I had an "interview" with American Income Life today, and was asked back for a second more detailed interview.
From what I was told, they exclusively sell life, diability, cancer, and other similiar insurance products to the members of over 20,000 unions. They stated that there is no cold calling, and they provide all of the leads.
They said that I will find out all of the details at the next meeting, but they said that you will be reimbursed for your health insurance premiums after 3 months and have a draw/commissions system of pay. They also said that it is not MLM like Primerica.
What do you guys/girls know about this company and what should I watch out for?
I sold for them way back in 1992. I made a lot of money. Their leads are pretty soft, to tell the truth. Folks then got notice that they were getting a free $1000 life insurance benefit on behalf of their employer. You called them, setup an appointment to "deliver" their certificate and "review their coverage". Most had crap for benefits, so that supplemental hospitalization stuff sold like hotcakes. We used a presentation called "Hour Power" where you would design a benefit that would fit within 1 hour of their wages per week or less.
I dont remember any Draw/Commission though. I only got commission. I was young, stupid, and needed money. I made plenty of money. I drank it all on weekends.
I used to sell for them a long time ago. I made a lot of money with them, but then I was looking for beer money and to impress my then-girlfriend. I was young and dumb, but I still managed to make it work out ok. Even being lazy I made plenty of money.
We didnt get a draw back then, just straight commission. The product was an easy sell and we used an "hour power" presentation to sell it with. One hour of their weekly wages for all of the benefits. The folks had garbage for health insurance, so they couldnt wait to sign up. All of it was a rider to a small (or large if I could convince them) Life policy.
It was good for some folks, others just signed up because their friends and neighbors did. For those who would fall into a financial disaster if they were hospitalized and had to miss work, this was a no-brainer because they couldnt afford to lose that weekly wage. AIL started paying I think it was like $50-$100 per day of hospitalization in cash after day five or something or another. For most, that was almost as much if not more than they were making on the job at the Pallet Factory or Chicken Slaughterhouse.
Not sure if they are still selling the same stuff. BTW, I never prospected with them. We got stacks of leads which were $1000 life insurance certificates that were provided on behalf of their company/union. We would call the leads and setup and appointment to deliver the certificate, record their info (we had to record their info and delivery date to make the $1k insurance legit), and go over their coverage to see if there was "anywhere else we might be able to help".
Worked like a charm. Selling six or seven policies a week was easy. The driving through the Central Pennsylvania countryside and boredom were horrible.
Last edited by Corporate Death : 10-04-2007 at 08:47 PM.
I am wondering if anyone is familiar with American Income Life. I am thinking about going to work for them and would like to know some information about them outside of their web site AIL Partners in Eugene, Portland, Hillsboro and Tigard Oregon
Anyone have experience with this company? Any info would be appreciated.
Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
Originally Posted by CharlesC
I am wondering if anyone is familiar with American Income Life. I am thinking about going to work for them and would like to know some information about them outside of their web site AIL Partners in Eugene, Portland, Hillsboro and Tigard Oregon
Anyone have experience with this company? Any info would be appreciated.
I have never worked for AIL but am familiar with them because I have some friend that ONCE worked for them...
You are selling ad&d policies to union workers... on the phone you lie and tell them that because they are part of a certain union they automaticly qualify for a $5,000 accidental policy...
I was told, that these signed contracts where just thrown away when agents went back in the office...
You do your sales presentation and the policies are like 2,500 whole life but it doubles if your in a train accident it multiplies four times in an airplan and 10X in a boat....
I am not joking, I swear!
Very high turnover rate, people dont last long, low commisions, captive...
Again, this is what Ive heard...
If this is true.... Stay away away away very far away!
Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
AIL is recruiting all the time. They contact union members and try to upsell them. Their counter part for individuals is United American...I believe that they are all part of Torchmark.
Forget the Jet...catch a flight on the space suttle
Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
I never worked for them, but have a friend who has and just wanted to confirm what is being said is absolutely true about AIL. She had a horrible experience with them.
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Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
Originally Posted by indmedins
I never worked for them, but have a friend who has and just wanted to confirm what is being said is absolutely true about AIL. She had a horrible experience with them.
Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
Torchmark may be the "the evil empire" , but I have one question: If AIL and LibNat and UA are that horrible, why are they not being shut down by somebody, or, some state, or some government, or something? Just curious why they get to recruit and churn and burn and build the evil empire without getting the boot somehow?
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Originally Posted by joshril
I would avoid all Torchmark companies that offer career opportunities...
