Should I become a Farmer's Agency Owner?

Redman,
First, I would encourage you to use spell-check. "inmature"? It's spelled "immature". Actually, encourage & promote are the same thing.

Encourage:
1. to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence: His coach encouraged him throughout the marathon race to keep on running.
2. to stimulate by assistance, approval, etc.: One of the chief duties of a teacher is to encourage students.
3. to promote, advance, or foster: Poverty often encourages crime.

Promote:
1. to help or encourage to exist or flourish; further: to promote world peace.
2. to advance in rank, dignity, position, etc. (opposed to demote).
3. Education. to put ahead to the next higher stage or grade of a course or series of classes.
4. to aid in organizing (business undertakings).
5. to encourage the sales, acceptance, etc., of (a product), esp. through advertising or other publicity.
6. Informal. to obtain (something) by cunning or trickery; wangle.

In truth, I neither encourage nor promote acts of violence. I am simply stating that there is a cause and effect relationship with Farmers Insurance business practices and the strong possibility that they will eventually face the consequences.

DONT BE A FARMERS AGENT. The CEO of Farmers is trying to not pay the value of your AGENCY when you quit or they fire you. He likes to get rid of older longtime agents with big agency's. Gives it to new agents for awhile with extreme pressures. He is not Honoring the agents AAA contracts and is withholding CONTRACT VALUE even loyal agents who quit or become I.A.'s. Dont let a D.M. tell you this is untrue as there are court cases now. He shafted a friend of mine who after 25yrs wasnt paid his 6 figure agency value. They have billions and will fight forever. Also The agents contract will not let you COLLECT ATTORNEY FEES even if you WIN.

I'm glad I found this site! I have an interview with a Farmers DM or something scheduled next week but now I won't be going! HA!

I am currently a reserve agent with Farmers and will be quitting very soon. Everything you read on this site is TRUE. The promises made by DMs and Reserve District Managers (RDMs) are overly optimistic at best, and outright lies at worst. Farmers is a giant scam. I overheard my Center Manager tell one of his RDMs that every new body they hire in is another 23.5 policies for the company.
The Training is a joke, 2 weeks and then they expect you to start shelling out hundreds of dollars for markeing leads and mailings. I am in Ohio where Farmers has built a large "Training Center", which is really just a big recruiting farm. There should be a revolving door on the front of the building to handle all the people who quit shortly after training. The Center has been in existence for about a year and a half and yet there are only a handful of career agents in the local area. They typically hire in 4-8 new trainees a week....you do the math.
Yes, they want you to sell to friends and family.
Yes, they PUSH life insurance (the DMs are heavily bonused for this)
Yes, you bear all the costs.
Yes, you are expected to put in evenings and weekends "volunteering" at events
Yes, the computer system is one of the worst I have ever seen
Yes, billing is a nightmare & the agent is supposed to take the heat from clients
Yes, you can expect to earn next to nothing during training

PLEASE do not waste your time and money like I did. I am not some crackpot either. I have had a long successful career in sales, have a college degree, have been in management before, and yet I was taken in by the hype and lies.
LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE, and that of every other person who has posted here.

Hello, just my two cents worth...I started my insurance career as a Farmers agent. I was dazzled and bamboozled by the promises of huge money and a product "I would be proud to sell". Complete and total BS. Like I read somewhere else in this website...you may as well join Amway or some other pyramid scheme. That is not only the financial setup (take a close look), it is also the mentality of the DMs and other trainers I have met. Believe me, these people are a-holes. Complete and total money grubbing a-holes, with about as much class and character as a used car salesman. It can be hard to tell at first...these folks are well trained at feeding you lies and stroking your ego. They look right into your eyes with devout intent as they spew their BS in your face. I began to see through the facade after about a year with them...my "contract" seemed to change on a weekly basis. I began to understand that my security level with them is 0, nothing at all. My DM was trying to shut down a large agency, because the guy was older and didn't produce as much. I heard of many other large agencies being shut down for petty reasons. It's no small wonder...guess who owns the policies when an agency is shut down? The agent who "inherits" them? WRONG! The agent who inherits the policies has the pleasure of servicing them at 40% commission!!! WTF? Guess who gets the other 60%? Gee, it might be...Farmers. That was the policy that was introduced during my tenure. My DM kept on saying "this is such a great opportunity for you!". Yeah. Right. I actually performed well enough to make it to their "career training" in LA...wow, the big time at last...LOL. It was actually the career training that broke the camels back. I have never seen such a BS kind of training...here is the jist of it: Sell more of our crappy and overpriced products, hire a staff person you cannot afford, rent out an office space you can't afford, and just keep up the great attitude while we loan you money until you are completely in bed with us, and you will make it! UGH, talk about a bunch of complete BS...seriously folks, these guys are on crack. I wish I had a video tape of the absurdity of it all, it's like being in an infomercial. If you would like a real career in the insurance industry, be prepared to work hard, investigate products and companies, take care of your customers, and be willing to live on credit for a while. This is not an over night success industry, so don't let these a-holes tell you that it is. Become an independant agent, like I did. You won't believe how much better it is, especially if you are willing to learn and do an honest business. If you are a shark type business person, and don't really give a shit about your clients, join up with Farmers...you would be perfect together.

