insurance agent

office administrator

financial professional

social media specialist

entry level insurance agent

Bankers Life

If you want to make a living, find another company.  If you want to learn about insurance and selling to advance your career at another organization, without paying college tuition, this is the place for you!  This job will cost you more money than you make, but it will give you the skills and mindset necessary to succeed at another organization with a better pay structure.  Here is a small breakdown of what to expect.

1.  Initial liscensing and certificate.  This will cost you roughly  $300.  This is an investment because your liscence can transfer to another company.

2.  Computer.  If you don’t have an actual laptop, you will need one.  Cost $500-$5000

3.  Cellphone with hotspot.  Yes, you call from your own phone.  Yes you connect to the sales applications through your own data source.  $150 per month.

4.  Business Cards.  You buy your own from the company store.  Yes they cost more than normal.  Keep a President Grant handy to start.

5.  Direct Mailing.  Postage stamps are not provided for marketing materials or mailing policies.  Some packages are expensive.

6.  Gasoline, Oil, Maintenance .  You can drive up to 500 miles per week.  Don’t forget you also will need to budget for maintenance and oil changes.

7.  Coffee Shop Money.  Over 50% of the appointments no show or cancel.  There is often an hour and a half or two hours in between appointments to do more prospecting or other paper work.  It is really up to you if you want to work from your car, or from a coffee shop, but plan on spending some quality time doing something other than meeting with potential clients.

6.  Charge Backs.  These can range from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars.  Yes, if a client decides not to keep the policy, you do not keep the money.  There are many months that your paycheck will start in the red.

7.  Health Insurance.  You don’t get any, so you have to foot the bill yourself.  This is tough because when you start out, you will be lucky to bring home  $1,200 a month.  

Once you begin working here is what to expect.

Leads.  For the first few weeks leads are provided that have been recycled.  The “freshness” of the lead is on average over two years old.  Lots of bad numbers, dead people, or prospects who were interested years ago but are no longer.  They get better once you produce,  but any decline in sales will result in poorer quality leads.  It puts the pressure on to sell.  Remember Meritocracy.

Appointments.  Expect to call over 600 people for 5 appointments.  It does get better, but the organization runs on a meritocratic system.  If you sell you get leads.  If you don’t sell, you don’t get leads.  So, expect to call, call, call, and push, push, push.  It is the only way to get better prospects.  

Commission.  You split everything based on a percentage of the product.  Remember Pyramid Structure.  You and your team are making managers a percentage, plus they split with you when you “ride” together. The more people on the team selling, the more the manger makes.  The more calls you make, and appointments you book, the more you get to split. You are not making as much as your manager in the field.  He gets the split plus everyone elses’s on his team.  Full pay for him/her and less for you. The split is typically 50/50, but depending on the structure of the team, it can be 33/33/34. The more expensive the product the more commission.  There is a caveat to this though.   The more expensive the product the harder it is to qualify, so large sums of money never get issued.  It is like looking at fake money in your sales report.  Don’t count on getting paid for everything you sell—money can’t buy health qualifications. Just expect to split everything your first 3-6 months.

Workday.  You will be on the phone  8+ hours a day  trying to schedule 5 appointments with people who really don’t want to meet with you.  This leads to 10+ hours a week of learning how to convince people, over the phone, to meet with you. Selling.  You will spend 60+ hours a week trying to sell product.  When you first start out, it is normal to go 10 appointments with zero sales.  Why?  Because initially, the leads assigned to you are not the best- people agree to meet because they are lonely, bored, or slightly off center.  Later more appointments are booked and more sales are made, but it is still difficult because the majority of the prospects are on a very limited fixed income.  They know they are getting $10 a month for the rest of their lives, and convincing them to spend $3 a month on a “what if” or “you never know” takes talent.  Hence  the charge backs.  The “What if” is not worth my $5 and I am not eating cat food from a can any longer.  