Since when did AIL get involved with Torchmark?
I sold AIL back in 1992-1994. Made quite a bit of money. We used a free $5k Life Policy (Which any employee gets at any company) to get in the door, then used "Hour Power" to sell Health Supplements and Accidental Death and Dismemberment. Cheap, easy sell, and all based on one hour of wages per week. I'd sell life in amounts of NO LESS than $50,000, averaging $75k per sale back then.
MOST folks I went to see in Central PA were DYING to get this stuff because their health coverage was crap. I remember one guy asking if I had seen his neighbor through the woods yet, when I replied that I didnt, he called her, she came over, I sold her a supplement and a life policy. These folks made pallets or worked in a chicken slaughterhouse for a living. They needed anything they could get.
Anyway, it wasnt anything like the UA. I was only there for 10 months, did about $4-6k per month in commissions if I decided to work. Had a creepy manager. It was only me and him. I didnt want to have to hurt the guy, so I left.
Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
Originally Posted by tommyk
AIL is recruiting all the time. They contact union members and try to upsell them. Their counter part for individuals is United American...I believe that they are all part of Torchmark.
Forget the Jet...catch a flight on the space suttle
"American Income Life's executive offices are located in Waco, Texas. AIL is a wholly owned subsidiary of [COLOR=#0000ff]Torchmark Corporation[/COLOR] (NYSE: TMK), based in McKinney, Texas."
I worked for them for a time. The manager I had was a liar and a thief. They do recruit constantly and will take anyone who breathes. They use a free accident policy (ours was $1,000) to get the foot in the door. They play the union card real strong we even had a membership card to show. Part of our presentation was to ask for donations of canned goods to help other union workers either laid off or striking. Softened them up for the sale. We sold small dollar amounts of life (packaged as final expense) and accident coverage along with cancer policies. The prime market was the lower middle class down. It was not hard to do, I closed the first time I ever presented. The problem I had were as follows:
(1)They scheduled all of the appointments for us (usually five per day). Sometimes these were not good appointments with no shows and so forth and for that I blame the people overseeing the telemarketing.
(2)Our office had a large area to cover and they set appointments for me as far as 120 miles away. This meant about 4 hours of windshield time plus the time for the appointments. If you were doing appointments that far away you were putting in a lot of hours since we ran appointments five days per week. You could easily log 50 hours plus just driving and doing appointments not counting office time.
(3)Our appointments were almost all rural with tons of driving (with gas prices today that would be a killer). You didn't set the appointments so sometimes you found yourself driving back and forth because of the appointment order.
(4)Appointment were always ran in the evening except for Saturday mornings. The reason is these were unioin workers who mostly work day shift and you had to have both husband and wife home for the presentation. If you had appointments 2 hours away with the last appointment at 9:00 p.m. you could easily not be home before midnight or one o'clock. My wife got tired of that real fast.
(5)This is a Torchmark outfit and the Union card was only a gimmick although a very effective one.
(6)All you were in this position was just a peddler. Your were helping people a little bit but you weren't a professional who offered real solutions for real problems. When you ran across someone who had serious need of an annuity, or and IRA, or a large face amount policy you were out of luck.
All in all American Income is not a place I would try to build a career. In the right office with the right management you can make some money and learn some stuff but there are a lot better places to start. If you can qualify I would look at one of the majors like MM, NWM, NYL, Metlife, or Guardian. If not there look at Combined or Western Southern. These are just the places I am familiar with I they are all better choices than AI.
Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
Originally Posted by xrac
(1)They scheduled all of the appointments for us (usually five per day). Sometimes these were not good appointments with no shows and so forth and for that I blame the people overseeing the telemarketing.
Agree with ALL of this. You described it perfectly, except for the above. We got lead sheets and had to make long distance calls to setup our own appointments. Easy sell to the folks who I saw and I made quite a bit of money (when I wasnt lazy), but your right, not a place to start a career.
Re: Experience with American Income Life?Go to Top
I worked for LibNat about a little over a year ago. I was there for about two years and never really made a decent income. The commission system isnt best but not the worst either but their agents have to bonus just make the same commission as a independent agent. Their products aren't at all competive you can usually sell someone a 30 year term with ROP for the price of their ART. If a clients is shopping around you can forget it and the marketing plan is BS. Torchmark's companies do pretty well in the deep south though so someone in that area might working for them a little easier. Probably b/c of name recognition.
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American Income Life
! I couldn't have said it better myself. DON'T DO IT!
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