Let me be clear about something. This blog is not meant to discourage clients of Primerica to change companies or cancel their policies. It is also not meant to discourage current agents to leave. It is meant for those who are looking to start at Primerica, but have not done so. I created this blog so you would fully know what you are getting yourself into.
I was called one day for a job interview with Primerica. I never thought I would sell insurance, but the offer was tempting and I was looking for a change. I went into the office nearly every business day and made countless hours of phone calls. Mostly we called names of people looking for work to come in and interview with us. The whole purpose was to get "downline" so that we can sell insurance to their "warm market" which just means their friends and family.
That's what started to bother me about the business. The whole model was built on the person who "hired" you selling to your warm market and then you finding others to sell to their warm market. I felt like I was using people just to get clients.
But I sold some policies and got some bonus money....but it wasn't enough to support myself. I started to get into trouble financially, and decided I needed to make some new goals.
In our meetings, we would talk about commissions and how much we wanted to sell. They always used $300 as an average commission. After about 4 1/2 months, I looked at all my past commissions and did the math...I averaged $150 per commission. And that was at a District Leader commission rate....I realized to make a little more than $30,000 a year, I would have to sell 20 policies a month! We're talking about life insurance here....that's a hard sale to make, and for me virtually impossible. And that's not even talking about chargebacks for those that would cancel their policies! The commissions just weren't enough to keep me there.
The issue of chargebacks is what really ended up getting me. I left to work for another insurance company that would pay me an hourly wage instead of pure commission. I assumed that since my contract was terminated, they couldn't bill me for chargebacks. Afterall, how can they expect me to keep up with policies while I'm working for another insurance company? Isn't that a conflict of interest? My assumptions were dead wrong. I got a bill for $600 and then they sent me to collections. After spending 5 months of my life working solely on commission, and not making very much, I was still getting back on my feet. I didn't have $600 on hand.
And that's why I created this blog. I feel I have the moral obligation to let others know all of what they are getting into when they sign a contract with Primerica. If you are wanting to get into the insurance industry, and wanting to start your own "business" selling to your friends and family then maybe Primerica is the place for you. But I just want you to understand that they will charge you back even if you have terminated the contract with them. Life insurance is a hard sale to make...and frankly there's cheaper companies out there than Primerica. I cancelled my policy because I found a much better deal elsewhere...please before you sign up with Primerica, make sure you have financial means to support yourself for months, because the commissions and bonuses didn't support me...and I was one of the hardest workers in the office.