The contract you sign Farmers called AAA is a farce. Paul Hopkins has found a loophole and is NOW NOT paying AGENCY CONTRACT VALUES when agents leave or fired. He is even suing agents for business that leaves FIG due to agent quitting. There is a case in court right now on this. Agent was with FIG 30yrs they wont give him CONTRACT VALUE. IF wrong MR HOPKINS please respond!

I recently received the following email from Farmers in regard to employment & I simply responded with: www.farmersinsurancegoupsucks.com. Mr. Seyl (Jared) was kind enough to respond with "Does your response mean that you are not interested?"
For those of you that have some free time, give Mr. Seyl (Jared) a call to inquire about the terrific opportunity he is offering. Sounds too good to be true!!


From: jseyl1@farmersagent.com
Subject: Agency Manager
To: p@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 3:45 PM


Dear :

My name is Jared Seyl and I am a Sales District Manager for Farmers Inurance.

I have personally reviewed your resume and I was impressed with your
experiences. It was clear to me that you have the qualities and skills to excel
with Farmers Insurance and Financial Services Agent.

If you're an individual with an entrepreneurial spirit and you're
searching for a small business opportunity with minimum risk and no franchise
fee, becoming a Farmers Agent might be for you.

Farmers Insurance and Financial Solutions offers you the opportunity to build
your own business utilizing Farmers Insurance group of Companies, the 3rd
largest auto and home insurer in the nation, the ninth largest commercial writer
and one of the leaders in the life insurance business.

In 2007, our top 2,500 Farmer’s Agents earned an average of $500,000 with our
top 500 earning well over $1,000,000. Typically, a new agent will earn between
$45,000 and $75,000 and here’s why:

• Business development, marketing, sales & product training
• 2-year financial assistance package (base income + commissions)
• Mentoring and Support from District Office Staff
• Highly competitive commission and renewal structure
• Flexible hours & potential to continue your job while training
• Life, dental, vision, AD&D & E&O benefit plans

Job Requirements:
*Responsible driving record
*No felony convictions
*No criminal misdemeanor convictions involved in theft/securities related
within 10 years
*No bankruptcies within 3 years
*College education is preferred
*Bilingual candidates are encouraged to apply.

If you would like to find out more about this opportunity, please send me an
Email or a cover letter and an updated resume to me at: jseyl1@farmersagent.com
or contact me directly. You can also visit our web site @
www.farmersagencycareers.com

With Best Regards,

Jared Seyl
The Holtman Group of Farmers Insurance
Sales District Manager
(720) 482-0072, ext. 301
(720) 482-0073 Fax

This site is soooo informative!....I recently as many of you have, inquired a position as an Agent with Farmers in Indiana...Like many of you have said, this opportunity sounds TOOOO good to be true! Im so glad I found this information before I wasted so much time and money on a company like this...but I do wonder, are there any successful agents? for them to be an established company, somebody has to succeed...but Im not willing to take that chance based on you guys info...thanks alot! lol

was involved with Farmers for a number of years - over a decade. Tough large companies are said to be horrible to work for - I don't know. I do know that working with Farmers was one of the most unhappy events in my life - one I wished I could take back. You have a contract with them that is worthless because they can come into your office and shut you down WITHOUT CAUSE. You must sign that document. It doesn't matter how successful you are - once they don’t like you for any reason - you are history. You have absolutely NO safety with them. I assure you, that every night you have to worry about FARMERS. You are the enemy at Farmers, right under the District Managers. The clients Farmers goes after are “Blue Collar.” I’ve heard that term many times at Farmers. These people don’t complain all that much, or check around for better prices.

