Announced its bold new plan for Massachusetts on October 8th
Allstate has regrouped and forged a bold new plan for Massachusetts. After quietly entering the Massachusetts market last year, the country’s largest publicly-held personal lines insurer is seeking to up the ante and expand its presence in the Bay State by appointing approximately 130 new insurance agents by the end of 2014. The company, which currently has about 19 agency owners and 25 salespeople in the state, returned to the Massachusetts insurance marketplace last year after a 25-year absence.
“Allstate opened its first brick and mortar location in Massachusetts last October and has seen increasing demand since then. We target cities and areas that show growth as a part of Allstate’s broader strategy to expand our presence in Massachusetts,” said Ed Norcia, Allstate’s current Northeast Region Strategic Deployment Leader. “We are aggressively targeting qualified professionals. If they don’t have an insurance background, we’ll provide them with comprehensive education and the resources to help them get off to a solid start.”
Ideally, the company would like to find 30 new agency owners to appoint and 100 licensed sales producers. Typically, a new agency owner would be required to have two licensed sales producers as part of his or her team. As an added incentive with its deployment efforts, the company will pay a $5,000 award to any one who refers a qualified agency owner candidate. The referral award will be payable only upon the candidate’s appointment as an Allstate agent.
What is the benefit of becoming an Allstate agent?
As to the actual mechanics of becoming an Allstate agent, individuals appointed to Allstate are treated as independent contractors rather than as employees. In entering into an exclusive agent contract with Allstate, an agent is required to sell Allstate products through their exclusive agency distribution system. Currently, in Massachusetts, the company offers auto, life and security based products as well as property products through expanded market carriers. One of the most unusual aspects of an Allstate agency contract, however, is that agency owners retain the economic interest in their own individual agency and have the right to sell that interest to another Allstate-approved agent or to the insurer at any time.
“Allstate not only has a spectacular brand and exceptional support staff to train and champion new exclusive agents, Allstate is unique among all other insurers because its agents own the economic interest in their business,” said Norcia. “Allstate agents can sell the economic interest in their agency. No other branded insurer has this option.”
The next step
Interested candidates will be required to have a minimum of $50,000 of liquid capital to invest in their agency before being appointed. This requirement exists to ensure that an agency owner can successfully fund the normal day-to-day costs associated with opening and running a business. Those interested in becoming licensed sales producers, however, do not need to meet this requirement.
For more information about an Allstate appointment in Massachusetts, interested candidates should contact James West at 1-800-733-7010 x3395.
