MLM Agencies??

If you are breathing and can tie your shoes, or at least know how to operate Velcro, they will try to recruit you.

Otherwise, they will try to sell you their overpriced term policies.

With MLM, the two functions are combined. Recruit, then pitch to recruits. What better way to prove loyalty and willingness to follow the winning system? The drawback is, most cancel when they leave, as many do. Chargebacks are always in season.
 
Ok so we FE it is known as Burial Insurance. So stupid question, but let’s say you have a client and purchase 25k, but the burial costs less, who gets the difference. Does that part work like any other policy.

With any policy, whole life, term, Final Expense (which is whole life), Universal Life, GUL and even PreNeed funeral insurance, the funeral is paid first and the beneficiaries get the rest. If the policy is even used for funeral payment.
 
With any policy, whole life, term, Final Expense (which is whole life), Universal Life, GUL and even PreNeed funeral insurance, the funeral is paid first and the beneficiaries get the rest. If the policy is even used for funeral payment.

I see so the check is issue to the beneficiaries and in theory they should pay for the funeral but there is no control of that, or does the carrier pay the funeral home first for the burial then pay out the difference to the beneficiaries
 
On life insurance it’s paid to the bennies. They do anything they want with it.
 
The arguments usually boil down to professionalism and compensation. Yet the major organizations still thrive.. Mention Primerica and it starts but after all these years and critics they thrive.

Now the next one started by a major player is going to go viral because he is building a platform that will work with the masses.. The naysayers and critics will always be around and some agents will recruit be it inside or outside of "MLM"'.

If people can acquire financial products by phone or internet why can't they be given an opportunity to enter the industry if they qualify?

Just as a side note many agents who are now career agents started with A.L. Williams/Primerica.. Art Williams and his original agents built it big by using "MLM" concepts. None of their critics that I know of have come close to doing what they did.

That being said what is coming now is going to be an industry changer...
 
Mention Primerica and it starts but after all these years and critics they thrive.

Yes... Primerica thrives (because terminating insurance is actuarily priced to terminate before the insured does)... but how about their clients? Many 30-year term policies are misrepresented to their clients because they actually sell a 5-year level term, then increasing cost coverage for the remaining 25 years. But are the agents held liable for misrepresenting the product? No... but it's easy for the agent to misunderstand and easy for the policyholder to forget. After a few years, it's too late.

If people can acquire financial products by phone or internet why can't they be given an opportunity to enter the industry if they qualify?

An Employment Scam in the Financial Services Industry > HOME

Because it's easy to enter and hard to stay in... and very little accountability towards those who are coming in.

And any feelings of GUILT about people's failing... are dismissed as "we gave them the opportunity and it's up to THEM to figure it out."

This was a guy I knew back in my high school days and he's "gone big" in various MLM companies. Here's his perspective on "guilt" for MLM reps failing (or 'quitting'):


But this kind of "recruiting", I believe, is damaging to the insurance and financial services industry. It cheapens and demeans the profession. And when you cheapen a profession, it invites a "less than stellar crowd" into it.

And I'm going to be bold and say this: MLM CULTURE CORRUPTS EVERY INDUSTRY IT TOUCHES!

Funny video here:


How so? It becomes about the "company thriving" (see above), following "cult" leaders", and "building massive groups" rather than the true nature of what the financial services profession should be about: Professionals helping people to do a better job of spending, saving, investing, insuring, and planning for the future.

For those who wake up and figure it out - they can earn 7-figures a year doing it on their own and doing it right... than getting into the low-commission sales and high recruiting game.

Could you imagine if:
  • "Lawyers went MLM"? (And I don't mean "legal shield".)
  • "CPAs and tax advice go MLM"! (Just enroll everyone as an EA and watch them represent taxpayers before the IRS.)
  • "Surgery goes MLM"!
  • "Massage therapy goes MLM"! (I could imagine the headlines of complimentary side-businesses with their pimps and hoes.)
Now, you don't have to go to college to be an insurance and financial professional... but you do need an organization that will commit to long-term professional development rather than making quick sales and recruiting people before they know how to do what they should know how to do. That's the ultimate difference between the MLM organizations and captive career agencies. (And I'm not a fan of either of them, but I'm more of a fan of a captive agency than I am any MLM "get rich quick by recruiting a bunch of other people" companies.)

MLM, contrary to popular belief in their industry, "network marketing" is NOT "Word of Mouth" marketing. True "word of mouth" marketing has no bias or incentive to recommend. Otherwise, it SPOILS the meaning and intention behind the recommendation. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't promote it, but promote it proudly... as a SALESMAN... because that's what they are - SALESMEN & SALESWOMEN.

With such LOW PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS... these companies POLLUTE the conversation and the marketplace. Is it annoying? Yes... but it does make it very easy for professionals to rise above all that ****. But consumers get confused... and that's the problem.

Here's an EXTREME example: I knew this guy back 20 years ago (not the guy in the video above) and he was in a network marketing deal or two back then. He went from "deal to deal" and finally went into Mortgage Foreclosures... but HE KEPT THE MONEY for himself. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Fraudsters Sentenced for Operating Nationwide Home Mortgage Scam

I consider insurance and financial services a serious business that requires a standard of professionalism. MLMs corrupt that, despite the licensing that it requires. Most of those who come HERE have been CLOSED-MINDED TROLLS - trained to be trolls by their company because they all say the same **** and brainwashed that "they're the only ones doing it right".

I just don't like it.
 
Yet the companies thrive and carriers do business with them. The financial "MLM" companies are basically marketing companies and not carriers. They market products for carriers..

Now don't people think carriers would do their due diligence when looking at a marketing company. Yet internet critics yell scam all day..

Are any of the companies for everyone? I say no but for some people it is the right place for them.. As for their products or services who else is talking to the markets they serve in a big way?

I'm just saying in the big picture and from what I have seen with net battles pro and con...The companies are still in business and exposing to many people..
 
Now don't people think carriers would do their due diligence when looking at a marketing company.

"They have a group of licensed people with current E&O coverage. Sign here."

Then the lies start from the reps: "Those companies work for us." And they work for me too.

The financial "MLM" companies are basically marketing companies and not carriers. They market products for carriers.

Obviously, there is one prominent MLM company that is also a carrier - Primerica. (Just stating the obvious.)

As for their products or services who else is talking to the markets they serve in a big way?

That's a slanted question. That's because they're creating a "marketing buzz" around their brand. For that, I give them credit. That's marketing.

But if you're interested in the truth: Most MDRT Top of the Table reps work the SAME market. But they do it on an individual or small team basis. They aren't building up a "national brand". They are building THEIR OWN BRAND.

I've posted a Van Mueller YouTube training video many times. I guarantee you that he isn't promoting MassMutual - although he sells MassMutual policies. He's promoting himself and the solutions that he offers through his strategic questions. He's not promoting a large company - it's him and the expertise he brings. He's building a relationship, not selling for a large company. And he's doing between 900 - 1100 applications a year.

They're doing it one-on-one, one-by-one. They may be doing some local press releases and doing local workshops, but primarily, it's a person-to-person business without creating a "national buzz" or brand.

That's why your question is slanted. You're looking for a COMPANY to do the work... when the reality is that it takes individual agents and consultants who are doing it outside of the MLM model.

Of course, there's NAIFA's outreach programs to promote NAIFA members working with the middle class:
Securing America's Financial Future
and
https://www.naifa.org/NAIFA/media/Communications/Securing_Americas_Financial_Future.pdf
and
Advisors You Can Trust – Advisors You Can Trust
 
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