I was given no khakis. I had to buy my own, which was a big deal because they only paid me $9/hr, and all I owned was jeans. They gave me a T-shirt that read “Can I get a hot tub?” It was too casual to wear at work. I have still never worn it.
When I applied, I thought I was doing clerical, but they really just wanted me to cold call people. It was a new location, and they had to make a certain quota by the end of the year. It was very stressful. I already hated talking to people, but now I had to bother them during dinner, and try to sell them insurance?!? Oh they’ll LOVE that!
They thought, “oh young girl, probably has tons of friends, answered an online ad, so you know she must have loads of friends on Facebook too.” They were shocked to learn that I didn’t not even have an account. Still don’t. They wanted to see my contacts in my phone. Mom, husband, brother, cousin, and that was all. The thing was though, my mom was a realtor. My cousin was a builder. My brother... ...just graduated high school, but the last two contacts were golden! I could get loads of high dollar clients, it just takes time.
I remember one of the quotes I ran for them. My moms friend. Realtor of course, because what woman that age isn’t? On the towns board! The boss REALLY wanted a seat on the board. When I name dropped, he was like “how?!? How do you know this person?!?” (She’s like 40 years older than me) “Oh, we went to Europe together.” Because, yeah, that’s how I roll.
Anyway, in addition to my contacts, I am also an automotive enthusiast, clearly, which I made clear to the boss. So I was able to get some sign up quotes for several Porsche owners, and could easily gather more for others. Unfortunately they were the only ones that State Farm did not want to cover! They were too high risk! Won’t insure five 928s? This guy sells parts for these models for a living!!! That’s why he has them!
But I really was interested in the enthusiast market, so they suggested I call up some corporate State Farm department to look into classic and enthusiast car insurance for these future clients. They really couldn’t help me though. They’ll insure a 64 mustang, but a 94 daily driver? No. That needs a regular policy. So I couldn’t even sell insurance to people I knew needed it!
I also did some minor technical support for that location, and also wowed them when they were trying to teach us the software. They told us to ignore the VIN in this case because no one knows their own VIN. For reals? “1FALP444XRF216063.” They didn’t believe it.
But in the few weeks I worked there, they like this younger girl better. She already had two policies. They were for apartment renters that didn’t really own much, because college, and my high dollar ones were maybes. They needed one more week or two. My cousin was also out of town, but I did have an appointment. So I was let go, a week before Xmas, without pay, oh yeah, and I was also pregnant!!! Merry Christmas! I truly believe they were just after people’s contacts. Free up the desk for some other chicks contact list.
But, because I knew how shit got done there, I shredded absolutely everything I ever printed, and removed everyone I worked with out of their system, so they couldn’t call them up every month trying to sell them insurance. Trust me, you don’t want on their list! They will call back. My mom also told the lady I went to Europe with about what happened, so she didn’t get a policy from him either. ...and she had rentals!!!