Culture:  The culture is outstanding.  The best you will work in any career.  People are very supportive and have the best mindset.  Make sure you bring a Polaroid to take photos of everyone, and write their names on the bottom of the photo, because the turn over is insane. 

Pay and Benefits.  Do the math during the interview.  You will see top performer checks lining walls, and here of agents making hundreds of thousands a year.  That is one or maybe two people per branch making that much.  The rest make $300-24,000 a year.  It is tricky at first because there is a lot of hype about potential.  And there is.  The challenge is potential takes time to develop into talent in a Meritocracy.  If you don’t perform you don’t get support.  If you don’t get support, how do you increase performance?  Much of what you accomplish is what you do on your own.  To perform an agent needs to get away from the splitting of sales.  To do this you need to convince your manager you are able to walk on water and sell something nobody wants.  Do this and you will make maybe $30-40k a year.  The secret to figuring out what is unattainable is to look at the office promotions.  For example, if an agent makes $10,000 in a quarter, some fantastical trip or prize is often awarded. This is a sign that $10,000 in three months work is a lot.  I don’t know if I would qualify $3,300 a month for 80hr weeks as a lot of money.  Don’t forget to take out the 20-30 percent for your taxes.

Their are zero benefits.  Nothing is offered until the 6 month achievement.  

Professional Development.  Top notch.  It will help you get hired in an organization that pays.  If you can make it at Bankers, you can make it big anywhere.

I took this job because I live with my parents and have zero expenses.  I planned and took this intentionally to learn insurance and to learn sales.  I read the other reviews about making a living and earning money—they are spot on.  You will not make a living here.  My goal was different. I wanted training and experience.  I left because I began to feel too sorry for the people who were promised a lifestyle of the rich and famous.  It happens, but only to one or two per decade. If you need to live, provide for your family, pay bills over $400 a month, or have any sort of short term goals or dreams, then stay away.  If you can live off of $400, don’t care about the immediate future, can borrow money from friends or relatives, love Mac and cheese or Top Ramen, are committed to staying single for a while, and want to prosper in insurance and sales, but can wait several years and know that you will be with another company to do so, then take the job!  The training is great.

For those of you thinking in joining Bankers Life, you need to read this, and just to be clear, I wrote it not to discourage or motivate anyone but simply to present a clear picture that you’ll only see only once you say YES and spend a good number of months as a captive agent.
First, if you have been looking for a job for quite a while and need money right away and don't have an alternate source of income, a chunk of savings or a wealthy spouse or family, this may not be for you. Simply put, IT IS A SALES POSITION / COMMISSION ONLY “CAREER”.  
But, in case you decide to try it, let's look at the process. At first, during a career briefing a manager pitches you the great opportunity and how you can create your own income.  Then you'll be "selected" based on your desire to try it and because your own personality assessment, which will come out with great results, therefore matching you perfectly for this venture. Once you give your yes, then you'll need to pay for and complete your background check, finger prints and get licensed, so you’ll need to study and pass your state exam and for which you will also spend a couple of weeks and a couple of hundred dollars, that’s right, you must pay to just get in.
Then, be prepared to get more training on marketing, or should I say “telemarketing”, and of course some essential training on its products, which basically are life insurance, Medicare Supplements and other health related products.
But let me get to the key points:
1.	Your job, or your new career, will not be entirely as an insurance agent or a financial services professional, at least at first. It will be as a telemarketer, yes, you read it right. A telemarketer who will first need to learn and master a phone script and answers to every possible objection and as you learn as you go, with very little success at first, call hundreds of prospects to get just a few appointments per week so during your training in the field you can go along with a trainer or a seasoned agent and try to make the sales. No sales = no commission. And if a sale is made, you will be required to share at least half of the commission with your trainer, whom also works for entirely for commissions.

