un paid. The last month i worked with the company i had a week long tranning course scheduled, again unpaid and no gas being paid for. Corporate did offer to pay for hotels but my dm conviced me to drive everyone else. This trainning was 2 hours from my home in my states major city. That week i woke up at 5 am to meet everyone else 1 hour from my home by 7 and then take another 2hour ride, and every day not being home until 830 pm, again not being paid the whole time. During this class i had another required class that had a expiration date. Because of my training situation that week i was unable to complete that course, at which point i recieve a notifcation that my contract has been terminated. The next week i am frantically in communication with corporate trying to get my contract as i have ready business to write. This situation was the worst work trainning situation i ever had in my entrie life. First off i was unaware of the course, as i never recived info on my requirement to take the course, what course to take or even my timelimit. My DM never made me aware or sent me any info. DMs are motivated by sales and could realistically not care about your advancement as a agent, and would cause you to loose your early leads in the business. 
I spent over 2 months trying to get my contract reestablished, but because of some"techincal errors" they couldnt process my course completion. I took that course 12 times over 2 months, slowing down to once a week cause i couldnt no afford to be working for 2 months. Eveytime i took the course there was a new random tech error that held me back every time. I legitimately belive that the contracting officals at corporate were just messing with me this whole time. they also had 0 effort to communicate with me the issues and just left me hanging around for days at a time only to tell me something random was wrong. It would be one thing to be fired but its a complete other trying to waste people time and for that i will sierously never respect this company. 
Another issue these people have is taking accounts from new agents. They are required to split, but i had circumstances where ive landed accounts senior agents couldnt, was forced to split, and eventually thrown off the account for a 3rd agent that was speaking to them the longest but couldnt land the contract. They offered me no compensation for the account and also held back info that wouldve helped resolve conflicts. It was the shadiest thing ive ever experienced in sales. 
My situaion at aflac is in my opnion a worst case scenario. The company has some awesome competitive bounses but it is clear they would do anything, including damaging their own team to meet those goals. 
The systems in this company are a major joke and this "fortune 200 company" should be absolutley embarressed by how they treat their independant contractors. They lure you in with fake unatainable numbers, massive banquets and extravagant trips for sales leaders but the reality is a extreme amount of wasted time, energy and money. I currently work with one of their major competitors and love the relationship. 
Another thing, My "tax write offs" that they like to promote aka busniness expences are over 100% of what i made with the company. So huge waste of time and money.

I worked for Aflac for 6 months out of Lawrenceville,GA.  Ron Kirkland's district.  Like everyone that starts this job, I was very eager to get out and get to selling. There were some red light signals but, I am from the world of sales and I understand that you have to really work hard.  Here is my review:

I started working there in the latter part of 2012, I sat through 2 interviews one with the Regional Manager and the District Sales Coordinator.  The first interview they sell you on how you can make a lot of money selling Aflac products etc. etc.  The second interview you meet with the District Sales Coordinator who also tries to convince you that you can make a lot of money selling Aflac, he then reviewed the other agents sales numbers with me and went over the commission splits with me and it sucked!, my first right light!  

The DSC also told me that I could not enter sales school unless I produced 1,500.00 worth of business, yes and without knowing what I am selling without a temporary license!  My second red light!  Well I soon found out that NO ONE on the team who was hired before me or after me was given that stipulation.  With no FORMAL TRAINING!  I sold 1,500.00 and then I was allowed to go to sales class, the classes were pretty good however, in the meantime I was shadowing the other agents on sales calls a FEW TIMES.  Here's the catch, those same sales agents then want a piece of the action when you start getting accounts however, NOBODY discussed this with me until I started getting accounts and making money, this definitely was not in my contract, my third red light!  I soon found out that I was left out to get the business (APPOINTMENTS) but I was not allowed to sell? Really? per my DSC!!!!, my fourth red light!!!  