Bottom line – anyone who would put their future in the hands of Farmers and become an indentured servant is crazy! If you can’t be independent, don’t come into this business. You will have many sorrowful days ahead If you do. You can NEVER depend on Farmers to be there for you. You are expendable.

I want to add my fun story with Farmers. First of all I was told you work at your own pace and all I heard was when you go career, this and that. Training was less than average and felt like I was brougt in as a number. As my training progressed I realized this to be true as the quality of the reserve agent was suspect. I do beleive all they care about is that they get those first 50-60 friends and family policies and view this as a great success. They invest no money into you but create this persona that they're their for support blah, blah, blah. Final straw for me was when I was told I would have to telemarket off a script for 4-6 hours a week calling people in my "farm territory". At that moment, I termimated my reserve agent contract and searched out and found a good independent to be my insurannce mentor. I feel a ton better about my decision and would recommend to anybody to seek independent. Farmers is all about over saturating the market with agents and hope a few stick knowing most will fail as long as they ge those friends and family policies. AVOID THESE GUYS, WASTE OF TIME

I have not seem a happy person since I started 20 month ago. I am leaving next few days and am very excited about the decision I made!

I really wish I'd seen this site before I signed my life over to Farmers.

Forget that Bernie guy...Farmers is the absolute biggest SCAM in the nation. I signed up with them July of 08. Did I make those big salaries I was promised? Hell, NO! I'm 30,000.00 in debt!

Here's how their scam works: 1)they bring you in on a bunch of bs hype, 2) they make you sign your life away on contracts you later find strip you of all your rights 3) give you minimal training - which, in my case, was done by an a-hole who didn't know squat an gave me all kinds of bogus info on how many policies you gotta write by what day blah blah 4) tell you YOU have to set up your office (sorry, can't use your home, gotta sign a lease, pay rent, buy furniture, put in 2 phone and 1-fax lines, hire a front desk person,put their logos on everything (getting those stupid logos cost me 3,000.00) and THEN 5) you start selling away and big riches are right around the corner.

uh huh..try NOT.

Step 6 is you don't get paid.

Comes August, I'm all set to get a check for 3500.00 and I get...nothing. NOTHING. I call and call, and get told 'oh, you needed to have X and Y put in by the 17th...you were ONE policy off (my 2 month total was actually 9 policies OVER but the second month I missed by just 1). So sorry, dearie, you get nothing, Who got my securities? Um..they claim nobody gets the money. Oh, yeah, and my DM is driving a big ass Merc even though he doesn't sell a lousy 20 grand policy on a baby.

Pretty soon,I gotta borrow to make my office costs,gotta send out fliers and pay my stupid phones that never ring etc. (OH, and there are like six other agents in my immediate area all doing the same) I've already got my family & friends, and their friends have either been contacted by Farmers agents or already have better policies with another company.Farmers is sooooo nice though...they loan me 6,000 to get me through the next four months (during which time I'm eating jello and Ramen noodles).

I had to hire an attorney who told me there are literally dozens and dozens of active lawsuits against Farmers by agents who've been denied their cash. (go type 'Farmers' into the court websites- it's eye-popping!) Comes Nov....I wait for my check. And wait. And wait, finally I get a lousy 2,000. That's it. Ok. I'm quitting.

OMG Farmers is demanding I pay back not just the money they 'helped' me with WITH an interest rate that's at the legal limit in Ohio - 29%! but I gotta pay back ALL my policy money I've been paid so far! THAT means, with interest, I owe over 30,000 for my 6 months with this group of @#%@Y@$#,plus I'm out another 20 g'sfor office costs, supplies, mailings etc. I figure Farmers cost me 10 grand per month for the privelege of listening to the DM's B-S.

My lawyer says not to give up hope, but I can't help feeling like I should have a Dum Dum wrapper around my head and a stick up my butt.

I did get thru to all my clients and told them my story. Most have promised to dump Farmers not just now,but for good.

I wonder what'd happen if ALL car owners got together and got bonds for, say, six months & refused to get insurance? The car insurance industry'd reel - companies like Farmers would fold. What about accidents? Well, maybe everyone 'd drive a whole lot better for six months, and think about how many times you've had a car accident.. could you last a few months without all that coverage?

As far as life insurance, if you don't have small kids, then why do you need it? When you're dead, why should you have to provide for family members who haven't done diddly for you your whole life? Funeral expenses? SOMEONE will bury you..they don't leave bodies lying around in most towns. Funny that lotsa other countries do fine without insurance, isn't it? Only a few countries have this crap. Bet they laugh at how dumb we all are. I know I feel pretty dumb having signed with Farmers.

