Liberty National Life Insurance Company If we live in a democracy, then majority rules. Birmingham Alabama

Good-bye to Liberty National from a former branch manager. After three years with them I could not take the deception. For example, the newest wrinkle in business is in trying to sign payroll deductions through the free giveaway accident policies. How it works-each day your agents go in the field from 9 to 2 or so, with the expectation that they drop in on at least 40 businesses to introduce themselves, and tell the business owner that they are just here to introduce the company by simply giving away these no-cost accidental policies. Since you know how many employees work there by looking up public records on a sales lead vendor called Sales Genie, you know ABC Plumbing has 25 employees. Since these policies are good for $3000 each, you say "Mr. Business Owner, we just want to provide at no cost to you or your employees $75,000 worth of coverage." Well, to the business owner it sounds like 75K each, right? Not 3K each for a total of 75? Wow, if you have 100 employees, $300 K Liberty wants to give you sounds GREAT. The intention is simply to schedule a time the next week to come and sign up the employees for these free policies. Well, if that is done, the next day the agent comes back with a manager, who thanks the owner for caring about the staff so much, then says "What the agent FORGOT to mention was the one other policy we can offer at the same time that costs you nothing as well." Hmmm...a script that says the agent forgot when the agents are trained not to mention it? And the script is careful to say that the one other policy costs the employer nothing as well, which is absolutely true, but it is not free for the EMPLOYEE. So, while this info is TECHNICALLY true, its intent is to mislead the owner into thinking here is another freebie. And then if the owner goes for the additional policy, the agent and manager sign them up for the payroll deduction business, and come in later and offer all ten or so Liberty products for the employees. So is this a lie? No. Would you want your grandma to hear you sell it? Depends on your grandma. Other deceptive practices-at the big recruiting shows, they are expected to say that Mr. Big Shot, Vice President of Recruiting, is flying in and wants to personally call and invite you to an interview. Anyone who asks questions about the job is told they will be answered at the session. The session consists of Mr. Big Shot, whichever one is there, talking about how he needs new managers and we need people who can hold other people accountable to force them to make 100K a year, without mentioning the rules about having to prove yourself as an agent first, having to pay for and pass your insurance license, recruit other new agents, and issue 5000 worth or premium. These little details are for later. They are in the contracts, but NO ONE reads the contracts. Here's why-while the seminar is going on, all the managers available are typing the job apps into laptops, so when the talking is over, the applicants are herded over, usually several hundred, to electronically sign their files. Since you are sitting in front of a drone with a laptop who does not have any time to tell you what is going on, and you have ten or twenty people in back of you wanting to sign, peer pressure forces you into scrawling your name a few times and not reading the contract you have signed, which says among other things you are on a commission-only contract(the seminar is careful to never mention "commission"), you have no benefits, you sign away your right to sue, and if you quit before 3 years you forfeit any money in your commission account. Most people have no idea what they are signing, and they are told to show up for work the next day, where they find the truth-that they are independent contractors on commission only, here are a bunch of lists of seniors within 20 miles of the office, and pull out your cell phone and start calling. Most do not show up the second day; that is why the company goal is to hire 15 people a week. The regional folks are rated on how many hires they get, which includes hires rejected by the home office, so they tell you to submit a file on EVERYONE, including the felonies and such that the state will summarily reject, in order to get their numbers in. Is this a wrong practice? Is it misleading? You be the judge. I sure felt dirty working there. Every practice they have seems designed to skirt the edge of the truth and manipulate the system instead of just doing the right thing. I did all right, three years of 75K, but some things are more important. One company all-manager meeting I attended, a very emotional branch manager got up and told us how he worked so much that his wife brought his toddler by the office every afternoon so his son would see his daddy-since daddy works till 9 every night. He broke down and started crying, and the room gave him an ovation. I was horrified-was I the ONLY PERSON IN THE WHOLE ROOM who thought it was terrible instead of admirable that he works so much he never gets home before his kid is in bed? What the ...? That pretty much sums up Liberty. If you can recruit enough, work 80 hours a week, and swallow the bull, you can make a good 60K or so, but you will not like the person in the mirror when you think about how you have to make it...

