Agents

[Txmade99]

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[Jccwell]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to update you (from my door knocking thread) on where I'm at in my journey on seeking an IMO and also let new agents know what's out there since I've gotten private messages on these forums from new agents concerned as well while looking for an IMO.

It seems like more and more agencies are looking for every little expense or thing they can charge you for. For instance $500 to $1300 for one time set up fees, mandatory monthly fees, weekly overpriced leads especially if their giving bad territories, overpriced crm's. Its even a person charging for agent support. It seems like in this day of inflation, IMO's are getting ridiculously greedy. Ironically, the ones selling the highest leads are the ones that will pressure and badger you into purchasing them as soon as possible. Don't be rushed into that.

I have only joined 3 agencies. The first one was in 2022 and that was NAA. I didn't even join them on purpose. I put my resume up on Indeed.com. A guy called me up, told me it was a real job and he would pay me $575 weekly for each person I sell too. I was looking for a part time job, I wasn't looking to go independent then. He told me to sign the contract and I did. It wasn't later until I learned it was a MLM. I knew nothing about commission levels. The only thing good I can say about it was I had decent training on Annuities and IUL's.

Fast forward today, I signed up with two IMO's. One was telesales, the other was a face-to-face agency in which I signed two carriers. At the telesales agency, everybody was nice, I saw people making money. I probably would have stayed but training was hard to come by for a new person in final expense. And I'm not going to pay $1500 for 100 leads if I'm not being trained from top to bottom on their crm technology and final expense. And I didn't understand the people that pay for these leads but only make 10 phone calls out of 100. Thats just wasting money if your not going to spend atleast 10 to 12 hours dialing.


I found FEX a little too late. They don't charge you all these extra fees and overcharge you on the leads, and they seem to have good territories too. So I signed all my contracts over to them, and the other IMO that had my two carriers are ignoring me on my Contract release. I am not able to go forward with FEX unless they release me. I could just go forward with the IMO (Ben Boman) that has my two contracts, but anybody that's desperate to keep an agent that has no activity with them and has only signed two carriers with them brings up red flags plus their prices are higher than what FEX charges. Lead returns in my area/city is low so it wouldn't make sense for me to spend over $750 weekly for 20-30 leads with them, especially if I'm going to be spending gas money going over an hour out my territory.

So to sum it up to new agents, don't join an IMO based on what you hear on these boards. Get all their prices/expenses thoroughly and add up all of what they are charging and see if it makes sense. You may be getting a 120% commission, but these IMO's are finding other loopholes to sneak into that money. Get contract releases written up front. If you need training, make that clear. I respect the ones like Todd that said they didn't have the time to train. But most of all talk to the ones that are really doing it out here and are successful. It would also be best to learn how to generate your own leads and referral techniques.

All this was in trial and error, you don't learn unless you see for yourself.

Are you saying you tried to join FEX, but Boman won't grant you a release?

If you have only 2 carriers, that shouldn't be a problem. You ought to be able to contract with different carriers under FEX and start writing business as soon as your contracts are finalized.

 

[Newby]

Are you saying you tried to join FEX, but Boman won't grant you a release?

If you have only 2 carriers, that shouldn't be a problem. You ought to be able to contract with different carriers under FEX and start writing business as soon as your contracts are finalized.

I just spoke to Ben and he is releasing her. It was a misunderstanding with a downline recruiter/agent not really with Ben. He has always been good about releasing agents.

Generally the agents on this forum do release. Us at Fex. Todd King. Ben Boman. Dave Duford. Doug Massey. Jeff Root. Outside of this group though, it's anyone's guess. Most do not.