Maybe this letter will help someone else realize when they get a letter from Farmers to RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a new job that I love...40 hours, no sweat.

The EXACT same thing happened to me. WITHOUT A DOUBT, the biggest scam EVER. Sign up your friends and family,sign here to get your money you've starved for, for months. Oh, and PS, you'll actually owe us when you inevitably fail, we'll keep your policies, and you pay us back. Sound good? (Bankruptcy will follow)

RUN LIKE HELL is my advice to anyone considering this. I feel like the biggest fool that ever lived for biting the bait.

I sent in my termination on March 18, its the very best day since I joint Farmers two years ago.

NO...........

God Bless the internet and this very useful site. I am comfortably retired but interested in a new career. I was scheduled to interview for the Reserve Agent job this morning but given all consistently nightmarish comments I will opt for a cup of coffee and a donut with friends. Last thing I want or need is an Organizational Pyramid scheme. Given all the comments, you wonder how Farmers Insurance DM's sleep at night.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! you are make the biggest mistake of your life.

Folks, run like hell!! It is WITHOUT A DOUBT the biggest organizational pyramid scheme you'll ever find. EVER!

If you want to dig yourself a huge debt mountain, ruin your credit, bring in friends and family at a low rate, then watch their rates increase 30% at renewal....this is your company.

I just cannot believe I allowed myself to get duped like this. Biggest mistake I've ever made. WOW

I fell for the farmers Career Program a little more than a year ago. I was better off working at a fast food restaurant. I had to pay $500 dollars a month in rent, plus about $300 in errors and omissions insurance and all kind of advertising and stamps. They pay for absolutely nothing. Their subsidy program is all B.S. I was investing more money than I was receiving. You are contracted and its very very very extremely hard to make it through the first 2 years. I saw many reserve agents dropped out of the program early, which was smart of them to RUN before it was to late. Almost all agents who passed the reserve program and went career were fired within a year just like me for not hitting quota. You go in debt, selling polices to all your friends and family members to only end up unemployed and owing them money for selling their insurance and using their name. They sent me a $270 charge to pay back some of the subsidy they paid me. When I had paid more than thousand of it back because they were deducting it out of my monthly paychecks. RUN RUN RUN RUN and dont think about becoming a Farmers Insurance Agent. Learn from others mistakes like mine

All,

I am currently a career agent with Farmers. I will be converting to a full time agent soon. I agree with everything you have all said. I have made about $100,000 in two years with Farmers. However, it cost me about half of that to make the $100,000. This has been an aweful experience for me. The funny thing is that the DMs seem to spread the same b.s. everywhere regardless of your location. My DM promised me all the training, leads, and income and delivered on none of it. To top it all off, once I got out on my own, he practically forgot about me. The DMs need to generate agents as part of their contract. So to them, you are just a number. The strange thing is that he constantly emails all of us agents with the numbers of other agents. It infuriates me that other people know how much I am making when they have no business knowing. He freely shares this information. I will probably stick it out with Farmers. However, I am planning an exit strategy down the road. I guess that I am fortunate that the DM leaves me alone. I am only required to produce, regardless of my method. So, if you are thinking of starting an agency, I would probably recommend against it. Unless you are independently wealthy. Up until two years ago, I had $75,000 in the bank and now I have none. Best of luck.

Farmers is a joke.. WE produced over 250,000 in less than a year in policies and they cancelled us with tens day notice for not hitting our life quotas.. Our district manager was leaving to start his own company and essentially gave us all the wriong info on datesand such.. It is imposssible to get a hold of antyone.Ron Freiburger was our Division manager. Never helped us after leaving various messsages at his office. We finally spoke to huim and he basically told us that we are out of luck and that the policies were his now. ACCORDING TO THE CONTRACt. Luckily most if not all policies were relatives and we are in the process of cancelling adn having to sign them up with other insurance companies. I read the other messages here. All are true in our case at laest. If I had read these pages before I started I would have not believed them > after having gone through ity I do. WE ACTUALLY RECEIVED AN AWARD FOR BEST PRODUCER ON MAY 12TH , ON MAY 21 THEY SENT A LETTER INFORMING US WE WERE LOSING OUR APPOINTMENT. the message up there that says it seems like they try to get people to bring in about 30 top 40 policies and then getting rid of them rings true .. to me at least andI went through it.. Consider strongly before becoming a farmers agent.ALSO ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO WRITE AUTMOBILES WITH FARMERS AS THEY ARE ON AVERAGE 3 TO 4OO DOLLARS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN OTHER COMPANIES FOR EQUAL COVERAGE.

