President’s Message

Winter 2026

The Difference Between Owning a Financial Interest and Being an Independent Agent 

Michael Garofalo 

In the insurance industry, terms like ownership, financial interest, and independent agent often get mixed together. At first glance, they may sound like the same thing—but in reality, they mean very different things for agents, their clients, and the future of an agency. 

Understanding this distinction is especially important when comparing captive agents (those who represent one company, such as Allstate, State Farm, or Farmers) with independent agents (those who represent multiple carriers). 

Owning a Financial Interest 

When a captive agent signs an agency agreement, they don’t technically own their book of business—the company does. What the agent has is a financial interest in the book. 

That means the agent earns commissions on the business they write, and in many cases, they can sell or transfer that interest under certain conditions. However, the carrier sets the rules: 

• The carrier controls the products, underwriting, and pricing. 

• The agent’s marketing is usually tied to the company brand, not their own. 

• If the agent leaves, the carrier often determines how much the financial interest is worth and to whom it can be sold. 

In short, a financial interest gives the agent a stake in the income generated from their clients, but not true ownership of the client relationships themselves. 

Being an Independent Agent 

By contrast, an independent agent truly owns their business. They have contracts with multiple carriers, allowing them to offer a wider range of products. Most importantly, the clients belong to the agent, not the insurance company. 

This independence offers several advantages: 

• Ownership of the Book: The agent owns the client list outright and can sell the business on the open market. 

• Choice and Control: The agent chooses which carriers to represent, how to market, and how to structure their agency. 

• Exit Value: An independent agency is often worth more than a captive book because the agent controls the entire operation without company restrictions. 

Independence turns the agent into both an operator and an owner—someone with full responsibility but also full rights to their agency’s growth and value. 

Captive vs. Independent: The Key Difference 

The best way to think about it is this: 

• As a captive agent, you may own a financial interest in your book, but you are essentially leasing control from the company. 

• As an independent agent, you own your agency outright—the book of business, the carrier relationships, and the long-term value. 

One is more like renting with equity; the other is full home ownership. 

Why This Matters 

For clients, the difference shapes the type of service they receive. Captive agents can only offer one company’s solutions, while independents can shop the market. 

For agents, the difference impacts long-term wealth, succession planning, and business freedom. A financial interest provides income and some security, but independence provides true ownership, flexibility, and legacy. 

Bottom line: Owning a financial interest is valuable, but being an independent agent means you’re not just participating in someone else’s system—you own the system. 

Fall 2025

The Insurance Agent’s Moral Dilemma: Company vs. Client

Michael Garofalo 

One of the most enduring ethical questions in our industry is simple to ask but difficult to answer:  Who is the insurance agent ultimately more responsible to—the company or the insured? 

On the surface, the answer may seem clear. Agents are contracted with the insurance company, bound to follow its underwriting rules, represent its products faithfully, and protect its financial interests. At the same time, the insured—the client—turns to the agent as a trusted advisor, expecting guidance, honesty, and advocacy when life takes a difficult turn. 

This dual responsibility often creates tension. Consider a few common scenarios: 

• A client files a questionable claim. Does the agent push hard for approval, or support the company’s denial? 

• A company requires certain quotas to be met. Does the agent focus on fulfilling those, even if it means recommending coverage that may not be the best fit? 

• A client assumes coverage exists for a situation when the fine print says otherwise. How much should the agent go beyond the basics to prevent misunderstandings? 

From a fiduciary perspective, many argue that the agent’s highest duty is to the insured, since the client is relying on professional expertise to safeguard what matters most. From a contractual perspective, the agent’s first obligation is to the insurer that provides the products and pays the commission. 

So how does an ethical agent reconcile the two? The answer lies in integrity and transparency. 

• Advocate for the insured whenever possible within company guidelines. 

• Educate clients clearly about what their policy does and doesn’t cover, setting realistic expectations. 

• Choose alignment by representing carriers whose values and products fit your own commitment to client-first service. 

In the end, the best way to serve both sides is simple: do right by the client. When trust is built and maintained, retention rises, referrals follow, and the company benefits too. By prioritizing honesty and advocacy, agents not only honor their ethical responsibility but also strengthen the long-term health of the business they represent. 

Summer 2025

A New Chapter for NAPAA: A Message from Your New President 

Michael Garofalo 

I am deeply honored and excited to introduce myself as the new President of the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents (NAPAA). This is both a humbling and inspiring moment for me, and I want to begin by thanking our Board, our leadership team, and every member for the trust you have placed in me to lead this organization into its next chapter. 

Throughout my years as an Allstate agent, I have witnessed firsthand the vital role that NAPAA plays in supporting agents across the country. We are more than just an association—we are a  collective voice and a resource center dedicated to ensuring that Allstate agents have the tools, advocacy, and community support we need to thrive. 

Our Shared Journey 

Each of us has a unique story about how we entered this profession, but what unites us is a shared commitment to our clients, our agencies, and our futures. We know that success is not handed to us—it is earned through hard work, integrity, and a relentless focus on meeting the needs of those we serve. 

I, too, have navigated the same challenges many of you face today—adapting to evolving corporate policies, responding to shifts in the marketplace, embracing new technology, and maintaining a strong relationship with clients in an increasingly competitive environment. These experiences have strengthened my belief that NAPAA is more essential today than ever before. 

Our Priorities for the Future 

As we look ahead, I want to share with you the core priorities that will guide my presidency: 

1. Advocacy with Strength and Purpose
   NAPAA was founded on the principle that agents deserve a strong, independent voice. Under my leadership, we will continue to advocate relentlessly on behalf of Allstate agents. Whether the issues concern contract fairness, compensation models, or agency ownership rights, we will ensure that your voice is heard loud and clear. 

1. Empowering Our Members with Resources and Education
   Knowledge is power. We will expand our educational offerings, webinars, and professional resources to help you stay ahead of industry trends and sharpen your competitive edge. From training on emerging technologies to strategies for growing your agency, we want NAPAA to be your go-to source for professional development. 

1. Fostering a Stronger Community
   Connection is at the heart of NAPAA’s mission. Through networking events, member forums, and peer support initiatives, we will work to build even stronger ties between agents nationwide. When we share ideas, experiences, and best practices, we all rise together. 

1. Promoting Transparency and Open Communication
   One of my promises to you is to lead with transparency. I want you to know what NAPAA is working on, how decisions are being made, and how your membership is making a difference. Regular updates, member surveys, and open dialogue will be key parts of my approach. 

The Road Ahead 

We know that the insurance industry is undergoing significant changes. Consumer expectations are shifting. Technology is reshaping how we interact with clients. Corporate strategies are evolving. These forces present both challenges and opportunities for us. 

But I firmly believe that independent-minded, entrepreneurial agents like us are more important than ever. We are the human connection in a digital world. We are the trusted advisors who guide families, businesses, and communities through some of life’s most critical decisions. And we are the future of this business—nimble, resilient, and committed to excellence. 

As President of NAPAA, I will work every day to ensure that agents are not just surviving these changes, but thriving in them. Our association will continue to fight for fair treatment, agency independence, and policies that support your long-term success. 

A Call to Action 

As proud as I am to serve as your President, I know that no single leader can accomplish great things alone. I need your engagement, your ideas, and your passion to help move our mission forward. 

I encourage every member to take full advantage of what NAPAA offers. Attend our events, contribute to our discussions, share your experiences with fellow agents, and let us know how we can better serve you. If you’re new to NAPAA, welcome! You are joining a community that truly understands what it means to walk in your shoes. 

And if you see an opportunity for improvement or innovation, speak up. Our strength comes from the collective energy and insight of our members. 

In Closing 

I am incredibly optimistic about our future. Together, we can navigate the changes ahead, seize new opportunities, and continue building successful, thriving agencies. NAPAA will be by your side every step of the way—a strong voice, a reliable resource, and a true partner in your journey. 

Thank you again for the honor of serving as your President. I am excited for what we will achieve together. 

Let’s get to work! 

Spring 2025

I’m back from my last NAPAA spring executive committee, and I am retired. If the only exposure to insurance you’ve had is Allstate, let me reflect on my history in the industry and share with you my experiences. There have been and are so many opportunities in our chosen field. 

I am able to take credit for living through half a century of changes and I’m sure my experiences barely touch all that is available. More than 50 years ago, I manually assigned inspection work across the country to fire safety engineers using trays of metal records to schedule inspections at highly protected business and manufacturing locations. We used switchboards, telex machines, mimeograph machines, and engineering skills to inspect locations to make sure their fire protection systems could protect giant expensive buildings from major losses.   

Women were being introduced to professional jobs at the insurance companies. With the help of college degrees and professional education from the Insurance Institutes, I developed the skills to earn my way into the professional positions. My choice was underwriting. 

Underwriters were in high demand and headhunters made money moving talent. After training and developing skills as an underwriter, I was responsible for a regional office of an AIG company. I purchased reinsurance to manage the amount of risk the company assumed. I traveled and appointed agents within a territory. In addition to traditional risks, we built programs to offer unique products. It was interesting and fun. You competed for the business by building relationships with agents and in this position, you also needed the support of reinsurance companies.   

Recruiters were widely used and women were still fairly new in these professional positions. I was recruited to CNA insurance to be a referral underwriter and trainer helping branches write new business that was beyond the authority of the branch offices. I was promoted to underwriting manager of the Chicago Branch. Again, accepting risks within authority and building and developing a book of business via the agents. Finally, I went back to home office as an industry leader developing business programs.   

Because education matters, I studies principles of insurance and the programs required to earn a CPCU designation, an Inland marine designation, and a risk management designation, and then actually then became a risk manager and compliance officer of a professional co-employer organization. 

Then time for another avenue of insurance and I went to work at an independent agent. Another eye opener but more fun was the fact that this agency was involved with surplus lines insurance.  Surplus lines agencies often focus on specific industries to build a book. They also have the ability to handle one-off risks because of the flexibility in pricing. They are not restrained by filed rates. 

While I did all this, I was a leader in the Insurance Distaff Executive Association and a leader in the local CPCU chapter. 

Finally, 17 years before I threw in the towel, I purchased an Allstate agency.  Suddenly I was in the middle with company representatives on one side for a number of years and then on the other, the buyer, a real customer for whom I was responsible for ensuring that they had the coverage they needed. I was working for a company that made changes often… 

I went from a pretty free reign of getting things done with broad authority to very tight guidelines and limited deviations. 

Funny—suddenly I was learning a DOS system to issue policies with F2 being the magic rule. Then the policies were changing, then the customer information system, then the rating system, etc., then rinse and repeat with lots of changes. 

