Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1911-02-10

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other man, and still another, the ex-
perienced general agent giving him
the character of assignments best
suited to develop a new agent.
Then, one day, the boss will call
your boy into the office and talk to
him something of this fashion: John.
it's about time you began to get out
of this Office rut and go and do things
for yourself; so you are fired from
your job as stenographer-an APP
pointed agent. You go out and write
policies!" Then the boss will prom
Use to "look after" your boy for
awhile. till he gets thoroughly into
the run of things, so that he won't
have to worry over finances-and your
boy will be launched as a full-hedged
life insurance agent.
What will he earn? Well. 1t will
depend entirely upon himself. Every
man with family or relative or any
body depending upon him is poten-
tial customer, and also the develop
ments of the business have been so
widely spread that various policies
contain investment features besides
the insurance, such as endowment
policies, annuities, and the like. There
is about every possible variety of In
surance to fit every need, and at
such a wide range of premiums as to
suit anybody, from $40 week clerk
or laboring man to a millionaire.
On the general run of policies your
boy will get about 40 per cent COM
mission on the first years premium,
and by the time he has got under full
Roadway in his early twenties he
should write, without expecting any
thing big at all, somewhere around,
say, 100000, worth of business in
year. This insurance would cost the
policy holders, say, $4,000 year, or
which the agent would receive from
$4,000 to $4,000, or nearly $50 a week.
This figure is conservative, and is
being exceeded by hundreds of agents
throughout the country. We will say
that your boy makes good only fairly,
and in the course of five to ten years
shows that he can earn In commits
sions on new business a pretty steady
average of anywhere from $4,000 to
$4,000 or $4,000 a year. His income
will be still further increased by the
receipt of per cent on all renewals
of policies he secured in the first
place. This renewal commission Is
paid for the first ten years of the life
of the policy.
Meanwhile, he has proved his steadi-
ness and reliability, and the first thing
he knows will be told to organize or
reorganize a district that has not
received much attention. Then he is
a general agent, and organizes his Of
flee and engages solicitors. Districts
are arbitrarily formed by different
companies. according to the needs OF
their business, and may include
large region, such as one or two thin
ly settled states, or such a city as
New York may have half dozen dis
tricts on Manhattan Island alone.
When a new general agent is started
out he is generally given a compare
lively unimportant locality, that he
might be tried out with the least
possible danger to the company, and
all the capital that he requires Is
enough to pay office rent, furnish his
offices and buy postage stamps. All
necessary literature will be supplied
him by the company as a rule. In
case bond is required, he would
have no difficulty in getting 1t from
a surety company, with the backing
Of his own company. or course what
money he needs to become general
agent on he will have saved from
time to time lrom his earnings as an
agent.
AS general agent he is paid COM
mission of per cent to 10 per cent
on all business secured In his terri
tory, no matter by whom, and 215 per
cent on renewals for ten years. Sue
ceeding here. he is sent to more i'm
portant locality, where there Is still
greater business, when his earnings
grow proportionateIy until, in such
districts as New York, he will be get.
ting from S25, 900 a year up, and he
Is still under forty.
The writer has in mind one un.
known insurance man who went to
New York from the west ten years
ago, representing a company that was
not particularly prominent in the east,
and now his commissions from renew
ais alone amount to 100000 year.
There Is no particularly definite
promotion from here on; for your
boys financial ambition is pretty apt
to have been realized. He may, how
ever, aspire to the managership OF a
state or group of states. and ultimate
~ become head manager of agencies,
and. finally, president of the company.
Anyhow. he has achieved financial sue.
cess, and his social standing and in.
fiuence in the community will depend
entirely upon himself.
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