Feeling that I was already invested I went out and got the business and I was charged 50% of my business!  The excuse I was given that I was not experienced enough to do the presentation to the employer therefore, I have to pay my DSC or CIT to do this for me!  For example, if I earned 5,000 in Annual Premiums divide by 2=2,500, before my commission splits which is 2,500*0.65=1,625, then they take another 35%, so then you walk away with 1,056.25! and so does you DSC or CIT!!  I then realized that I was working to put money in their pockets!  I realized that my contract states that they are entitled to a percentage but, it did not state 50%!  Really! My fifth red light!

By this time, I have more accounts in my pipeline so my strategy was to slow down on getting the business because it seemed as if every time I made a sale I was getting hit really bad!  So I had another presentation, this time the CIT brings another agent (who at the time had no sales) to help do the presentation.  However, not only did I have to split the CIT but also the other agent and NOBODY discussed this with me prior to the appointment!, sixth red light!

By this time my numbers are a lot better than the VETERAN agents and know they want to got out on sales calls with me!, knowing that if I make money they make money!

Aflac is a very difficult product to sell!  Although their products are great, it is very difficult trying to get people to understand the need for having Aflac!  So when you get an account you can bet you have worked your butt off to get it and then to have your commission picked over is just not right!  My last red light!  I quit!

Sorry for the long review!  :-)




I tried this for a few months and did not have any unrealistic expectations. I knew I would be expected to make sales. It turns out there were many things I did not know about AFLAC upfront-things had I known I would not have gotten involved with them. One thing they did not make clear was that the regional manager that you work directly under is required to hire and train a certain number of new sales people each quarter if they want to keep their position. So, they grab anyone they can find to do sales. The training was mediocre at best because they are always training a new person. And before your training is over they put people under you to train as well. There are always people coming and going because they are not selective and there is a lot of chaos. They also do not have sales territories so every agent that wants can sell anywhere. As a result of the constant bringing in of new agents and the no sales territory, you can be sure almost every place you call on has already talked to several people that month or week and they don't want to hear from you. 

Their need to constantly recruit new sales people also leads to them hiring people who are not exactly what a normal company would chose as a sales person. People would show up unbathed, terrible body odor, inappropriate clothes, hair not combed, foul language, etc. And these are the people you ride around with and go into businesses with to try and sell them insurance. It is a miserable day riding around with them and they completely ruin any chance you had of selling anything. 

Another thing they don't tell you is that you are required to attend regional and district sales meetings that you are not paid for. In my case I had my sales call day planned out but once or twice a week that got blown out of the water because I was held over for hours in sales meetings that were usually just a manager going over what our numbers needed to be and accomplished nothing. 

In my region there was a lot of animosity amongst sales people and management. It was a very negative environment because they have established a culture of gossiping behind everyone's back. Luckily I was spared being the object of the animosity most of the time but still had to listen to the managers and agents trash each other all of the time.  

The push to constantly sell policies also creates a problem for anyone who has purchased one. This is because the sales people that sell you the policy are also responsible for servicing it. Once you buy a policy you will often find that the agent who sold it to you won't give you the time of day and will never return to you to help you maintain it. 

The whole AFLAC model is garbage for both the policy holder and the agent doing the selling. Stay away from this company.

A typical day at work involved logging in to multiple computer programs & the telephone, and answering customer inquiries, providing customer support, resolving policy, claims and technical systems issues at the point of call or referring them to appropriate area for follow up.

I learned that "difficult' customers are challenges.  I learned not to take thiings customers would say personally by knowing that what they were saying came from a place where they were in their lives at the moment:  afraid because of a health issue, overwhelmed with family or job issues that was affecting their tone, etc.  I learned a lot about diffusing, empathizing, and putting myself in the customers' place.  This helped me resolve almost all issues at the point of call. I learned to mirror the customer for the best call outcome.  For instance if someone was in a hurry & I could provide accurate information in a more abbreviated format, while maintaining the integrity of the information, I would do so. And one of the most important things I learned is that we all need someone to do our jobs.  Regardless of the job, with very few exceptions, we need one another to be successful.

For the most part, management provided the necessary support; but, did not micromanage.  This empowered me to do my job well, and helped me to maintain a confidence that I tried to show in every customer interaction.