Early on, I found NAPAA, which represented the agency experience and some of the solutions to the processes. Here I found agents sharing similar experiences in their agencies. There were good times and bad times. Consistent in my time with Allstate was my participation with NAPAA. I learned so much from the publications. I enjoyed meeting other agents at NAPAA meetings. I was invited to join the board and served in various positions, my last 4 as president. I especially enjoyed my fellow board members. My message as I write this is that there is so much that I experienced in this industry. I helped so many fellow staffers develop skills and move into managerial skills. I suspect as an agent, or LSP, you do not realize how much is available out there in the industry.   

As the team that serves the consumer, agents have the challenge of keeping up with all the changing technologies. We need to stay educated. Staying aware of fraud and weakness in our technology systems will save us and our clients from cybercrimes. My point is there is so much available and going on in the industry. We have the ability to read online stories and trade magazines and the ExclusiveFocus. We need help staying on top. An Allstate agent needs to rise to the occasion every day.  

Someday after all this action you realize that it is time to throw in the towel and relax, reward yourself for a job well done. Folks, take advantage of what’s out there for you. Pay attention to what Allstate is saying to you, but have a membership with NAPAA in your back pocket to help you see what else is out there.  

Update your business plans often. Figure out what you are being paid and what you can afford to do as you develop business. Recognize that you are working with a company that sets goals for winners and losers.  Don’t make long-term plans. The recent pay changes are examples of why. If you decide to buy real estate, make sure you can use that property for various purposes. If you decide you don’t want to represent Allstate, you can’t simply put a new agency in your current spot even if you own it.   

Make some new friends. See who the board members are at NAPAA and give them or Ted a call. If you’d like to see us in your territory, let us know, we find it beneficial to come out to visit.  

Winter 2025

2024 is ending and, as is the norm, agents are working hard to make their numbers to earn bonus and tiers where possible… 

You depend on the financial rewards of owning an Allstate agency because it provides a living for you and your family as well as your staff and their families.  You’re likely considering how you did this past year in building your small business and taking care of your customers.   

You are selling the promise that the financial risks of your customers are protected if something happens to their car, home, or life, and you want to know them well enough to know you have identified their financial risk and protected them. Many of you are in the business to keep the customer educated and to ask them all the questions that should develop information needed to sell the right products or at least have made the offer. In 2024 going into 2025, are we the trusted insurance agent, or the local sales person with limited time to learn more about our customers?   

So much has changed, and you as an agent need to decide if the latest Allstate changes are the ones that will enrich you or put you out of business. Years ago, the company helped agents with their expenses by providing office supplies, marketing supplies, good training, a great help desk, and a pretty good rating system. Today, not so much of anything. 

We have a lot of agents who are part of the All Agents Page, a good percentage of agents who are members of NAPAA, and more that have contributed to our legal defense funds.  

Over the years, NAPAA has tackled many problems. Programs and measurements keep changing and the agents keep changing, but it’s amazing how many things stay the same. Questions show up on the All Agents Page asking about the hours your agency needs to be open and who is working the day after the holiday. You throw out some crazy claim results to see if you are alone in your assessment of the actions taken. You are able to rely on each other by communicating on the All Agents Page with your questions, concerning products or corporate changes or someone to help your customer in their territory. But it is also apparent that enough time is not spent reviewing your contract with Allstate. 

It’s a disappointment that a company as profitable as Allstate, with well-paid management, seems to find no end to using a carrot and a stick to get more work for less money from you. Meanwhile, the expenses and the business financial risk remain yours. It’s probably a very good idea to ask questions about new product launches or the new rating tools because training sounds minimal.  

Thankfully, many agents continue to succeed with Allstate. You may have been allowed to buy a book to help with cash flow, or perhaps you are in a territory that is competitive, or you’ve found the super salesperson who is helping you make things happen. Maybe you are one of those who is not happy, but you’re buckling down and will find a way to make more money. There is also the group that is deciding that the reward for the risk is no longer worth it, and who is looking for the exit strategy. 

The number of agents continues to shrink, and this is by design. I think about myself and others who didn’t want to be with the company as they continued to shrink the paychecks or change the method (sales/service) in which you want to work. The mysterious Transformation…I left at the end of 2022, when future cuts were again being discussed with no end in sight and selling your agency to another agent or outside buyer was not likely to happen. My mental health and tolerance for these changes—which always took from the agent—determined that it was my time to retire. As the president of NAPAA, I continue to feel the pain with you. 

During our last NAPAA board meeting, we talked about the latest changes and what could be done within the contract. Outlined in your contract is the requirement that any changes Allstate makes to your base commission must be communicated to you with 90 days advance notice. We know how concerned you are with the changes. Base commission appears to be the least they want to pay, and that looks like the fate of the emerging agent. Then there are variable payments, which sweeten the pot and could be considered base + (Pro?), and then additional payments geared for elites—let’s call that Base++—but we know that these goals are not easy and you will work harder to get those dollars and yet, many will not be able to achieve those goals. You need to verify that you can survive on the minimum proposed commissions.   

I’ve thought about the changes Allstate made years ago, when the Canadian agents were going through their changes; Allstate was reducing the footprint and moving agents into community groups. Today there are 60 groups across the country with 6-8 employees per office, and everyone is an employee. 

NAPAA is looking forward to ending our current legal issue with Allstate soon. Our next goal will be to reopen a line of communication with Allstate that allows us to share what we are learning from you as your issues and to make recommendations for resolving them. Everyone keeps telling you that NAPAA needs a good proportion of the agents to be members to put weight behind what NAPAA wants to work on with Allstate for you. Many agents believe that, in the near future, Allstate will not have exclusive agents. Currently, NAPAA believes Allstate likes their 3-prong attack to accumulating customers; direct, exclusive agents, and independent agents. So, if you are willing and able to stick with Allstate there should be a place for you. At least for a while. 

Wishing you a great end to 2024 and a better 2025. Consider joining or renewing with NAPAA. Let us know if you’d like to be on our board of directors. Nominations and elections will be here in a few months. Thank you for participating in the NAPAA offerings. Look for your magazine on the Bookshelf, look in your emails for your newsletters, and participate in the All Agents Page. If you have left or are considering your options, NAPAA also hosts a Plan B Facebook Page. 

Fall 2024

Going, going 2024, hurry time to make that push toward your annual goals. Is Allstate in or out of the market in your territory? Are you changing your business plan as the company changes theirs? Are you able to satisfy the insurance needs of your customers? The company no longer provides a portfolio of products in each of the states. This could be impacting your compensation and the growth of your agency. When you broker business, you do not have an economic value in those policies. Your immediate need each month is to meet the ABO requirement, then move on to everything else. 

There are so many components to being an agent. You need employees, they need licenses, they need binding authority, you have human resource requirements including paying employees a living wage, meeting new minimum pay requirements, benefits, holding employees to production goals. Do you need an office? Where do you go for tech support, etc? Continuous corporate changes and potentially uncompetitive products can get you into financial trouble.   

Remember Alstar?  Once you learned how to F2 this system worked so well that all the future programs ran DOS in the background. Remember the Alliance system? I think about the time I became proficient with Alliance, we moved onto early e-agent.  Agents were using e-agent as a CIS before the company bought it! Policy reviews? Who can say Magic CPR… 

I can’t remember if there was another system between Alliance and Advisor Pro and of course all lines were not always on the same program. Customer service had a lot to keep up with never- ending changes.   

The annual carrot and stick program is also a challenge. Most of my years with Allstate, there was limited help in understanding the tools the company was building to measure progress toward goals. Maybe the company knew or didn’t know that there were agents who were not getting the message or training to be able to succeed. Other agents were great at playing the game and they focused on the goal of the business and that was making money. 

There is a benefit to agent get-togethers. It’s a validation of how you operate. It’s an opportunity to meet another agent that can help you. 

I always believed that much of our success was built on where we were. Even now, I am reading that there are agents who can’t write the business fast enough because other carriers in their territory are getting out of the line, or business. Others say they are re-quoting all their old clients, and our prices are still way too high, and they are not closing anything.   

Think back to the time when Allstate supported the success of their agents and got them back on track if they had problems meeting their goals. Some people don’t give full effort and may not deserve some flexibility to get back on track. Years ago, agents were not afraid they’d lose their business. I am saddened by agents who lost their agencies as part of ABO because something happened in their life that affected their ability to make their plans. I’m not dismissing the competitiveness of the territory either. There are too many agents that were affected by family illness or catastrophic losses and there is little or no accommodation for these agents. It doesn’t matter if your office is making money for Allstate. Agents that must get out or want to get out are desperate to sell their agencies to avoid a further loss to their income. Our agreement states that we can sell to qualified buyers. Only recently have there been more sales to existing agents.

I was giving some thoughts to one of the earliest conferences I attended with NAPAA. About 2007, NAPAA was keeping an eye on activities in Canada. Allstate was merging Canadian agencies and building bigger service offices. Today, the EA program in Canada is gone. There are two funnels for business production, Direct offices writing Allstate and Independent Agents representing 2 Allstate-owned companies.   

The number of U.S. Allstate agents is going down. Allstate knows the agent needs to reduce expenses so they have the option of working from home. Inflation (higher prices) is helping increase the value of some books. Because of conditions, insurance companies are taking action in many states as needed with higher rates, more customer terminations, declining to write lines of business, increasing down payments, tightening underwriting acceptability. This is helping agencies in various territories. Many agents are looking to the resources of NAPAA to help make business decisions. Agents are taking advantage of our publications, web pages, director and history.  

Over the last couple of years NAPAA has been inviting agents to visit with our management team, as we visit a location near you. We just completed a meet and greet in California, which was well attended. I was impressed by the various sizes of agents and the distance they traveled for this opportunity. Agents were happy for the opportunity to not only meet with NAPAA reps, but also to see each other!  The concerns do not change. 

The phone system came up. Remarkably, there are still agents who have never moved from the original Allstate phone system. The Avaya system was a factor in killing the quote activity in many agent offices. The Avaya system gets the credit for the flow of phone calls including new business opportunities decreasing to a level that hindered meeting production goals. NAPAA has been working on protecting the calls coming into your office and providing a system that works for you. It looks like that change is underway. NAPAA wants all calls that generate in the agent’s office to belong to the agent. 

We traveled with NAPAA’s attorney, Dirk Beamer, who addressed issues that were specific to overtime rules and new agency responsibilities as employers. A number of agents were going home to take another look at how their agencies were legally structured and what they can do to protect their ownership for their families in the event of the unexpected.     

