COUNTRY FINANCIAL Employer Reviews

I have learned more than i could imagine working for this company.

On a typical day at work I make appointments for financial represents all over the United States. It requires good communication skills bother verbal and written. My co-workers and I get a long very well. My supervisor is such a sweetheart but also has high expectations which is very important. This job has really helped with my communication skills.

I enjoyed working at Country Financial. I worked directly with underwriters and other support specialists. I enjoyed the everyday interaction with my co-workers. I worked with a great group of people. We were all capable of working independently but helped each other out when needed. I saw myself staying there until retirement, but now I am looking – more... forward to new challenges. – less

Very nice atmosphere and people. Liked the hours, pay, very challenging work,

Unlimited opportunity for people who are not interested in a 9 to 5 workday and do not want someone else to tell them how much they can earn. I have seen plenty of people quit over the years but it is not because training and support was not available to them. I think any sales job has a certain amount of stress but that is why they are high paying – more... positions.

I think Country is a great place to build a career as they invest lots of resources in training and support new reps with a base salary. If you want easy, you should not enter any sales career. – less

Country Financial is a fantastic company to work for. During a typical day I would do the following: answer phones, service existing clients, schedule appointments and interviews for the manager, send emails, complete data entry on reports, assist agents in making changes to existing policies, assist manager in training new sales staff.

My co-workers – more... are awesome and the manager in the best. He keeps the environment upbeat and energetic. Definitely a fun office to work in. – less

While you can be successful as a financial rep. It's extremely unlikely. In the year I was there I saw 7 people wash out. Unless you are a master at prospecting you will fail to. Every month I was worrying about hitting my "benchmarks" and keeping my job. No one in my area had ever heard of country which makes it hard to sell products with terrible – more... rates. They talk about financial security but if your work there you'll have none. Hard to have financial security when keeping your job is a monthly worry. I saw guys have a ton of success and three bad months in a row and get the boot. – less

This is a extemely stressful job. The agents put a ton of preasure on you to get new business and dealing with unhappy clients all the time (most people are not happy when they call their insurance company) on top of that. The agents have the freedom to do what they want leaving you there to do EVERYTHING! Most agents that make it bust their butts for – more... the first 5 years and then after that they get their assistants to do all their work with very little pay while they take 5 vacations a year if not more. Don't get me wrong, there are some agents that are honest, hard working people but they are a dime a dozen. The home office employees look down upon assistants even though we do a majority of the work. If you like being treated poorly and getting paid $10.00 an hour with no benefits and no growth potentail and like working in an extremely stressful environment then this is the job for you! Country, what a joke. – less

Where to start. First off, I'm basing my review on being an ex "financial representative", admittedly there are some positions in Bloomington that may merit a higher review than 1 star. I began my career at Country about 10 years ago. At that time, the culture was MUCH different than it is now. The company was doing extremely well, had competitively – more... priced p and c products, and had excellent support from the sales managers.

When you begin, you are considered an "employee agent". You start with a salary of about $36000 which is extremely competitive when comparing to other companies. My first 4 years I was a rock star. Made all of the "trips", was tops in my agency in sales, etc. My manager at the time said many times, and I quote, "work your butt off for the first 4 or 5 years to build your book, you'll become a "career agent", and then its smooth sailing...no quotas, no pressure, you'll be set. I followed his directions to a TEE and became a career agent after 4 years.

About 4 years ago....things suddenly started to change. The company started to lose money on the p and c side. The rates on auto and home skyrocketed, and it was a struggle to keep your own book let alone sell to new clients. Suddenly, the company started to push "financial products", even changing names from country insurance to "Country financial". Many agents, myself included, began to struggle, but we had "contracts" which did NOT have any sales quotas attached to them. The contract clearly states that as long as you are servicing your book, you are fine. We all got the same speech over and over again..."sell life insurance, don't blame the economy, offer financial reviews to your clients, etc etc. Many of us, myself included, tried everything...purchasing leads, offering financial reviews to every client..asking for referrals..the list goes on and on.

The company at this time hired several new District managers, many of them clueless, and agency managers who were VERY aggressive in their approach. Now MOST of the "career reps" were struggling and had been struggling for the past 4 years due to horrible rates and a company that had no direction. But one district manager decided that she would take it upon herself to "go after" what she considered to be her biggest "pet peeve"...career reps who she felt were "annuitizing their books". In other words, were not producing. So forget the fact that practically every agent was struggling...we were told in no uncertain terms that as "career reps" we were safe..and that the rates were simply awful..this tyrant decided to end some careers and destroy some families.

