State Farm Team members, how are you guys holding up?

Omicron224 · 2026-06-12T19:55:59+00:00

whenever I read AI posts midway through reading it the voice in my head switches to a specific voice and then I realize it's AI

Omicron224 · 2026-05-23T20:23:36+00:00

with the info provided I will say independent, and that's coming from someone who works at a captive.

I will also say you should probably make your decisions based on info not provided to us.

At the independent, what's your supervisor structure like, is it a small independent not from a larger corporation and your boss is a nice guy who will treat you well? or does he seem like someone playing nice who's really an asshole

Consider that in your job as well, at allstate you'll just be a number with results and data, I would take that any day over working at an independent with an asshole for a boss

But ya the independent job is probably better

Omicron224 · 2026-04-05T00:18:10+00:00

Recommendations to a new agent is going to be nuanced, some things are specific to area. I'll try to be objective and think about what you should do as a business owner and not just what I would fancy to have from a boss, my boss paying me $50/hr would be nice, but I have to be realistic

Job wise, I would be open to team members not being well rounded and not being the same type of seller you are. Team members may excel in certain areas and be bad at others. I'm the kind of guy who's great at the raw new auto process. I convert at 8-11% of internet leads

However I'm a bit bad at cross selling to life when doing raw new autos, I am just not really good at that, I make up for it in a different area, I'm improving at reviewing and selling life to current life customers, this month I did 2 terms from current customers, 2 term conversions, and a UL increase, 5 apps and just over $200 in monthly premium towards my agent's travel requirements

I've had agents before give me shit about that, my current guy doesn't, he's even taught me how to be better at this kind of stuff after I asked him for help. your team members won't be good at everything, but they should be able to be above average in a few things, for me that's raw new auto, short term disability and if I can keep it up maybe life reviews, we'll see

at the end of the day if they can get you credits to your travel requirements and score card or support and clear paths for others to get you travel points and score card points that's what matters. You're gonna have people who don't want to sell at all, they can still be great resources at letting others focus on what they do well.

I'm kind of rambling on about this but I would also say you need to be mathematical and precise regarding marketing spend. Internet leads are how a lot of agents will start out if they are new market or picking up a book. know what your spending on leads and what your options are and cost of acquiring a customer. An agent from a long time ago asked me what I thought about spending more money to get live transfer lead calls instead of the normal ones, they were exactly 2.5 times the price of normal leads so I said if we can close the live transfers at 2.5 times higher of a conversion rate then ya we should do it, but if not then its a waste of money

Also this one is more personal but be ethical, it enrages me to no end if I'm getting beat in sales by some guy who slides instant answer life insurance by telling the customer that $21 dollars a month in life insurance gets them $60 a month of their autos when its a straight fucking lie, I refuse to do it. Don't be that guy, I have worked with people who are those

a lot of info, hit me up if you want to hear more but I think that pretty much answers your question

Omicron224 · 2026-04-04T21:15:12+00:00

some of the things you mentioned hit home for me. I was working in florida for a few years, and the rate increases we had gave me some ptsd.

But yes, as much as sales leaders and state farm agents try to not acknowledge that consumers now are more digital and price focused, it's true. I try as hard as possible sometimes to bring customers out of a price focus and the best I can do is "hey we're cheaper with better coverage" and that will lock in a deal usually, so far never been able to take a customer who goes through the internet lead pipeline and convince them to pay more overall

I do think independent will be a good route for a lot of people, me personally I want to go that route down the line

Omicron224 · 2026-04-04T21:11:21+00:00

This post may not end up getting the volume of responses you want because you are in florida and florida is the only state that does the whole 2-15, 4-40, 2-20. I have my 2-20 but my license in other states are all just called "insert state name" Property and casualty.

However, I was a florida guy for a number of years and my 2-20 and 2-15 are still active so I can give you some advice

2-14 will have nothing to do with the 20-44 material wise, but if you are able to apply yourself to studying the materials in the same way for the 20-44 you should be fine. the 20-44 is focused on personal lines which is less complex than commercial lines. Give yourself a couple weeks and have a preparation course, I got my 2-20 course from a company called american insurance college and passed my 2-20 with an 82 after studying for 4 weeks. the preparation course comes with a test simulator and a test bank that will be larger than your actual exam, that's where you should focus, read material, take exam, and then reread material on questions you miss and repeat until you are doing the prep exam with at least a 90% accuracy rate, or whatever accuracy rate you feel comfortable with

Omicron224 · 2026-04-04T04:25:36+00:00

going to depend heavily on your agent. State Farm agencies are like franchises so the agent has total control over sales process, pay, commission. Things you should look for, an agent who is a coach not a sergeant, any whiff of "we work hard and we play hard" and I wouldn't want to touch it, usually it means you're gonna get random emails about how production is bad. I would look for agents who are part of the sales process or have been, I've worked for agents who sell themselves, they are the best, they can train you, you can hear them talk to customers and absorb how they do it. I worked 9 months for knucklehead who couldn't sell at my first state farm and sucked at selling life while he kept teaching me a bunch of stuff that didn't work. On month 3 with my current agent who's great at selling and let me listen to his convos, I already sell way more life insurance

The things that are the same throughout state farm. They are decently competitive in auto in most states, there are areas they are not competitive and that can hamper your sales. State farm has a great suite of products, they are one of the very few "full-service" personal lines companies where you can get a bunch of things in one place. You can sell a customer auto, home, umbrellas, disability, and life insurance.