NAPAA was always concerned about agents competing with the independent agents selling Allstate products many in their immediate vicinity. Today, the Allstate product offering belongs to the EA as independent agents have access to Nat Gen for another version of Allstate owned products. 

NAPAA believes that our actions with the help of the agency force have been instrumental in getting Allstate to live up to the agreement they have with you. Allowing you to be the provider of the Allstate product, having control of your phone systems, keeping competitors out of our immediate territory, and allowing us to sell to a qualified buyer based on a consistent definition of a qualified buyer.   

Members and donors are helping NAPAA work toward a conclusion of these issues. Now more than ever, as Allstate exclusive agents are decreasing, someone needs to keep an eye on whether the commitments of a unilateral agreement are being met. Keep an eye out for our membership campaigns. Renew your membership. Participate as you can in the NAPAA activities and let us know how we can help. 

If you’d like a meet and greet in your area, please give us a call. We have plans to make a quarterly visit. 

President’s Message

Summer 2024

We are each on our own journey in life. We have no idea if we have a tomorrow or how many we will have. Despite this, we need to prepare ourselves and family members to make a similar journey. Parallel to us are our family members and friends.  

How we learned used to be the same. Books, papers, TV news, and the radio. Our schools are to help get everyone on the same page with basic education in reading, writing, and math—as well as the sciences, history, geography, social science, and physical fitness. Many schools offered trade school courses to help graduates head straight into employable jobs in a trade to earn a living without building debt.  

Then, one day, the basics were no longer the same. You didn’t need to know how to write in cursive, math no longer was black and white. Our education was changed by the addition of coding, computers, and slowly but surely artificial intelligence is moving into our system. Programs were enabled to do our work.     

Schools have or are adding vocational programs considering all the debt that’s been generated at the college university levels. Especially when students complete school without employable skills. 

Insurance courses are offered at universities and colleges around the country. You can also take courses online at “The Institutes”. Courses include underwriting, claims, loss control, risk management, and specialty programs. Make yourself stronger in your position or find other opportunities in your industry. These are accredited programs and transferable to many schools. 

As an insurance agent, you’ve seen the enhancement of tools and technology. You’ve needed to work through laws that make it difficult to reach out to prospects. Customers are so slammed with information and offers over the internet, phones, text messages, commercials; it’s harder than ever to line up prospects. Calling the wrong person can cost you big bucks. 

Regardless, each of us, whatever our age, got into our occupations at different points in life. Those who are older had different ideas of how to manage our employment, had different tools and laws, looked for different outcomes. Even now, look at the different ways an agent chooses to service their customers and their view of those agents who wrote business everywhere—they now have their customers looking for an agent closer to home and surprise, you can lose the customer and commission to another agent! 

Different rules exist for different agents. Products are not similarly available across the country. It looks like the reward for the company becoming more profitable in various areas is causing the new business requirements to be increased before you earn your variable compensation. Some agents are still having problems with ABO and losing their contracts. Some agents leave and find buyers, while others need to walk away with TPP. TPP is a moving target, it ties into your actual paid commissions. TPP for many agents is a loser. You need to re-calculate where you are each time Allstate changes your compensation. 

Back to my initial premise, life flies by if you are not spending time with people you love, or those you might want to know better. You need to assign some of your time to celebrate the moments of your family’s life: the birthdays, graduations, celebrations for awards won, sporting events, etc… 

Now take a closer look at your own life: what have you given up as you took care of your agency, staff and customers? Are you still having fun? Is the Allstate position the best for you? Are you in touch with agents who have moved on? Do you have time to try something new? I spoke with a two-year IA who has built her new agency to 2 million in 2 years with 2 staff, and is enjoying every day without pressure or stress. 

Once I left Allstate, I didn’t want to build a new business. I wanted to enhance my days with hobbies, healthy activities like biking, walking, Zumba, and weights. Keeping up with Facebook, learning more from X or Rumble and the alternate news media including podcasts, streaming, and instant news. Plus, there is an absolute need to pay attention to your own financials. It is critical because of inflation, a rocky stock market, to work within your new means. 

I’ve been to Europe and I’m going back again. I’m vacationing more, so can you. 

As I’m out riding, I’m reading signs posted on my neighbor’s lawns. Graduations from preschool, kindergarten, 8th grade ribbon ceremonies, high school graduations and college gradations. Each was a spot on my timeline. Think about what you want to do OR not do, and act appropriately.  

Membership in NAPAA is and has always been important to me. NAPAA is working to make Allstate be more respectful of your agreement. You have a choice of phone system because of our work. The ability to get your customers on your phone before they wind up at Allstate is part of our work to protect your prospects. Keeping Allstate from interfering with your agency sales has been the wild west across the country. The contract says they approve of the buyer. Period. Yet managers coach buyers on what the Allstate manager prefers, causing agents to have lost prospective buyers. The captive agent is lessening in importance to Allstate. The increased number of agents Allstate has forced out the door in the past few years makes it easy to believe that the footprint of the captive agent will continue to change.   

Keep your eyes open and always measure what the changes at Allstate mean to you. Take care of yourself, you are Number 1. Membership in NAPAA is important. There is strength in numbers. Use us as a resource, and make sure you are on the All-Agent’s Page. Read your magazine and your electronic newsletters. Keep informed. 

President’s Message

Spring 2024

NAPAA has been growing, and I am thankful to those of you who are members and support NAPAA. There is a lot more room in our tent for those who are thinking about joining or want to know more. As our numbers grow, we gain more credibility—which is important when we need to take action on your behalf. Think about other professionals and the representations they have to get things done. Some organizations have professional associations, others associate with labor unions. NAPAA can speak for agents when there is a need for the agent’s voice.  Your contract does not allow you to speak to outside media without permission. NAPAA can and has spoken on our behalf. 

Allstate is a company in a transformation. Agents have requirements and expectations to keep their contracts and make money with many exceptions from the company. NAPAA has been helping agents understand how these changes are affected by the agency agreement. Communication has not been equal among the agents. The benefits of NAPAA include an organization that has  

1) history and understanding of the workings of the company, (refer to the NAPAA website and our ‘Bookshelf’ loaded with history and information)., 

2) NAPAA is your advocate,  

3) NAPAA is a resource for information for staffing, training, marketing, payroll processes, etc., 

4) get immediate feedback and information with two Facebook blogs, the All Agents Page for current and past Allstate agents, and the Plan B for terminated and retiring agents to help with the transitions., 

5) NAPAA produces 3 publications, the Agent Informer, Direct Express and Exclusive Agent.  

If you have not seen these, call NAPAA membership services with your contact information. It is best to provide a personal email address. There is information that is exclusive to membership and other information available for all. Members can nominate other members for the board and have voting rights. Members can also be directors and then officers if you like.  

Last year, we met with agents in various states. We intend to do 4-6 stops to meet with agents, answer questions, and take an opportunity to meet each other while enjoying a drink, snacks, and conversation. We are considering meet-and-greets in Indiana, California, Texas, and Pennsylvania. We have been to New York, North Carolina, Chicago and a few Texas locations. If you have a group of agents that would like to meet with us, let us know! It’s possible we can figure out how to get representatives to you. We love meeting the agents and giving you an opportunity to see each other.  

NAPAA is led by an executive director, Ted Paris. Ted has the background of owning multiple Allstate agencies and he has a background as a Farmer’s agency manager. Ted is supported by a Board of Directors made up of current and past Allstate agents. We are elected and volunteers. We work on your behalf. Ted manages our Association, including editors for our magazines and newsletters. He works with the vendors that help support our organization with their marketing dollars. Ted is also the liaison with our attorneys representing Allstate agents in our current lawsuit. This suit is not to hurt Allstate but to make them follow the ‘agreement’ on a consistent basis for all Agents. Are all sales handled the same? Are terminations handled the same? Are there exceptions? Is there solid documentation? You need these processes to be consistent and predictable. 

The NAPAA executive board just ended a meeting in FL and had the prior NAPAA director visit us.  We discussed the problems that were the biggest concern during their term. It stood out that we currently have a similar problem concerning agents. Those problems also had to do with expectations and terminations that can cost your contract. At that time, it was life production, today it’s ABO. Those activities then cause agents to need to sell or TPP their agency and the problems that surround that. This is where your association helps to define the rules and assist in sending you in the correct direction. 

However, our communication has moved so much further ahead due to email, Facebook, and our experienced information team.  A very seasoned attorney guiding us for your benefit. Our success takes a strong management team, board of directors, and support resources.  I have been part of the board long enough to see talented, dedicated board members working for us all.   My message is to be a member, use our resources, share with us if you and fellow agents might benefit from a local visit. Participate however you can.  Call a board member or Ted if you would like to talk. 

To your success! 

President’s Message

Winter 2024

It is amazing how quickly times flies by. Unbelievable that I have now been retired from agency ownership for nearly one year. Seriously, where did the time go?  It seems like yesterday I was just starting my time as an agency owner. Prior to buying my agency in 2005, I held various positions with a major commercial insurance company and was an officer at an independent agency. My husband was a former Allstate agency owner, so when the opportunity arose to purchase an agency in the southwest suburbs, we jumped at it.   

Switching from corporate to personal ownership had both challenges and opportunities. It was both scary and exciting. If you ask me today, would I do it all over again, I don’t really know the answer. Being in a corporate setting had its advantages: steady income, fringe benefits, and maybe a little more job security. But owning your own operation was exciting. New challenges and new opportunities. So, I would probably do it all over again. But after over 17 years of experience, I would make changes.  

Enough about me, I have a few things to discuss.  One would be that when you do decide to transition away from agency management and retire, do yourself a big favor. Stay active in your life. Don’t drop all your memberships; in fact, you might want to join a few new ones. One of the hardest things to handle was continuing to have things that needed to get done. Maintain your cyber skills. Being busy and tugged at in many ways has been part of your DNA. This doesn’t really go away.  

Another thing is to get a hobby, a real hobby. Mine is walking on the shores of Lake Michigan and, if traveling, along seashores collecting sea glass. Yes, walking on the shores of Lake Michigan in January is a little cold, but it’s worth it. This year I also collected glass in Mystic, CT; Cleveland, OH; Racine, WI; and Mykonos, Greece. Finally, when you retire, travel. Especially if you didn’t permit yourself too much time away as an agent. Plan your dream trip now while you are still able to enjoy it.  I can proudly say that regarding these things I have followed my own advice! 