My coworkers were great.  I'll have to say on each team I was on we had a good balance of organizers, participators, empathizers, happy people, quiet people, creative people, etc.

The hardest part of my job had to be when I had to explain to a customer when their policy did not provide a benefit they wanted to claim.  It was something I did well; but, being in the business of helping people, it is difficult when you have to do this.

The most enjoyable part of the job for me was when I knew I had satisfied the customer.  When someone would call with a difficult issue & I could provide helpful insight and either a resolution to the issue myself, or the best route for resolving the issue as expeditiously as possible.  Being able to go home each day and know that I'd helped so many people with my abilities and my knowledge.  My favorite thing to say, "I'm glad I could help."

I started out with a strong hope that people needed what I offered. I found it very rewarding to be able to help the majority of people who would need cash while they are recovering from being injured or sick and couldn't earn a paycheck. What became incredibly challenging was getting permission to get in front of people by their employer's to be able to offer an affordable policy ($7 to 10 per week) with a pre tax payroll deduction that made it more like $3 to $4 a week net.

I found HR reps, bookkeepers and business owners reluctant to add "extra work" to their plate so benefits would never make it to their employees. I would ask myself "How hard is it to add a line item to your payroll deductions and give an employee 30 minutes to sign up for benefits once a year?"

Aflac offers some very generous plans for cancer recovery and treatment, accidental injury, disability and dental work- to name a handful.

If a business looked a little closer they might see that Aflac is ranked as the most ethical insurance company nationwide and pays claims in 4 days. An HR rep or small business owner could have saved their company hundreds each month in FICA taxes by offering a pretax benefit and add much needed benefits to their practically non existent benefits plan in the process. But instead the Aflac Agent would hear "nope- we're good thank you, good bye"... with no opportunity to be heard. This is based on roughly 20 business approaches per day for 18 months.

As a result of not being able to open as many accounts as I needed to support my family, I left to find full time employment elsewhere.

Today, I find it troubling that so many people in my community will go on temporary welfare due to no back up plan that could have easily been purchased by their employer or at least been facilitated through their employer through payroll for the equivalent cost to that of a run to Starbucks.

To the agent starting out- Aflac is a great company, they offer a generous new business commission and renewals when you are able to sell a plan. If you don't have a computer of your own called an "SNG computer", it is really tough to sell a policy or get stuff done. I fortunately bought an SNG computer right from the start and it helped me tremendously when I did get a yes. You will also want to really have a high endurance for rejection as the job offers you very little in leads if at all. You will also find that many places have had an Aflac agent come in before and will find you to be a nuisance and turn you away. I used an approach with business owner's I knew and then used their experience to talk about offering a plan to a neighboring business which sometimes worked. Aflac calls that four corner marketing.

Just a year ago this time in April I was miserable as miserable a human being could be. Scared. Hopeless. Making cold calls without even knowing how to do them right.

Aflac throws you out there without any preparation, proper training and guidance. I started making my calls right after becoming an official agent with the company. Knowing nothing about any products at all. One of our Rotarians told me recently that Aflac treats their agents like they are throwing sh.t at the wall – something will stick.

Nobody really cares about you there. Here is an outdated phone script with naïve instructions on how to “overcome” prospect’s objections. Go junior, make your hundred calls a day, something should stick. If it doesn’t – make more calls. Set appointments, set appointment, more appointments! Doesn’t matter if they don’t need Aflac. Cannot be! Everyone needs Aflac. Sooner is better.

Did you set an appointment today? Great job! Hit the rock! Two or three appointments? You are a hero of the day!

After getting your appointments you of course need to bring someone experienced with you to that meeting because what can you say after being with the company for 5 days? Do you know your value proposition? Real stories? Do you have any idea how you are going to help your customer? Well, you are clueless. You are definitely in need of your manager to go with you and do all the talking. You just sit there like an elementary school student. Be silent. Listen carefully. Take notes too.

