Pros
My trainer was awesome and cared about my success.
Cons
Everything else. They classify you as an independent contractor as an entry level agent. When I say as an agent, you are in the worst of the worst trenches, I mean it. It is very, very difficult to make any sort of appointments with the leads they give you, and even harder to make any sort of meaningful income. At the very beginning, they really laid on the charm to make it appear like you would be super successful, like there’s no way you’d fail, and they’d support you 100%. The business was literally calling hundreds of numbers to try to make at-home appointments to pedal mainly life insurance and Medicare supplement plans. Mind you, I was a 20-something year old female who was going to “in home” consultations with complete strangers. Considering many potential clients were supposed to be older, pre- and post-retirees, they prided their company on providing in-person visits because that is what older generations liked (supposedly). However, the territory my office was located encompassed some pretty rough areas. So, not the safest of environments in which to work. We had two in office days where the branch manager made it seem like you were absolutely expected to be there, even though you were classified as a 1099 self employed employee. Seriously, he went as far as locking the doors to the office to keep people who were late to his morning meetings out of the building. Those mornings usually revolved around what was meant to be an inspirational personal development meeting, but usually this involved something law of attraction related, whether it be videos or readings (I.e. the “documentary” called The Secret). Every other week, they gave us leads, which were absolute garbage. I’m a salesperson by trade, and I would consider myself good on the phone. When you’d call these leads, you were constantly treated as though you were scam callers, because really, you are. You are one of the many places that were given any particular person’s phone number, so they were inundated with calls about life insurance or Medicare. I’m honestly not sure where most of the leads came from, but quite a few people had no clue they “sent in” a request for information on any products. So, not exactly people who were knocking down the door actively seeking to obtain one of the products Bankers Life offers. Also, as an added note, my territory had a large African American population, so one thing that management would say is that African Americans “liked to take care of their own,” so that particular population is one we should focus on for life insurance. That sentiment never really sat well with me. I worked there from April through August, and I made $700-something. Total. $700. I primarily wrote up life insurance that did not require health exams, because we would be paid immediately upon the plan going into force. I pursued employment at Bankers Life upon advice of a family friend who lived in Florida. In the approximately five months I worked there, there were times I had no money for food, almost lost my house, had no internet at my home, and could barely afford a cell phone plan. This is my own personal opinion, but I think Bankers Life could be a little more realistic about how tough it is to develop a client base considering they do not provide you with even decent leads as an entry level agent. At one point, our office was fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association, and it was expected that we donated. If I remember correctly, there was a competition to see which field office received the most donations or there was some goal we had to hit. If I had no money to pay for the most basic of necessities to live, there was no way I could donate to a charity on behalf of Bankers Life, a corporation with billions of dollars worth of assets. Once I ceased my employment, I got a bill for all of the commission I was ever paid because my clients became “orphans” that trainers and senior agents would take over, cancel the policies I wrote, and rewrite a new policy (a different product). A word to the wise: the agent contract you sign states that you will be responsible to pay back any commissions you earn if a contract you write is cancelled after a certain timeframe. So expect to get a bill for chargebacks from Bankers Life for the money they paid you during your employment there if you decide to separate. And if you don’t pay it, expect to be hearing from collection agencies. Needless to say, I 10/10 do not recommend working for this company. Maybe it is different for other field offices, but the one I worked at was absolutely terrible.
