Lead Debt

[nfl72]

the numbers you are printing make no sense at all. If he worked 100 leads a month he is not a salesman he is a stub runner.

Someone needs to go back and rework those leads and show him how much business he missed out on.

 

[gordon112]

I would agree with you to an extent. Its all case by case. This particular agent was on 65% overall with 75% advance. with a third of the check being withheld for lead debt at a $25 per lead price. You cannot write enough business to pay this debt off. and As he worked and worked the lead debt grew and grew. Thats what its designed to do though. That lead debt makes it to where he cant afford to leave, it hamstrings him. To some degree this company maybe has ruined this kids insurance career, because he didnt know any better. He didnt even know there was a vector. So now we have a sharp young kid whose career is done because hes got this debt, all because a bunch of managers wanted to rip huge overrides.

In my opinion. There is a reason the managers are keeping huge overrides, its to help pay the debt for when the kid inevitably leaves because hes not making money. But then to pin it on the kid even after he leaves. c'mon

This is what the LH PIMPS do!...I had the same issue with an agent that i knew in the business that worked with me while I was at LH. He was about 3k behind on lead debt but was still producing and just could never get out of debt. Unfortunately, there really isn't much you can do but wait it out and hope he decides NOT to order any more leads and work the old ones and have his lead balance paid off. LH will continue and try to jam leads down your throat.

 

[lsalmans]

the numbers you are printing make no sense at all. If he worked 100 leads a month he is not a salesman he is a stub runner.

Someone needs to go back and rework those leads and show him how much business he missed out on.

I used the 100 leads explanation as an example.

 

[theinsuranceman]

the numbers you are printing make no sense at all. If he worked 100 leads a month he is not a salesman he is a stub runner.

Someone needs to go back and rework those leads and show him how much business he missed out on.

Surely you jest. I know an agent, sells only face 2 face because he doesn't like FE tele-sales, who orders 30-35 fresh DM leads per week.

Of course, he usually writes $5k-$9k every week. And, he also gets more "not interested", more "let me think about it", more "I can't afford it", more "we've already done something else", etc. BUT he also gets more "yesses". Amazing how this biz works isn't it?

 

[PaperHanger]

I'm comming up with one sale is $600, factor in the commish and advance is $292.50
They withhold 1/3 of that, so they keep $100

It took 3 leads to make that 1 sale, so $75 in lead cost, paid for by the $100 they withheld.

To have a lead debt in this situation, the agent was below average numbers of selling 1 in 3 leads, and averaging 600alp.

But what happens when chargebacks start eating into that advance?
Is that deal impossible? No.
Improbable, Yes.

That's a pretty crappy deal when one considers:
AIL is 50% contract with free leads
EFES is 85-95% to start, average $19 per lead....but it sounds like this guy would be more in the $20+ range on efes system, if he wasn't making numbers.

 

[GMDM100k]

You guys know that there is a simple solution to everything you are bringing up. Lead debt, charge backs, vector...

Don't finance leads and don't accept and advances. If you don't barrow money from these companies then you won't owe them anything.

If my debt ever got out of control when I was writing as a personal agent I would just put my shoes on grab some apps and hit the streets. If one of my agents gets in the hole I will take them out and do this very same thing to show them how to manage their debt correctly..

I definitely would never start a new agent below 80% though. Its hard enough to make it in this biz even with no debt and a decent contract.

 

[lsalmans]

well said............

 

[cds251]

There is definitely a place for vector in this biz........an agent that takes advances and makes no conscious decision to either repay the debt through a payment plan OR commit to some form of production, SHOULD be placed on vector.

I think that vector is being over utilized almost to the point of abusing the system.

If an agent has an agreement in place to pay of a debit balance, they should not be on vector. Its a pointless proposition. It does no one any good. Everyone loses out. I just don't see the logic in it.

 

[Todd King]

There is definitely a place for vector in this biz........an agent that takes advances and makes no conscious decision to either repay the debt through a payment plan OR commit to some form of production, SHOULD be placed on vector.

I think that vector is being over utilized almost to the point of abusing the system.

If an agent has an agreement in place to pay of a debit balance, they should not be on vector. Its a pointless proposition. It does no one any good. Everyone loses out. I just don't see the logic in it.

If you were the one that is on the hook for the balances that have rolled up from an agent, you would look at this differently.

Vector has started showing if an agent is paying on it or not and whether the payments are on time or not. If you were going to co-sign an open loan for another agent, wouldn't you want to know this?

 

[cds251]

If you were the one that is on the hook for the balances that have rolled up from an agent, you would look at this differently.

Vector has started showing if an agent is paying on it or not and whether the payments are on time or not. If you were going to co-sign an open loan for another agent, wouldn't you want to know this?

Well actually, I have had agents debit balances roll up........one was to the tune of 15k...........and yes, I had to eat it. Thats the joys of being in an overriding position....you have to take the good with the bad........

If an agent is paying on his debt it should not be reported to vector at all.

Vector was originally set up to report "unrecoverable debit balances" If an agent is paying then the balance is not "unrecoverable"

In this situation it would do no one any good. It actually places an agent and the company/IMO in a worse situation. The agent cannot get appointed with anyone else, so how do they pay the debit back? They cannot. The company loses out and has to eat the debt. No one gets anything.

Isn't it better to have a debt repayment agreement in place which if is being honored will not hinder the agents ability to repay it??

Now if the agent is refusing to cooperate then hell yeah, its a different story altogether.