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Multi Level Marketing Submitted: 6/19/2001
Modified: 2/10/2004 8:36:42 PM
Questions You Should Ask Your Primerica Recruiter! Don't be another victim of the Primerica scam? *You decide. *Consumer Comment ..I AM HAPPY TO SEE YOU ARE PARROTING ME
Company
Primerica
Address:
Nationwide, U.S.A.
Phone Number:
Fax:
If you are in the process of being recruited by a Primerica "Personal Financial Analyst", here are some questions you should ask your recruiter, as part of your decision making process.
Don't be afraid to ask these questions as part of your research before making a decision.
Ask them to answer these questions directly and to provide documentation to back up their claims.
Do not accept anecdotal answers. If your recruiter won't put their answers on paper, ask them if they have anything to hide.
REMEMBER: In all likelihood, THEY are trying to entice YOU to join them. This means they have an obligation to give you straight answers, instead of answering your questions with another question (a common sales trick).
Be sure to read everything you are presented with, especially the "IBA"!
The "IBA" is a contract between you and the company.
Like any business contract, you should let a lawyer review it with you before you sign it.
Don't enter into any "business venture" lightly - your time and money are on the line!
MOST OF ALL - USE COMMON SENSE - IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT USUALLY IS!
"OPPORTUNITY" RELATED QUESTIONS:
1) Please show me your tax returns for each and every year you have been in PFS.
If the tax returns look impressive - ask the following:
2) How many people do you over-ride (through all generations), and what is their individual average annual income from earned commissions, net of chargebacks?
(Demand a real average - not an "on track" number).
3) What percentage of your company's total sales force earn the "six-figure incomes" that you say are possible in the business?
How long does it take the average person to earn a six-figure income in this business, or is it true, as presented in the opportunity meeting disclaimers, that "only the super-achievers" can earn this kind of money?
4) What percentage of your total reported sales force earns over $50,000 per year, net of chargebacks?
Is this calculated on a calendar-year basis or on a rolling 12-month basis?
5) If I'm interested in becoming a financial planning professional, and I wanted to take courses to become an accredited financial planner (CFP, PFP) with a professional designation, would Primerica pay for these courses?
6) If I told you today that I was interested and wanted to learn more about the business, would you take me on 10 of your own personally-booked appointments (booked with contacts that you have personally generated, without my assistance) to see if I like the business?
Would you do this without me paying $199 for an IBA, and without me providing you a list of my friends and relatives, also known as a "warm-market list"?
If I decide to join, will you train me by bringing me on your own personally-generated appointments, so that I can use my "warm market list" for myself when I am licensed?
7) Please show me your day-planner for the past 6 months and please show me your gross sales figures for the same period, including chargebacks.
Please show me your business-related expenses over the same period (ie: car, gas, food, etc), so that I can have a reasonable idea of what I can expect to spend to generate income.
8) How many Primerica agents quit each year, and how is this expressed as a percentage of the sales force?
How does this compare to the industry at large?
Can you provide third-party evidence to support your claims?
9) How can I become a Regional Vice-President without recruiting people to go and recruit more people?
10) Why should I show up to the same Amway-style "opportunity meeting" week after week?
11) Is this Multi-Level Marketing?
(If they say it is NOT multi-level marketing, or use the famous "Do you like Multi-Level Marketing" script, they may be breaking Federal/State/and Provincial laws). "Network Marketing" is just another way of saying "Multi-Level Marketing".
12) One of your leaders has been quoted as saying that "The Secret of PFS is to keep 'em coming and going.".
Is it true that this business is often described by your leaders as "a numbers game" and that "...if you throw enough SH** against the wall, some of it will stick"?
Am I one of these numbers?
CONSUMER/PRODUCT RELATED QUESTIONS:
1) Why does Citibank offer VISA cards to customers who just consolidated their debt through Primerica with a $MART LOAN?
Doesn't this seem hypocritical to you?
2) If Cash-Surrender/Cash-Value/Whole-Life insurance is as bad as you say it is, why does Primerica make millions of dollars of profit from its sale each year, through their wholly-owned subsidiary, National Benefit Life, as reported in Best's Review?
(PFS agents in New York state are licensed through National Benefit Life.)
3) What percentage of your sales force are professional financial planners, ie: CFPs?
Why are there so few? Is there no value in becoming a certified professional?
4) According to your company web-site, (
www.pfsnet.com), hidden under "important disclosures" the FNA is "not a financial plan" and PFS reps are "not financial planners".
Do you let prospective customers know that you are not financial planners and that they should seek the advice of a professional planner if they wish to obtain a financial plan?
5) If "Buy Term and Invest the Difference" makes sense for most people, wouldn't people benefit most by buying the CHEAPEST term available from a top-rated company, and investing the difference?
6) Why would I re-finance my debt with you at a higher interest rate when I could go to an independent mortgage broker and get a lower rate and similar prepayment options?
7) Can I purchase no-load mutual funds or index funds from you?
8) Can you provide me with a written financial plan detailing advanced estate planning and taxation issues?
9) Is it true that "Personal Financial Analyst" is just a proprietary term developed by your company, and is not a professional designation?
10) I've heard many of your agents suggest that banks and insurance companies have been ripping off consumers for years. How do you explain the fact that your sister companies include a company that finances consumer debt at interest rates as high as 28.8 per cent (Citifinancial/ex-Associates) , a whole-life/cash value insurance company (Travelers and NBL), and one of the worlds largest banks (Citibank) who make BILLIONS from consumer debt each year?
11) Are you willing to put all of your answers in writing, and subject them to the scrutiny of Federal/State/Provincial regulators?
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COMING SOON! - SCANS OF RECRUITING SCRIPTS AND OBJECTION HANDLING MANUALS - SEE HOW EVERYTHING YOU'VE BEEN TOLD IS PRE-PLANNED AND SCRIPTED!
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PFSWATCH