Pros
The people at Banker's were good in that everyone was willing to help everyone else succeed. If you wanted to go with someone for the day, all you had to do was ask. My manager was great and had weekly meetings to teach us about product information,and was very caring and wanted to see me succeed. There were also 2 weekly branch meetings to stay up to date on what is going on.
Cons
Ok so although the people were great the company is NOT for everyone. On my part I should have done more homework and I take full responsibility of what happened there. Be aware that this is STRAIGHT COMMISSIONS WITH NO BASE PAY UNTIL YOU BECOME MANAGEMENT! If you have a specific goal in mind make sure that other people in the office are making the kind of money you want to make ( and not just the branch Manager either, I mean other agents). I stress this because you will be going on at least 15 - 18 appointments ( or MORE) a week on your money ALONE. The company doesn't advertise with commercials or other marketing like other companies and primarily rely on cold calling and mailers to people 65 and over. What press is out there is lots of bad press (both about Banker's Conseco and Banker's Life and Casualty). When I brought this up to people in the company they just shrugged it off and said every company has bad press so what. Being hungry and driven, I decided to follow the flow and do as everyone else. Get ready to cold call because you will be doing it A LOT!!! The leads you get are are usually completely cold as if you opened a phone book and just started dialing. There are a few leads that are luke warm (people that were interested at one point in time and either sent in a reply mailer or called an 800 Number) but they are between 60 - 90 + days old. If you aren’t making the amount of money you thought you were going to be making ( in the interview they make it sound SO SO easy) be prepared to hear that “you need to hit the phones more and set more appointments”. To get your foot in the door, your going to be telling the people on the phone about the “changes to Medicare that are going to affect them” Let me tell you that for the most part this is complete BS. You just say it to get in the door and talk to them about other products. Also be prepared to be stood up numerous times in the beginning. Once you get good with your phone voice and your script, being stood up will happen less and less. As products go they aren’t as competitive as they say they are. Most people I spoke with either 1) couldn’t afford it 2) didn’t need it because they were already set up with another company 3) weren’t interested in purchasing at the time or didn't want to purchase form an unknown company. Also be PREPARED to diffuse tense situations. There were times that when I was out with other agents, we have gotten thrown out of a house. The policies I sold, the policy holders bought it primarily because of the agent not because it was the best product for them. After 3 months of this I was burned out and didn't have the stomach for this anymore. The branch I was at was a revolving door of people that came in excited and eager and left disillusioned. I am in the process of going to a different Insurance company and doing everything I cab to insure that my next insurance venture to be a MUCH more profitable and rewarding experience.