Prudential Reviews

Pros

Prudential is a great place to build a career- if a career is what you're looking for a not just a job. It is a Fortune 50 company and they promote from within whenever possible so the room for growth is excellent. The benefits and compensation and second to none in our industry and I love that people without an industry specific background are given an opportunity because of their comprehensive training program. I hope to spend the rest of my workings days with Prudential and feel very proud to work for them.

Cons

Nothing-
Not a good move for people just looking for a job- this a career and should be treated as such. People have to be very driven and truley have a passion for helping other to build a career.

Pros

Excellent training in sales practices, product knowledge, and the regulations of the financial services industry. Consistent and regular feedback of performance. Excellent benefits if you can make enough to pay for them.

Cons

100% commissions with no minimum salary. Income is reduced by weekly and monthly overhead related expenses. One never knows how much one will make in a given week or month which makes managing your personal budget extremely difficult. The FSA is expected to spend most of their time prospecting for clients via cold calling. The FSA expected to exploit existing personal and professional relationships which can impact those relationships very negatively. 3 year retention is less than 15%.

Advice to Senior Management

An initial base salary or existing book of business would give those new to the financial services industry time to learn and grow their personal book of business.

Pros

The work life balance is sufficient as it is a job that does not require you to take work home.

Cons

Limited growth opportunities are present and the culture of the organization was not for me. They did not live out their values.

Advice to Senior Management

Management tampered with processes and changes things without truly understanding things. They blamed people instead of the processes to better meet the needs of the customer.

Pros

-Reimbursement for licensing and certification courses is available.
-Bonuses in the first year are very good, but hinge exclusively on sales activity.
-Strong product and sales training are a mandatory part of the job.
-Good commission rates on variable annuity sales can lead to big paydays, if you find the right client.
-Company history and branding help reps with building client relationships.
-Limited matching of marketing expenses helps lighten the expense burden, which is otherwise very significant.
-There is tremendous flexibility in when, where and how you perform the role, especially if you're putting up decent numbers.

Cons

Where to start....

-No base pay, even though you sometimes spend a considerable amount of time servicing the needs of orphan clients, effectively providing client retention services to corporate. In my opinion, the lack of a base also incentivizes less scrupulous agents to make unsuitable recommendations, especially with regards to annuity sales.
-Compensation structure is mind-bogglingly confusing to most new reps, especially with regard to the first-year support credits.
-Absolutely no help with start-up costs; if you want an extra pen and some paper clips, be prepared to pay for them. Likewise, no transportation expense reimbursement, so when you drive an hour and the client doesn't pull the trigger, you lost both the sale and the gas money.
-Training and support exercises are good at first, but become tedious, repetitive and time-consuming as you get into the role, but attendance is still expected.
-Trail commission rates on life insurance are pretty rough, meaning new business is the only way to make serious money on life insurance sales.
-Partners for P&C may have poor rates, depending on the state you're in, making it hard to build a renewal stream.
-Maximum draw amount is set very high for new reps, meaning you have to hit some pretty solid numbers to take home more than the minimum draw.
-Management support can be spotty and the company provides very few quality leads to new reps. If you don't have a natural market and/or the initial capital to buy leads, it's a really uphill battle to keep your draw account from emptying.

Advice to Senior Management

This position absolutely demands that some level of base salary be offered, that is, if the revolving door of incoming and outgoing agents is ever going to slow down. Right now, it looks like Taz from Looney Tunes.

HIRE FEWER AGENTS AND FOCUS ON RETAINING AGENTS WITH STRONG CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SALES SKILLS. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY!

As it stands, the new business opportunities are so diluted by the massive number of FPAs in agency Distribution, that it makes it next to impossible for colleagues not to step on each others' toes within a given territory.

Finally, so many reps that I've worked with rely heavily on orphans and there is just too much volatility in that prospecting source to make a business out of it. There has to be some more effective means of distributing new business leads to new reps. While the existing internet leads program is a good start, there are so many reps in the system, that, even with a good conversion rate, it won't do much to help keep most folks in business. This ties in to my previous point that the overall number of agents is, on balance, a bad thing for new reps. I strongly feel that the company should more seriously weigh the value of retaining fully-trained and licensed producers, against the fact that bringing in new reps opens up a marginal number of additional, natural markets to the company.

Pros

Great benefits compared to other companies

Cons

Poor Management compared to other companies

Advice to Senior Management

Improve managerial skills

Pros

Talent management
Benefit package
Salary
Breadth of opportunity
Advancement potential
Financial strength
Competent senior leaders
Brand and reputation
Learning opportunities

Cons

I cannot think of too many cons of working for Prudential Financial. If you're a slacker and/or a long-time seat-warmer, you may not be around for much longer.

Advice to Senior Management

My advice to management would in large part be to keep up the good work. Your emphasis on treating employees as valued resources through your development programs, compensation packages, and communication strategy is well received.

Pros

Well known and very recognizable solid brand. Brand you can trust. Berkshire Hathaway company, so you have Warren Buffett behind it.

Cons

Needs more advertising, the different branches and industries within the company are not connected which makes the professionals that work for the company loose tremendous opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management

Stimulate the connection between the different branches so the entire company, Prudential, is seen as a unified true solid company.

Pros

Good pay if self driven.
Leadership positions are very very good if done right and can be very rewarding in the long run.

Cons

Bad pay if not self driven and lack charisma. Very tough job and sometimes can be very demanding and results in you compromising quality.

Advice to Senior Management

To have more flexibility and less red tape in allowing their financial advisers to start marketing themselves. As no name cards are allowed to be personalized.

Pros

Well compensated.
Open to new ways of doing things

Cons

Not enough opportunity to move across business units for professional development

Advice to Senior Management

Improve cross training for upward mobility

Pros

Friendly co-workers, Effective management, Convenient free parking available with company lot in the city.

Cons

Hard to see the big picture at times.