Pros
Allstate is a large company with opportunities all over the United States. As an agent we are not employees but business owners with an exclusive contract to sell Allstate Products. This allows some lattitude in how one does marketing and organizes office staff. There is certainly the possibility of making very good money as soon as 6 to 8 years out because you receive commission when you sell the policy and every time it renews. The residiual income allows you to grow, hire staff, and increase your own salary. Allstate agents also have the right to sell their business (and their residual income stream) to an Allstate qualified buyer. Allstate will buy the book back at 1.5 times the annual commission, but agencies typically sell at around 2 times the annual commission to qualified buyers.
Cons
The contract that you sign with Allstate is completely onesided. Basically, they have no commitments to you, but they can take everything or change anything (including your commission rate) at any time with 30 days notice. This is exactly what they did to their agents in Canada: the took all the business back by cancelling all Candian agent contracts. They then had the gall to offer agents (some of whom where making over 500,000 a year) an entry level sales and service job with no residual income. They have also used this onesided arrangement to push more and more financial responsibility on agents without increasing commissions. Allstate once paid for office space, computers, paper, phones, tech support, office furniture, and some nice events for agents to mingle with management. All of those things are now paid for by the agent, making a small (start up) agency's profit margin slim at best. There are even more devious ways that they shift financial responsibility: the have reduced the number of underwriters available for agents to ask questions and get underwriting decisions from. The result is lower corporate costs and 30 minute hold times to speak to an underwriter. Also, while agents can sell their stream of income when they want to retire or move on, Allstate can be extremely picky and often arbitrary about who it will allow to buy agencies and where the office can be moved to. This creates a highly volatile price for agents who depend on the ability to sell one of their largest assets. Because agents are private contractors, there is basically no chance of moving into corporate management. Which is okay if you like running a small business, but doesn't offer a "career track". While there is certainly the opportunity to make great money, the rate at which you can sell policies is determined largely by the rate for your product. Allstate has a habit of increasing rates when it wants to limit exposure leaving agents to sit on their hands or work harder and spend more money marketing for ever lower returns. As far as coporate management itself. The are largely incompetent and political. They put policies in place that make no practical sense. Ease of doing business with Allstate as and agent and as a customer is one of its biggest failures. Finding someone who can actually answer your question or that has the authority to act is always frustrating and sometimes impossible. There are actually entire departments for which phone numbers are not available to agents. The agents' direct corporate liasons are usually so powerless and ill-informed that one questions what they actually do beside provide a buffer between agents and corporate. It also seems as though agents are deliberately kept in the dark about how the claims department handles claims and how provisions in the policy actually playout in a loss. It makes it very hard to advise clients who have specific questions about coverage.