I'll tell you what they wont. Read if youre considering working for them IMPORTANT!!!
Pros
The best parts about working at AIL for me were: Great personal growth even though the job was not for me, I did learn a lot about sales techniques, rebuttals, and just how to sell in general. Its easy to get hired, just walk in and you'll get a job unless you're a felon. Its great work experience that you can put on a resume, if you do it long enough. You get to experience what its like being self employed. The coworkers were great! I'm still friends with them. You get to meet a lot of different people from different backgrounds which makes for an interesting job! The commission you get paid if everything goes through is decent. The Discount card and Child safe kits are worth anyone listening to these guys and The lifetime renewals are good if you last a year to receive them!
Cons
Before I go through the Cons of this job. Ask yourself these questions honestly, throw away all the money they talk about in the interview. Quit pretending you're going to go in there being the best! 1) Do I have at least 6 months of monthly bills saved up so I can survive comfortably? Can I survive weeks or months without getting paid? 2) Do I have a family that counts on me bringing them food and shelter. If I cant for a week or two how will I make sure I get them what they need? 3) Am I people person do I like talking to people? Am I good at It? 4) Would I really want to do this for 10 years? Do I have any other major goals? Ex. College 5) Can I emotionally handle barely being around my family? In other words can I work 10-13 hour days 6 days a week in town or on the road away from my family? 6) Do people in my area need Life Insurance? Look at economy of area and jobs. Are a lot of families struggling or poor? If you said no to any of those questions Id recommend turning away right now! AIL is 100% commission based with no benefits! Truth of the matter is AIL can be rewarding but you HAVE TO DEDICATE A LOT OF TIME AND ENERGY TO MAKE IT PAY OFF!!! If you said yes then congratulations you will be taking on a challenging career! Make sure you go over these questions with your wife and she what she thinks. Fair warning AIL can cause Marital problems. So you decided to take the bull by the horns. First thing is to get your license Have $350+ ready to pay out of pocket! Not much I can say here except to study hard and take practice exams. Youtube helps me understand things I don't understand. After passing congrats you're licensed the other $200 will be used to buy a laptop and gas money. Hope you don't have a truck! They hand you a 12 page script to memorize before you're released! I practiced out loud at home and I got it down pretty easy. They could make you learn it in a distracting office if you cant do it there just tell them You cant focus there. Depending on agency they could make you recite it word for word to get released. My office didn't make me do this but just be warned. So after memorizing and reciting it 100% you're good to go. But wait before you make your own money you have to write business on other agents(your manager) before you write your own. Yep I typed that right. You will be presenting/signing people up and not getting paid for it! Your manager releases you when he/she feels you're ready. Hope you have a manager that has good ethics and morals some don't. I remember when I first started I wrote a deal that paid $1000 in commission under my managers name!! still bitter about it! If you're still in the process and didn't quit good job most people don't make it past that process. Now you're off to work on your own, I still remember how good of a feeling it was. You will still be forced to attend "Mandatory" meetings and cold calling nights that last up to 4 to 12 hours a week of your time! (You wont be getting paid for it). THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING Here is what will make you successful unlike me. HARD CARDS (union member filled cards) are what make you successful there. Make sure you request them!! They will tell you countless times in training that referrals are what makes you money! Its not!! If you thing Im just a crazy conspiracy all you have to do is look at the numbers. The top Agents making 100K-200K work hard cards in fact they barely work any referrals. You will see what I mean if you pay attention to everybody's numbers. They do this so they can afford their expensive car/house payment! Another thing if you don't write enough business they will make you think its your fault having hard cards makes it easy to attain the office minimum. The most common lines I hear is "You didn't show them the value" even if the client couldn't afford it. I worked there a year and I collected over 1000 referrals and my closing rate was around 50%. Yeah I actually did what managers cant even do and they said would make me loads of money. sitting with people that make $7-$15 an hour vs Union(good paying jobs) $15-$40 an hour its a lot easier to make money off union members especially when they filled a card out for you to come see them compared to cold calling a referral. If you're planning on doing this make sure you're managers are your best friends they will make you a millionaire! If you don't suck up to them they could fire you a month before you get your renewals like they did to me. If you are let go before a year your manager gets your renewals!! So final word of advice watch who you're working for if they're not looking for your best interest don't waste your time. Doesn't matter how hard you work if you're manager doesn't like you you're screwed! That's just my personal experience luckily I got my amazing dream job after I got fired so I'm not to upset over it. Best of luck to all you job seekers! If you go with AIL good luck to you!