I was one of the reps she targeted. To make a long story short..this woman made my life a living he&& for two years. After 10 years of service, being a"two time all american" agent, leading my agency in sales my first 4 years, my contract was "terminated" in 2012. Now I had more sales than many of the career agents in the company when this happened and I'm sure I have a lawsuit ( to be continued) but it did not matter. She targeted me and there was nothing I could do. So I wound up being unemployed...with two kids..a mortgage..and zero unemployment because I was " self employed ". My book of business was worthless because Country OWNS the book. Career reps have ZERO OWNERSHIP. You have to pay rent, expenses, employees, and you have ZERO ownership of your book.

This is a BAD company to work for with BAD people managing it. My only wish is if I can persuade ONE person from taking a job with this outfit ive done my duty. Quick example..my new "manager"...who is worthless, hired about 6 to 7 new "employee agents" in 2012..EVERY one was fired within 6 months...nice track record for this clown.

RUN, don't walk, from this outfit if you are an agent. – less

Typical day at Country Financial is full of great challenge and stress. I have learned how to leave my job at work and don't take it home with me and how to respect and don't take things for granted. My Manager is cool but upper management is is strictly corporate. The co-workers at Country Financial makes coming to work real enjoyable and fun. The – more... hardest part of the job is dealing with the financial rep but it all so enjoyable to see them happy when they commission is paid out correctly. – less

Your day, from start to finish, is prospecting and servicing clients and potential clients. I learned more about invetments than I ever thought there was. This job is heavy on time management skills, and self influenced individuals. The other reps in the office are nice, but they all run there own business too, so they ae also busy. The hardest part – more... of this job is building a clientel, so make sure that you have a very large number of people you know, and who will support you in your business as well. The most enjoyable part is the freedom within once you have spent the first 5-6 years building the business. – less

My typical day was prospecting to new potential clients, while also taking care of my current clients. I had a book of about 250,000 annual premium and was expected to continue to build on that monthly. My manager stopped communication for an entire month, even though I was asking for his help and worked in his office (he never showed up). I made a – more... couple friends that were co-workers, but that didn't make the job any more bearable. The hardest part of the job was planning to get benchmarks, and not knowing if you'd have a job the next month. The most enjoyable part of the job is when you truly help someone understand insurance, whether they bought some or not. – less

Company has repeatedly proven to care are about its clients. Manager goes above and beyond when helping agents work with new products and clients.

This was a great company to work for! time management and being able to work independently were essential.

Overall, a decent company to work for if you really enjoy insurance sales. The environment was relaxed, and the training on the products was great. Only problem was a real lack of guidance for new sales reps beyond the initial training.

Country was a great company to work for. My manager was one of the best men I knew. His integrity for doing the right thing will be something that will always stick with me.

Great place to work. In charge of yourself so if you produce, you thrive. If you do not produce, don't expect to be there long. To much emphasis put on life insurance. People who have money typically don't want the person they get their car and home insurance through to also be their financial guy.

Awful place to work - management likes only sycophants and rewards them with favors and offices while everyone else is treated like dirt. Not overtly racist or sexist, but men are clearly treated better and given more opportunities and favors than women. I worked at this company for three years and never had an office or even a common area where to – more... conduct client meetings.
Their rates are not competitive are it's almost impossible to find clients for P/C, though it's required if you want to keep your job. What clients you do get find it extremely hard to file claims and you feel ashamed that you sold them a low quality product.
Finally the benchmarks are extremely high given the economy, and if they are not met after two months, you're out, even if you were off by one policy. – less

Bad rates make it impossible to stay around but... thats ok because the company doesn't want you to stay either. Market to your friends and family and spend your own money to succed. Its a marketing scam get you to wash out after a year and they keep all your clients. I took time off because of the birth of my son and got fired. I saw 5 people get fired – more... in the year that I was there. I was treated very poorly during training. If your a nieve kid right out of school and don't know any better go and work there, if not you won't last very long unless you keep your mouth shut and work a 14 hour day to make about $30,000 a year after spending your own $ on leads that you can't land because the rates are horrible. When your company constatly brags about financial strength you start to ask how is this strenght attained. By high rates and saving $ by passing business to other agents when you get fired and reduced commissions. There is nothing worse than working a sales job for a company that makes decisions to make your job more difficult not easier, then when you can't make it points the finger at you and says what a bad salesman you are or you didn't use the sales process. – less

COUNTRY Financial offers variety of collaborative experiences if one chooses to learn more beyond their current job scope. Many talented people and a good balance of insurance/financial knowledge