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