Used to be a branch manager
Birmingham, AL

Good-bye to Liberty National from a former branch manager. After three years with them I could not take the deception. For example, the newest wrinkle in business is in trying to sign payroll deductions through the free giveaway accident policies. How it works-each day your agents go in the field from 9 to 2 or so, with the expectation that they drop in on at least 40 businesses to introduce themselves, and tell the business owner that they are just here to introduce the company by simply giving away these no-cost accidental policies. Since you know how many employees work there by looking up public records on a sales lead vendor called Sales Genie, you know ABC Plumbing has 25 employees. Since these policies are good for $3000 each, you say "Mr. Business Owner, we just want to provide at no cost to you or your employees $75,000 worth of coverage." Well, to the business owner it sounds like 75K each, right? Not 3K each for a total of 75? Wow, if you have 100 employees, $300 K Liberty wants to give you sounds GREAT. The intention is simply to schedule a time the next week to come and sign up the employees for these free policies. Well, if that is done, the next day the agent comes back with a manager, who thanks the owner for caring about the staff so much, then says "What the agent FORGOT to mention was the one other policy we can offer at the same time that costs you nothing as well." Hmmm...a script that says the agent forgot when the agents are trained not to mention it? And the script is careful to say that the one other policy costs the employer nothing as well, which is absolutely true, but it is not free for the EMPLOYEE. So, while this info is TECHNICALLY true, its intent is to mislead the owner into thinking here is another freebie. And then if the owner goes for the additional policy, the agent and manager sign them up for the payroll deduction business, and come in later and offer all ten or so Liberty products for the employees. So is this a lie? No. Would you want your grandma to hear you sell it? Depends on your grandma. Other deceptive practices-at the big recruiting shows, they are expected to say that Mr. Big Shot, Vice President of Recruiting, is flying in and wants to personally call and invite you to an interview. Anyone who asks questions about the job is told they will be answered at the session. The session consists of Mr. Big Shot, whichever one is there, talking about how he needs new managers and we need people who can hold other people accountable to force them to make 100K a year, without mentioning the rules about having to prove yourself as an agent first, having to pay for and pass your insurance license, recruit other new agents, and issue 5000 worth or premium. These little details are for later. They are in the contracts, but NO ONE reads the contracts. Here's why-while the seminar is going on, all the managers available are typing the job apps into laptops, so when the talking is over, the applicants are herded over, usually several hundred, to electronically sign their files. Since you are sitting in front of a drone with a laptop who does not have any time to tell you what is going on, and you have ten or twenty people in back of you wanting to sign, peer pressure forces you into scrawling your name a few times and not reading the contract you have signed, which says among other things you are on a commission-only contract(the seminar is careful to never mention "commission"), you have no benefits, you sign away your right to sue, and if you quit before 3 years you forfeit any money in your commission account. Most people have no idea what they are signing, and they are told to show up for work the next day, where they find the truth-that they are independent contractors on commission only, here are a bunch of lists of seniors within 20 miles of the office, and pull out your cell phone and start calling. Most do not show up the second day; that is why the company goal is to hire 15 people a week. The regional folks are rated on how many hires they get, which includes hires rejected by the home office, so they tell you to submit a file on EVERYONE, including the felonies and such that the state will summarily reject, in order to get their numbers in. Is this a wrong practice? Is it misleading? You be the judge. I sure felt dirty working there. Every practice they have seems designed to skirt the edge of the truth and manipulate the system instead of just doing the right thing. I did all right, three years of 75K, but some things are more important. One company all-manager meeting I attended, a very emotional branch manager got up and told us how he worked so much that his wife brought his toddler by the office every afternoon so his son would see his daddy-since daddy works till 9 every night. He broke down and started crying, and the room gave him an ovation. I was horrified-was I the ONLY PERSON IN THE WHOLE ROOM who thought it was terrible instead of admirable that he works so much he never gets home before his kid is in bed? What the ...? That pretty much sums up Liberty. If you can recruit enough, work 80 hours a week, and swallow the bull, you can make a good 60K or so, but you will not like the person in the mirror when you think about how you have to make it...

Used to be a branch manager
Birmingham, AL

You are absolutely correct.  I am a former manager who did make over $100,000.00/yr.  However, I did that by working 70+ hours each week and never seeing my family.  The company itself at one time was a reputable company, but not so much now.  The people that are in charge are absolutely morally bankrupt.  Our director was a criminal, at best.  I was embarassed to tell people where I worked, and at one point, my housekeeper asked me to please remove her from the e-mail list.  That spoke volumes.

Every word of what these two former employees have said is true.  If you are willing to sell your soul to make six figures, go for it.  It can be done.  I wish you luck ... you'll need it ...

As a long time Employee, I would like to respond to your assertions: Your first paragraph is partially true. The branch manager does get a bonus for 5k producers that are permanently licensed, but their regular pay come from overwrites on the $5k production. Can you get a job driving a truck without a driver's license? I think not. I'm not even going to respond to your MJ/ Spencer Johns comparison. We are not allowed to sell close friends and family (or even yourself) insurance for the first 90 days as a contractor or licensed agent with LNL. This is a dismissal offence with no questions asked. 14-18 hour work days? Not in my 20+ years with the company. The rule of thumb IS 12 hour days (you pick um) four day a week and office work on Friday and leave at 3:00 P.M. You said "sell a no cost accidental death policy". How do you sell something that your giving away? SalesGenie,com. IS the worst way to get drop offs (appointments) but if you are getting sponsorships like you were trained to do, you'll never use SalesGenie except for the first day of work. You said "pass away that day" Field underwriting has always been about what you see that day (in terms of exposure to loss, health conditions, ability to pay etc.). Let's talk about the commission account. 70% of you first year commission is advanced to you when you submit the application and only 30% of your commission is placed in you commission account. you can draw 6%, 8%, or 10% of your commission account out of that fund every week regardless of your production that week... Read the "Guide To Grown". The commission account is set up to cover the lapsing of policies that don't pay a full year of premiums, rather than pulling lapses out of your weekly paycheck. Personal image will pretty much dictate your success in any type of sales. If someone does show up for an interview in anything less than "business casual" dress, it is because they didn't listen to the last line of the recruiter's script. These individuals didn't have a clue to start with, and won't go very far. New agents have been told that they need to go home and get properly dressed before going to the field. I am not a branch manager and Spencer will never be like MJ for whatever reason. Thanks