What markets do you serve in California?
Agent Isabel Munoz: In California is a big Hispanic market and an underserved market and State Farm is doing a lot of great things there so that we can capture that market. And we see that the agents who are working with the Hispanic market and are hiring bilingual staff are doing a lot more sales. In the AFO, if you look at the top three agents, or top 10, or top 15, which I’m part of—all those agents have bilingual staff and they work with the Hispanic market, because it’s an underserved market and there’s a lot of business that can come from there.
How did you become a State Farm agent?
Isabel: It’s very exciting to think back at the move in--it’s going to be two years in August – but it’s very exciting. Everything flashes by like it’s been, you know, one hour! My dad is an agent He’s a fairly new agent and I was in the aviation industry as the lead flight attendant for a private aviation company and I managed the co-pilots and flight attendants in that company. And I started watching my dad at his office—his business—how happy he felt – how proud and passionate he felt about what he did and how he helped people. And that made me get my juices flowing and I said, you know I may have a shot at this. why not try—give it 300% and if they say ‘yes’ to me, if they give me the opportunity you know, make this something huge—that I can help people in my community and do something great for my family, for other people, and even help employ people in the community.
When will you know you've succeeded?
Isabel: I think I’ll never know. I think that I will always want more and I always want to perfect it, even more. There’s always things that you can learn from other agents or other people to get better. So I don’t think that I’ll ever be satisfied. I think that’s what makes a good agent is that they always want more. How can I get better? What can I do to help my staff and be more professional in my profession? So…never!
How did State Farm prepare you to become a new agent?
Isabel: The training that State Farm gives you to be prepared when you start your first day in the office is unbelievable. I worked for corporate before and it doesn’t compare to anything. The preparation that goes into the investment of a State Farm person to an agent, is beyond anything I’ve ever seen or heard from any other person in corporate, and I have a lot of friends that are starting out and they share their horror stories and there’s nothing bad I could ever say about when I started. People only support you—there’s so much help—it’s just an amazing journey to start—and I would recommend it to everybody. I mean, the biggest opportunity that I could ever hope for.