2.	You will be required to commit to two full weekdays at the office to make hundreds of calls to prospects that had “inquired” about the company’s products, sadly through dubious methods like surveys. While the response may be a tiny percentage, the bulk of people that you will be calling will be the same as getting the phone book and dialing randomly. The company will provide you with leads, yes, but unfortunately the majority will be old or recycled leads whereas the prospect may not exist today, got the coverage with other company or just forgot because the request was made many months ago, and you will also get a lot of “not in service” or “disconnected” and DNC “do not call” numbers as well.

3.	Out of all the calls you manage to get through will fall into the “low income” profile, so chances to book appointments to sell overpriced Medicare supplements or nice life insurance policies will be minimal and just to make some pocket money you’ll have to rely on selling small premium life policies but to make it work, you’ll need to sell a lot of them on a weekly basis.

4.	To get to better prospects for the core product, which are the Medicare supplements, you will be required to DOOR KNOCK, yes, door knocking on stranger’s houses who are eligible for Medicare and as same as the phone, with the purpose of booking appointments. And almost the same as with the phones, you will need to door knock a lot of houses and for many hours to get the number of appointments required to sell at certain minimal levels that will represent some income for you.

5.	Finally and before you make an steady income, just be aware that once appointed you’ll be “forced” to contribute a whopping $200 a month or $50/week share for the cost for leads (that as explained above, are questionable at best), to pay for the use of your cubicle, phone, lead system and all other amenities that you will use during and out of your office days.
Now, if your sales are not solid enough to remain on the books, you will also get hit with charge backs on the commissions advanced to you, which makes your building of a steady income stream even harder to achieve.
And as far as advancements within the ranks, this opportunity is entirely based on meritocracy. No results, no money, no advancement. However, in some offices, this may not be the rule. Some “unsuccessful” agents may be allowed to remain operative simply because some other interests or convenience for the managers and offices simply because they get extra money if the number of active agents is high or agent desertion is low. 
Now I must refer to management. Even though each branch and its manager may work independently and some offices better than others simply because they may be located within a better market, or use better strategies, there is a lot of micromanagement. Their style is more autocratic and less participative. They tend to forget that as an agent, you are a 1099 – Independent Contractor, but still most of the meetings, the trainings and working your butt off every day and every Saturday (for door knocking) usually become mandatory. Again, no results, no nothing. 
Finally, even though we are in the 21st century, Bankers Life still relies on out of date and out of touch marketing tactics that you’ll need to commit to in order to make some money: scripting, cold calling in great volume, bothering family and friends, pushing for referrals,  participating in any networking group that you can get in, holding and funding events for the plate lickers, and of course door knocking relentlessly to all those Medicare prospects, which realistically are less accessible because most of the nice areas or neighborhoods are gated and have strict “non-solicitation” rules and to make it harder, prospects are less inclined to purchase from a total stranger that just when he/she knocked on their door.
So, before committing yourself into this new venture, just think and think seriously if this is something you can afford to do, or even want to do. Remember, your most valuable asset here is your time and you will be committing a great deal of it for very low results, especially in your first months. 
Whatever your decision may be, I wish you all the best.

Here are the facts of this job...starting from day 1.

You are contacted by a recruiter who says that “management has seen your resume and is impressed and that they would like to bring you in for an interview.”

Except, it’s not an interview. It’s a group “interview.” You and about 10 other people sit down and listen to a branch manager talk about all the benefits of working with Bankers. After that there’s a second group interview where it’s said that out of the 5 or so people left, only ONE can be hired. But here’s the good news...you ll all be hired. In my interview, 4 of us were hired after hearing that only 1 would...

Next, if you don’t already have your life and health license, you must go and obtain it...all out of pocket. It’s a 52 hour course, and you have to pay for the online class, test and license. Plus after that there are two more tests you must take. All together that's about 300-400 dollars.

Once you have your license, you begin “training.” It’s a week long process where you sit in a room with your fellow agents and participate in online classes with other branches. They give you assignments to complete and then you review the next day. Basically talking through PowerPoint slides...and not paid.

Congratulations...you’re now ready to begin working. This whole process takes about a month and a half. So prepare for that...don’t quit whatever job you may have as you’ll receive no income from Bankers during this time.

