Vantaggi
Ok no BS. I've been here 3 years and struggled, been profitable, frustrated, proud, and every emotion in between. I'm an agent and nothing special. You are a 1099 self-employed insurance agent so you have to treat this like you are starting a business. Do you think that's easy? Do you think you have to work? Anyways, here are a few of my thoughts. - Ability to earn High Compensation through personal business. You don't have to recruit anyone; you can earn over 100% commission just by selling insurance to people that request it. - 1099 through the insurance companies. You're not an employee of FFL, the Insurance Marketing Organization (IMO). FFL doesn't pay you for policies submitted. The only time you're getting a check from them is if you qualify for monthly/annual producer or agency bonuses. No one is going to force you to work or care if you don't (which only affects you) - Vested renewals from day 1. People don't understand how big of a deal this is. Most IMOs make you wait 5 or 10 years to have access to your backend money. In the meantime, it's going to someone else (your manager or IMO). FFL gives it to you right away. - Ability to recruit agents and build an agency. If you want to sell insurance forever, do it. If you want to teach others how to and make additional income if your agency produces business, start recruiting. At least you have the option. - No contracts. Don't like it? They'll release you (as long as you are in good standing with the carriers... ie no debts) - Access to multiple lead vendors. Leads are the lifeblood of the business. Think pizza store: You need ingredients to make pizzas. Leads are your ingredients to make sales. FFL has vetted and promotes like 12+ lead vendors at this time and are always looking for new ones. We buy so many leads that the vendors usually give us discounted prices. Most people think that means FFL owns the lead vendors which is always funny to hear. - FREE things: no fees to join, trainings, conventions, and other in-person/online events. If you had to pay to start working somewhere, I feel bad for you, son. FFL has never charged or will charge someone to attend a training. I know of agents from other companies that have been to events and watch trainings. It's a blue ocean industry. - Offices throughout the country. If you like being a lone ranger, that's fine. If not, get to an office and be around agents. - Huge support for agents that need it. All you have to do is ask. I've asked multiple agents from teams that are not associated with mine for help and have never been ghosted. - Flexible hours. The double-edged sword. Work when you want but if you don't work you aren't making sales and not getting paid.
Svantaggi
People that give negative reviews of "this company sucks because I have to spend money on leads", "managers make an override off you", or "I didn't make any money" don't understand how the industry works and are better off out of it. Go be a W2 employee if you want. I'm going to focus on those 3 for this review because I have leads to call ;) Leads: Like I said above, you need leads to get prospective clients at ANY IMO, whether that is through referrals, cold calling, advertising, etc. While this IMO is a lead-based company, no one forces you to buy leads. I generate my own. Many do. Others buy leads from the 3rd party vendors that are vetted and promoted by FFL. Managers make an override off you: Yea, duh. Your commission comes directly through the carriers and they pay managers for their time spent training and promoting their products. Why do you think anyone would work for free? Car dealerships, real estate brokerages, and many more operate the same way... Bonus fun fact: the override isn't taking money from your commissions because the insurance carriers pay over 100% of the first year commission out (they're making money on the other 10,20,30 years+ the client has the policy). I didn't make any money: These people usually buy a batch of leads, call through them once, get yelled at/hung up on/no showed/etc and give up. You have to actually WORK the leads (dial multiple times a day, text, email, doorknock, etc) and most think that a lead = a sale. Additionally, most agents barely train. I've listened to a lot of sales calls where it's clear the agent spent 0 time learning a script, word flow, practicing objections. So ya, they don't make money. Go to any other agency in the country and try putting in that little effort; you're going to stay broke. Most agents don't take their commissions and reinvest into new leads because they think they can squeeze sales out of leads they've called for 5 weeks straight.