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Howe Insurance Services

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Howe Insurance Services reviews

3.8

68% would recommend to a friend

(26 total reviews)

Don Howe

92% approve of CEO

63% positive business outlook

Howe Insurance Services has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 26 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Howe Insurance Services employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Insurance industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

26 reviews
3.0
Sep 25, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Good company with high moral and personable leadership; they have the best of intentions and are not out to push product or take advantage of agents. -Flexibility to make your own schedule and choose the clients you see. -Company no longer requires a $5000 up-front investment and does have a system for financing leads that works sort of like a draw. -The clients you typically see are very much in need of your product, so you can feel that you are doing a good moral thing at the end of every day. -Training and coaching on the selling system/styles is offered free to every agent and is available online. -Weekly calls are motivational and filled with good suggestions/best practices from successful agents. -Commissions paid are reasonable for the work. -Not micromanaged--truly independent. If you are in a position to work a lot of hours, possibly travel 1-3 hours from home to see clients, have about 3 months living expenses saved up or a spouse that can pay the bills without your input, and the ability to take rejection well, go into people's homes, and keep a positive disposition regardless, then you can do very well at this job. The lead system is proven to work as a numbers game--buy more leads, get more hot prospects, make more appointments and pound more pavement, and you can see enough to make it.

Cons

-Have to front the cost of your training and licensing. -Have to front the cost of your leads (about $3000 over 3 weeks, then $1000/week thereafter). -100% commission only. -Even though the clients you see need the product, they do not usually manage their personal finances in a way in that supports them buying the product. Also high chargebacks due to the nature of the clientele. -Limited product line and ability to sell to clientele due to health concerns and/or payment methods available. -You will have to work 6 days a week and long days on the phone, cold prospecting (door knocking), and pounding pavement to be successful. The lead system is helpful, but in its current form, produces questionable prospects for a large upfront expense. You do have to sling a lot of hash to bring home the bacon, so to speak. -Product training is very minimal and could be a liability for all. -Chargebacks are high which makes it difficult to make a living and puts an agent at risk of owing an insurance company money. If you have difficulty with self-discipline or taking rejection; if you are uncomfortable in people's homes of varying conditions, if you cannot afford the upfront expenses involved and give yourself three to six months to get a good start, then this job will be a stretch for you.

3.0
Sep 17, 2015

Not bad. not great

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lots of help and direction.

Cons

The company used to provide new agents with a given protected territory. No longer. They have hired so many new agents in 2015 that you can literally have multiple agents in your backyard. This might not be terrible except that the overpriced leads you must buy draw small pulls and due to so many agents in your zip codes, you may find yourself driving 150 miles to have any leads drops at all. As a side note, you have to be ok dealing with the lowest form of prospects imaginable. Have to sling a lot of mud to make some stick.... good luck...

5.0
Jun 24, 2014

Help where and when you need it.

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pros: Rewarding work: The clients we meet and help really need our products. I never spend time trying to convince people they should buy something they don't want or need. Commission sales: There is no real ceiling on your income. You work your own schedule. Good companies to represent: The Howe's have done a great job finding excellent options for our clients. No matter a client's need, I feel there is something I can offer them, at a fair price and without worry that someone else will arrive the next day to replace it with something better. This has been consistent over the seven years I've been with the agency. Retirement: Ongoing commissions for previously sold life insurance provide long-term financial stability. Profit sharing: This also could be filed under "retirement", but I felt it deserved it's own paragraph. My profit sharing check each month this year is 1.5 times as large as the social security check I started collecting last September at age 66. The size of the profit sharing varies each year based on agency profits over the previous year. If you're a salesman you'll enjoy income from this very generous, unique offering from the Howe's. If you are a leader, or willing to learn how to become one, you can build your own agency through the Howe system and perhaps look forward to a very early retirement. My profit sharing will continue for more than 20 years after I quit working, perhaps many more than 20, living or not! What a wonderful legacy for your family! Education: I worked as a salesman, regional trainer and district sales manager for a company that billed itself as "the best direct sales company in the world" and spent another 12 years with a similar company selling education in clients homes to prospects and their families. Both used a system virtually identical to the one employed at HIS, and both offered excellent training, IF YOU WERE WILLING TO MAKE THE EFFORT to take advantage of it. The Howe's have taken the system to a very different level. Their on-going, involved training is the best I have experienced anywhere. I believe this is the single biggest reason you may hope to succeed in a supposedly very difficult industry. Again, the effort to take advantage of all that is offered is up to you. Character: I could spend all day here. I feel like I'm part of the Howe family and am honored to be able to say it. The Howe's offer training, significant cost reduction on leads (the core of the system), profit sharing and an honest, straight-forward answer to any question I have ever asked. In other words, they say they care and demonstrate it with action, how refreshing!

Cons

Cons: This is in-home sales work. Unless you're disciplined, willing to look at yourself critically, admit and correct mistakes, learn and grow, you cannot succeed in this business. This is time consuming and can be addictive. If you have family, they must understand the commitment you need to make to be successful and support you.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 26 Reviews

Glassdoor has 27 Howe Insurance Services reviews submitted anonymously by Howe Insurance Services employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Howe Insurance Services is right for you.