Now- this is what was said during the interviews. You will be making about 15-20 appointments per week. And from these appointments, you’ll get about 5 sales. How do you get appointments? You’re provided a lead list of people to call...Cold Call...and this list is provided to everyone. So that means you and your  fellow agents are calling the same people over and over. You ll average between 150-200 calls a day and maybe talk to 10 people...if you’re lucky. Out of those 10, you may book 1 or 2. So what about the other 18-19 appointments? Door knocking...you will be expected to drive around town and door knock people to try and book. Another expense to account for- gas isn’t cheap.

And I would like to mention- I’ve been here for a while now and I’ve NEVER seen any agent book 15 in a week. Experienced or new agent...most I saw was 8 and that was all warm market.

Sounds challenging right? Well have no fear...during the interview it was said that experienced agents will take you under their wing and take you on their appointments until you get the hang of it.  Not bad, they’ll even split the commission with you 50/50. But it works the other way around too. Any appointments you make, an agent will accompany you and any sales made is split 50/50.

Here’s the thing though...I can count on one hand how many appointments I was taken on...the agents don’t take you on their appointments. They only go on yours!

So, this job is also 1099. You’re only paid commissions. And...new agents have a test period. You must make 3000 dollars and submit 9 applications in your first 3 months or you’re out. I’m not able to post what agents are averaging for pay, but I can tell you this. 

Every quarter, Bankers post the earnings of agents and the average is just under 3000. Sometimes an agent will have a nice quarter and make about 15-18K. But they are definitely the exception and not the norm. The norm PER QUARTER is about 1,600-2,500 dollars. Who can live on that? Oh, and there’s a chance you can make negative money. This means that a client closed their policy and now you owe Bankers money. And that’s very telling. If in a quarter (which is 3 months) you made only  negative 900 bucks...what was happening with sales? Definitely something to consider.

Here is a breakdown of the week:

- Two days dedicated to making calls in an office (be prepared to use your own phone...apparently there’s not enough landlines to go around)

- Three days dedicated to any appointments you’ve made. If no appointments made, then it’s doorknocking or more phone calls. (For door knocking you have access to an app that lists people’s names and addresses)

Saturday is also a training day. Come into the office for 3 hrs and train, then door knock or make calls. Training is “not mandatory”, but every time I missed one I was heavily frowned upon. Makes you feel like an outcast.

So...it’s 6 days working, no base pay for only a chance of getting paid in commissions.  If that sounds like something you’d like to do- this is the job for you!

Here is what I wish I would have known. Bankers loves to say over and over that they are one of the top companies ranked for their training. The training is just learning the products they sell and how to sell them. Nothing too big. I wish they would spend all their training time and teach how to prospect (get in front of people). There is no point in having all this knowledge on the products and how to sell them if you’re unable to sit down with people...

Bankers’s does not advertise, so very few people have heard of them. Their main methods of contacting people (phone and door knocking) are outdated and inefficient.

I felt compelled to write this review so any future individuals considering employment here know exactly what they are getting into. If I had know this I never would have taken this job.