Usually all you could get is that first appointment and run it (if you are lucky and it didn’t get canceled or forgotten by your prospect) with your manager. That is it. You say there should be a presentation as a logical part of a normal sales cycle. Nope.
For some reason that I wasn’t able to identify back then, no one wanted to go any further. They needed to think about it, they needed to talk to another person within the company etc. Pretty normal outcome for a new inexperienced green sales person who doesn’t know (or care) about anything else except their burning desire to sell and get commissions. Surprisingly all that applied to most of the veteran agents and managers.

Sell, sell, sell and win another prize! Win a cruise trip, win some extra $$, show off, be better than others.

Being honest - the product Aflac offers is fairly good. Not extremely expensive. Some people can use it and find really helpful. But I am telling you, chances that you will see your original Aflac agent in a year after your purchased a policy is about 15-20%. Some new guy/gal will be your agent if you are lucky. Or if you are not, you get no one servicing you.

Good luck. Quack-quack.

I signed on here in July 2016 and left in April 2018, propelled by the ending of a relationship, and the sudden tripling of my bills.  This job requires active, almost religious-like devotion in order to have even moderate success in a small and mid town environment. 

The entire time I was here I had to work a second job, and never paid more than 40% of my month’s bills from AFLAC commissions earned. Their model is to train up as many foot soldiers (agents) as possible and send them into an overly saturated business market (everyone has either seen it already and hates it, or already has it and loves it) in order to drive growth. It is reckless and unprofessional.  

This job requires a realistic commitment of 70hrs per week (which they’ll arrogantly say is ‘what the most successful people in life do’, all the while touting their supposed “work-life balance”). It also requires driving anywhere from 36,000-48,000 miles per year, and all travel time and wear/tear is on you, the independent agent, and is unpaid. Mandatory attendance at Market-Level trainings is also required, and occurs in Louisville, KY.  These are also unpaid for both time spent in training and time on the road.  If you live locally (in/around Owensboro, KY) you can expect to drive all over Western KY, and Southern IN, regularly driving more than 150 miles per day.  The average time to open a new account and get paid is not 3-4 weeks (like they will tell you it is).  It will be 8-10 weeks for each new account you add to the book of business - which means you get paid every 8-10 weeks on average. 

You are paid solely on new business you generate and receive no sign on bonuses or up front, start-up cost assistance; with the exception of a VERY SELECT FEW, this job will not pay one’s bills for a MINIMUM of 24 months, and will cost you anywhere from $150-$300/month in that time period. Put another way, 9 out of 10 people will spend around $4000 before they profit a dime. Due to this, the turnover rate is unbelievable - higher even than food service. 

Overall - if you want a job that pays the bills, provides security for your family, allows for family time, and has advancement opportunities, go somewhere else.  Save yourself the disappointment. This is no different than fronting $4000 to start one’s own business, and follows a similar “profitability” time table. And in the first 24 months, you will see your family very little. Very disappointing.

I sold aflac for 2.5 years and lets just say I'm overjoyed to have a different job. I saw many people come into the organization and leave actually owing money back to aflac. You are working in a horribly saturated market and are constantly encouraged to recruit more competition. Why? Because the structure is similar to a multi-level marketing scheme. No one in the sales force (associate, district coord, regional coord, state coord, territory, and national) are employees of Aflac. 75% of all new business is written by associates with less then a year experience. This is evident in the 95% turnover. I come from a small metro area of about 120,000 and there are 2 district managers with around 20 associates each at any one time. Out of those groups only about 10 have been working for over a year. The reason for this is you hit your friends and family up and make some pretty good money but when you've used your network up you're staring at a market where you're directly competing with many others for a limited number of businesses. Then when you can't find any businesses to sell and aren't making money you quit. When you quit your friends and family drop the coverage they bought from you and you're left paying back the unearned advance. It sucks!
     Let's say you make it past the first year. Yay for you! It's about to get really hard. You're now balancing a year's worth of admin (claims, etc), trying to convince people to keep their coverage you sold them last year when you are re-enrolling, and trying to find more businesses. When tax time comes you better have saved because you've had nothing withheld so the 7% sis you're used to is now 15%. Plan on putting back 25% for taxes at least. 
  I drove an average of 100 miles a day cold calling so plan on spending a lot of money on gas. I also had to travel far from home a lot to find areas that weren't quite so saturated so I averaged 2 or 3 hotel rooms a month and while these expenses are tax deductible they are out of pocket. I did see a few associates  have to quit because they had no money to put gas in their car to go to work. 
     I could continue to go on but my advise would be to find something else. Aflac has run their business model into the ground.

