A professional sounding gentlemen began asking me whether I was interested business opportunities, etc, etc. I have had calls from headhunters before, and they are usually straight up with you:
"I work for a client who is looking for x. This is the job, this is the company, would you be interested in talking?"As I explained in a previous post, I enjoy hearing the selling techniques employed at other companies, as it helps keep me on my game, plus it gives me something to blog about! He gave me his full name when I asked for it, so I was willing to listen to the pitch. In addition to that he seemed to be able to answer the general questions I was throwing at him about the opportunity in question.
But then the specific questions started coming from me, and it wasn't so obvious that this was legit anymore.
The gentleman asked me if I'd be willing to come in for an information session. I said that I wasn't going to commit until I could get a chance to check out the website and give him a call back. I felt like this was a reasonable request, as I am very happy in my current job, and I wanted to know about the company he was touting, Primerica Canada. This guys job is obviously to close the sale, so he wasn't satisfied with that answer. I completely understand that.
The Call Turns Suspicious
Here's what happened next that started making me suspicious:
-When I mentioned visiting the internet to look up his company, he was gave me this line about how his company had spent millions on marketing, including a website, and if the website was the best way to disseminate information to people, he would spend most of his day emailing folks. My question then is: why spend the millions?
-He asked me if I wanted to bring a trusted friend, or a spouse to the information session with me. While I understand that changing careers is a big life choice, they can't be THAT selective if they are just bringing anyone they want to these information sessions. I have since learned that this is common in financial services, but I didn't know this, so a reputable thing to do would have been to mention that this is normal in the industry, and practiced by firms such as the Investors Group.
-When I asked him out of curiosity how he got my name and cell phone number, he started getting vague and would only refer to someone named "Arek". (I asked him to spell it for me).
-When I Googled the gentleman I was speaking to on the phone after the call, I had to really work to find him. If you were "regional VP of a financial services distribution company", wouldn't you have a LinkedIn profile?
-When I Googled Primerica the first thing I kept getting was "its a scam", "beware", etc.
-Even on the official Primerica Canada site, there was a whole page dedicated to "important disclosures", which says it IS a subsidiary of Citigoup.
Transparency Enables Clarity
After sharing what I had found on Twitter and how I felt this could affect ones personal brand, I got a few polite messages about how my information was incorrect. I'll admit that I didn't spend hours researching before I tweeted, but thats why I shared it, to get feedback to find out what the real story was. Also, the subsidiary piece is right on the website, so I just tweeted what the company itself told me.
From what I can gather from all sources, it seems like Primerica IS a legitimate company, but due to its agent based structure, there are inconsistencies in the level of ethics across branches. There is also evidence that the company used to be worse, but since going public it has cleaned up its act. I'm perfectly comfortable with this, but frankly, that should have been one of the first things mentioned when I began asking about going online to check out the company. I can deal with past mistakes, I REFUSE to deal with not being transparent.
If they truly are changed, they should acklowledge there were issues in the past and pledge that they have rectified the situation. I honestly would have expected something on the Primerica PR site (which btw, says it's NOT a subsidiary of Citigroup), but nothing to be found. Being listed on the stock market doesn't automatically indicate youhave good business practices. I think we all remember that little company named Enron.
This gentleman was polite, proactive, and well spoken. I don't know him. I'm sure he's an upstanding guy. I gotta say though, even after doing the research, I'm still not exactly sure how Primerica is or isn't related to Citigroup at this point due to conflicting sources.
My suggestion for Primerica
If you aren't a scam, try not to sound like one.
- If there have been past issuesaddress them head on instead of trying to ignore them. If you don't make it clear where you stand, the internet will.
- Be straight up with what is true or isn't true and you'll attract the kind of people you need to grow your business.
He didn't press the issue of me coming in to talk to them anymore, so I'm assuming they found someone they were looking for. I wish them both the best, but again, doesn't sound like other legit companies I've worked with.**
It's not just the agency model that is wonky. The compensation plan revolves around the same system that your average pyramid scheme employs; overrides, pressure to recruit, and a "start your own office" carrot being dangled in front of every rep.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, they're not strictly a scam, but they sure dress like one.
