(Texas)
If you are searching for a full time position with little-to-no back-up plan or support system in place, proceed with caution. Only a few people are in a financial position to do this job and there are a few unwritten rules you will need to learn in order to be successful at AMBA. Beware of the positive endorsements and platitudes on some of the other reviews here, as they are simply sales pitches.
• Personal Investment:
- You are required to pay for training.
- You pay for your insurance licensing.
- You pay for fingerprinting and background check.
- You pay for the all hotel stays.
- You pay your own gas.
- Interest on draws - You will be charged interest on "renewals", or residuals.
• Low Name Recognition:
- The company, and its endorsed associations have very little name recognition within the market.
- You must rely on the endorsements of the Texas Retired Teachers Association and the Retired State Employees Association, both of which have very low name recognition and require you to educate potential clients when scheduling or presenting.
• No Pre-Authorization For Site Visits:
- There is no person or position in place to set up, or keep up-to-date, legitimate authorization for the benefits advisors to do business with the target customers (Schools and State Offices).
- You are expected to procure authorization yourself.
* Most Managers recommend or press to make an end-around on legitimate authorization and set up appointments at schools or state offices with someone who did not have the authority to do so. You can expect to be asked to leave after it is discovered that you did not follow the proper channels when setting a site visit. It is also possible that the company is then “black-listed” and not ever allowed back. A common office place saying is “It is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission”.
• Archaic Contact System:
- There is no contact management system in place.
- You are given a printed list of schools or state offices to contact. The main contact is usually inaccurate on these lists. It is more effective to drive to the location to set up an appointment for a site visit– even if that means driving up to 100+ miles.
- Existing customer leads are not up-to-date. Non-working contact numbers, unreliable addresses. Cold calling sometimes works for those 1 in 10 leads with accurate information.
• Less time to sell:
- You will spend a good amount of your week (at least 1 or 2 days) setting up appointments.
- You will normally be required to attend a sales meeting one day a week.
• No Internal Incentive for Development or Retention:
- The business is set up so that managers continue to receive commissions on the sales of benefits advisors who quit or were fired.
- Managers are also selling, so this puts you in a competitive position with your manager for leads, events, contacts and ultimately, sales.
- If your sales take a dip, you are on your own – only the most successful are rewarded or receive support.
• Favoritism:
- Depending on your manager, you will need to become very close or “chummy” in order to get the best trickle-down leads and assignments.
- There is a possibility that you will have appointments that you set for visits taken from you and given to someone more "successful" than you.
- As stated earlier: If your sales take a dip, you are on your own – only the most successful are rewarded, receive support and communication.
