benefits representative

American Income Life

I’m my experience at AIL, I found that many of the tasks that agents were required to do consisted of misleading clients. The people we book appointments with believe they are receiving information about the free item they requested (which was advertised to them) when it truly was a means of getting them on zoom, so that the agent can somewhat trick them into purchasing a life insurance policy with AIL. Also, the product that we sell is very generalized to the point where it doesn’t tend to suit the clients needs and is hard to personalize to what they want. Also because agents are only making income based on their sales, they push clients to purchase more than needed for their own personal gain which leads to clients being unable to afford their policies down the line and ultimately cancelling. 

 In regards to how the company can mislead their agents, an example is when they tell you things like “full benefits after 90 days”. In order to receive your benefits, you need to have a production amount above a set threshold within three months (net production not gross), then you get your benefits for free ONLY for the three months that follow. If you don’t consistently meet that quota for each quarter, you have to pay a significant amount of money per month for your benefits (a couple hundred dollars). I have not been able to reach that quota so I have not been able to have benefits for over a year of me working there. This is just one of the many things that they tell you that you will receive without explaining the catch. 

Another is that when clients cancel their policies, you adopt a debt from the advance you received, where you now have to pay back part of that advance and they take it out of your next pay. So you can imagine, if you made a big sale and got $1,000 from it, if that client cancels within the same month or so, you have $1,000 worth of debt (or a bit less if the client paid in multiple months) to pay back. 

For me it was just a never ending loop of disappointment and disrespect. They definitely are good at selling you the dream where if you put in the hard work and follow their instructions, you will be compensated greatly. I should’ve known better when I saw the turnover rate being ridiculously high. Anyway, I hope this helped at least one person. :)



Make no mistake by the  phrases and terms they use when referring to this line of work and the company- AIL is a commission Insurance sales job, thus you are technically self employed. It requires the LLQP and provincial licensing exams to start the job- this is because you require a license to sell insurance.  If I could describe my experience at AIL in a single word it would be,  abysmal !  Management was incredibly incompetent and did not act or carry themselves with a sense of decorum or professionalism.  There was only two positives to this job but many, many issues and cons.  I was only working there a few months but my experience was horrendous. 

Pros
1. we were encouraged to wear more casual clothing which is nice after working in a formal office environment. 

2. The POTENTIAL to make an incredible amount of money

Cons
1. Require provincial licensing, exams and related fees for this job that is all out of pocket.

2. They provided no support or instruction during the licensing process.

3. Requires multiple weeks of class training that is NOT PAID and requires hours of homework and script memorizing all on your time. 

4. Management (MGA's, regional directors, etc.) is incredibly incompetent; for example,  they had failed to send my licencing off in time and were unable to communicate this to me during the process. 

5. Field training is sub-par with completing only 3 days of field training before being released. The trainer them self was incredibly insufficient and provided instruction that did not meet reasonable standards

6. Commission only which can be taken back if the policy is canceled before a specific time. 

7. All Costs are out of  pocket since you are effectively self employed

8. You will have to travel  a lot - they are not forthcoming with this

9. 12-14 hour days/6 days are standard, often just scheduling or driving long distances will consume alot of your time. No work or life balance

10. Management (MGA's, regional directors, etc.) make homophobic remarks and jokes at meetings. I also had a member of management suggest to me to seek therapy in response to my disclosure of a personal mental health issue that impacted my ability work.

For first month, there is training so you don't earn any income.  First couple of months after that, it was good - I got good leads, I was motivated, and initial income was adequate.  Afterwards, you get washed leads - leads that have been contacted a number of times before by other agents to no avail.  You keep calling and calling and pick up rate is very very low.  Out of 100 calls, at times, I had 0 pick up.  You are asked to make minimum 400 calls per week to book 30 appointments out which you can expect 15 to show up and if you are lucky, upto 5 can be sold.  Realistically, only 2-3 might buy if you are lucky.  I had colleagues that made over 600 calls each week and only sold 1 or 2 policies if they were lucky.  Referrals that you  collect are not always useful.  You book them with promise to receive some free stuff.  Majority don't book because it is too good to be true to get free stuff without expecting anything in return.  The ones that do book, after hundreds of calls that you make, majority of them do not show up because the family member that referred them tells them the reality that it's to sell life insurance.  The one or 2 that either don't know the reality or are willing to see what we have to offer, 70% - 80% will decline to purchase and a small percentage may buy.  Then you have cancelations after purchase which for me was over 40% because they realized after the fact that they made a mistake or were not prepared to buy.  So bottom line, as soon as you make some money, you pay back half in chargebacks.  

Overall, the higher managers do really well because they get frequent good/fresh leads.  The ones below, like me, you suffer.  You spent most of your day hearing ring tone on your phone, you don't even make minimum wage, you are frustrated, demotivated, and lead a miserable life.