I had them email me (found my info from a job bank site) I told them I was interested but needed to know the company name and more information. He wouldnt give me a name and the information was very vauge. I agreed to meet until I did more research on them...found out the name of the company and all the scam related material. I asked if they were in fact Primerica...he said yes. I never bothered replying back, I realize out of ethics I should have, but there a scam...im sure they are used to it. He emailed me about an hour after my shedualed appointment and reemed me out, saying im unproffessional and not worthy of a job in their company, and hide behind emails...Regardless, I spend the afternoon in a much more productive matter...Sorry Primerica, but most companies are too busy to chase people who didnt show up to interviews...
ReplyDeleteThankfully you didn't waste any time with these scumbags.
DeleteThey also boast they are the largest insurance marketing company (or something along those lines) but that is because the company really has nothing to pay for. 'Corporate America' companies have to pay for the offices, the supplies as well as payroll. Primerica has nothing to pay for since the representatives all pay their own office rent and must sell before they make any income. Of course it is easy to become large when they have no steady payrolls, benefits or pensions to pay out of their own profits to whoever they hire.
ReplyDeleteSure, there are those who are making a lot of money in Primerica and I am not denying this; but they are not making this money from their 'hard work' or their 'sales skills'. They are simply making this money because they receive a cut from everybody below them for any sale. This, of course, leads to greed and deception by bringing in anyone they can and use up their warm market. When this new recruit has run out of contacts, the company already has more recruits lined up with fresh warm markets for them to make an income off of.
Their 'bonus' for 'training' is not really training at all. They first told me during my interview that they would give me up to $1000 in bonuses just to get trained and I thought I just had to sit through some training, a couple of classes and pass the test and I would receive my money. I was dead wrong; I had to recruit 4 people and make 4 life insurance sales before I would get this money and I was not told this at the beginning. Had I known this, I would have walked out before the end of the interview!
And it gets even better, I cannot just recruit 4 people to get money, I need to recruit the same number of sales I make to get the money...
It doesn't even end here; I did recruit 1 person and I made 1 sale, I never saw the money for this sale and I never even saw the 'bonus' that was supposed to come with my first recruit and my first sale! I have contacted my upline countless times and the only replies I receive are that he will ask head office for it. It has been 4 months since the last time I messaged him about the money and he has never gotten back to me about it since. Which leads me to believe that he probably signed the sale to his own name and took the commission for himself leaving me out in the cold.
They drill you on memorizing a script to pitch to potential clients at their dinner table and they make us brain storm ways to get around when someone says no or is uncertain. They have tactics for guilt tripping (your parents will have to pay for all your expenses if you die), sugar coating (when someone says 'Ill have to ask my parents about this' they told us to say 'do you ask your parents if you can buy them a Christmas present?') and many more.
The greed that Primerica has generated in its representatives is the cause of the negative reputation they are receiving in terms of recruiting and employment.
I just got called randomly and asked to come in for an interview. Should I? Seems fishy
ReplyDeletePrimerica is so low they even pay "hush money" to silence negative customer feedback. Run...just run!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/05/09/love-it-or-hate-it-ripoffreport-is-in-expansion-mode/
only 1% of the approx 500,000 individual reps that have worked there since 1977 (38+ yrs)have ever earned more than $50k during a best 12 consecutive month period. Many never repeated. Whats all this talk about wealth and riches again???
ReplyDeleteCanada recently underwent changes to upgrade the training and testing standards required for the LLQP industry wide. Only one company filed a lawsuit against these changes. Coincidentally, that same company had the worst passing rates the last 10 years and counting. Any guesses?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cisro-ocra.com/publications/LLQP%20Provider%20Results%20(Jan-Dec%202014)%20EN.pdf
Primerica-The real numbers! Primerica's big earners list is not only cumulative back to 1977, but also cumulative by level (ie: a $1M dollar earner also counts as a $100+k and $50+k earner, etc). When you factor out this accumulation, here are the true counts as of 12/31/14. (Primerica "Destiny" Book)
ReplyDelete$50+k earners-3067 reps
$100+k earners-2845 reps
$1M+ earners-51 reps
$2M+ earners-16 reps
$5M+ earners-1 rep
That is a grand total of only 5980 reps who ever surpassed the $50k level, at least once, during their best 12 month rolling window, including any advances, out of the 100’s of thousands of Reps who’ve ever worked there, since 1977. Many on the list achieved that level only once. For argument sake, assuming the current force of 100,000 reps, it represents a mere 6% who ever achieved "greatness" during at least one best 12 month period, at least once. In reality, its way less than half of that. And those figures are for gross commission revenues (plus advances), BEFORE EXPENSES!