Pros
Contrary to what I have read in past interviews, this opportunity is very real. I have been with AIL going on 9 months now. Most people who dont make it here end up quitting within the first month or two. The week consists of: Monday: Office from 9-9 or 11-9 depending on your agency. Tuesdays and Wednesdays: In the field presenting to union members, credit union members, and association members as well as personal referrals. Thursdays: Office from 1-9 depending on how new you are and your how your agency runs, always until 9pm making calls though. Fridays Saturdays and (Sundays): Field days. Sundays are not always "required" but its kind of like off season football workouts where they are not "mandatory" wink wink. All things aside as long as you write $1150 in annualized life premium (alp) each week you will not be bothered. The average deal size is about $700 alp. Your managers will allow you some slack as long as you are hitting your numbers and the further over $1150 you can get each week, the more freedom you will have to exercise your 1099 benefits. If you struggle to hit $1150 on a weekly basis (the majority) then you will be micromanaged and have to come in early on office days to present on video and sit through various workshops designed to help you improve your craft. They really do want you to succeed because that means they get paid more however it gets to a point where after 8 full months I have heard every line in the book and the workshops and meetings are all the same. Very easy to get burnt out and you must have a positive mindset. The commission and bonus structure is pretty lucrative but a little complicated when you get into the fine details. I will use the 50% contract which is what you will be on after 60 days. Lets say you write the minimum each week ($1200 alp for simplicity). Advance: $1200 alp X 50% commission = $600 commision X 65% advance = $390 advance (Paid on Fridays via direct deposit.) The other $210 of the commision is put into a back end account which builds up to prevent chargebacks on the front end. Otherwise, since they are advancing you based on the yearly premium, if a client were to cancel, they would subtract it from your next week's paycheck. So the backend comes in handy. Bonus: (Paid on Mondays) @ 5% level: $1200 alp X 5% = $60. Total weekly earnings @ 5% bonus and $1200 alp = $450. @10% level: $1200 alp X 10% = $120. Total weekly earnings @ 10% bonus = $510. @15% level; $1200 alp X 15% = $180. Total weekly earnings @ 15% bonus = $570. You start at the 5% level and each consecutive week you bonus gets you to the next level. 15% is the top level and @ 15% your manager makes the most money from you. Manager's pay is never deducted from your pay, they just get additional. The more business you write, the bigger your bonus will be. It truly is opportunity unlimited because there are no limits to how much AIL will pay you. I've witnessed agents write over $30,000 alp in on week which at 15% bonus is a total paycheck of $14,250 for one week of work. I've also witnessed agents blank completely for weeks at a time.
Cons
I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly here. There management practices can get shady at times due to the pressure of their contract structure. For example: managers must hire a new agent once every 5 weeks or they will lose their management contract. I witnessed them hire a 67 year old man who could not memorize the script just so they could fill the hiring quota. Memorizing the script is mandatory to go through training. The reason this was unethical is because licensing alone costs around $300 which is reimbursed after you hit 15% bonus for the first time. This poor guy spent 5 weeks trying to get to 15% (your manager will be in the car with you until it happens.) His manager ended up quitting and upper management told the poor guy tough luck and sent him packing. So not only did this guy not get the training he deserved, he spent 5 weeks in the field basically unpaid, wasting his time and money. This was one of the bigger things that went on but there are several little things you will notice that border ethical boundaries. The biggest negative to this postition is on Monday and Thursday combined you will be spending about 20 hours in the office, unpaid. Also being 100% commision based means there will be weeks where you don't make money. I've had a comma in my paycheck one week and zeros the next. Getting promoted into management means in addition to office time on Mondays and Thursdays, you will be in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday from 8-1 followed by field time until 9 pm. So you are working more hours and more unpaid hours with the possibily of more income or even less income. It is a very unbalanced environment. I will not bother going into the details of the managers pay structure but it is all bonus based. They get a bonus based on the bonus of every agent they have. So you will see top mangers getting bonuses upwards of $10,000 on Mondays but lower level mangers might be getting nothing due to the fact that they have far less agents coded to them. Your agents must be bonusing in order to get paid as a manager. Benefits wise you will have access to a health insurance reimbursement if you write $17,000 in a quarter but other than that there are zero benefits. Presenting to members in their home is quite difficult sometimes. Especially when they are smoking in your face or if they have a dirty dog. Dealing with low income members much of the time means low quality households. I would say about 70% of houses I have gone into are unusually gross. Also I have had to sit in the room while a femal member went to the bathroom with the door open, still talking to me. You must also be able to deal with getting kicked out of homes and getting yelled at every now and then. I suppose that comes along with being a salesman.