I am proud to be involved in NAPAA as the current President. I had been a member for many years. In addition to being President I served as a board member, as the Executive Vice President, and as Secretary. I enjoy working with the other members of the board of directors to keep agents informed, updated, and educated on what is happening at not only Allstate but the insurance industry as well.  NAPAA has many publications, the Exclusivefocus,a quarterly magazine; the Direct Express, a weekly newsletter to NAPAA members; and the Agent Informer that goes to nonmembers twice a month. We also manage and operate the All Agents Page for Allstate agency owners and the Plan B, planning for life after captive for captive agents who are looking to transition away from Allstate. Both pages are Facebook pages. We do a lot to try to help keep members and nonmembers informed. This takes a great deal of effort and expertise. I hope you appreciate them. 

In this edition of the magazine, we are doing a feature on our board of directors. They are a hardworking, diverse group of current agency owners and retired agents who donate their time without any compensation. Strictly a labor of love. Our Executive Director Ted Paris, who himself was a former Allstate agency owner of multiple agencies, is the only paid employee at NAPAA. So please read the feature about the agents who are supporting you. 

Going forward, I plan on serving out the remainder of my term as President. Afterwards, I will continue to assist NAPAA in any way I can.    

President’s Message

Fall 2023

Heading into the last quarter, take the time left to finish your year strong. Start to outline your strategy for next year. Recognize it needs to be fluid. Get ready to enjoy the holidays with your family. 

There is a lot of discussion on the All Agents Page concerning the latest comp changes. Have you reduced expenses? Can you still pay yourself and put away money for the future? We hear potentially up to 40% of the agents are emerging, many with smaller books so limited cash flow. What writing do you see on the wall for your future? Allstate is shifting money to reduce the expense ratio. I’ve read some agents who are doing well think that the emerging agents are sitting on their hands and it’s their fault they are unable to hit goals. Remember goals are set with an expectation that many will fail to achieve them. Allstate knows how many agents they want in each category. Agencies are complex and face their own challenges and abilities. Your strategy, known as your business plan, needs to be fluid. 

17 ½ year into being an EA and 52 years after entering the insurance industry, I had enough, and my strategy became preparation for retirement. I did not want to have another round of conversations about claims or rate changes with the customers even if currently we could defend them. I am a very empathic person, as was my staff that happened to be family. 

I was done with changing goals and reports and tools that were poorly introduced and supported. I retired in 2023. Like many of you, I had business expenses that must be paid, meaning I needed to keep collecting commissions. My environment dictated what and when I could move forward. I paid off my business loan a couple of years ago. I put my office condo on the market last year. Commercial real estate in my area had not come back to pre-2008 prices. I got an offer I could live with and sold my property.

As recommended, I listed my agency for sale with Allstate. God would decide how my book exit would proceed. Some agents said this was a mistake to list with Allstate because if the company knew I was leaving, the company would benefit if I took TPP. Like many of you, I did not realize when I purchased that a portion of my book would not be eligible for TPP. I sold my office condo in September, removing a big financial burden. Then I submitted my resignation for year end and let my staff know I would be closing at the end of the year. Now that the 2024 compensation program has come out, 7%, 4% Mono Line vs Bundled, etc., I worry about the agents that are stuck.

Toward the end of last year, even offering the book for TPP 1.5 as a selling price and engaging a broker, few agents appeared to be looking for an opportunity to grow their book. Rules were changing, ‘time had run out’. The uncertainty of what Allstate would do next and the unwillingness of management to approve buyers had taken its toll on me and I know others. The book was too small to stand on its own and a merger was required. The commitments I’d made in those first three years trapped me. The bright light was the ability to offer employment, control my environment, take care of customers, and my membership in NAPAA.  

Today, I could not imagine running a business where I am a working excessive hours for 8%, never mind 7%. (I never count the opportunity, only the sure thing.) Rate increases will only carry you so far as customers leave and Allstate cuts your pay again. Some customers may not be as demanding of you; you may benefit from the flexibility of your hours. My office was always busy with people that needed to talk to the agent or an LSP.   

The industry is losing money because of a continuation of supply chain issues and lack of qualified vendor employees. Natural disasters and increases in crime have contributed to the problems. Claims are impacting the agent. We are at a point where the rubber hits the road, and your loss ratio and retention requires that you be aware of how customers are treated and when they need your help. You are educating your customers, to make sure they know that it’s not just Allstate having claim problems but the industry in general. Based on those who share results on the All Agents Page, it looks like you are managing your retention with hard work, and you should be proud of your results. 

Companies are making changes beyond your control. Only they can determine their underwriting rules based on the results. It might be changing products, temporarily withdrawing from markets, calling a loss a total more often. You need to work within those parameters. I appreciate what it takes to deal with these changes until the market changes again. Many of you have been through these cycles.  Allstate has had a lot of new agents join within the last five years. I suggest new agents speak to their peers and read what the competitors are doing in this market.

As for me, I miss the customers; I think about their stories as they renewed with Allstate and went through policy reviews looking for coverage and savings, and those that left but still came into my life for a period of time. It took me months to move past the stress of dealing with their issues, which more often than not were tied to rate increases, their budgets, claims, and often their family traumas. A memory of someone touches me every day!

So this year I’ve been on four vacations and expect to get in another three, including a Mediterranean Cruise before the year ends. I attend a gym, walk, ride my bike, walk the dog, engage in some hobbies, a little volunteer work, and read a lot, all with my health in mind. I have my silver lining and you will too.

As president of NAPAA, I’m at work with the other NAPAA board members and Ted to bring value to you with our publications, information, education, our legal case, training, and consulting. We ask each of you to reach out to the board or Ted if you have questions or recommendations for us. If you are not a member, please thank your fellow member agents for carrying your water as we work to benefit all agents today and going forward. Although the board is all volunteers, we have a director, management company, editors, and lawyers that we pay. Your participation as a member matters.  

Thank you for all you do. 

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM 

President’s Message

Summer 2023

I hope you are holding a refreshment in your hand as you are reading the Exclusivefocus. 

I can only imagine what you were thinking as you headed into 2023. Not many agents would be thinking the same as each one of you is conducting your business this year as set forth by the opportunity Allstate has put in your hands. 

There are those of you that find yourself with a wonderful opportunity, the best small business in America. Unfortunately, that is not enough of you. The things that make each of you different are the reason you joined Allstate, the point in your life you joined Allstate, the investment you made into the business, and your expenses, including your staffing. You are considering the commitment you made to yourself, your family, the bank, your creditors, and your customers. You thought you knew what your possibilities were when you started your business. Did you decide this was your first job/business or your last? Did your mortgage your home? Your children’s education? Did you give up your health insurance because of expenses? 

You may have joined Allstate when they supplied computers, ink, paper, signage, and marketing assistance. That was the benefit of being exclusive. You received that extra help in selling your products with a good back room team. There was a time when all (most) agents were treated well. You may have had a good sales leader, working Alstar systems, and competitive prices. You might have felt safe representing this one carrier exclusively. 

Depending on your situation you may have been rewarded with a lot of benefits from management over the years or received no considerations as you kept your head down, worked, and took care of your business. 

If you’ve been here for any length of time, you may be getting exhausted with system changes, broken technology, unreliable phone systems, rate changes, RMPs, expected results, an understanding that goals are set high enough that not even half the agents can achieve them and get rewarded for their efforts. 

Depending on your commitments, you could be a hostage to this company. Missing expectations can put you in financial jeopardy. The one promise that you had was your ability to sell your agency or receive TPP. Not many agency sales are happening. It looks like over 50% of agents leaving are going TPP. Allstate will make some money here.  

Having acknowledged all this, you still need to keep going. You still have customers to assist, a family to support, and an asset to protect. A question I want you to consider, are you taking care of yourself as best you can? Have you gained weight? Are you constantly under stress? Do you feel like you are in a hostage situation? How many times have we been told to not worry about what we can’t control and only work on what you can. This time I want to make sure you look at yourself. Are you leaving your headache behind? Do you get home early enough to spend time with your family? Are you getting some rest and recreation in each day? Walking, music, lunch outside, or meeting friends? Most importantly, is making sure you get enough sleep. 

I ask because with the smart watches we have today, you will be able to measurably tell the difference in your stress levels and how healthy you feel once you start taking care of yourself. It will take some time and it may even take a change in your employment or retirement, but your health and family are worth it. I don’t envision much getting easier any time soon. 

The industry and Allstate are in a rate cycle driven by excessive loss ratios that are being made worse by the ramifications of COVID-19 and supply chain issues. Add to that the great indifference to crime and the cost of car thefts, resulting damages, lack of parts for these repairs, as well as many other causes of loss. Property losses and corrective actions are right behind that, as resources for building repairs and replacement exceed inflation.  

The population only has so much money and they need to find ways to make their dollars stretch, which means shopping for the best price. You have an opportunity to write new business if you are competitive, but you benefit most if you can hang on to your customers. If you are competitive, write as much as you can to take advantage of variable comp but more importantly to build your future base. Only time will tell how long this cycle will last. Stay alert to see what Allstate will be doing to protect themselves and then try to take advantage where you can to save and plan for your future and protect your most valuable asset, you.  

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM 

President’s Message

Spring 2023

If you are a reader of management books, you’ve probably experienced methods to revamp your business to streamline processes, or to specialize your employees. Possibly you are someone who was tired of corporate America and wanted an opportunity to own something of your own and rely on yourself to make a living. This is probably why you are or were an Allstate Agent.

When I thought I’d left corporate America, it was because things were changing. More importantly words were changing. You no longer went to a meeting to discuss or learn, now you went to collaborate. Instead of supporting ideas, you were leaning in. The parts of business you enjoyed like meeting with customers, traveling, promoting and educating moved to new delivery techniques. You are part of a transformation! A transformation whose end has not been defined.

Automation hasn’t stood still. New programs, equipment, customer management systems, marketing and communication systems keep changing. These changes are not necessarily for the better, especially if you are in a small office with limited support.

For whatever reason, we found ourselves building a business and a future at Allstate. We could not predict the future. The situation we are in today may not be something we had ever expected to face.

Take for instance the employees that were forced to become exclusive agents or leave prior to 2000. They had good pay, profit sharing and benefits until one day they didn’t. Some of these agents thrived while others didn’t.

The methods of building bench strength included scratch agents as well as agency sale/purchase agreements. Agents were offered contracts with the expectation that they had money to buy the agency, hire employees and pay for marketing. They in return received training, marketing, signage, opportunities to bonus, office supplies and equipment. At one time, they received competitive commissions. Also, without necessarily having a full understanding of economic value, agents received this safety net, while paying multiples of the expected commission to buy into the business. Achieving bonus to help pay the bills seemed reasonable with multiple ways to be a winner. This was a drawback again, not being aware that there were multiple components to the agency agreement until after you inked your deal.

