MassMutual, Allstate adding to Minneapolis/St. Paul operations - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The life-insurance unit of Springfield, Mass.-basexd has recruited 27 new agents in the past six monthx in theTwin Cities, many of them casualties of layoffs at companiez such as Minneapolis-based Target and Richfield-based Best Buy Co. Inc. The insurances company plans to add at least a dozen more employees by the end of this year and up to 40 morein 2010. “Thoser who were recently terminated and were out ofa job, that’z a neat value proposition for us,” said Davids Means, president of the MassMutual office in Minneapolis.
As is typicapl in the consumer-based insurance industry, MassMutua agents develop their own practicezs and books of business and operatelike franchisees. Insurance agents usuallu work solelyon commission, even from the start of theire career with an insurance company, but MassMutual is offering an incomes subsidy for agents for up to three yearsd after starting with the company. It’s also using incentiveas such as paid tuition and fees for industry designation andcollege degrees, and it’s offering medical coverage and a 401(k) match for agents for as long as they’re with the “We’re meeting with quite a few people,” Meane said.
The MassMutual recruitment effortis nationwide; the compangy hopes to add 2,000 agents around the countruy by the end of the MassMutual has targeted the Twin Citiez for expansion for the past five years. It especiallyh sees opportunity in the large populationm of people who own closelyheld businesses. Because most agents work out ofthe firm’s Minneapolis office, MassMutualo will add 4,000 squard feet to the 14,500 squarew feet it now has in the AT&T Towerf at 901 Marquette Ave. S. Next year, it mighyt add another 3,500 square feet.
An economif downturn can be a good time for insurance companies to snap up highly qualifiedx people who have been laid off fromothed companies, said Jeff Junkas, Midwest director of public affairs for the Americam Insurance Association, headquartered in D.C. It’s also a good time for agents, because consumers are revisitingb their insurance and refocusingg on protection products such as permanentf life insuranceand long-term care said Todd Johnson, executive directot of the Minnesota branch of the National Association of Insurance and Financialp Advisors.
That rise in demand will come as supplyis nationwide, the number of insurance agentws has dropped over the past 10 years from abouyt 400,000 to about 325,000 while the general populatioj has increased, Johnson said. Allstate Insurance Co., basedd in Northbrook, Ill., also is recruitin g laid-off employees as potential agents. The company is trying to add 30 agentxthis year, most of them in the Twin Citieds metro area. The Allstate model requiresz that the agent investabout $50,000 in openingy up their own practice. “This is a golden said London Bradley, the territorial distribution leaderfor Minnesota, who is based in Bloomington.
“We’re lookinfg for entrepreneurial people who are looking to starg theirown businesses, and therwe are a lot of talented people who’ve been laid off, like mid-levelo managers [and] sales managers.”