insurance agent

associate manager

Answer Financial Inc.

I worked at Answer Financial for 2 weeks. I am a licensed agent and have been for nearly 10 years. You have to obtain a broker license to sell for multiple carriers at once. So I had to go through licensing in order to obtain that license. It is essentially the same license you just have to pay special attention to the commercial lines portion of the test. Anyway, from the get go the culture at the company seemed really funky. They don't take the time to get to know you and value you as an employee you are just a number to them. We were told throughout the first weeks of training that the trainers knew more than us, which it itself is insulting. That coupled with the fact that they treat you like children was just icing on the cake. I have never worked for a company that held such little value for their employees. I am so glad I ultimately had a backup plan, because I had to miss ONE day to care for my 4 sick children and myself because we all contracted a stomach virus and the next morning I was let go, but told they want me at Answer Financial and to reapply for the role posted. Yeah right. I'm starting a job next week that pays 5 bucks more an hour and believes in REAL work life balance. To represent themselves as an Allstate company is sad. I worked for Allstate and was never treated the way Answer Financial treats their employees. If thinking of applying here, run don't walk in the other direction. There are much better ways to start you career as an insurance agent and this place isn't it.

I thought I had found the right career working from home but I was wrong. They pay for your licensing and while you are in training never tell you that if you don't meet certain goals while in training they let you go. We were told the biggest hurdle is passing your licensing exam which I did first time around. Then we went into training GREAT!  Then we are told we are going into "launchpad" once we receive a certain number of licenses to take calls before we get on the floor. This apparently was a new training they were working out and then IMMEDIATELY told by the managers if you don't get this and this you are fired. REALLY?? You mean I went through all this training and if I don't sell a combo (auto & renters, etc) I am being fired. The most absurd nonsense I ever heard of. Remind you majority of us are new to sales and licensed in only 8 or 11 states. The qoutes are more than often higher than what they are currently paying. We have not gotten all of our licenses but yet we face losing a job we studied and trained for over there dumb metrics. To think the day I was let go I received a call back from a customer looking to purchase a combo (auto/asp) but was not given the chance to work my full shift. Good thing out of this is that I got my license. I wouldn't only recommend this company to people looking to get their license and not have to pay for it otherwise go somewhere else.

Prepare to be micromanaged to the absolute MAX.

The benefits are great along with the pay. The commission plan could be better. Very stressful as they make you sell other products more than once to a customer which most cannot even afford the insurance. Bottom of the barrel clientele in most cases. Upper management is the absolute worst and don't care about employees at all just metrics. After training you are isolated. 

They say you are able to move up in the company after 6 months. They say you can become home certified after a certain timeframe, some colleagues of mine waited 4+ years to just get a chance at higher certification. Prepare to put in years of hard work to get noticed if you even do. 

They say they are a family forward company but they don't care if you are a parent, don't care if you have unexpected surprises, don't care if you need to make a schedule change. You must work a weekend day no matter what. 

If you are only in it for the money. It's decent. If you want an inclusive work environment with management who treats you decently and as anything other than a number and as the human being you are, get in, learn and get out. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
There were many good things about working for the company until 2020 when they tragically lost the president of the company, and replaced him with someone from Allstate; who replaced everything that was good about working for AFI with corporate coldness. Working there became unbearable with impossible metrics, commission changes that made it more difficult to make the same money while doing exactly the same work, constant negative communication from management, etc. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Having joined AFI at a time when employees felt valued, were heard and were paid well, and then witnessing its slow, but painfully visible demise was incredible heartbreaking. 
I would say that what is most stressful is that the metrics are nearly impossible to achieve. 
AFI is constantly training on diversity, and that all people and their opinions count, and yet they listen to nobody, and threaten people's livelihoods, and continue making changes to pay structure to benefit the bottom line - not the employees. 
Their motto "We do right" meant something before 2020. Not now.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The only thing I can think of is that it's remote.