I don’t think any agents thought about the company moving in and out of markets, finding ways to get rid of lines of business and products to suit the needs of the company and shareholders with profitability. The agent and customer didn’t appear to get much consideration.

In the past, plenty of opportunities to meet management and other agents existed. More opportunities to go on award trips existed. Today, from my view, a fraction of the agents are expected to achieve these awards. That helps Allstate control the payouts. As Allstate began to view agents as an overpaid expense, goals were raised or changed to cut commission or force agents out. The newest strategy is segmentation of agents to allow for cutting commissions, services and marketing for the agents that could least afford to take on that expense. ABO looks like a bonanza for Allstate and a plague on the agent.

How clear it has become that Allstate is not providing the support agents need to help customers get the price and service they deserve. Allstate allows customers to write their own policies online and shoots for the lowest protection to write more people at the peril of their choosing inadequate coverage. Allstate has contracts with agents that require them to service all Allstate customers whether written in that office or not. Agents have goals that are sales driven, minimizing the time one can spend educating or servicing a customer whether it was written by them or not.

You are your customer’s go-to person. It is their business that is paying you. Educating yourself and staff should be a priority. There is a lot that is changing in the industry. As the head of your office, you need to evaluate whether being an Allstate agent now or in the future is still the best small business opportunity in America. Make sure your expenses and liabilities are under control in the event you need to make a change based on your circumstances or changes made by Allstate. You do not control your contract or what you might get paid 120 days from now.

Be prepared to pull the trigger when your time has come. Always have a plan. Don’t take on expenses you can’t afford. Put money away for yourself.

Join NAPAA, your association, that is there to look out for you, the exclusive agent, now and into your future.

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM

President’s Message

Winter 2023

By the time you read this, Allstate will have shared with you what your goals are Variable Compensation, grids for bonuses and ABO, if any changes, for 2023 for you to earn the most income possible. Some of you will understand it and embrace it and for others, the numbers are just numbers, you will continue to do business as usual and just keep quoting to get business on the books and shoot for that VC.

Hitting these numbers depend somewhat on what level of support are you getting from the Company. Let’s start with the Blueprint. Everyone will get at least 2 free seats on Lead Manager. This tool is required since much of your work and leads have been moved to Lead Manager. If you have still not started using eAgent, which has a $35 per month charge, it would be a good idea to start. Everyone will get up to 2 phone numbers for texting with Hearsay Relate. Whether or not you can benefit will depend on how well you understand when you can’t use it and how to get your customers’ and prospects’ permission to use it.

Hearsay will have text messaging available for agents that buy leads via Allstate’s lead system which Allstate claims are prequalified with the ability to text quotes. In return these enhance your chances of engaging the prospect are much improved. Plus, if you are Elite, the price is free for CLDP leads; $4.50 if you are Pro and $9 per lead for Emerging agents. The agents that get these for free also get the benefit of the ‘Hearsay Lead Actions’. Pro agents pay 50% or what the Elite agents do. If you are an Emerging agent, it is probably not available to you. The Blueprint is set to help a portion of the agents and potentially starve out others unless you are willing to assume debt. Emerging agents – this program with higher costs for you is set up knowing Emerging agents will have their pay cut about another 12%.

In early November, many agents declined to renew their 6/63. Now, suddenly, financial production is back on the table for consideration in mergers or acquisitions even though Allstate sold their Life companies. Loss ratio had been off the table but now auto loss ratio will be part of the calculations. A carrot and a stick, another hoop.

At a recent Education Committee meeting of NAPAA, the discussion centered around what agents learn from the All Agents Page and our publications dedicated to the Allstate agent. It’s amazing how many agents don’t understand or can’t keep up with the changes being made by Allstate in something as important as their compensation program. There are so many questions by agents on processes, new tools, compensation changes – and the questions go on and on. This demonstrates to me a lack of adequate training by Allstate. In the past years, when there were FSLs for all, FSLs were changing yearly leaving them with insufficient knowledge of what the individual agents on their teams needed. While many tried to be helpful, all what they shared was only what Allstate told them. Most had no experience in doing what they were telling you to do. They got those talk paths and slides which were one size fits all and life moved on. Thank goodness for squeaky wheels that got the help and made managers at Allstate look OK.

The frustrations of agents continue with issues concerning phones, Advisor Pro, Dash, how to use ‘what if’ tools. Is there even a record of how much help the field sales leaders give the agents or what this support team set up for the emerging agents does or how much they communicate with the emerging agents? I’d like to see a report by Allstate showing how many Emerging agents have been moved by this group to Pro. Primarily if agents don’t understand the tools the company creates as shown by their questions on various blogs, who has really been helped? I’d like to see a percentage of how agents have progressed with these problematic tools and support.

It makes one wonder what must Allstate be looking to achieve with all the moving pieces? Shrink the number of agents appears to be at the top of the list. Why then can’t they just give those agents that want to stay and are able to adapt, the ability to buy the agencies that don’t want to or can’t adapt and prefer to move on? How is this the best small business opportunity? Why are so many of us left with only the option to give our economic interest back to Allstate at a cut rate price (following their reducing commissions) knowing that they will then assign those customers to an agency to service for very little money. Is it greed? It appears to at least be somewhat immoral/misleading to tell agents when they join the Company that they can sell their agencies when they want to retire only to have sale after sale denied.

Best wishes to the agents that can and will move on to Plan B or retirement. Our empathy is with you if you are taking a financial loss as your reward for helping your customers and staffs. There are to many agents in that ship with you. Congratulations to those that were able sell. This opportunity isn’t the same or fair across the country. Agents that need to stay because you have debt, limited selling opportunities and are stuck just keep an eye out for changes that make jumping ship more desirable than hope and change. If you are staying, push to understand what you need to do to get to or stay Pro and Elite. Then do your best to put yourself first on the order of making the money needed to live well, take care of your family, your retirement and your staff. There are not enough agents that agree that they have had it easy and were making too much money for what they did.

It appears starting in December 2022 thru February 2023 that a large group of agents will be leaving. If you are still here and plan to be here, you need to support the one group that has always supported you: NAPAA. NAPAA has been with the agent through thick and thin helping you and looking for other things we can do to support you. NAPAA has given you a platform with information to stay informed of what’s happening and to share your concerns. Stay a part of NAPAA to learn about the agents’ lawsuit and changes we’re hoping to see where Allstate might start benefiting their business ‘partners’ who are their ‘captive’ agents. Examples of our concerns are systems that work for the agent’s benefit not detriment (our phone system and Advisor Pro and no interference with business sales. We need your membership as well as donations to the legal fund.

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM, AMIM

President’s Message

Fall 2022

Monday started out with a bang. I was trying to use the soft phone because of the many comments online that soft phones will work much better than the hard phone on our desk. I spent 2 tries hollering into the soft phone to see if anyone was there but dead air was all I got. Next, I experienced talking to a couple of customers back on the hard phone that were cutting off in mid conversation. I can’t tell you how often this happens. Then a customer calls back and says he doesn’t know why I couldn’t hear him when I called. Finally, after comparing settings with my staff, I call AAV and ask for help. They fixed the soft phone so that it produced a two-way conversation, but how long will this last? They assured me both phones were equally effective. Another small saga is transferring a call between 2 people in an office. Whatever happened to putting your customer on hold and letting the other person pick up the line? We are a group ring after all. I know, I know, there are people that have invested time to learn everything they can and think AAV is wonderful, but who is to say I didn’t? After all, my training happened in 2/2021.

Let’s not talk about the most important calls we used to get before AAV. Friends and family have told me how difficult it is to get to Claudia. They have questioned where our new business calls are going.

Thank you, thank you, AAV for getting our voice mail messages back into our email.

Next, something as simple as taking a payment. The payment screen will not let the payment through due to error messages that the system couldn’t handle the payment at that time. We then ask the customer to repeat their numbers so we can write them down and make the payment for them later. I tried 3 more times and the fourth try was the charm. An additional step is added which is to send out a receipt since you couldn’t give a confirmation number over the phone. Can we comment here that it would be nice if we could see pertinent information on one or two screens as we are working with customer requests or questions? This coming out and opening a new screen is another time waster, especially since the customer never knows all their questions up front.

It’s a new day and a customer calls in for her auto rate increase conversation. The review premium shows reasons for home changes. She doesn’t own a home. Time to do a manual comparison and develop an answer to save the account. Now, I go in search of a quote I’d completed to follow-up for a close.

There is an error message to update the address – What? My addresses are complete. Save and close, save and close, re-enter and still the error message stays. What happens then? Someone else’s name “pops up” with the address I’ve just re-entered for a name I’ve never seen before. My blood is boiling!

Let’s requote a raw quote for a win back. Can’t happen without more miracles. Why is it insisting on a new PQB when I don’t have permission? What a waste of time and loss of an opportunity to get updated numbers out. This happens more than half the time. If I go and re-enter everything into Lead Manager, I can get a junk quote there. Maybe not so good but why can’t I get it out of Advisor Pro?

I’ve had numerous issues recently with the printer and scan features. I’ve got the HP print drivers up and in search of an answer. My scan projects for a couple of pages are turning into large Megabit files.
I’m using the HP doctor to diagnose my issue. Now I’m the duplexer and manually put in the sheets for the two sides. Any more bad behavior and this machine is going through the window! Scanning is important to feed eAgent.

Let me work in Word and Excel and low and behold today, my computer has decided to not recognize any of the Microsoft tools. All my documents are in jail with no way to access them. I tried this and that and finally had to resort to the help desk again. More than 2 hours and 20 minutes later a new 365 is downloaded onto my machine and I can access my files again. I then get a note from tech support that I could have found this answer at KB whatever. My thought, then why did it take a professional technician 2 hours and 20 minutes to find and make the fix?

The day is over and what has been accomplished? I honestly don’t know how anyone is writing all these items in this system. Everyday seems to have the same type roadblocks. I didn’t specifically say that these headaches take away from production, but the lack of productivity is taking away the ability to earn a more respectable paycheck. Is there any wonder that agents are retiring, losing their agency to not meeting expected results or just plain leaving?

Congratulations to those that continue to make it and to those that will keep moving your businesses forward. There are too many other very experienced agents that have had it.

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM, AMIM

Summer 2022

This summer I’ve been with Allstate for 17 years and 35 years in this industry. My background required a lot of education. I was responsible for making decisions for the company, so I needed to fully understand the products and the risks. I remember as an underwriting manager for a major commercial insurance company, I was responsible for making sure we wrote business at a 33% close ratio. We visited the agents and gave them incentives to choose us as one of their top markets. We made sure they understood the products and the rewards. The underwriters had tools and authority to help agents compete and retain. I remember having fun, liking the people and my job.