This whole opportunity is a really bad joke that is not funny at all. I don't even know where to begin. I wasted six months of my life that i can never get back working for this so called company. First they will act like they want to hire and interview you. They contacted me after i posted my resume on monster. They invited me to an interview that i thought was one on one. When i showed up there were 10 people in a room waiting for the representative to give a speech to tell you how great it is to work for them and how you can make all kinds of money......It is all very misleading. Long story short i passed the state exam that i had to pay for, i went to their week long training that lasted 8 hrs a day and didn't get paid for. I worked my tail off calling on leads that were supposed to be warm leads that wanted life insurance. They were actually recycled leads that had been passed around to other agents. When i called the people the majority of them were irritated that i called and said, " I thought i told you to take me off your list!" It was terrible.....every day it was the same thing i was given leads that did not want to be bothered by Bankers Life or any of their representatives. The company emphasizes just getting an appointment whatever it takes. Most of the time the people would set an appointment with me then i would drive all over the country side and they would "Porch" me. This is a term often used at Bankers. It means they flake on you and don't answer the door or don't show up. I wasted countless gallons of gas. I"m trying to summarize the terrible experience I had so i will try and wrap it up. It went on like this for months. Lucky i had other sources of income or i would have gone broke. The way it ended up before i left. I had set an appointment and the Branch Manager agreed to run it for me because I had other appointments at the same time. He told me we would split the deal I would get 50% and he would get 25% and another employee going with him would get 25% I said "Great!" He ran the appointment and it turned out to be a very good customer that purchased four policies. A life insurance plan and 3 annuities. The commission was going to be pretty substantial. After some time i looked in my Bankers online system and noticed i had only got 25% of the first policy that the commission was pending. I confronted the branch manager about this and he took offense to it. He was going back on his word of me getting 50%. Once again long story short. He made up some story, reason and decided that it was time to terminate my contract. Very convenient so he would not have to pay me my rightful commission on the four policies that he promised me. Right then i knew i was dealing a dishonest individual who was running the branch, actually i suspected he was shady from the beginning but i gave him the benefit of a doubt. I was glad to have had my contract terminated he did me a favor i am not a quitter so i probably would have wasted more time with this company. I worked with many dedicated intelligent individuals at this company who had their hopes built up only to be let down and disappointed and ultimately left the company. If i can prevent one person from making the mistake of getting involved with this company and going through what i went through that is good. Watch out don't be gullible like me. I had read all the negative reviews about the company the first month i was there, but i had to learn the hard way. All the negative reviews are true. My family members had even warned me but i am stubborn and didn't want to listen.....It's pretty comical when i think about it. Anyways lesson learned for sure.

Very untruthful about the prospects of having a lucrative career. 

I knew the deal before I went to the group "interview". The "partners" tell you how they will help you get clients. They tell you that the leads are from cards mailed out to people who return the cards for more info. They also tell you that you will get business from people calling in.

The long, smoke and mirrors story in brief: They lure you in with stories of wealth and happiness. You think that this will be a great career with lots of caring (you find out later that is incorrect) individuals supporting you. You ask questions and they tell you lies about how great the biz is. You spend about $500 and 5 weeks learning the biz. You get paid nothing during this time. First they tell you to get fingerprinted at a cost of $60. Then you take an online course at a cost of $50. Next is the state exam at a cost of $61 (if you pass. They tell you not to worry if you don't pass the first time...you can take it over and over again). Then the state license fee of $220. Don't forget you need business cards ($40). After spending all the money you have (most of the people being unemployed) you have to wait for the next "boot camp" to start so you can learn the biz.

After all that you think to yourself "I did it! I am a licensed agent and have a wonderful career journey I am about to embark on." 

Next though is when the reality hits: They ask you to bring friends and family into the office to "see where you work". (This is mainly for the spouses who think you have been having an affair for weeks...after all you are leaving for "work" every day but receive no paycheck.) This is also so you can sell life insurance to your friends and family to get some money coming in. Then they give you the leads (remember the cards that are mailed in looking for insurance). The leads turn out to be "non-responders" to these mailed cards. The cards that do get actually returned are leads for management only. You also get leads in the form of phone numbers of people that called looking for the cheapest life insurance out there...Colonial Penn. These people hardly have two nickels to rub together. And the funniest part about those leads....these are people that called 4 months ago to Colonial Penn. When you call them they are like "Huh? I called like 4 months ago. I already got insurance from another company"

They then tell you to just go knock on doors to find business. Hahaha. Then they tell you that during your first three months you MUST work 6 days per week and 12 hours a day to call call call and knock knock knock in order to be considered as a permanent agent.

I did this for a couple weeks and got ZERO business. $500 wasted and 7 weeks of my life without making any money at all. Want to work part-time while in training to get by on ZERO income? No way...you have to be in the office for 6 days 12 hours per day.

