NAA National Agents Alliance Andy Albright Honesty, Clarity, Truth and Honor. NAA tells it like it is. Insurance selling is hard work! http://www.naaleads.com/ Nationwide

I joined NAA after being molested by Principal Financial Group, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.  My commission payout from those big name companies was 25-30% with no ownership in my book of business. The big companies also banned me for two years from being able to work in the industry in their territory.  They believe business is business and I get that.  They spent time trying to train me and support me with back office staff and online platforms and very critical and depressed management.  They are ruthless unlike NAA.

NAA is just a bunch of regular often x Amway people looking to make some money selling to old reworked leads untill thay can afford to purchase new leads.  Prety much the same as a green stock broker calling on recycled leads again and again.  That pain is the right of passage in the financial services business. 

I found NAA online,  and after leaving the BIG BOYS of finance I looked for an organization that was a bit more friendly but still had clout in the financial services market. 

Their webpage at NAAleads.com says:

"National Agents Alliance provides the perfect career opportunity for those who would like to increase their income potential with both up-front commissions and residual income."

OK, that sounded good to me. Upfront and residual. I like it!  I joined and learned the following information:

ALL INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE MULTI LEVEL MARKETING SALES ORGANIZATIONS.

If you contract with an FMO, IMO, DMD, MGA, PPGA, you are in an MLM insurance company. Those are all acronyms for MLM marketing inside the United States insurance business.  Field Marketing Organization, Insurance Marketing Organization, Master General Agent, Blah, Blah, Blah.....   The levels go 10 deep for most.   Allianz, F&G, Transamerica, Mutual of Omaha, Foresters, Great American, ING, American National, National Western, etc are all MLM.  

When I was in Amway MLM I had a minimum monthly purchase requirement.  With NAA there is no quota or monthly fee for membership. It is not a real MLM from that stand point. You just give up some of your commission on each sale. You get that back as you build a team and get promoted. Working at any insurance agency you would have had to do that anyway and probably have a desk fee. 

Captive agents at a brokerage firm get really screwed so NAA is not a bad place to work in comparison. At a big name firm you get a low contract under the MLM system and then the brokerage firm puts it on the production grid and knocks it down another 75% and then eliminates bonuses etc when you fail.  

Most independent agents however try to escape that big brother system and take an MGA or PPGA contract called the STREET LEVEL CONTRACT. It is often paying 80-100% of 1st year commissions but then they have no support and have to pay for all of their help and go purchase an executive suite and a yellow page add and web page.  No one is available to watch for errors or help teach compliance or help negotiate lower rates for E&O. There is no time for selling because everything is administrative.

Independent agents with a poor marketing group (FMO or IMO) hand all of the up line commissions to the Field Marketing Organization and then get nothing back except an occasional mug or envelope opener.  The trips are available from the insurance company not the IMO-FMO upline usually. Some marketing groups will take you on an incentive trip if you are a top dog because you made them an extra bonus.

With NAA it was slightly different. They have mailing programs and offer free leads to beginners.  The NAA system is the best one for a new agent or an old dog agent wanting back into the business. It is awesome for part timers too!  The free leads are mostly reworked and they tell you that on each lead. It is marked as called 1 time or 3 times etc. There is money in the reworked leads if you call them enough times. The older one are awesome too because people need upgrades and you can find those in the list all the time. The average sale nets about 400 dollars but you have to work too find the money. The money is there for sure however compared to the wire house leads I would call back in the day. The NAA leads take way less work to close that standard recycled leads. One in the home a one call close is the norm.   I worked recycled leads cold at Merrill and Morgan Stanly for years and those leads were bad, bad, bad….

All of the NAA leads at least had the client’s signature on them requesting information and you can close them if you are a salesman but few people are sales people. Most of us want to be order takers.  Go work in a call center hell if you want to be an order taker.  Your numbers will be bad there too if you can’t sell.

NAA has an awesome back office and education system. They are there for you if you work.  If you can’t sell and wont go to the training meetings you are going to fail!  The same goes true with the wire houses but they will fire you where you will just drop out of NAA if you suck as a sales person.

Right off the bat NAA told me the reworked leads were free on a limited basis.  If I wanted more leads then I needed to purchase them. There are not enough home sales in many counties to provide new leads to one thousand insurance agents so Mortgage Protection Leads are reworked even when they are fresh. Other agents caught them when they were moving in half the time. It is a hard market but you can make money.  You need to learn to sell and few people can close a deal if it is not a laydown.

FRESH leads cost money. When I had 100% contracts and paid 5000 dollars to a mail house for a 1% response rate I was out of pocket $50 dollars per lead on average.  With NAA they let you get something called a GMR. That means they take the risk of mailing for you and you only pay for the yield not the full mailing. Your lead cost will drop big time when you do that. 

The NAA back office and training is brilliant.  They have an online interface that is a dream to work with.  In terms of residuals and commission haircuts. That money is spread out among the MLM up line just like any other marketing organization in insurance does.  The difference is that as you bring people into the biz you get to share in that pot of money and it is massive!  If you are not in NAA or insurance in general to build an agency you will work hard all of your days with little to show for it.  With NAA you need to start with the intention of recruiting so you can get the residuals right away!   To be an manager anywhere else you need to fight for the interview and get one of the coveted spots. With NAA everyone can be a manager from the beginning making at least 5% on their down line and as they progress they will earn 10X that figure.  It is an awesome way to spread the wealth and everyone can participate not just the coveted agency mangers.

Mutual of Omaha, Foresters, Transamerica etc all love NAA as a marketing organization. As for Andy Albright being a redneck money making CEO? Yes he is and good for him. He also shows the path that those who work earn and those who kind of work kind of earn. 

If you want real contract hell, real hard work, real low pay, and real compliance nightmares then get a job with a bank or major wire house.  You will be begging Albright for a job again.  He is a business man and every contract is clear. Learn to sell. Enjoy the lead system and better yourself so you can close the sale.  NAA in no cake walk but they are better than most insurance marketing up line agencies. Get out and recruit if you want residual income and overrides.  That is what you would have to do as an agency manager at Prudential or MetLife but you would never get that job as you need an amazing resume and killer instinct and no self-respect. 

NAA is hard work as is any financial services job.  Work sucks. That is my complaint!