Later when I moved up to the corporate level, I was creating the product, price and marketing and the key words I heard from my leader was — when developing product make sure the ‘dogs will eat the dog food’!

I think of the ability to be flexible to write, succeed and be rewarded. Something else I reflect on is that working as a corporate employee has real benefits, including your health insurance, 401k, and a guaranteed salary. I spent enough time at a company to retire early. My next job again had a guaranteed salary, benefits and 401k. Thank goodness that was money in the bank before I got here with the capital requirements and the cost to purchase a book.

My warning to you is that no one is doing this for you at Allstate. There is no guaranteed salary, benefits or 401k. That means when you budget, your needs should be at the top. Your salary for your personal expenses and family, then your medical and retirement. Then determine what that business budget looks like. Hopefully you have the money to close out your expenses at the end of the year. Do not count on TPP or future commissions. Nothing is guaranteed. You need to plan for your future. Many agents that came to Allstate counted on being able to sell their books for a fair price. The TPP was a safety net if you left, or a source of collateral to grow. But don’t count on that, it’s been reduced and will be reduced again with commission changes, and can be changed or eliminated according to our agreement.

There is a lack of camaraderie. Do you feel like you’re on an island? Seek a balance of information in as many places as you can. The All Agents Page is one source. There are a number of additional pages on Facebook to help with new tools. I suggest you dig a little and use what you can find on Facebook or Gateway to help you learn. Some of us think it’s too complex and don’t take the time to figure out how certain programs work and that can be the difference between success and giving up.

This week I had a Haggerty sales rep stop in to visit me. It reminded me of my prior life and the fact that in 17 years, rarely have I seen an Allstate person in my office. For those agents that fell to Emerging, believe it or not that isn’t limited to smaller agents. There are agents with 3-5 million premium that have no representation from Allstate at this time.

The other unnerving thing is the number of agents that ask questions about the compensation program and the variety of answers that get posted. There is something wrong when agents do not understand their comp plans. As a matter of fact, if they don’t understand that and they are emerging, how do they get to pro where someone may care about them — also known as company support?

Hopefully each of you has estimated what your compensation will be in 2023 and beyond and how that fits into your budget. Are your expenses covered, and have you made changes in your operation? Can you afford to work as an Allstate Agent? I know you love your customers, but that doesn’t pay the bills.

We have an education and membership committee working on how we can bring more value to you. We’d like to look at a mentoring program or providing short sessions on topics agents should know. We have made 3 trips to meet with members in 3 states (NC, TX, and NY) and are planning a couple more for this year. Please call a board member or post on the All Agents Page concerning what else we can do for you. If you are not a member of NAPAA and you are new to the company, you need us. You need that other opinion or view of what’s going on. It’s like any other history lesson: If you don’t know where we’ve been, how do you know where we are going? Believe me, some of what is going on now has been done before.

Please call me if you have any questions about my article.

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM, AMIM

Spring 2022

Hot off the shareholders’ meeting! Allstate has been able to grow their policyholders. As I understand it growth is coming from the independent agents that sell for National General. Selling Allstate Life helped pay the four billion dollars for the NatGen opportunity. Allstate now has an independent company that can strengthen and build Encompass. E-surance is now operating as Allstate Direct with the insurance brand and at a lower rate than the captive agents, and they are growing. Meanwhile the EAs are barely keeping up. Never mind there are at least 1000 fewer EAs and 2700 fewer LSPs. 

Allstate is also able to point to all the policyholders coming from phone plans, warranty policies and ID restoration customers and whatever else helps build the customer count.  

All these opportunities have built more data for the Arity, capturing the driving habits of our Drivewise and Milewise customers. This data can be sold to competitors to help them with establishing rates. We are a technology company? 

Agents were told we would see rate cuts and be in a more competitive position. Now we are facing unprecedented inflation affecting all the components of a claim. The company and agents were already impacted by firings at the company and then labor shortages. Allstate is using contractors to be our first eyes on property losses that then go to inside claims adjusters similar to auto. Time will tell how satisfied our customers are with this change.  

The company has promised the stockholders that rate increases are coming and will keep coming to ensure profitability. This will challenge agents that must meet their numbers to keep their rank. Time spent producing new business will now be at least partially diverted to retention.  

17 years ago, I came in expecting to be an ‘insurance agent.’ I expected to enjoy working with customers in the final phase of my career. My plan was to be out in 15 years. The company changed. I had and have a different mindset from many agents who came in to be ‘business owners’ with Allstate with a full career ahead of them. Like me many agents spent a lot of money on our Allstate book. We are customer-focused and very much hands-on everything, especially if we are small. Customers are happy with everything we can control and the efforts we make on their behalf.  

The promises of growing to scale never materialized. Every year we know there is a bottom quarter using whatever the measurement is at that time and there is also a top quarter. The fruit went to the top and I think the boot went to the bottom. Many agents balanced staffing and advertising with their own pay and just like there are those taking home a decent wage, others expected they would see their reward when they retired or sold. That in most cases is not going to happen. It’s unfortunate that any extra income either variable comp or bonus are built with expectations that 30 to 40 % or more agents are expected not to achieve the goals. Management gets credit for the agent achieving VC even if they hit it once. 

Instead of helping agents grow, compensation has been cut and will continue to be cut. Your responsibilities, including problem solving, are not limited to accounting, claims, staffing, implementation of new programs, products and technology. You are also bearing the responsibility of agency compliance, expected results and licensing.  

The ‘business owner’ fortunately can share tasks and can be more efficient. This insurance agent often has not had the opportunity to expand their office as the rules keep changing for mergers and acquisitions. I applaud the fact that so many agents are successful and having the life they expected. I respect the agents that pride themselves on customer service and profitability regardless of their ability to grow. Those that have the money to build or buy or the ear to know when these opportunities arise are fortunate. You are taking the risk and hopefully have enough time to reap a reward.  

Please continue to share your experience and knowledge of what’s happening within Allstate on the blogs. It’s sad to say that this is a main source of information for agents. There is so much information that we otherwise wouldn’t know things like special megas/elites being invited to purchase emerging agents. I couldn’t tell you who is in either group. The fact that this type of action isn’t public to all just isn’t right. 

It makes it harder to plan and know what your next step should be if you are not aware of options, and this can be at any level.  

If you are not a member of NAPAA, please join and support your fellow agents and the legal fund.  

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM 

Winter 2022

A few short months have gone by since I wrote my last article. We are full swing into planning for the New Year. Emerging Agents are working hard to become Pro, and Pro are working hard to become Elite. The benefits of your segmentation will be in the financial and management support you will get from the Company.  

Many agents have been shifting onto the new AAV system and it seems that every week new agents on this system are expressing the same complaints and concerns that we heard in February 2021. As I am writing this, NAPAA is asking for a preliminary injunction in the court system to future conversions. Our lawsuit is also asking the Court to decide if the company can take over our phone systems. Currently 2,000 to 3,000 agents are on the new system. And the Company is trying to convert around 500 to 600 new ones every month. 

The company has disbanded Integrated Service and is rebuilding customer service to take on service for all agents. 

Interestingly, if you check your Huddleboard, you can see how many calls hung up before they got to you. Another category shows how many transferred to another IRV. I’m not 100% sure where they went, possibly to claims or payments? Up to 30% of the calls do not complete during the initial voice prompts and many of those calls/numbers are not in the customer search. Lost prospects? Numerous agents are reporting their outgoing calls are likely showing as spam on caller ID to customers and prospective ones as well.  

Automation is moving right along as customers are being forced to go to electronic services. They are not getting monthly billings, instead they get a schedule. Reinstatements have gotten much harder and so National General is getting those customers. In 6 months, we’ll need to see if we have a competitive price to bring them back.

Take a look at the completed activities on behalf of your agency and you will see a vast number of mobile app activities. This is a service consistent with our competitors and many customers prefer to use this service. Sometimes it’s broken and customers call in, but customers are using automated service which frees us up to do other things. There is very little ACIC involvement. Certainly not enough to have paid a service unit 20% of agent commission.

Agents need to keep a closer eye on claims to make sure things look right. I filed a liability claim for a customer that was declined as a homeowner claim. It was still set up incorrectly. I had to refer where in the policy it should be covered. Now it’s been set up as a liability claim with a new number, so there are now two claims on her file. You know what that means. Same with auto, I had to explain to the customer how and where their damaged property should be covered. In this case the customer didn’t get a solid explanation of how he could be made whole. Mistakes are being made that can cost you the account.

As I consider how we deal with customers, I realize how difficult or antiquated our processes are, such as Hearsay texting. Not everyone is using Hearsay and if you are using another service, review the company standards which say you are out of compliance if you use anything else. Unfortunately, the benefits of texting are lost on Hearsay. Maybe someone has this answer, but the moment you are looking at real estate or a loan, your phone is ringing with lots of people who want to help you with an inquiry you haven’t even finished. Have we as a company cracked this code? 

This week robo agent users have lost their vendor. This is shades of our policy review tool, Magic CPR. Both of the service providers didn’t and will not be refunding unused time. Allstate Blueprint doesn’t refund money for unused service either. Vendors are restricted due to ‘compliance’ issues. 

You should be aware of the 6 types of agencies that Allstate identified? Which one are you? Four are projected to be viable while the other two are projected to fail. Become familiar with these and be prepared to make decisions. What are you going to do with your 6 and 63? Has there been enough conversation about the pros and cons? How will the EFS fare? The partnership agreements? Have they survived? Possibly only in an unstructured way.

Allstate is resurrecting an agent communication page in Allstate University and has signed us up. Is it because of the many self-help/sharing groups set up by agents outside of their control? I don’t know about you, but as long as this is on an Allstate site and if you need to log into their system, it will be inconvenient. Expect management messages in addition to the text messages we are now getting.

In summary, hang on to your hat. Change is like drinking from a fire hose. Pay attention to where you are today and where you might be in the next two years. Set a budget. Make sure you have adequate money to grow and pay yourself? Is Allstate still your best option? Continue to share your thoughts and information. We appreciate the fact that you are using the All Agents Page. It’s a great way to stay connected.  

Best wishes to you in the New Year. If you are a member, thank you for your support. If you are not, why not? Please join and renew.   

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM 

Fall 2021

Another couple of months has flown by since I became the President of NAPAA. One thing that is consistent is that nothing stays the same.  When I purchased my agency so many years ago, I expected a much different life than I have today. The customer was in the center of everything I did. I paid attention to hiring a staff to sell and service this business. I enjoyed coming to work!