Do not become an agent with Farmers! The company lures you in with the amount of money you can potentially make. If you do make a decent commission you pay it out in office space, licensing fees, marketing material, hired help, etc., etc., etc. Oh yea, you may have to pay back that free money called SUBSIDY.

They tell you is your business. At termination it is their business or your District Manager.

District Managers are cruel. They offer no training. They depend on you to keep their numbers up by solicitating your family and friends for new business. If you fail, they terminate you then hire a new agent in order to get their new business of friends and faimly. A never ending cycle.

i live in colorado, i just had an interview last week. im a recent college graduate and was amazed by how much money they promised me i would make. however, i have had previous sales jobs and could not be fooled. im so glad i did this research cuz i was actually considering paying for all this bs on my credit card im working so hard to pay off! THANK YOU to everyone for being HONEST and helping me!

Your future will be brigther if you are the star of the latest COPS tv show. The one they are chasing! you will have more respect from prison guards than you will get from Farmers, and guards will feed you. DO NOT DO IT. listen I know I am a current agent, top producer, etc.

Every time I update my resume on Monster I get an e-mail from these guys. (You should give it a minor tweak once a week because the default search on Monster is by Date Updated, and this keeps you on top of search results!)

I actually know someone who took over the biz from his dad; at the time, he was like "oh yeah, $175k/year etc." I have not heard from him in about six months. I am trying to track him down (been unemployed for five months myself now), and when I hear back, I will follow up with y'all. If you don't hear back, just assume all other posts in this now two-year-old thread are true!

The impression that I get is that they throw everyone against the wall to see who sticks. And Farmers is not an insurance company per se. They just use it as a vehicle to make money, like Scentura Creations or Amway.

I would like to see more information posted on becoming an independent agent, though.

I know this is an old post. But I really hope you didn't join them. What a con game.

I too have recently interviewed with farmers here in Co. Its a independent agent job. It has a contract, which the DM said I can only view at his office but can not have a copy of it. That struck me as odd. They did paint a somewhat roise picture, but not of the grand scale that I've read here. 50k first yr 100k by second yr. Some bonuses. Nothing to grand. But I'm sitting here thinking to my self why don't more people do this then. But I guess the writing is on the wall. I took their online test. They called me back said I passed and have said they are just waiting for my background check to come back. Now I'm not even sure if I want to go to the second interview.

I would not encourage you to do this. You will end up spending money to make money and most dont succed. If they say you will make this kind of money, have them guarantee it. Of course they wont but this just shows when they fail to provide you with support, a good product at a good price, they will blame you. They will take your policies you have written for them and then charge you for your draw and equipment and you will be in the hole. There is a reason everyone does not do this.

Hi, Everyone!
Sadly to say, but all of the above it's one hundred percent true! Now days, It is hard to find a trusted website helping consumers. I can see that truly this website was created by people who deeply care about others. My only hope is to pledge people to find out more about what Farmers is all about. Please, educate yourself and ask others before you commit yourself to become another failure in business...

I "owned" a Farmers agency for almost ten years. Luckily for me, I only owed back five thousands in my "subsidy” to the Company. I saw my agency grow to became an over a million dollars agency in seven years. However, the true fact is that only took two years to see all my work reduced to only few thousands dollars in contract value.

My advised to everyone is to do what all these wonderful people have said before me: Do not sign the contract. If you can, search other companies before it’s too late!!!

Hi, Everyone!
Sadly to say, but all of the above it's one hundred percent true! Now days, It is hard to find a trusted website helping consumers. I can see that truly this website was created by people who deeply care about others. My only hope is to join to the effort to pledge to people to find out more about what Farmers is all about. Please, educate yourself and ask others before you commit yourself to become another failure in business...

I "owned" a Farmers agency for almost ten years. Luckily for me, I only owed five thousands on my "subsidy” back to the Company. I saw my agency grow to became an over a million agency in seven years. However, the true fact is that only took two years to see all my work reduced to only few thousands dollars in contract value.

My advised to everyone is to do what all these wonderful people have said before me: Do not sign the contract. If you can, search other companies before it’s too late!!!