Labor and sales practices at American Income Life are shady. As one who was nearly conned into believing their sales schemes and quit before any significant financial damage hit my pocketbook, I can say that I am one of the more fortunate ones. The others who are tearing up their cars and working leads that date from 2002 are the ones I have pity for.
Most of American Income Life's schemes are highly scripted, from the employment "interviews", to the sales pitches, and "policy servicing". Each and every question is designed to get person answering the question to say "yes", a highly psychological ploy for you to "buy in" to their company and its services. If someone from American Income calls you, listen very carefully to the voice of the person who calls you. The tone of voice should tell you this person is working off a script, or has memorized a sales pitch.
I looked into being employed with this firm, and went through their interview process. The interviewers, who call themselves managers, read off a script of questions. They are not particularly interested in your responses. However they are interested in "slamming" you, getting you to join the organization with promises of bonuses and trips. One red herring they put out is the promise of "unlimited income". How can one say no to the prospect of "unlimited income", unless it is too good to be true.
American Income apparently does presentations to various unions, offering "no cost" accidental death and dismemberment benefits to union members who mail in a card printed with that particular union's letterhead. These cards are sent to American Income and are sent to various AIL offices as "leads". These "leads" are used by various AIL agents to contact, either by phone or in person, obstensibly to deliver no cost accidental death and dismemberment benefits.
The problem with this is that these leads are presented as "free" benefits, when they are used as a tool to get their feet in people's doors. They will contact people and state that they are dropping off "free" benefits. These agents, while reciting a memorized presentation, suddenly shift to asking for the names and numbers of friends and relatives so they could offer the same type of "benefits" to them (more like a ruse to get in more doors).
Even though some of these people AIL agents visit may need life insurance, their sales tactics are highly questionable. In the same presentation, they ask about what would need to be covered in the event of the passing of a spouse. From there, their presentation goes into marketing seperate term and whole life insurance products as one product. This is three-card Monty at it's finest.
Sometimes an agent is able to close a sale, motivated by promises of "unlimited" income and a trip to the company's convention at some resort. However, and quite frequently, AIL agents are working off union leads that are months or even years old motivated by a mirage. You are expected to work late into the night, foregoing time with family and friends, while being "motivated" by a "manager" or another agent who calls you on your cell phone that they scored a sale.
Worse yet, I have seen AIL agents working on notebook PCs while driving from appointment to appointment to drop off "free" benefits (and squirm into the door). I have even heard managers and agents boast how they "slammed" customers into purchasing pricier insurance policies so they could be that much closer to going to the Bahamas or Cancun. Where is the respect for the customer's needs?
This firm strongly encourages its employees to maintain a six day, 10-12 hour workday, and even more if the branch needs a "power" weekend to reach some arbitrary goal. If not, you're just considered to be lazy. That's fine if you don't have a life, or a family.
"But you were either a) too lazy b) too dumb or c) both to take advantage of the 'unlimited opportunity'". Expect to hear this if you leave their firm. That response is scripted too. Add the name-calling of critics I have seen by people who represent this company as managers or agents, and you can see who and what they are. Worse yet, working for them was an unlimited opportunity for management to run their employees (or contractors as they like to put it) to run them ragged with old leads.
I quit this firm because I felt that there was something highly suspicious with their practices. From memorizing scripts, to deceptive sales tactics, and workaholic cult worship of the almighty dollar, American Income just stunk to the high heavens.
Rex
Rancho Cucamonga, California
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