I built on my insurance education and professionalism. My goal was to develop people working for me and to make sure the customers understood the value of their insurance. When policies were enhanced, we offered those changes to the customers. When folks had questions, we looked at the forms and explained what they had or didn’t have and coached them on how to deal with the claim processes. I have not wrapped my head around where cell phone coverage fits in…

My head was never in what can I do for myself, and I suspect there are many agents in that same boat. More went back into the business than my pocketbook. Now, I see the changes that keep occurring make it critical to think about yourself first. You may well be too close or too busy to assess what’s happening with your future.

What does your balance sheet look like today? How much time do you have before you leave Allstate?  What are your outstanding bills today? Do you have old marketing expenses or loans paid down or will you have balances for years after you’re done? Are you enjoying what you do?

Over time as a professional, I believe we learned our value has been diminished by selling to price rather than protection. Insurance advertisement is presented as price, lower rates, how much you could save versus what that policy will do for you. How have these commercials helped to sell our professionalism and value?

It’s harder to connect with people: everyone is busy. Just look at yourself. If you’re like me you are deluged with emails and text messages, webinars, and training opportunities. Connecting has been made difficult with do not call, do not mail, do not email. You’re in trouble if you text, etc. Customers are more apt to ignore you until it’s convenient for them to see what you wanted.

Our tools and computers, phones, programs don’t work as they should. Needed technical support and education is lacking. Add to that the need to always be training and learning new markets, their programs, products, and tools. I say put away that fire hose! The pandemic and political environment just add to the stress. If you have your security license, I don’t have to tell you how that blows up your inbox.

Many of you are newer and fresher. You may have come into this business with a much different mindset than more senior agents. Hopefully you are still extremely excited about being an Allstate agent versus others that are afraid to see what shoe drops next. When I was recruited more than 15 years ago, the company targeted older agents that had accumulated money and could reinvest into the Allstate business. We had an idea of how long we’d stay, or what it would take to make the money we expected and leave with our retirement enhanced or, today, just intact.

Today the models have all changed. Service to the customer is not rated as important as it was even a year or two ago. Support within the company has been stripped. Agents are all at a different place with their relationship with Allstate. Your financial position isn’t what it was even a year or two ago. Yes, it may be better for you but for others it’s much worse. Many can’t take the loss if they leave, while others are losing their shirts when they are forced out. They’ve run out of time or money. The expectation of selling their business is limited at best. Financing for many agents is gone. Community with fellow agents is disappearing.

So now — please step back and take some time to think. Do you even have a plan?  If so, what is it? What will it take to achieve the plan? Can you do it in a vacuum? Who do you trust to share your plans with? All important questions.

From my viewpoint, join us at NAPAA and get on the All Agents Facebook page. Read our publications, which come in magazine form and weekly bulletins. Keep up on Allstate news. Use us to help you access where you might be with this career. Keep listening and work on your business plan, plan B, or your exit strategy. Listen to what the company says to the press and to the stockholders and to you and use that to evaluate your current opportunity. Nothing will ever stay the same. It will only move faster, and you don’t want to be swept out in that current.

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM

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Summer 2021

This May I commemorated my 16^th year with Allstate and over 50 years in insurance. Prior to Allstate I worked in underwriting and management for other insurance carriers. Throughout my career, I thought being a member and leader of various insurance associations would help expand my career. In 2005, I retired from the corporate world and armed with an early pension I joined Allstate. Shortly after, I became a NAPAA member. My NAPAA history is as a member, director, secretary, executive VP and now NAPAA President.

Through NAPAA I have met other agents and learned about their successes and plans for their future.  Membership is a tax-deductible business expense. NAPAA has the historical knowledge of Allstate, offers various benefits and programs, newsletters, educational videos, Exclusivefocus, the All Agents Page, conferences and so much more. Our Exclusivefocus magazine just went digital.

Legal issues are not new to Allstate or NAPAA. 16 years ago, there were cases of employee vs independent agent, agent terminations, then changes for Allstate’s Canadian agents. There have been guest speakers at our conferences and attorneys representing captive agents of other carriers sharing their case activities and findings with our membership.

NAPAA supports you and understands your investments in your business. We count on those investments to be valuable when we sell our agencies, as was explained to us when we signed a contract with Allstate. For many, that expectation has been shredded. One day we’re vital and then we’re not.  It’s not evident that our work toward customer retention, evaluations and profitable loss ratios are appreciated.  Many of the current changes are adversely affecting our business and hopes for a secure retirement.

There are still satisfied agents at Allstate who are operating in competitive areas. Many of those get the benefit of coaching and support. They are allowed to expand their business and acquire new offices.  There are other agents who appreciate the money they are making and intend to stay, for now. But there are others that can’t afford a financial loss if they leave and are trying to hang on in hope of positive news about mergers and acquisitions. This includes large and small agencies. Many agents struggling to make ends meet with this new comp program.  Many are concerned with the effect it will have on TPP and agency valuations. A new beginning may not be a viable option.

Many agents did not realize that they signed a unilateral contract allowing Allstate to change that contract with 90 days’ notice.  We may not have known what the entire contract looked like beyond those provided at the end of sales school.  Many of the changes benefit the company and shareholder rather than the customers and the agents. One moment we support the split of service and sells, now everyone must sell with limited or delegated customer service. The commission cut was designed to shift your mindset from service to sales, but now you don’t have the money you need to market, telemarket and purchase leads. Top that off with other agency channels competing against you with lower rates and our business partner ready to starve the ‘emerging’ agents even more with lack of support or further commission cuts and potentially requiring use of IS.

We have plenty of challenges:  AAV, Advisor Pro, ABO, New rankings – Emerging, Elite and Pro Rankings, IS, Chat, Texting, and on and on with technical issue after technical issue. Our leadership is looking for transformative growth. They are finally acknowledging the importance of rate. Allstate knows our customers want an agent, yet they require they now use a phone tree, and we lose the flexibility of our lifeline, our phones.  Agents are asking the company to be more transparent concerning the transformative growth. We can’t plan our future as a business owner with 90 days’ notice. The corporation certainly doesn’t plan for 90 days out.

As agents we need to support each other however we can. You could and should become a member of NAPAA at www.napaausa.org/join. More members will give this organization more influence with stakeholders. As a member, you elect your leadership. NAPAA’s goal is to raise all ships and that’s done with a partnership and open dialogue as opposed to a video or learning about our future in shareholder videos or newspaper and magazine articles.

Fellow members, let us know how we can help you. Invite your fellow agents to join NAPAA and the All Agents Page. Continue posting on that page and others because you are helping another agent.

Now take stock of where your business is mid-year. Look at your earnings versus your expenditure.  Update any goals you’ve set that need tweaking and finish the year strong. We are here for your success.

Claudia Gamache, CPCU, ARM

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Spring 2021

As I sat down to write my last and final message as the President of NAPAA, I reflected on my past, working as an agent about 20 years ago. At that time, Allstate felt like a family and the corporation seemed supportive of their agency force. It looked to be a lucrative career choice. Before Allstate, I was working as a retention specialist at a middle school with at-risk and Title 1 challenges. I took the plunge and invested whole-heartedly in the Allstate mindset. In the beginning, I began to notice that Allstate philosophy had begun to change.

The change seems to have come incrementally. They started to take away some of our supplies, ink cartridges, paper, message pads, and business cards. Ah, you remember the good old days! Of course, that was annoying, but the real clincher came when they started to reduce our commission on our home policies. Then a few years later, your commission structure got tied into the other factors such as your production credit, etc. The rules continued to change through the years: sometimes an emphasis on how much life insurance you sold, and then juvenile life insurance policies did not count. The changes were never-ending.

Currently there is a big push for ABO, regardless of how competitive your current local market is, and no one cares. When I first started with Allstate, we had a system called Alstar. It was not what I would call a user-friendly system, but eventually you learned how to navigate the system. But at that time, many people worked in the technology support team and if you were stuck on a screen or if things were not working, a simple call would get you through the process. I am not declaring that we should have never changed the Alstar system. My point is more about the technological changes and the lack of support you receive from Allstate and unfortunately, once again, no one cares.

I could go on and on about the changes, but I really would rather focus on NAPAA and the great strides of changes that have made NAPAA better. I was the first female and Hispanic President, which on its own merit did not qualify me to be a good president, but what it did show, is that NAPAA has always been about getting the right people to do the job that needs to be done regardless of what is popular.

NAPAA has never been afraid to stand up for what is right and has always gone to bat for the agent in a professional manner. My experience with NAPAA has been very positive and I do not believe that I was ever singled out by Allstate because I served on the NAPAA board. I was not terminated because I served on the board. I was terminated because Allstate had an agenda and I fell into the category of what did not meet their criteria. The goalpost will continue to move until Allstate completes their elimination of the select number of agencies they have projected don’t fit their business plan.

In conclusion, I have no regrets, I had a great gig going for a long time, I have met some wonderful people, many of them are Allstate agents.  I traveled on Allstate’s dime and had the honor of lobbying against domestic violence in Washington DC representing the state of Arizona. Many grants have come from my office, and along with some other agents that collaborated with me, we made a difference in many children and people’s lives. Many clients received good coverage due to my expertise and I was able to share so much of my knowledge in my speeches to numerous groups.

My advice to you would be to join NAPAA, move forward, do the best that you can do, and don’t look back. Remember Lot’s wife; there is nothing to gain in looking back. My best to all of you agents and to the wonderful board of directors of NAPAA, Ted Paris, our very capable Executive Director; Dirk Beamer, our loyal attorney, and to our management company. Together, we did incredible moves for the protection of the agents we represent and will continue to do so with NO REGRETS!

Good luck and God bless you all!

Debe Campos-Fleenor

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Winter 2021

As I sat to write this note from the president’s desk, I was amazed how much Allstate really calls the shots in your business. This brought me to a book titled, “Guide to SuccessfulSelf Employment.”

At the beginning of the guide is a definition of self-employment, which can be a business owner, independent
contractor, sole proprietor or freelancer. Regardless of your particular situation, the definition is as follows: “A self-employed person is any person who earns their living from any pursuit of economic activity as opposed to earning a living working for a company or an individual.”

The guide goes on to give examples of running your own business and key elements that need to be considered for success. One needs to
consider location, employee overhead, insurance, computers, tax liabilities, etc. If it genuinely is your business, then you should be the one calling all the shots. After all, you are the one taking on all the financial and legal risks associated with being self-employed. If you happen to fail due to uncontrolled
expenses, poor location, or operational issues, it lies at your feet, the feet of the business owner. On the other hand, if you succeed, it is because you had the vision and magic formula to make it happen.

