Combined Insurance Employee Reviews about "commission"

Cons

They hire anyone. You are in a room, which extremely unprofessional peers and leadership. The schooling in Chicago, elicits a robotic and cult like feel. They make you memorize scripts verbatim and chant cheesy lines as a form of motivation. You have to hustle knocking door to door on businesses. They present the idea, that leads are provided. By leads, they mean a list of businesses in your designated area which you cold call and randomly door knock. Compensation for worksite is only 55%, versus life insurance which is typically 75-90%. Guaranted pay goes by very quickly and is not enough to sustain a person. The expense of gas is high as you have to drive to random businesses, in your attempt to bombard them with a forced sales presentation. I've witnessed leadership, be overbaring to the point of their very presence creating a high degree of tension by simply walking through the door. It's an embarrassing feeling as well as association.

Cons

Because of this commission based pay it can feel at times that everyone is just around for the money (which they are) but they push on you to make sales and get kind of angry when you don't. If that environment is good for you then there really are no other problems with the job. If you don't like people constantly being on you to make sales (to reflect their pay check) then it's not the job

Cons

-For starters, most of the income numbers they share are fallacies. I was the #1 agent a year and I outsold all of my colleagues by a big margin, and I barely made a living. You are paid advance commissions. So when you sell a policy, you are paid half up front, 25% upon issuance of the policy, and the remaining 25% is broken into 3 payments - paid during month 10, 11, and 12 that the policy is in effect. You are also paid a 2-5% residual on the monthly payments every month thereafter. IF AND WHEN the policy is cancelled or does not get issued, you will receive a charge back to your account for any commissions paid (not pro-rated) and this is wipes out future commissions and is not taken into account when they calculate income #s. Keep in mind that this is supplemental insurance, so when money gets tight for customers, this is the very first thing that gets cut and it happens often. After 6 months I was congratulated for earning $30k and being on pace for $75k in the first year, but I had actually only totaled $17k in paychecks. -Territories also are not protected and neither are customers. Other agents can come by at any time and work in your area or sell to your existing contacts/customers (there have been several instances of agents rewriting policies, getting customers to cancel existing policies to sell a new one under their account) -Expenses are your own. You will spend tons of time driving, and the general rule of thumb is that you get 1 sale for every 5 solid appointments. There are lots of distant meetings to attend as well. You are not reimbursed for gas, meals, or anything else, save those receipts and claim it on your taxes. -You are also taxed at a flat rate of 20%. This was a shock for me when I was due a check for $2000 and my check came out to <$1600. -Your vehicle will endure substantial wear and tear. You have to be out selling if you want to make any money, regardless of holidays, weekends, weather, etc. Tons of miles. Gas will cost you upwards of $150-$200/week. -You will also spend an extensive amount of time on this job, and also at home. I found myself waking up at 730, getting ready and leaving at 830, first appointment/meeting at 9, last appointment at 7, home by 730, on the phone til 9, paperwork (lots of it) until 11 or 12, and then readying my outfit for the next day. -Leads are provided, but they are lacking. Most leads are just info on existing/former customers, and the info is usually wrong and they don’t qualify for anything. -Promotions are also difficult to get. You need consistently high production for 2 straight quarters (and this dries up the well). You have to drive farther to find new prospects, policies begin to drop (this affects your quality rating, and if it drops below 80% you are ineligible for promotions, incentives, and bonuses), and sales decline. -Making TM is even more difficult. You need to blow the doors off and set records with production, and there needs to be an opening. I made TM, but it was a nightmare. a spot opened up and I was called upon to 'help out' agents to help them close sales. This kept me out of the field and my sales dropped. This continued for 2 months with the carrot constantly being dangled in front of me. I was also told I would have to relocate and would not be reimbursed. When I finally was promoted the MD made it sound like he was doing me a favor. At every turn I was reminded of this and it was as if I had to earn my keep. You get a $1000/week base salary for the first 13 weeks (then it drops to $1000/month) plus commission. You are required to field train your team of agents 3 days/week and expected to have them hit all of their goals and win awards, and you ride solo 2 days a week. It's impossible. I found myself working weekends and spending 12 hour days with my frustrated agents. Unless you have a team of crack agents, you will fail. -Longevity and retention is a huge problem with this company. You will be force fed these stories about people making tons of money and winning all of these awards, but those people are few and far between. THIS COMPANY WILL HIRE ANYBODY WITH A PULSE. Buyer beware! As long as you pass your insurance license test (which 70% of the time you have to pay for) you will be hired. One of my agents they hired was a 67 year old man that could barely read and mental math (as simple as 19 + 14) absolutely eluded him. Remember, this is supplemental insurance - the people that need it don't have money or benefits. Most prospects are unemployed or below the poverty line. People with money don't have a need for the products, and if you can't develop a need, they won't buy -OVERALL - this is a decent job if you are strapped for cash and need it quick, or if you are looking to build some initial real world experience. If you are already an experienced sales agent, I would go elsewhere with a better product portfolio where you will be more successful.

Cons

Need to be highly motivated with good work ethic! Cold calling is a must! The leads that are provided are often over worked and cherry picked prior to distribution. The potential income is largely exaggerated. Name recognition is not what it should be competitively. Most importantly, one is often very surprised by one's expected paycheck. 100% commission job that's not a true con unless you don't understand that. 6 weeks of a stipend isn't much for an inexperienced agent. Don't leave a steady secure paycheck for promises of grandeur!

Cons

Like any sales job, you get out of it what you put into it. You are provided with all of the tools you need to succeed but this job is not for everyone.

Cons

Commissions are far below average and leads are old and unreliable.

Cons

bad management, greedy, unprofessional, you will owe the company $5000 for your training if you don't sell enough to pay for your training. Training is NOT free. Deceiving.