The Expansion of the Field Force
The history of the Metropolitan Field Force begins essentially with the establishment of the Industrial Department and, perhaps better than any other single item, it tells the story of the company itself. There is not much information available from existing records with regard to the first Industrial Agents as to who they were and where they came from.
We do know, however, that within a few weeks after the issue of its first industrial policy, by the end of 1879, the company had 124 agents and seven District Superintendents in the field. Some of these men had been with the company in the earlier days.
We can trace, for example, the career of John A. Megargee, who had been an Ordinary Agent in 1875, and was transferred to the Industrial Department in November 1879. Four years later we find him Superintendent in a new district in New York City the best life insurance policies available at that time, term life insurance. A number of new life insurance agents were recruited through newspaper advertisements which offered “steady employment to industrious men; previous experience not necessary. Intelligence and energy is all that is essential.”
In the main, the men employed were inexperienced and did not understand the intricacies of the business they were employed in. In the first week only five agents were successful in turning in any applications for industrial insurance.
It was clear that the new business could progress only on the basis of a sizable and effective agency force. The officers had learned that lesson thoroughly in their study of the operations of the Prudential of London. There was no doubt that the door to door canvassing for insurance and the receipt of premiums in the homes of policyholders necessitated an elaborate system of organization as well as the services of a large number of men.
The contract made with Brice Collard provided that supply of experienced Industrial Agents. The first group that were fully equipped to answer questions about life insurance basics such as “what is term life insurance” and “what types of life insurance are best for me” sailed from England on April 3, 1880. For the next few years Mr. Collard traveled back and forth across the Atlantic, continuing his recruiting. By the middle of 1885 about 800 men had been transferred to the United States with some 1,200 of their dependents, making a total migration of 2,000 people.
The British contingent gave immediate impetus to the business. They were put to work opening new offices, recruiting new agents and training them in the technique of canvassing and servicing industrial insurance. A considerable proportion of those who ventured across the ocean served as Deputy Superintendents, some became superintendents, and a few served as agents.
Once the business got under way the company moved with vigor and the result was prodigious growth in the field organization. Several of the pioneers established remarkable records as producers and as trainers of men. In little more than a year, at the end of 1880, the field force numbered 750, and only two years later there were 1,167 men to push the new enterprise.
The first district offices were located in the industrial centers of population, where affordable life insurance, low cost life insurance, and term life insurance was a definite necessity. Within the next five years offices had been opened at key points in 17 States and the District of Columbia. In November 1885, operations were extended to the Dominion of Canada with the establishment of what was called the Toronto East Office. The momentum of these field operations naturally carried with it mounting new business.
Thus, in the newly established district in Detroit, at the end of two months Superintendent Wyatt had five assistants and 29 agents. In little more than three years the agents were receiving weekly premiums on industrial insurance with a face value of close to $35,000,000.
During the early months of 1886 the $100,000,000 mark of insurance in force was passed. These figures bear testimony to the wisdom of the decision to pioneer in the field of industrial insurance and to set the business in motion with experienced men brought from England.
The organization of the field was broadly patterned after that of the Prudential of London. The country was divided into territories, which in turn were subdivided into districts. The districts were broken down into subsections of concentrated city blocks known as debits, each of which was assigned to an agent. With the importation of the debit system into life insurance, a new and revolutionary mechanism of service to the public was introduced and was beginning to pave the way for life insurance policy advancements, such as online life insurance quotes.
This was the concept of continuous life insurance policyholder contact, as against the older practice of ordinary agents, whose service usually ended with the placing of the policy. According to the new pattern of operation, the agent personally received premiums each week and served the insured throughout the life of the contract. This debit system in time proved to be of real usefulness and efficiency in carrying life insurance to the many millions who had never before had access to its benefits.
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