The Assurance Group Ed Shackelford They keep your commissions Archdale, North Carolina

Unlike the writer of this unfair, inaccurate and slanderous post, I will not hide behind "Anonymous". My name is Curt Klein and I am a Sr. V.P and the Chief Sales Officer at The Assurance Group (TAG). Ed Shackelford, our CEO is the most engaged and accessible business leader I have ever known. Always available and always there to help our agent-partners. The only locks in our building are those necessary to meet HIIPA laws, not for anyone to hide behind. YES - We hire agents on commission and support them with leads, lead financing and training. A very large majority of the agents we work with are extremely successful. YES - We have a sister company that specializes in providing leads not only to our agents but to 500 other customers across the US that continue to buy leads from us week in and week out - year in and year out. YES - Some leads are mailed to a lower income demographic that desperately need the services of a professional insurance counselor. YES - As independent business owners, our agents meet their own expenses, including travelling to the leads we provide to them. And they are happy to do so. YES - We finance 100% of the leads for the agents, and a portion of the agent's commission is deducted to pay for their leads. The lawsuit the woefully uninformed writer references will be dismissed this week with prejudice since the court determined it was completely without merit. And lastly, the sweatshop call center. TAG proudly employs over 60 full-time individuals from throughout the TRIAD area in our state-of-the-art call center facility. All make a great living in a family-friendly environment. Want to learn more about a great company? Email me at wcklein@assuregrp.com. 

Let's just look at facts.

1. Virtually all insurance agents are contracted on a 100% commission basis, We are rewarded for our work with no upside compensation limits and if we choose to be lazy..we don't do well. It is just the nature of the industry. We generally earn what we deserve.

2. The Assurance Group does own it's own lead company. Leads there are generated at considerable expense , and agents purchase them for generally 30%-60% of cost. In TAG's Carrier shop agents have the added value of TAG giving giving them leads upfront and being charged later, interest free, so TAG agents do not need to pay until they earn. If you find a better deal let us know.

3. Some leads are generated by lower income seniors as they are a growing market desperately in need of assistance. The Assurance Group specializes in the senior market and most products are relatively low cost to our clients. We go to our clients and they all don't live on Main St. of big cities; A large portion of the country is rural and agents who produce and do well do go to see them.

4. Yes, commission checks, as with most career agencies are sent to the agency for distribution and yes, lead costs are then deducted by company from an agents commissions based on the amount of leads the agent CHOSE to take, as noted in 2 it is just collection for upfront leads.

5. TAG does have a vesting program and based on your contract and production you must be active and producing for a period of time before renewals are earned. This again is typical in career agencies and TAG's Vesting is considered very fair.

6. Lawsuit..well, there are those like the author below who believe their inability to produce under this career system is to be blamed on someone other than themselves. Truth be told the author and anyone who may be taking action didn't put in enough effort or was otherwise poorly suited for this line of work as many agents past and current are and have been making solid 6 figure income for years! The insurance industry is like most things in life...you get out what you put into it.

Lastly, the company is run by Ed Shackelford and if you work with TAG and haven't met him you haven't opened your eyes. Ed is available to all members of the team and spends 20 hours a day speaking with as many people as he possibly can. Whether on the phone or walking the halls at The Assurance Group, Ed can always be found. Any characterization of Ed 'hiding or being locked behind closed doors is so ludicrous that is actually proves the prior author knows nothing of him or TAG.

You should have put in some effort and you'd be writing business instead of writing about your failures.

First of all, it is sad that ripoff report allows completely anonnymous accusations to be levied against a company.  Secondly, it is sad that a moderately successful 50+ year old man would resort to baseless arguments about a company that gave him every opportunity.  Third, it is sad that just because someone is unsuccessful at changing the culture of a solid company they  will not go away peacefully.  Fourth, it is sad that a grown man doesn't realize that he is not aways right.  To those who know the whole situation is just sad.

