Farm Bureau Review
By David Duford - January 03, 2023 - 5 Mins Read
Are you thinking about starting an insurance sales career with Farm Bureau?
Maybe you have some questions about whether or not it’s a good fit for your insurance career goals?
If so, you have found the right article!
I’ll share everything you need to know about how the Farm Bureau works if you’re interested in selling insurance with them.
The ultimate goal is to help you determine whether or not Farm Bureau is a good fit for your career.
Let’s begin!
PS: Review more insurance sales job opportunities in my detailed round-up article here.
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Overview of Working With Farm Bureau
Most employees agree that working with Farm Bureau is an experience on the better side of average.
Employees give the company a 3.0 out of 5-star rating on Glassdoor and 3.6 out of 5 on Indeed, providing an idea of what to expect.
What Products Are Sold?
Farm Bureau offers a range of insurance products.
Auto Insurance
Auto insurance from Farm Bureau includes car, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, and farm vehicle insurance, along with roadside assistance.
Home Insurance
Home insurance protects your home and the possessions inside of it. It includes homeowners, condo, and mobile home insurance, as well as coverage for other properties.
Farm Bureau also offers renters insurance for your possessions if you do not own your home.
The company also lets you sell identity theft insurance and residential equipment insurance.
Life Insurance
Life insurance from Farm Bureau can include term life, whole life, or universal life insurance.
Farm and Ranch Insurance
Farm and ranch insurance provides protection for your home, tools, equipment, crops, and livestock.
It includes crop and livestock insurance and ag-related business insurance.
Health Insurance
The Farm Bureau’s health insurance offerings include disability coverage and long-term care insurance.
Business Insurance
You can sell business insurance for commercial, ag-based, or home-based business as well as business succession insurance, workers compensation insurance, and employee benefits insurance.
There are also financial planning services and investment products you could sell if you become an advisor.
How Do You Find Prospects?
Unlike some insurance companies, Farm Bureau does not explicitly indicate how agents find prospects.
However, the company does have an award-winning four-month training program that all new agents go through, which should provide you with the skills you need to find prospects yourself.
Additionally, when you start, you get the assistance of an Agency Manager who serves as a professional mentor, along with the Just in Time team and Sales Coaches.
All of this support also includes training and suggestions on how to find prospects.
So, although there is no indication that Farm Bureau provides prospects like some companies do, you have plenty of support and training to develop the skills to find your prospects.
Special Marketing and Sales Programs
All Farm Bureau agents are entitled to training to help hone their skills.
The company takes a practical, hands-on approach that combines online training, classroom sessions, and mentoring opportunities in the Developing Agent Program.
The training is free, although you are responsible for associated travel expenses.
In your first five years, there is also ongoing support from a dedicated team ready to help with questions about sales and products.
This is supplemented by continuing education opportunities. Those opportunities typically include minimal registration fees as well.
Many educational opportunities
Farm Bureau also has a range of educational articles on its blog to help agents, with topics such as tips for success, how to transition to your new role as an insurance agent, and what to expect.
The new agent financing program can help you get started as a Farm Bureau agent.
All new agents, as well as select existing agents, receive co-op advertising.
There is also a one-stop-shop for advertising and direct mail, so you do not have to worry about creating your insurance leads from scratch.
There are also turn-key marketing tools. Farm Bureau additionally provides an agent-focused website.
Commission
Farm Bureau prides itself on offering competitive compensation, and according to the company, first-year agents make an average that is 56% more than other salespeople.
Agents supplement commissions by qualifying to win cash rewards via sales campaigns and getting travel to destinations that are commonly sought after.
In some cases, residual income will also apply. You receive this commission when existing clients make premium payments.
To provide an example of compensation, Farm Bureau has some data from 2017:
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- The top 50 percent earned a minimum of $111,481, with an average income of $274,127.
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- The top 25 percent earned $210,407 or more, with an average income of $391,413.
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- The top 10 percent of agents earned $348,538 or more, with an average of $576,143.
Importantly, there are no limits to the commissions that you can earn with Farm Bureau, so you can increase your commissions by increasing your sales.
Is Farm Bureau a Scam/Pyramid Scheme/MLM?
No, Farm Bureau is not a scam, pyramid scheme, or insurance MLM. This is clear from the company’s long history combined with its above-average ratings from past employees.
Employees feel that the benefits and compensation are competitive and enjoy working with the team.
My Thoughts
Now that you know a little more about a career selling insurance with Farm Bureau, allow me to share my thoughts and opinions from the perspective of an independent agent unassociated with Farm Bureau.
Independent vs. Captive
In case you don’t know, there’s two different ways you can run your insurance sales business.
First, you can be a captive agent. This is where you represent one insurance company’s product line.
For example, if you’re a Farm Bureau agent, you’re a captive agent. You’re only allowed to sell their particular products and other insurance companies.
Second, you have independent agents.
Unlike captive agents out there, they can sell multiple companies and shop around for their clients.
Independence = Potential For More Opportunity
This is the biggest advantage of being independent over being captive.
Independent agents have more resources at their disposal to offer their clients the best opportunities for coverage with the best pricing and underwriting.
This translates into the potential for more policy sold versus a captive agent.
Why?
Because captive agents more likely will lose opportunities for sales simply because of their limitation for coverage.
This is not to say that Farm Bureau is a bad company.
Quite the contrary, they offer good coverage that many people and clients appreciate.
However, as an agent with Farm Bureau, you inherently will have limitations in your product selection.
And that will have some sort of impact on your ability to write a higher percentage of business.
Summary
I hope you enjoy this article and understand a little more about how an insurance sales career with Farm Bureau works.
I train new and experienced agents to become top producing agents in final expense, Medicare Advantage, and annuity sales.
If you’d like more information about how my organization works, click the link here.
Make sure to also check out my agent success stories as well as my best selling insurance sales books.
Resources
January 03, 2023
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