Aflac Reviews

Pros

Work for yourself.
No boss.
Set your own hours.
Complete Freedom!

Cons

Lack of good customer service support.
Company's infrastructure has not met pace of growth (which is huge!)
Great company; needs to tighten up internal processes...this is from a succesful veteran.
Nepotism is rampant. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But unfair things happen...oh well. It's a good solid company. Founded on great values. Just needs attending to their internal strucure.

Advice to Senior Management

Knock it off!
Seriously, start getting out in the field to help your DSCs and associates.
More Support to Veterans.
Veterans are often not given the respect and consideration they are due. (IMO)

Pros

Great people, great work environment

Cons

Commission based and hard to start making money

Pros

Good to know alot of people to make a sale Best to put your name out there for people to know you.

Cons

Have to enter alot of business. ask other to help you look for sales. Ask people that you do business with like doctors or gas station that you always go to.

Advice to Senior Management

The more that you sale the higher you can get in AFLAC. The best part is you get stocks from AFLAC.

Pros

Family atmosphere, and quick addoption of new technology

Cons

Little or no growth oppportunity in the IT organization

Advice to Senior Management

Be more strategic,

Pros

Brand recognition is excellent, residual income stream pays for years after writing business, vesting of renewals after a time of service, daytime hours for the most part.

Cons

No base salary for sales associates...straight commission. This fact, coupled with the sales cycle averaging about 6 weeks from initial call on a business owner to actually writing the employees and getting paid cause many new recruits with potential to starve out of the business.

This high turnover rate means that much of the manager's time and energy will never be compensated due to the fact that compensation is based on overrides on commissions of the associates...a relatively low percentage of associates become long-term producers.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

Work schedule was flexible; you could basically set up how and when you wanted to work. Opportunity to make money and move up was there, if you made the company money, you made money, and you were promoted. Aflac is a good product that you could feel good representing and selling.

Cons

After about a month I realized that this was a churn-and-burn factory. Every day they would cold-call people and companies to get new business and new employees. It was purely a numbers game and I felt “dirty” every day I left work. Everybody is hired and used for who they know to buy product. No “real” training. Management loves the money makers and to hell with the rest. No “trained” managers, just the best volume sellers promoted to a management position. Managing means you are in charge of printing the cold-call list. I felt I worked with some scummy people that would do anything for a buck.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn what it really means to manage. Don’t just hire any warm body. Teach employees how to sale, network, and generate business.

Pros

Flexible work hours are great especially when you have children. They have very nice rewards when you hit milestones and your income has no celing.

Cons

You never really get away from the demands of clients. Income has no floor and varies from month to month.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat all the agents with fairness and equality. Be consistant with the guidelines that all the agents need to follow.

Pros

Advanced first year commissions ensure that you are getting the most money you possibly can out of the policies that you sell. After a few years, renewals help to subsidize some of your income with little additional effort. Years into this position, once you have built a relatively large book of business, you are able to afford a comfortable lifestyle.

Cons

Unfortunately I have many to list. I don't think that Aflac is a horrible job, but you definitely need to be the right kind of person to stick with this position. The only way to make this work is if you intend for Aflac to be a long term career for you as it takes many years before you start to make a decent living. First year agents can expect to make from 10-20k max. Management will tell you in your interview that you can make up to 40k but they are WAY inflating the numbers; and it wasn't just me, none of the first year agents I worked with were anywhere near on their way to making over 20k. The reason it takes 2-3 years to get yourself to the $30,000-$35,000 mark is because after those first few years of opening new accounts you start to accrue a number of renewal payments which basically are just customers renewing their policies and you getting a little slice of the payments. The more business you open, and the more customers renew their policies, the more money you make.
   This brings me to my next point. Your job as a new agent is solely to open new accounts. What this means is that you will be cold calling businesses all over your region. If you've never done cold calling, believe me, it is not fun. In some cases it is downright depressing. Because every new agent in your district is doing the same thing, with no system in place to cross check who has called on what businesses, what you end up with is an area of businesses that is over-saturated with Aflac agents. Many companys that you call on will be angry with you because they have already had several Aflac agents call on them and they have to keep telling them no. The only way to avoid some of this abuse is to call on businesses in person, as most people talk a tough game on the phone but will treat you with at least some respect if you are face-to-face. I would like to say it gets easier as time goes on but even the agents that have been there for 2-3 years are still in the office daily making cold calls. If you are going to Aflac with a career in mind and you are okay with taking verbal abuse and don't mind the constant rejection then you may be alright in this position, but for those of you that are looking to Aflac as a way to pad the resume and make a few bucks before your next career move DON'T DO IT. You will not make nearly enough money to make it worth your time.

Advice to Senior Management

Management does not give a crap about you unless your are opening new business. That aspect I am actually okay with; if you aren't making the company any money then what good are you to them. But I did not expect to be completely ignored in my first week on the job. Before I even had the opportunity to open any new accounts I was not getting the training I needed, and was told I would receive. So, be prepared to figure this out on your own until you finally start making sales and can get your manager to answer your emails. The wash out rate is high in this job and they wont bother wasting time on you until they think you might stick around.

Pros

It all depends on your managers, but a large majority of managers are competent and want to see you succeed. They give you a great opportunity to make it in and if you can whether a year without much income this is a great place to work.

Cons

Training is something that can be put on the back-burner. You get 4 days of training and then you're on your own for doing the hardest part, getting appointments. Bad past experiences also make it difficult.

Advice to Senior Management

Seeing people go through the steps and succeed is paramount in the success of a new agent. Take new agents prospecting so they can learn the toughest part of the business.

Pros

Flexibility, you write your own schedule
Excellent residual income
Good product advertising
Good management support
You are responsible for your own success

Cons

It is outside sales
You are responsible for your own business, leads and all
It takes a while (at least weeks) to get a pipeline built up
Cold calling is a fact of life

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work