The new Enhanced
Sales Model is the worse idea they ever had. While you no longer have to drive 100 miles to
pick up a $10 check for a field renewal, you no longer get the commission for
getting those checks. The only way you now can get paid is to sell something.
It is strictly commission based now.
You still
have to go to an 8 a.m. meeting to sing songs and do PMA games. You are expected
to have 15 appointments every day, and to canvass in between appointments. You
can canvass for sales, or canvass for new appointments.
The only way
to sell anything is to move fast and be an obnoxious person who talks over and
through every prospect. You have to close hard and overcome all their
objections. The company teaches you “argument starters” that are meant to
overcome their objections to you barging in announced and trying to sell them
something they don’t want or need or cannot afford. These usually start an argument
with the prospect because you have to close extremely hard and fast and never
stop talking.
You have to
work until 10 p.m. every night because during the day you always hear “I have
to talk with my spouse” so you have to have appointments until late at night to
see both spouses at once. You still must call in your numbers every night by 9
p.m., so if you are with a client you have to excuse yourself, go make a phone
call to your manager with your numbers, and then go back to arguing with your
client.
There are
hundreds of people who did well in the old system, but they are not fast movers
or do not like to start arguments, so they have quit or are about to quit. Some
have been fired for underperforming because they are actually nice sales
persons and will let someone think about it for a couple days instead of
tricking them into buying a product they do not want.
You still
average about $12-14,000 per year in income. You still drive between 35,000 and
40,000 a year in your car. You still go to morning meetings every day to sing
songs, dance, and get a PMA boost. You still have to call every night at 9 p.m.
no matter where you are. If you call before 9 p.m. then you get yelled at for leaving
the field too early and will get yelled at the following morning at the morning
after you are done singing songs and dancing.
Most of the
employees have sex with each other after going out for drinks at midnight or on
weekends. Most everyone has had sex with each other. If you do not go out for drinks late at night
or give in to someone’s sexual advances, life becomes even more miserable.
Remember Michael
David Barrett, the man accused of stalking ESPN reporter Erin Andrews? He kept
his yard manicured, played golf and enjoyed cooking on a gas grill on a patio
behind his $300,000 suburban Chicago town house. He was a perverted man. What
you rarely hear is that he also worked for Combined Insurance when all this
came down. He is your typical perverted Combined agent.
In short, never
be employed with the company. Do not fall for their tricks and lies, and do not
join the PMA cult. Their products are excellent, though, so just buy them
online or through the mail.