With a wide variety of annuity carriers offering products to add to your product portfolio, it can be difficult to find the right company for your needs. Who offers the best sales and marketing material?
Who is best at raising awareness among prospects and clients? And which ones offer the best of the best in various product annuities?
Well, your fellow agents are here to help you out. This year, we partnered with NAFA and NAVA to solicit producers' opinions for the 2008 Annuity Company Rankings feature that follows. We asked agents to rate the carriers they are contracted with in 11 categories, including call center and telephone support, training and educational opportunities, and overall quality.
For each company's rankings, respondents were only able to rank those companies with which they were contracted. For example, if 100 people said they were appointed with AIG and 50 chose AIG as the top carrier in training, the results would show that 50 percent of those who are contracted with AIG believe it is the best at providing training and educational opportunities. See sidebar, right, for the list of companies that were represented in the study.
Companies agents do the most business with
1 TIE: Allianz Life of North America, Prudential Annuities
3 Midland National
4 Aviva
5 Pacific Life
6 Hartford Life
7 TIE: American Equity Investment Life, North American Company for Life and Health
9 Old Mutual Financial Network
10 TIE: ING, Jackson National Life, Lincoln Financial
Most effective annuity sales & marketing material
1 Prudential Annuities
2 Allianz Life of North America
3 Midland National
4 American Equity Investment Life
5 Aviva
6 Hartford Life
7 ING
8 Pacific Life
9 John Hancock
10 AIG
Best provides additional training and educational opportunities for selling annuities
1 Allianz Life of North America
2 Midland National
3 Prudential Annuities
4 Hartford Life
5 American Equity Investment Life
6 Aviva
7 ING
8 Pacific Life
9 Jackson National Life
10 John Hancock
Best call center/telephone support for your annuity sales efforts
1 Allianz Life of North America
2 American Equity Investment Life
3 Prudential Annuities
4 Midland National
5 Hartford Life
6 Pacific Life
7 TIE: Aviva, Jackson National Life
9 ING
10 John Hancock
Best job of raising public awareness regarding the benefits of annuities
1 Prudential Annuities
2 ING
3 Allianz Life of North America
4 Pacific Life
5 TIE: AIG, Aviva
7 Hartford Life
8 John Hancock
9 Genworth Financial
10 Midland National
Best job promoting their annuity offerings through their marketing/advertising
1 Allianz Life of North America
2 Prudential Annuities
3 ING
4 Pacific Life
5 TIE: American Equity Investment Life, Aviva, Midland National
8 Hartford Life
9 Jackson National Life
10 TIE: AIG, Genworth Financial, John Hancock
Best line of index annuities
1 Allianz Life of North America
2 Midland National
3 Aviva
4 American Equity Investment Life
5 Jackson National Life
6 North American Company for Life and Health
7 ING
8 Old Mutual Financial Network
9 AIG
10 TIE: Pacific Life, Sun Life of Canada
Best line of variable annuities
1 Prudential Annuities
2 Pacific Life
3 Allianz Life of North America
4 Hartford Life
5 ING
6 TIE: Jackson National Life, John Hancock
8 AIG
9 TIE: Lincoln Financial, Midland National
Best line of fixed annuities
1 TIE: Allianz Life of North America, Jackson National Life
3 Midland National
4 American National
5 ING
6 Aviva
7 TIE: American Equity Investment Life, North American Company for Life and Health
9 Genworth Financial
10 TIE: AIG, Old Mutual Financial Network
Most effective at providing leads and prospecting help
1 Allianz Life of North America
2 Prudential Annuities
3 Midland National
4 Hartford Life
5 TIE: AIG, American Equity Investment Life, ING
9 Aviva
9 Jackson National Life
10 American National
Best meets agents' overall needs in the annuity market
1 Prudential Annuities
2 Hartford Life
3 American Equity Investment Life
4 Jackson National Life
5 TIE: John Hancock, Midland National
7 Allianz Life of North America
8 Aviva
9 ING
10 Pacific Life