Every week they herd in 40-60 people on these fake interviews. You don't see any agents that have been there very long because it is just a revolving door of misery. What a great business model for the management: Lure in people with dreams of hitting it rich. They quit after a few weeks and signing up their friends and relatives. The management now become those people's agents and rake in the commissions...After all you don't get the commission because you don't work for them any longer.

What a joke! If you find yourself in front of the office on Riley Street hoping for a new career turn around and run like you are being chased by a hungry Lion.

TL;DR: You can be successful, but don't expect any kind of work/life balance, at least in the first few years. Drink the kool-aid if you want to succeed.

This is a job that you can succeed at, if you have no life outside of work. If you believe in Bankers, what they are doing, and the products, and you're willing to put in 50-60 hours a week for the the first few years, you can succeed.

The hiring manager severely undersells the difficulty of the position and the salary you can expect to make. Sure, you CAN make six figures in your first year, but you better have a vast warm market to sell to. Otherwise, you're probably looking at about $30k in your first year if you only sell to people you can book by cold calling. Definitely has some MLM vibes, so if you work your way up the ladder, there is additional incentive. District manager conveniently left out the fact that 90% of new insurance agents don't make it through their first year, and that turnover is incredibly high. Bankers is always, always, always hiring.

It's a 100% commission 1099 position, but you're treated like an employee. You're told the days and hours you need to show up, and scolded if you don't. If you don't work, you don't make money. They don't automatically offer any benefits (unlimited PTO because you're a 1099, but again, if you're not working you don't make money) like health insurance or contribution to a retirement account, but you can qualify if you're a productive agent. Bonus structure is good, if you can hit targets. They flaunt the extra benefits like trips and bonuses (if you qualify), but I'd rather be paid a living wage so I can take a vacation on my own. Making a sale doesn't guarantee money in your account in any sort of normal timeline; it could be weeks or even months.

Provided leads are dated and have been called hundreds of times, and they expect you to be glued to your desk on office days making phone calls. It's expected that you'll always book someone if you can get them on the phone, but offer zero phone training. You basically have to invite yourself over to someone's home, hope they say yes, then try to sell them something.

I did really enjoy working with my direct manager, and a few other people. Not sure I'd consider it excellent training, but I appreciated the immediate money and incentives to stick with the job. Field training consists of sitting in on appointments and hoping you can absorb as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Office training consists of the district manager, who hasn't worked in the field in years, basically telling you it's not that hard and setting appointments on the phone with strangers is so easy.

You have to use your own equipment, like phone and computer, as well as your own vehicle (but you can write them off on your taxes, yay!). They expect even longer hours for Medicare open enrollment season, and Saturdays on the regular. Plus, if you're not actively in the field, they expect you to knock on doors and try to set appointments that way.

I did genuinely help some people, including people I cold called. This is a great feeling. However, it wasn't enough to offset the days chained to my desk and the long hours I was forced to exchange for some grocery store fried chicken.

I had this happen with Bankers Life. I’ve never heard of it on here but after working for them I’d lump them in the insurance mlms. I had just gotten my insurance license and was looking on indeed. Bankers life contacted me and set up an interview. 

I went to the 1st interview thinking it would be a normal style interview. I was lead into a room where a bunch of other people were also waiting for an interview. The room was filled with 70” TVs and iPads and other expensive electronics and prizes. 

They talked about the job to all of us which mostly focused on all the sales insensitives surrounding us that were so much they had to store them there and free vacations for top earners and how he just got a 50k bonus check from the company. 

At the end they had us take quiz/survey type things that tell how good you’d be at the job and what kind of sales person you’d be. 
For the second interview I was told I “aced the test”...I’m sure now everyone did. The second interview didn’t want to know anything about me or my work history. It was just them asking me for my questions so they could brag while answering them. 

Then I got a 3rd interview where I was told they’d love to have me. But my license wasn’t enough. I ended up paying out of my pocket for their online company and product specific training. 