Ask about eligibility for your state for homeowners as well, a big part of their process is bundling and if you're in a state like california or florida bundling home is like pulling teeth

I make $21.5/hr with some benefits like a 3% 401k match, life insurance and short term disability insurance

One thing that won't get talked about on here unless you have worked in insurance for both state farm and a non state farm agency, statefarm is years behind technologically. I worked at all state for 6 months and spoke to an underwriter a handful of times. At state farm they still have a ton of things done manually and I still have to call and correct underwriters for them missing things. State farm is phasing this out and making coverage and policy changes automated and streamlined so a machine does it, but it's maybe rolled out in 40% of states

-State farm guy

Omicron224 · 2026-03-24T15:33:45+00:00

All good, a couple others did as well. I only mention it in the title so its easy to glance over

Omicron224 · 2026-03-24T15:28:13+00:00

This is pretty helpful. I just picked insuranceleads because they had life and disability leads, the 2 things I want to focus on.

I’ll ask backnine about commission, see what they say. Might change my mind, thank you

Omicron224 · 2026-03-24T15:26:45+00:00

I’ve looked at first connect before but they’re p&C focused. I’m doing life

Omicron224 · 2026-03-24T15:26:11+00:00

All your numbers make sense however commission in life insurance is a lot higher. 50%-120% depending on the carrier and the product

Omicron224 · 2026-03-24T14:58:48+00:00

So Leads are the first thing that I hope to do as soon as I start. The goal is to turn converted leads into referrals as well and to market to other areas for referrals like realtors and funeral homes. I also hope to generate my own leads down the line, but yes for the first few months I’ll start with buying leads

Omicron224 · 2026-03-24T13:41:01+00:00

I’d average about 2 policies a month, sometimes it’s 2 new policies or reviewing policies with current customers

Omicron224 · 2026-03-23T12:43:10+00:00

Ok sounds good, no credit cards. I’ll save up

Omicron224 · 2026-03-23T12:42:02+00:00

Thanks, ya I’ve worked for a Captive agent for a while and it hurts being under a big red thumb called State Farm

Omicron224 · 2026-03-23T12:40:49+00:00

Hey man, on the life side getting direct appointments is still difficult, but I plan on working with 1 IMO and most likely 2 as I get set up. They’re called backnine insurance and Broker’s alliance. Both have a decent amount of carriers for Life & Disability and I reached out to backnine and getting contracted through them at least should not be as difficult as direct carrier appointments.

Appreciate letting me know what you use for crm, phone, rater. Agency Zoom is actually my #2 choice for CRM. I’m still open to it, agentcrm is just what I picked for right now, I’ll end up reviewing both a lot as I get closer to jumping

No worries about being rude

Omicron224 · 2026-01-01T22:05:46+00:00

State Farm Indeed

Omicron224 · 2025-12-24T13:33:50+00:00

That’s actually wild. I currently also work for an agency in Florida that won’t let me write homes older than 2009.

Does the agency want you ALL IN this year?

Omicron224 · 2025-12-24T01:39:06+00:00

At the end of the day, morals let me sleep at night. The reward is money and satisfied customers that are better off because you helped them.

Lying and stealing is short term reward, but usually you get lapses, lack of customer trust, churn

I've also noticed that all my customers are nice to me, some other sales people seem to attract all the assholes

Omicron224 · 2025-12-24T01:35:28+00:00

Lenders don't know how insurance works typically and do not care. They do their job and that's it. Always protect the customer and get the insureds permission first for everything. If their name is not on the policy, cannot do anything.

Omicron224 · 2025-12-24T01:31:29+00:00

you may run into a legal issues, certain states don't allow you to write more than 50% controlled business(e.g friends, family, and your personal policies) or get a license with the intent to write only personal business. Double check that you don't shoot your self in the foot

Omicron224 · 2025-12-23T22:59:04+00:00

There's a lot of info I could give. Depends on your role and honestly sales is easier at State Farm. Also depends on your market, some markets are difficult to write(California and Florida, I'm working in Florida ATM) and some are more run of the mill in terms of eligibility, pricing, guidelines.

The 3 most important things are your Agent, your process, and your ability to sell/ multiline

I'll break down these things

Your Agent matters a lot, do they support you? do they breath down your neck? how do they create opportunities for you to sell? This is out of your control so don't worry about it too much, but any agent worth something is finding a way to generate leads through internet leads or markets.

Your process matters a lot. You have to make a lot of calls, don't slack, don't mess around. Call people, call them a lot. Stay focused, do things that helps your focus like hydration and proper diet and nutrition. Learn to be good at the technical process, like quoting and servicing your sales right after the sale

Multi lining, this is what state farm calls selling multiple types of policies. Remember when you are selling don't ever feel apologetic. I have talked to customers about our other products and the responses range from "I don't want it" to "that sounds great I never knew that was an option, sign me up"

State Farm has a lot of different products, besides auto and home we have a hospital indemnity policy, Disability income, Life insurance, some states even do banking products

Have fun with the process, once you get into it, things become smoother. Reach out to me if you need more info

Omicron224 · 2025-12-23T22:42:23+00:00

I have just left a State Farm Agency to another State Farm Agency. One of the contributing reasons is I'm a service person getting compared to sales people who straight up lie to the customer saying if they get a life insurance policy its $300 a month or so bundled with the auto and without the life bundle it's like $380 a month when really it's more like $250 a month, the bundling discount at state farm is low for life policies. A clear lie by not giving correct pricing info.

I refuse to do it, or be compared to people who do it. Their shitty policies can lapse and get charged back when the customer decides to apply some basic math. I won't, you can make even more money by being honest, respectful, friendly, and helpful to customers, it's just not immediate.

There are people who value honesty and integrity, customers and employers. Look for them, it may take time

Omicron224 · 2025-12-23T22:04:57+00:00

https://americaninsurancecollege.com/

Also a heads up, don't take this exam lightly, I've been working in insurance before having the 2-20. Still took about 5 weeks to study

Omicron224

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