Aflac – “To make it with Aflac, try to get promoted to DSC or it can be a struggle.”

Pros

Good place to work if you are self disciplined, want to work your own schedule, get stock bonuses, and having name recognition to employees. Once you get "promoted" to a District Sales Manager or above you start getting overrides on the agents underneath you. You do get paid still on the business that stay in the books. Aflac has great marketing to the point where everyplace you go that knows your from Aflac will ask where the duck is. The products they offer are affordable and can be payroll deducted for the the employees on a pre tax basis which also is a benefit for business owners.

Cons

Too much turnover since it's an all commission job. False promise on how much income you can make when you first start off. Numbers they give you to hit so you can make a good living the 1st couple years are very, very difficult to accomplish. Too much recruiting to the point that businesses complain of getting a new Aflac agent all the time and is sick of it. Going to businesses that are tired of seeing a new Aflac agent every week trying to get their business which makes them angry to even listen. That is because Aflac will hire anyone and everyone that walks in the office. The call center has a reputation of being inconsistent on the information they give out. You call there 3 times and you will get 3 different answers. They give reference #s to each phone call but when you ask why the answer they gave the first time is different they say "there are employees there that aren't as experienced and gave the wrong info". As an agent going back on what you told your client makes you look like you don't know what you're doing. With all the rejection and all the work you put into the job, the income you get is not even close to your hard work you did. Unless you have another source of income, have a large savings, or have a lot of business connections that will let you in their business - it is very difficult to survive your first year with Aflac as an agent.

Advice to Senior Management

Once you get promoted to a District Sales Coordinator position or above you do get a small override on the agents underneath you. However, you are now managing all independent contractors - a voluntary army. You're only as good as the agents you're managing which is the reason why there is a huge emphasis in recruiting and will hire anyone that shows up to the "interview". With that in mind, around 90% of the agents don't make it their 1st year because it doesn't give them enough income. As the manager you get paid on production and with dealing with voluntary employees you have to manage agents that think they don't need or want to listen to your advice to become successful - and unfortunately those are the ones that stay and just eats up space in the office. The ones that are good, the "10%'ers", either get promoted to District Sales Coordinators or end up leaving to work somewhere else. However, if you have a good team underneath you, you can be very successful and have a good career with Aflac. As the District Sales Coordinator, you do keep the groups that were opened by agents that ended up leaving Aflac. With all commission only jobs with risiduals, if you can hang in there it can be a rewarding career.