Once I paid for and completed that I started working. I was an independent contractor with no wages or PTO or benefits. Yet I was required to be In The office cold calling people from 745 am to 4 pm but couldn’t leave at 4 pm without a speech about how I can’t succeed And am not dedicated enough if I don’t stay late (keep in mind I had a baby at home and was not an employee I was an independent contractor with no w4 and no compensation or overtime for paying late pick-up fees to do so at the daycare and not being home with my baby)
I also had to pay monthly fees to use their office supplies since I wasn’t an employee even though I was literally required to be there and use their stuff. 

I noticed all the big expensive prizes were gone and then noticed it was empty boxes kept in a back closet and carried to the interview room for their presentations where they then told interviews that they had so many prizes and insentives that they had no choice but to store them in the conference/ interview room. 

They started asking if I knew anyone else that would want to get their license and join. They wanted me to make a list of family and friends in the job market so they could reach out. 

I made $45 in a month there and spent more than that to start. Not to mention all the gas from forcing me to spend my nights and weekends driving to a town 2 hours away to cold door knock with no pay since. And the you’re not trying hard enough or dedicated enough speech for the 2 days I couldn’t drive to the town 2 hours away for cold door knocking sales because I didn’t have the gas money because there was no paychecks and I had to buy diapers for the baby. And the list of addresses was from some database of all people in that zip code over the age of 65. They target the elderly in lower income areas with fixed incomes trying to talk them into buying or switching insurance.

This review is based on my time so far at the Scarborough, Maine office. It’s long, but worth the read if you’re down on your luck and need an opportunity.

To start, this is not the place to be if you’re expecting instant results. You won’t become successful overnight- but that applies to any job. However, this company allows you to become successful much faster and go further than any other.

For some background, I found out about Bankers Life in December of 2023 while delivering pizza to one of the managers. After a few deliveries and some small-talk, he gave me his card and told me to give him a call. After a few conversations, I was met with an important decision: continue delivering pizzas to barely sustain my expenses, or take a leap of faith. 

I took a chance and officially started in February of 2024. The first few months were tough. The training is great, but it wasn’t easy trying to balance prospecting whilst also learning the business. Some weeks, it was downright frustrating. Financially, I was fine- my manager made sure that I could focus on learning instead of worrying about putting food on the table. It was downright frustrating because my effort wasn't yielding the results I wanted. Maybe I was just being too hard on myself. Who knows. But through those frustrating moments, he assured me that it’ll turn around if I keep at it. Even veterans can have tough months.

“Do more, do better.” 

This was the advice I got during those frustrating weeks. It might sound harsh, but sometimes tough love is the answer. If my manager was able to find success whilst having ten times more responsibilities than I do, then I should have no excuses. And that’s really what this job boils down to. It’s an opportunity for something more and something better. For me, it was an opportunity to get my life back on track. It was a chance to do more and do better for myself and my soon-to-be wife. Delivering pizzas paid the bills, but I wanted more out of life. 

Fast forward to now, July of 2024, I survived through the growing pains and am on track to make six figures this year. I lost many evenings to get here. With my sights now set on becoming a licensed financial advisor in the coming year, I know I’ll lose many more. But it’s more than worth it because the return on the time invested simply cannot be beaten elsewhere. 

To be clear, I’m not saying your life will change in a couple of months. But it definitely could in a year, maybe a little longer. I’ll be the first to admit that my luck and effort lined up like the stars. But I’ve come to learn that with enough effort, luck comes around.

Take my experience how you will. If it turns you away, then I’m glad I saved you the time and headache. If you want more out of life and are willing to put the time in, then ignore everything else and take a chance on yourself.

