Aflac – “Do your due diligence before deciding to join Aflac”

Pros

The best reasons are the ability to control your own schedule. But, it's both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing if you have the discipline to get up and get out and go to work. Very little comes to you without effort. Once in a while you will get a referral from out of the blue, but otherwise, you need to work for everything you get. But, that's life, right? The curse is that you make no money unless you get out and go to work (unless you've been there a while and are receiving some decent residual income at the end of every month.)

Cons

There's a constant need to recruit new blood into the organization because most new associates (90%) leave within the first year of joining Aflac. That tends to be good for the folks who stick around because they can clean up the scraps left behind and make money that otherwise would have gone to the new associate. There's a perception that the market is flooded with Aflac reps when you call into a business and they tell you you're the 10th Aflac person to call and to go away. However with a national business penetration of around 3-4%, management will tell you to keep pressing and eventually the company will let you in the door. If you can survive the first year...you may be on your way. Some recruiting offices suggest that first year associate income averages $86000, but I have never met anyone that's done that level of compensation in their first year.

Advice to Senior Management

Be very diligent about the investments you make..the recent downgrading has hit the stock price very hard, beyond the current market situation. Very conservative investing is imperative for an insurance company.