Any sales agent worth their commissions needs to understand what their getting themselves into by working with Combined Insurance.
The first incentive when interviewing with CICA is that they pay for your training, both licensing and sales. This is true, strike one for the positive side of the Frankling T.
But, don't be misled to thinking that means they will teach you anything.in license school you are taught how to pass the license exam, that's all.in sales school you are taught how to fill out forms and memorize their sales pitch, nothing more. It is all rote memorization.
In sales school about 15 seconds of two weeks is devoted to the three parties to a successful sale. For a sale to be successful it must be "in the best interest of the policyholder, the Company and YOU [the Agent]." But, that is the last time you will hear about anything in the best interest of the policyholder or YOU. If in fact this was practiced, most of the policies written by Combined Agents would not have been written.
Perhaps an example is in order.in the Des Moines area a top selling Agent that I went to school with was recently dismissed. This is a rare event at Combined. The reason was because the Iowa Insurance Commissioner was about to fine Combined about $15,000 for ethics complaints against this one agent. He was writing new health policies giving the client the assurance that he would cancel the old policy. So what is wrong with that? Only that Combined doesn't allow Agents to cancel polocies or to upgrade or replace policies. For most insurance companies, converting from one policy to another is a simple paperwork task but not at Combined. Combined is loathe to cancel even one policy. So were is the benefit to the policyholder and the Agent. Non-existent.
Quite simply, if you try to follow all of Combined's "Sales Priorities and Underwriting Rules" you will not be able to survive financially or mentally. Those few Agents who do well at Combined do it by taking advantage of Clients and misrepresenting the Policies and the Company. The policies are considerably overpriced for the benefits offered. And, getting Combined to pay on a claim is not easy, and to make it worse the same amount of paperwork is required by them, whether it is a 10 dollar claim or a 1000 dollar claim. Most Doctors and Clients think that the work to collect 10 or 20 dollars on old policies is not worth the effort, and Combined will not allow Agents to upgrade old Policies.
Quite simply, there is no fairness or consideration on the part of Combined for Clients or Agents. So what are the benefits to the Agent. Work experience is the only tangible benefit that can be listed. However, do not be misled into thinking that another employer may value your experience. No, the value is to you, the state licensed Agent. If you can stick it out for three years inspite of all the negatives, get your wall plac [endurance diploma] and still maintain your own personal ethics you will have met a lot of clients who will respect you even more when you tell them you have left Combined and now work with a reputable insurance company.
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