There are a lot of accusations thrown around this posting and I would clarify them and put the truth out to hopefully prevent other potential agents from going through the same thing that the author of this posting and I have gone through. It needs to be understood that I do not know anything about the efforts or abilities (or identity) of the original author.

First I would like to give good advice to Anthony (Santa Monica) and to give the readers insight into why he and Curt are defending TAG (sad – is sadly mistaken and should be ashamed as you should still be paid for your efforts no matter how small or great so, “sad” you shouldn’t pick on agents). Curt and Anthony are both salaried employees of TAG and do not have a clue of what a real agent or manager goes through on a daily/weekly basis. Anthony, we understand that you haven’t been with the company long enough to fully understand what these lawsuits are about and YES, I am one of the people suing TAG.
 
In my almost ten years (well outside the vesting period), I never allowed a “corporate trainer” to train a single agent because I took it as my personal responsibility to train the agents that believed in me to help make them successful. Apparently it worked because I was the number one agency director for the last two years (and in the top ten every year prior) that I was there and EVERY other manager there wanted me to train their agents. The reason I didn’t want my agents trained by trainers was because I wanted them to be successful. 
 
Anthony, you really shouldn’t judge the people involved with these lawsuits, and yes there is more than one suit, because you know nothing about them or what their accomplishments are. Not only was I a top manager, I was a top ten personal producer and personally produced more in the almost ten years than you probably will in your entire career. It didn’t matter to me whether I was needed in Ohio, Jersey, NC or Florida, I went wherever TAG asked or I had an agent that needed training. 

As far as Ed’s accessibility, he does hide behind locked doors and his VP and the reason he takes your call is because you are salaried and can’t have commission issues and you live 3000 miles away. As far as the leads go, you really do not know what you are talking about, especially the cost. You are just a trainer and I will not discuss how leads are compensated for.

Now as for Mr. Klein, it is very difficult for me to contain myself especially when you make the case that you are a liar for me. The reason you are with TAG is because you are a “yes” man and you get the false sense that you are important.
 
First, don’t worry, TAG probably didn’t make a profit this year either (lol), but maybe Eddie will send you a pajama gram so you will at least have a new “suit” wear around the house for those important conference calls (I mean “the office”) instead of your company bonus. You know that I still have more knowledge about what goes on there than you, and no, Eddie isn’t their (or visible) very often. Don’t worry though because when this suit is over I will send you a pajama gram with a custom pair designed just for you.

Now to the call center that was so eloquently described as a family oriented facility. If nepotism counts as family oriented, then yes, the call center would qualify as well as the commissions and accounting departments since the only qualification for most of those workers is being a family.  Speaking of qualifications, shouldn’t the CFO of a company like TAG have a CPA license instead of being forced to surrender them by the state of North Carolina? By the way who made you remove that title for him for the TAG website?

Curt you should also really study up on what “with and without prejudice” means and if you need a one on one lesson, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know (my number is still the same). This case does have merit and has not been dismissed and shouldn’t be because TAG has damaged thousands of people nationwide and all the paperwork that judge is getting ready to receive will prove it. Usually innocent people rush to prove their innocence, but instead TAG is threatening witnesses to keep them from telling the truth – that doesn’t sound “unfounded” to me.

Just make sure that you, Mr. Klein and Mr. Carter understand, if you keep spreading lies and /or half truths about me or any of the lawsuits in Tennessee or North Carolina I will be forced to make one more post here. My next post will include the new Facebook page that will include all public information about these cases including filings, depositions (at my expense), discovery documents and all recordings. You also may want to check www.scaminformer.com for additional info on TAG.

To read more about the before mentioned suits, just follow the link below to read more and I will (if I am forced to follow through on my previously mentioned promise) keep you all updated.

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/tennessee/tnmdce/3:2010cv00978/48885/
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/north-carolina/ncedce/5:2011cv00016/112431/

Mark