ATTENTION NAAFA MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS!
If you have received a 3-month performance notice recently, contact NAAFA immediately! We need:
1) Your name, 2) Years with AmFam, 3) Your Age, 4) Your state, and 5) Your contact phone number
Email: NAAFAwest@comcast.net  |  Phone: 800-567-9668

Take the NAAFA Survey!

JD Power Ranks Insurers on Customer Service! AmFam Scores!! The good news is that American Family came in 3rd, beating out most of our captive competitors. One has to ask, “As online shopping increases, what is the future for captive field agents?” It’s good to know your competition.  5/6/2012

AMERICAN FAMILY CORPORATE OFFICERS HAVE DONE IT AGAIN! The 2011 Corporate Salaries indicate the AmFam officers have once again given themselves generous raises and at a time when they are telling agents they must get used to making less money. Such double-talk really irritates to the bone those of us who have to work so hard and tolerate so much pressure to sell in order to save our jobs, and all of this just to pad the pockets of those in the upper echelons of the company.  4/12/2012

Why Agents & Customers Choose Higher-priced Insurers! Agents are often frustrated when their rates are too high, but this survey may give you some hope. Whether you are captive or independent, knowing what the customer is looking for and other information in this article may help you make that sale.  4/12/2012

American Family rated Worst by Insure.com says CBS Money Watch. This is hard to take when you are an agent for that company, but even more difficult when you are a customer! The tendency by the company is to say the survey is skewed because JD Powers certainly never rated them that low. But instead of trying to discredit the findings of Insure.com, why not say, “OK, gang, what are we going to do about it?” [More on this in the next issue of The NAAFA Report.]  1/17/2012

Allstate Agent Association (NAAPA) Votes Overwhelmingly to Affiliate with OPEIU  a division of AFL-CIO. Technically, they will be classified as a guild. What are the implications for other captive agents? Perhaps this action will spark some interest and give some hope to other groups. We’d like to hear from you. Email us at NAAFAwest@comcast.net.  8/17/2011

Allstate Agents Hope Unionization Sparks Changes at Insurer:  If the Allstate Agent Association (NAPAA) issuccessful in organizing a guild (form of union) where does that leave other captive agents? One has to ask whether having bargaining power would make the effort all worth while or not. It’s something for us to think about.  7/27/2011

JD Power and Associates Reports:  Satisfaction with Price is Lower among Auto Ins Customers Who Bundle Policies. Amica Mutual Ranks Highest among Auto Insurers for a 12th Consecutive Year. 7/2/2011

Jim Fish, the Allstate Agent Association [www.NAPAAUSA.com] Executive Director, responds to Allstate’s plans to consolidate agencies and alter commissions  Read It Here!  7/13/11

Allstate Outlines Its Agent and Direct Distribution Strategies!  At least Allstate lets its agents know what their plans are. This article says ‘larger agencies through consolidation’ and ‘incentives to expand their business’ should improve the company’s production. And of course, their move to better serve their customers by purchasing direct-writer Ensurance making Allstate “the only company serving all segments of the customer proposition” is probably a good indication that other companies like American Family also have similar plans. What has a move like this done for the captive agent? There is a reason behind all the terminations, isn’t there? See the trend???.  5/30/2011

American Family Pays Arizona Homeowners $1.2M to Correct Mistake!  5/20/2011

NAAFA Report Readers. Look no further!  Here are the answers to the AmFam Agents’ Crossword Puzzle! and the complete list of reflections in the NAAFA Report article THE NEW YEAR—a time for reflection — an Agent’s Perspective!  4/16/2011

The 350 Most Admired Companies!  A few insurance companies (Allianz, State Farm, Berkshire Hathaway) made the list of the 350 Most Admired Companies. Sorry to see that AmFam didn’t make the list. What could we do to raise our level of admiration?? Good Question!.  3/11/2011

A quote in the article  Why Doing the Right Thing is Right for the Bottom Line! states that “The success of any organization is built on the confidence and trust of employees, customers, and the general public. The only way for an organization to gain that trust is to demonstrate honesty and integrity in everything the organization does.” 