I have been without leads for over a month. The only reason I chose Bankers Life over other insurance opportunities actively pursuing me was because they offered “free quality leads”, which was true for the first 3-3.5weeks tops. After they stopped sending new leads weekly, I worked neighborhood reports and unclaimed leads in the area for as long as I could. But often times those leads are dated, so people have moved or changed numbers. No real way of working leads from 2019/2020 if the contact information is incorrect. It was affecting my number of appointments and number of sales. So after waiting, and waiting for management to assign new workable leads I finally emailed. When met with a response they had the audacity to tell me I have not been working the past few weeks. Though mind you, I have been in and out of the office, making calls in office and at home on my own time, and in the field trying to see the 2 maybe 3 people I could actually get a hold of using those old outdated leads. Then they wanted to say that I had 29untouched assigned leads. It took all I had not to reply with a screen recording of our lead system showing not 1 assigned/available lead. It’s quite frustrating when the group of people who is supposed to support and help you grow is the leading force in your downfall.

Management will also act as if you have no idea what your doing or how to “take advantage of the lead system”. Mangers making comments like “I can show you how to access 2000+ leads”, only to show you the same outdated leads you have been using. BSPN neighborhood reports will often have incorrect phone numbers, incorrect ages, and/or incorrect addresses. The available leads they show you in OSCR are all over 180 days old, as all the new leads are assigned to the agents of their choice the moment they show up in the system. They also send out a spreadsheet every once in a while with a list of everyone turning 65 in the surrounding areas with their address and phone number, YET MORE THAN HALF OF THE CONTACT INFORMATION THERE IS WRONG. But, yes again show me these leads repeatedly as if they will become more workable the 18th time you show them. 

The only saving grace of this job is the pay, and the ability to set your schedule. I just wish I could enjoy the work environment as well.

Sad part is, this review is very obviously written by me. So though I post it anonymously, I feel I’ll still get backlash at work. But hey. If I get fired for calling it how I see it, then so be it. I’ll just be back for review number 2 😂


FULL DISCLOSURE I WORK AT A SATELLITE LOCATION UNDERNEATH THE WILMINGTON BRANCH, NOT THE BRANCH IN WILMINGTON.

I apologize. This is long and boring.  I'm not a writer, but this is a step by step replay of my time with Bankers Life. I am currently employed by this company.  I have been employed by them since the end of August 2018.  This is a rundown of my time with them so far.  

After passing all required courses and receiving my license I attended my first day with them.  On my first day I was given a paper list of names, and sat down at a cubicle with a script.  I was informed that I would be working with what they call a "veteran" the following day, but in order to do that I would need to schedule a full day of appointments for the both of us.  A full day of appointments consists of roughly 8 appointments. So I obliged and did what I could having not received any training at all.  It continued that way for 2 weeks.  Doing nothing but making COLD CALLS with no official training and a script.   

On my third week I showed up to work and asked who I would be working with this week.  My manager tells me, "you'll have to find someone".  Keep in mind I know about 4 or 5 names in the office at this point.  I tried and continue to try to get an experienced partner to work with but all of the veterans have each other scheduled as partners for most of the foreseeable future.   

This entire time I'm questioning the job and it's validity but they tell me to just stick with it and it'll come together eventually.  So I commit to that.  I say okay I'll give it time.  I'll do my best to stay late and get my appointment's set and get people to go out on calls with me.

 After about a month I finally received about a day and a half of "official" training.  Only a day and a half because the second and third days they made me make the same calls I had already been making for a month and called it training.  I continue to do my best to get veterans scheduled with me but I am now two and a half/3 months in and I am completely broke.  I can no longer afford gas to get to work or food. I am required to rely entirely on my significant others income, because I can't get this job to go right.  

I could just be bad at the job.  I won't say that I'm a standout or awesome worker, but I will say I put my best efforts into it. I feel as though I receive no help whatsoever and that me going broke would actually be a laughable topic to most of my management.  I get that it's a cut throat environment, but I don't see the point in hiring people that you have no intention of training whatsoever.  I don't see how they expect me to convince clients that we will do good things with thier investments, when they have done nothing but negative things for my money.

It might be the right job for you, but I wouldn't try it unless you have a good friend in the office, a decent list of clients already, and enough money to live with no income for at least six months.

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