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 m
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
ProsGreat Produts!
ConsBad Commission Splits, Feels like a Pyramid Scheme!
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
ProsNone
ConsEverything
4.0
Customer Service Representative | Columbus, GA | Sep 13, 2013
Productive workplace. Job satisfaction came with ensuring a good customer resolution, assisting customers with claims at difficult times.
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 organizer
ProsCompany benefits, good, secure & somewhat remote work environment, onsite cafeteria, frequent health fairs, opportunities to participate in mentoring programs, workshops, excellent corporate training, onsite fitness center, library.
ConsInability to participate in some of the company activities because we had to staff the phones.
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
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 t
Good Company, Good People, Atrocious Business Model
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 acc
ProsSelf Scheduleing
ConsPaid every 2-3 months; Insanely expensive to start up and make profitable.
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 ar
ProsYou are your own boss. Free marketing material.
ConsNo guarantee of income in a horribly saturated market
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 safe
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."
ProsNone
ConsNo salary, benefits, leads.
Questions And Answers about AFLAC
What is the best part of working at Aflac?
Asked Dec 1, 2019
Flexible schedule
Answered Jun 23, 2022
Never being told upfront to expect 3 months without pay.
Answered Jun 22, 2022
If you were in charge, what would you do to make Aflac a better place to work?
Asked Jun 23, 2017
They need to better service the people that pay them. They take your money fast but when you need help they drag there feet.
Answered Apr 17, 2021
Not allow District Sales Coordinators to continue marketing. They need to make it more of a focus to ensure the success of the people they hire. But instead they are getting a salary pay, and still focusing on marketing themselves. Base pay for the producers job, clock in, show proof of going out and marketing. One system for leads enrollment and activity and assuming they have a clock in system that would be on one system. Gas Card, stop playing favorites and i am sure I could go on, but thats all i have for now.
Answered Sep 1, 2020
What is a typical day like for you at Aflac?
Asked Mar 18, 2020
Dreadful
Answered Aug 12, 2022
It all depends on which department you’re in. Claims and Call center are the biggest departments but they’re also some of the busiest. Outside those departments, it can be very calm and less frantic.
Answered Jul 19, 2022
What questions did they ask during your interview at Aflac?
Asked Jun 16, 2016
They just presented the position but never followed up for the actual interview.
Answered Mar 5, 2022
They mostly ask about my customer service experience and what motivates me the most. There was a few other questions but I don't really remember.
Answered Feb 24, 2021
What is the interview process like at Aflac?
Asked Dec 6, 2016
Group Zoom meeting style interview that was chaotic because people were speaking over people.
Answered May 24, 2022
Had a first and second interview with Regional Manager.