A typical day with the company looks like, a lot of calls about clients (insurance companies) not picking up the phone, not sending letters to the customer about important updates, etc. You do your best to help but ultimately get the runaround as well. You'll get several angry people calling because they were not made aware that the company they signed up with is completely electronic, sent paperwork to the wrong address, or can't get a hold of the insurance provider at all. It can be really overwhelming. Most of the people that have been there for awhile are pretty locked in. The schedules are rigid, the stress is overwhelming, and often times you are thrown in without clear instruction. The most stressful part of the job is not having clear direction, being asked to do something against guides, and not having a clear chain of command for issues beyond the supervisory team while simultaneously being expected to tackle the issue. The most enjoyable part about the job will be interacting with kind people when you get them. However, you do get a 401k and a pension as well as an internal rewards system.

I worked for this company for three years. In the beginning it was great! I loved everything about this place. 15.00 an hour oh yea , inbound calls I think so. I was a constant top performer here. In January of 2019 they changed the comp plan. It was ok. Make a long story short they will not help better you or back you. It is a favoritism company. You could be a top agent with a retention of 97 percent and walk in one day to be fired out of the blue because “my audits” BTW my audits were in the 90s (passing) they said I missed 4 flags  in a 3 month period. But the reason I was fired is because my boss and I use to be close but after my parent died In July I couldn’t put up with her knit picking me. I wanted to work from home and was told I couldn’t even though I trained New Agents from home. If you are not a favorite or kiss but and be as fake as possible you will not succeed. If you stay to your self do you job and go home you will not succeed. And the above person is exactly right about the launch pad. I was training them, and had to score them. If they didn’t say certain things on a call they were fired!

I was a top producer, and although the directer and mangers are cool people, the company is awful. The comp plan the have is only designed for people who have book of business that is already built.

Don't believe them when they say they have agents making over 100k. That was 3 years ago, and this company is going down hill fast. I quit and I was a top producer. Also, they don't care about you, they will just fill that seat with someone else dumb enough to work here.

This place is only for ENTRY level agents. Get your license here and leave. SO many more opportunities out there. This company is greedy as heck.

More that half the agents employed don't take home a bonus. at all. So you're making 15 an hour, and taking awful calls, even worse leads. First 6months-year you will NOT bonus. Then after maybe a year and a half you'll average around 500 bonus.

A typical day at work was busy. Inbound calls from usual callers as well as referrals from partner companies. A high degree of multi-tasking was expected with the ability to quote from multiple carriers while carrying on a conversation with the caller. Required to offer additional non insurance products and transfer callers to these lines. Pay was draw versus commission with sales bonuses. Supervisors were constantly listening to calls and sending comments by IM, which was a distraction while attempting to bind a policy. The initial virtual training class was slanted toward those students with prior agency experience. After training, employees were expected to work on their own time to practice using the carriers systems to gain speed during quotes. This company is best suited for those with a great deal of speed and energy and driven to sell, sell, sell.

Horrible experience so far. I began working for them about six months ago and every day gets worse and worse. Super toxic environment as a whole company. The trainers have been burnt out, washed and put up wet. Management is lack luster to say the least and they legit pass the buck down without any integrity or responsibility. I have no clue how they are making money with such high turnover and no policies staying on the books past a month. If Allstate really looked hard at this company they would close it down in a second. My recommendation is to find a morally responsible company that has respect for its agents and not just going through the motions. 

They promise the sun moon and stars and its a glorified draw system- you owe the money back before you get any bonus. The leads ALL NON STANDARD - lapsed, poor driving record, mostly angry  off people that Liberty Mutual or Esurance already made mad. Or they registered on line and have gotten called 15 times in a day by someone in Mexico untold they answered only to get a poor quote. If you make 4 sales in a day you get a candy bar- woo hoo!  Carriers are leaving faster than they can keep the contacts! If you hate life apply here! Management has unrealistic expectations! They want perfect calls and then tons of calls in a day- can’t have both!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Insurance agent 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour
Associate manager 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year

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