Working at AO - AIL has had many pros and cons. The mentors in this business truly want to see you succeed. There is nothing wrong with the company or the people, as they are growing rapidly. The company gives back to their employees generously. However when I took the job at AO, I did think that the leads would know more about AIL than the majority of them do. Almost none of the clients have ever heard of AIL and it's up to the agents to build credibility. They are an insurance company that has great products that protect families, but they don't advertise themselves as a credible insurance company which makes the agent's job difficult. If rejection, getting hung up on, or getting yelled at doesn't phase you, and you don't mind working hard and working long hours, 9am to 9pm and weekends, and if you are someone with a positive attitude that can talk for hours on end, and are motivated by making tons of money, then you'll do really really well at AO. You don't need any sales experience but having a natural ability to be assertive, assumptive and confident will help tremendously.

I love the commission base structure you put in the effort you make the commissions and after one year your renewals. Great company to work for.
Let me be honest this job is not for those who cannot see the future benefits of putting in your hard work for the first year to build your renewal incomes. I love the fact I am in charge of my pay cheque if I do not put in the work I do not make as much money as when I do put in the work. I love the flexibility of the  hours to work around my health issues, now that everything is virtual. Leads are provided and it is up to you to make them successful never prejudge a lead, insurance companies do not give you leads but American Income does.
The training is fun and yes a bit stressing at times so you must have a dedication for success. I love the management team and the support that head office gives with all the training calls each week. You are never alone on this journey.
Being positive and knowing you are helping to protect families each and everyday should make this job the best in the world. We have Opportunity Unlimited you are only limited by your own limitations so do  not put limits on yourself.
Learning a new skill can be challenging and reward at the same time give yourself the opportunity to see where this opportunity can take you and your family.
Best decision in my life wish I didn't wait months to apply for this position.


 

I was hired by this company in August, 2020 and I have completed numerous amounts of interviews, zoom meetings, training programs (including acquiring provincial licensing, exams and related fees which are all paid out of pocket and add up to over $300) but have yet to earn a single cent due to extremely poor management and being told multiple flat out lies.

They provided absolutely no support or instruction during the licensing process. Management (MGA's, regional directors, etc.) are all incredibly incompetent; for example, I was told in August when I was hired that it would take "no longer than a month to begin making sales with the company". Having been a manager in the past, I would NEVER disclose information to any of my employees if I am unsure of it. They focus far too much energy on trying to come off as a "cool" company to work for; as a result, the managers all act very unprofessionally and take up most of the meetings with bad dad jokes.

The interview for this company was amazing and invigorating.
I was sure to ask about field work (door to door sales ) and cold calling, which they said was none. This was very misleading.
I was super excited to invest in myself and get the licensed. About a $500-600 from course work, diplomas and license, as the videos and meetings you attended were very inspiring and the potential to make money was reinforced by the existing people.
Once you start they give you a bunch of leads which you spend 8 hours a day trying to get ahold of. Then try to book appointments and hope the client shows up.
The products they provide are fantastic and really made you want to help people out. 
When you are not able to book appointments or have the clients show up its very frustrating, and that is where you get stuck. 
Cemented in frustration, and the support to get you to make sales is not there.

It's all about taking care of yourself so someone helping you make money is non-existent.

Leaders are unprofessional by talking negatively about people that used to work there in front of existing employees.

Starting out, make sure you have a residual income to rely on. 
You won't make money fast, but the potential is there. 

Good luck!!

Multi-Level Marketing company
you need to build a pipeline to be able to make good money
very nice work environment tho
Products are way more expensive in comparison to other insurance companies, in result people cancel their policies once they figure out how expensive it is. then your business will fall and they cancel the policy. In the end, the company chargeback you and will take back whatever you made on that policy.
You might sell 10000 dollars of policies and earn 7000 dollars at the end of the month but after a few weeks many of them fall and AIL takes the money back. Your managers will tell you that you have problems with closing and cementing the deal but that is part of it. the most important issue is the product. the price is not comparable with big insurance companies in Canada. it is too expensive and people can easily search on the internet to see that big difference and once they do that, they cancel the policy.

Worked here for a couple of weeks and couldn't handle it anymore. The training process is horrible, the management doesn't care about the trainees at all. The training it's just an excuse for you to book appointments for your manager because they don't want to do it. You don't get paid for booking appointments. Once you advance to the stage in training where you can present to the clients you must register all the sales you make under your managers' account, and guess what, you don't get paid for that either.
The management wants to use you as much as they can, and if you are naive enough to continue working from them and get "released", a percentage of your sales will go to them anyway. 
This company works as a MLM company and it's 100% commission-based. You will work very hard long hours and even weekends just to pay for your managers' lifestyle. Run away from this company before it's too late.

I worked as an agent for 8 months. Dedicated a lot of time, money and energy. Didn't get paid for the first two months and drained my savings to stay afloat. You get paid on commission basis, and there is really good bonuses and benefits, however you do not have any work life balance at all! It really is like being a travelling salesmen. They say you are your own boss, but you really aren't. There is a lot of micro managing and management is very untrustworthy and dishonest, especially after your first few months "on the books". After three months management doesn't get as much a percentage of your sales and bonuses, so they toss you aside and pretend they are not taking the best of the leads you get to book from. Don't be fooled. You really have to be a work-a-holic to succeed. So if you are single and don't want a life, give it a try. Otherwise do not even bother!

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