JDPower Names Six Insurers Customer Service Champions!  Where is American Family?  2/26/2011

FreeAdvice.com is a site where customers can post their thoughts regarding their insurance companies. See what customers are saying about American Family. Scroll down to get the most recent comments.  11/15/2010

Where is American Family in the JD Powers Survey?
A recent JD Powers survey shows customer satisfaction declining in 2010. American Family does not get mentioned in the article so one has to ask, “Where do they rate?” Obviously, not at the top for customer satisfaction. The article mentions rates as a real driving factor. There’s your answer, perhaps.!  8/7/10
  
Want to “vent” about your job or company? www.jobvent.com is the place to do it. Read what others are saying, also.  7/23/2010

Did you know copiers have hard drives?  
Information that you copy could fall into the hands of the wrong people, particularly the company you lease your copier from. Agents BEWARE!  5/16/2010

Does American Family’s B- Rating Concern You?  3/27/2010


What Every Agent and Customer Should Know About Clue Reports!  1/23/2010

IRS Private Letter Rulings!
        American Family agents, and other captive agents, are considered independent contractors by the IRS. Since the IRS issued Private Letter Rulings for most of the captive companies, captive agents who filed SS-8’s found their appeal rejected immediately because of these Private Letter Rulings. Very few agents have actually read the 111-page Correspondence between AmFam and the IRS, nor have they read the summary American Family Private Letter Ruling so we are posting both of them for you. You will be interested to read about how little ‘control’ the company is supposed to have over the operation of your agency.
        Information in an Allstate Private Letter Ruling states that an independent contractor agent has an “economic interest” in the customer list, and agents will realize this ‘interest’ when they are either paid by a 3rd party for their business OR the agent receives termination benefits based on a formula designed to equal a fair market value of their accounts. [Paragraph 6 under Independent Contractor Phase, (Allstate Ruling)]
        This presumes a fiscal value which should allow an agent to claim capital gain when paid termination benefits. Even more interesting is the fact that AmFam issued a document that says “Formerly called Extended Earnings, the name was changed to “Termination Benefits.” These are payments made to the former agents not to compete.” (See SECA Kit)
        The non-compete clause applies for one year.The AmFam contract does not state that a customer list cannot be used after the one year because logic would dictate that you’d have to have in your possession a customer list in order to begin competing after the one year.

Courts Allowing Private Facebook Posts as Evidence in Lawsuits!
Facebook Comments May Get You Into Trouble! We knew it was only a matter of time until information found on Facebook could be used as evidence in court cases. Well, here it is!  2/4/2011

PRICE IS CRITICAL and this article definitely confirms it!
This article from JD Powers states that according to their survey, only about 10 % of the people say they did not buy from the company giving them the cheapest quote. However, one would also have to assume that 90% of the people DID buy from the company with the lowest quote. Agents have long been telling the company this fact, but it appears company officials are not agreeing with them. NAAFA is aware of several agents being given sales quotas and the threat of termination if these quotas are not met. This appears to be the ultimate in unethical and disloyal behavior toward agents. Most people know that the larger the number of policies an agent has, the greater the number of apps that agent writes per month. However, we all know that most of this business is not “raw” new business.  6/30/2009

The 20 Common Law Factors of a Perfect Independent Contractor Relationship

Deliberately Misclassified? What Allstate Has In Common With FedEx!
This article appeared recently in the Allstate Agent Association’s Winter 2008/2009 issue of the FOCUS. The article deals with the ongoing question of whether captive agents are independent contractors or employees. We suggest you read this article carefully. You might find you are able to substitute American Family’s name each time you see Allstate’s name. Quoted from the article, “If it Quacks Like A Duck, It’s Probably a Duck.”  3/14/2008