In the case of Allstate, the lines of being an entrepreneur and a wholly controlled employee have been significantly blurred. Allstate ultimately decides your location, hours of operation, flaky computer applications and ultimately the expense of your employees. If it is not painful enough to endure Allstate’s dictatorial mandates, they are now taking over the telephone system, which is the lifeblood of any insurance business. This, of course, is allegedly for your own good and protection against any E&Os you might happen to have against you. Although Allstate sells the individual enterprise owner concept, they ultimately control all the important business decisions that determine whether you are a success. Even though it is you, the self-employed business owner, whose capital is on the line, business location, employee expenses, technology and where you buy it are all in the hands of the
corporate mothership.

Now, Allstate, and not the entrepreneur, controls marketing and business customer communications. As an agency owner, you take all the financial risks.
You advertise, advise clients and follow the Allstate rules. But Allstate has virtually nothing at stake if you fail. It is the self-employed, solely the business owner, who invests her entire life savings, puts her name on her shingle and incurs the risks of venturing off on her own. When evaluating the definition of self-employment and being a small business owner, I am sorry to tell you, being an Allstate agent is more like being a captive employee. Employees can check out at the end of the day. However, when it is your business, it is your business 24×7.

Business owners should not become pawns, making millions for the corporation or the president of Allstate and his “yes” Board. If you think I am wrong in my analysis, you still might be drinking the Kool-Aid and believing in Santa. There probably has not been a better time to join NAPAA. This legal defense is solely for the benefit of the Allstate agent. Consider joining and sending a contribution today.

Debe Campos-Fleenor

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Fall 2020

Boy, have things changed!

As I was cleaning my office, I found my old recruiting marketing material. Reading the Allstate promises reminded me of the proverbial story of the frog in the boiling pot. In this story, the frog is placed in a pot of water and the temperature is raised so gradually that he does not recognize the danger he is in until the water is boiling around him and it is too late to escape.

The recruitment brochure states: “Building a Business as an Allstate Exclusive Agent.” “Exclusive” has two definitions: 1. excluding or nor admitting other things. 2. restricting or limited to the person, group or area concerned.

I, and thousands of potential agents, took the scary first step into the proverbial pot by signing up as Exclusive Agents. We took out loans, borrowed from family, cashed in 401Ks and sometimes quit corporate jobs with guaranteed paychecks to become business owners.

How did I miss that Allstate was raising the temperature? How could I have known it had veered off the path promising busines ownership and the opportunity to sell as retirement security?

I remember the first time I heard that some independent agents could sell Allstate insurance in a small, rural communities; I felt like a wide-eyed young woman who lived in Pollyanna. I thought it was a breach, but, as all of you agents know, the word “Exclusive” has a new definition in the world of Allstate.

About one year later, I found that Allstate was being sold by independent agents in my city without any concern for the “Exclusive” title. Two years ago, my best friend’s son signed up with an insurance company in California. He is also an Allstate agent; except he is working for Select and can also sell other companies in 48 states.

The incremental changes that Allstate has made throughout the years have not been beneficial to the Agents; we have adversely affected most. Many agents’ books have decreased in value due to the compensation changes. Now, we are unable to sell our books. When I look back, I wonder if I should have leaped out of the pot a long time ago. Sadly, the good hands were not there for agents.

Debe Campos-Fleenor

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Summer 2020

The “good hands” people at Allstate, the hands that once showed such confidence, are no longer supporting agency owners. 2020 has proven to be a rough year for our agent community, with or without the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have learned that the “good hands” of Allstate really don’t extend to the agent community. The loyal agents who have faithfully served their clients and communities for years have discovered that Allstate has taken the reins of their businesses and made selling their agencies virtually impossible, especially for small and medium-sized agencies. This made our books of business, which we worked every day to build, plummet in value. This investment is now being held hostage by the “good hands” people.

The changes in renewal compensation announced in late fall 2019 adversely affected the value of our businesses. The pandemic that occurred in the spring 2020 put even more pressure on the agencies’ bottom lines. Coupled with Allstate’s decision to enforce ABO’s arbitrary demands, hundreds of agents have been forced to close their doors so Allstate could pursue the low-cost 800 number business model and implement an integrated service center to provide “good hands” service without the advice or guidance of a local professional agent.

Even though the “good hands” is moving away from the model that serves agency owners, we know that people buy from people they like. Our clients don’t buy off the web, they buy from US. Financial investments aren’t made over toll-free calls, they are the result of relationships cultivated by years of community investment and support. The lifeblood of Allstate is hardworking agents. Let’s hope they realize this before it’s too late. Or, maybe this is the new normal for Allstate which I, for one, do not like.

There has never been a better time to join NAPAA because we are the only voice for agent advocacy. We do thank Allstate for being a marketing force for growth and membership acquisition for NAPAA.

Meet the Team – Board, Staff and Executive Director

Members of NAPAA are supported by a dedicated Board, Staff and Executive Director.

Board

Each year, we hold an election for board members. Some members are new while others are up for a re-election of their two-year terms.

All Board Directors are actively engaged with and understand the challenges of being an Allstate agency owner or Exclusive Financial Specialist. They are required to be active agents under contract when elected, though we do allow members to serve the remainder of their terms if they leave Allstate. Board members are not allowed to serve if they operate an independent insurance agency. Check out https://napaausa.org/ to read the bios of the board members.

I am pleased to present the board of directors for the upcoming year below. I look forward to working with, and offer my congratulations to, each and every one of them.

First, congratulations to the agents who have stepped up to take officer positions:

• Claudia Gamache (IL) was re-elected to her second term as Vice President;
• Lezlee Liljenberg (TX) was elected Secretary, replacing Virginia Ottenberg (OH) whose term on the board expired; and
• John Harvester (IN) is our current Treasurer.

In addition to the officers above, the following board members were elected:

• Rob McBride (AZ) to his second term;
• Mike Garofalo (CT) for his second term;
• Javier Najera (TX) was elected to replace a retiring board member; and
• Fred Manfredi (VA) was elected to his first term on the board.

Finally, due to the increase in membership over the past 18 months, the board decided to increase its number from 8 to 10 for the upcoming year to adequately address member concerns.

• Dean Gentile (NY) and
• Scott Verbarg (IN) were appointed to the board for the next calendar year.

Staff

In addition to our board members, NAPAA employs the services of an association management firm, IMI Association Executives, of Raleigh, NC, to run day-to-day operations. Your contacts there are Peter Kralka, our account manager, Christina Alevizatos, who handles general questions regarding membership status and Meredith Parker, who helps us with media and publishing. Please reach out to them if you have questions. Our toll-free number is 877-627-2248 or 919-573-5025. Email membership@napaainc.org .

Executive Director

Finally, we employ an executive director to run our organization. Ted Paris has been our executive director for over three years. Prior to taking over the position, Ted purchased three Allstate agencies in West Central Indiana and ran them for 12 years. Ted was previously a district manager for Farmers Insurance for 18 years. He can be reached at tparis@napaausa.org .

Our only purpose is to represent you- the agency owner. As you can see, we have the commitment and means to do that. We have the resolve and resources needed to be your voice to the Company, to the Allstate Board of Directors, to the media and to the investment community. We have the knowledge to give you unbiased advice and library of needed resources for you to use.

Thank you for supporting us so we may support you.

Debe Campos-Fleenor

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Spring 2020

As I wrote this article, I felt a little nostalgic regarding how things used to be at Allstate. My affiliation with Allstate will reach 19 years in July. My have things have changed at Allstate! And I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you if current and future changes will be for the better or worse.

We simply have a few choices to make. We can decide to sell and hope that Allstate approves the buyer, or we can take TPP for those of us that qualify. An additional pathway is to “go for it” again and use best practices for our business to ride the waves. We are so fortunate to have a very good executive director, Ted Paris, who has great experience as a manager and former agency owner. He is ready and willing to discuss issues and help you plan for your future.

My history with Allstate is not as long as many of yours, but I do remember how Allstate tried to look like they really cared about the agents. As one of my board members said recently “they used to treat us like royalty.” This is not the case for many of the small-to-medium size agencies today. There is a long list of changes implemented by Allstate and I don’t need to go into the details of the new compensation plan, the integrated service option, the lack of executive advantage dollars and even the charge for marketing materials.

The industry is changing as many industries have changed and will continue to change in our lifetimes. Captive Allstate agents appear to be going the way of dinosaurs; they are disappearing. But we must face the era in which we live. The Baby Boomers still like to have a personal agent because they have assets and want them protected. Younger groups of people only want help when they need it. Insurance Companies are marketing more to these do-it-yourself techies. But of course, when things go wrong, we are the first to be called.

When I was young, there were pay phones in every corner. Today, I doubt many of us long for pay phones. I can remember when I was in high school and microwave ovens were the future of cooking. I don’t think many of us cook with them, but I would bet that just about every household in America has one. I was learning how to work with computers in high school and they were cumbersome and huge, no one knew that, in several years, they would be vital assets to maintain just about everything in our lives When I walked into McDonalds the other day, I was instructed that all orders MUST be placed at the kiosk instead of the counter. As I stood at the kiosk, I realized that they’ll replace the jobs of the 16- year-olds that used to work at McDonald’s during the summer months. When I thought about what they do now for extra cash, I noted that they certainly do not sell newspapers, because hardly anyone reads print and newspapers are going out of business. We used to receive our news from paper and three major network news channels. Now it is all about cable and social media.

Times have changed and we need to move with them. So, my advice is to make changes, move incrementally with the industry and have flexibility. Or maybe it’s time to move elsewhere. Smokey Bear said “only you can prevent forest fires.” Today, I want you to know that only you can decide what is right for your future.

There was a time when agents could set the goals they wanted to achieve in their agencies. But, like pay phones, those days are long gone. Since Allstate Corporation does not see the agent as an integral asset to the future and, in all fairness, considering online purchases for insurance is the rising tide of the industry, you need to consider what is good for you and Allstate Corporation will do what is good for it. I love what I do so I am here until Allstate decides it doesn’t want me or need me.

I do want to end on a positive note: when I was young, we had vinyl albums and turn tables (I actually still have one and my old albums). Those days were done due to technology but there is a current trend to own albums and turntables again. They are more costly than streaming music online, but young people are fascinated by them. My hope is that soon captive Allstate agents will be like albums and turntables and will be worth more to those that seek them in the future. Good luck and all the best to you.

Debe Campos-Fleenor