I believe in the company and feel that what they do is truly important but it’s sad when you can’t work in something that you believe in because there is no support and a lot of half truths to pull you in to something completely unexpected. Let me start off my saying that I left a job for Aflac. Yes things weren’t perfect, but I had job security. Unfortunately there was no way for job advancement which is what ultimately lead me to Aflac. I was told that I could start immediately after my licensing exam and that it would only take 2 weeks for that. Confident in a company name that I had known since I was a child I put my two weeks in at my old job. It took about six weeks based on test availability and left me a month without work. Finally I was able to start was I was expecting to be a dream job. I had asked a lot of questions in preparation for this day and felt that I was equipped to handle it, but I was wrong. I lot of what is told to her dolls during the interview are half truths. . You’re never actually lied to when you dissect it, but you were never told the truth either. I was told that I would have access to healthcare. This is something that I desperately needed because I have prexisting health conditions. The only access is through a association. You have to pay membership for it and the prices were hired than aca. I was also told that we had paid training. I understood that the job itself would be commissioned, but wanted to ensure that I was have a pocket of safety while I was learning the ropes. They pulled out a book and showed me “exactly what I’d be making each week at minimum.” This was another half truth. The book was based on commissions and bonuses and for me I didn’t make anything until after being there 2 months. Believe it or not, I was actually one of the lucky ones. There was some that would go without  making anything I. 6 months. We were all told to leave security and shown this diagram of what we were “garunteed” to make. The reality was that it was rare for anyone to make it.  When others left they were chastised. We were told that they couldn’t cut it and they were looked down upon for needing to provide for their family, but a savings only last so long, and Aflac should know that best of all since it’s something they preach.nto, but I was wrong.

It's amazing this company has gotten away with this BS for so long. First, they prey on unemployed, down-on-their luck people. They bring you in, make all these promises, fill your head with ideas, and then... nothing.

You spend countless hours in training and meetings, and don't get one red cent for any of it. They sell you on the premise that you are your own boss, but yet supervisors harass you daily about making cold calls, etc.

Mainly I drove around every day, wasting gas, to make cold calls to places that had already been visited by 100 other AFLAC agents. As you can expect, they generally weren't happy to see me. You MIGHT make a sale or two if you know people who work at a certain company, but chances are that they either already have AFLAC or they are not interested AT ALL in purchasing. 

Then if you ever do get a lead, you won't get full commission because of course, your supervisor will go with you so he can get a piece of the pie.

I worked there two months and spent plenty of money on gas, lunches, business cards (they don't even give you free cards), and other stuff. It's just not worth it. All the hassle, rejection, meetings, pep talks, etc.., it's all garbage. Just a bunch of shysters trying to get over on people. 

And top things off, after I left the company, they tried to take me to collections for 80 bucks I supposedly owed for "advance commission charge backs, advanced personal deductions or other items that were on my monthly statement."

First of all, I never asked for any advances. I didn't make any sales. The company basically wasted two months of my life, cost me money,and now you're trying to stick me for 80 bucks? I told AFLAC Collections to go ahead and take me to court. I'm not giving them one dollar. I'll trash them to any and every media outlet I know.

AFLAC should be ashamed for taking trying of advantage of people trying to make a decent living. The agents who are successful are the ones who were out making calls years ago. Nowadays, either companies have AFLAC already or they hate AFLAC and want nothing to do with it. There's no in between.

If you're willing to kill yourself without the promise of regular pay, go for it. You'd be better off working at a gas station or liquor store. At least you get a check.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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Account manager 82 salaries reported	$72,690 per year

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