Complaint Review: Primerica - Deluth Georgia

Pyramid scheme? What constitutes a pyramid scheme? Valparaiso University has a president over several vice presidents. Each vice presidents is, in turn, over deans; and the deans are over department chairs. The chairs oversee the professors and administrators. Whether we look at school, business, or government, all hierarchies are pyramidal in structure. And, each ascending level in every structure earns more than its inferiors. Pyramid scheme? Tim, what make's Primerica more of a pyramid scheme than your current place of employment? Valpo is a great school; but it is too small to accommodate everyone who wants a chance to study there. Valpo can only accept 35 candidates a year in its law program; but it receives some 2000 applications each year. Down I-65 however, IUPUI maintains an open door policy. Anyone that meets its minimum qualifications is admitted. The assumption is that those who are not qualified will eventually drop out. These are two opposing systems. One admits only the highest qualified candidates for a limited number of seats. The other gives everyone a chance to prove themselves. Primerica practices the latter. Primerica has open admission to anyone who meets the state's statute defined qualifications for insurance and financial representatives. One of Primerica's top earners has only a sixth grade education. Tim, you are suggesting that this person should have been forced to remain destitute. Rather than asking your legislature to change state law to deny people of opportunities, you complain that Primerica respects your state's political decisions. Our open acceptance to give anyone a chance that wants a chance is compatible with your own state's institutions. Are we to be accused of desparate impact because you do not want us to give certain classes of people the chance they so eagerly want? No! You wanted your chance. We gave you that chance. You squandered the opportunities given to you. You chose to come to meetings; but you did not put in the required effort in between. You had an opportunity to build your own business; but you expected that business to build itself. Regardless of what type of business a person starts, it takes many long hours of hard work and perseverance to see that business grow and prosper. You planted your garden but refused to tend it; so you are angry at the seed manufacturer rather than yourself, the gardener. I know a scuba diver that took out a second mortgage to obtain the $90,000 necessary to rent a store front, stock the store, and to have operating capital. This business owner not only runs the store 62 hours per week, this owner also travels to adjoining communities to conduct diving lessons. Primerica is different. Your only initial startup cost was $199. Yet, the windfall in a financial services business would have been much greater than some small town store. What lets the storeowner succeed where you failed, however, is that store owner's dedication to the business. How miserably that dive shop would have failed had the owner only attempted to open the store's door on sporadic, arbitrary moments. Tim, you failed because you were not dedicated to your goals. Like the many people who enter law school but drop out, you dropped out of your own dream to become a business owner in a finance enterprise. Should IUPUI close its doors to everyone because some qualified individual decided it was easier to quit than to proceed? Simply because you chose to quit your dream rather than work diligently to achieve your dreams, it does not follow that Primerica should deny others a chance to achieve their goals. Tim, in Valparaiso, Primerica did not cheat you or let you down in anyway. You cheated yourself out of your own dreams. You dropped out without completing the education you began. You did not tend your garden. You did not open your store to the public. You let yourself down. You simply do not have the self-esteem to face the truth that no one hurt you; nor did you hurt anyone else. Your lack of ambition only hurt yourself.

Question from a previous rebuttal: "These recruits want fast easy pay without personal effort. In short, they want free money. These recruits often lack the ability to responsibly operate their own business. And, these recruits lack the advanced education needed to successfully comprehend insurance and financial instruments. So, what are we to do with them?" Answer so obvious that it hurts: DON'T RECRUIT THEM! That whole "we're not so elitist that we won't offer EVERYONE a gig" line is garbage. You aren't doing Joe-illiterate a favor by convincing him to waste his time and money on an endeavor at which he will never succeed. 5% of the sales force earns over 50k per year. That's a pretty shoddy stat. You've got 30 miilionaires out of how many agents over the years? That's not a great stat either, in fact it is ecpected that any pyramidn scheme will have a few millionaires around. If somebody wasn't making money, nobody would perpetuate they system.

It is true - Primerica is mostly interested in new recruits. Like Avon or Tupperware, Primerica is a direct marketing company that sells to friends and relatives. Recruits are the best source for new referrals. Primerica is also a personal business opportunity. Primerica reps are private contractors, not employees. As their own boss, no one can make any Primerica rep do anything that rep does not want to do. Reps are encouraged to attend meetings for their weekly dose of inspiration; working in isolation can be very demoralizing. For those who are self-motivated and live far from their base shop, these reps do often work independently without attending either weekly session - the overview/recruitment session or the product training session. As far as pay goes, one cannot be paid until after one is licensed by the state. Nor are commissions retroactive after you are licensed. Any sales that you produce after you receive your confirmation letter from Primerica stating that they are in receipt of your license and that you are now eligible to receive commissions, you are entitled to those commissions. If there is a dispute with your trainer, you could call the Primerica commission hotline to resolve that dispute. Primerica would then contact the client to inquire whose customer that client felt he was, yours or your trainer's. If the client confirms that you were, in fact, instrumental in the sale, your portion of the commission would be given to you and your trainer would have been charged back the overpayment. As far as available offices are concerned, you did not have to work out of the office your trainer is associated with - that is a common misconception perpetuated by uneducated, poorly qualified reps. You can work from the office that is closes to your home, the office where you feel you receive the best support, or any office that you choose. Remember, you are your own personal business - you have complete control over it. As far as income is concerned, consider Primerica's recruitment pitch: Primerica has 14 reps making $2,000,000-$5,000,000 per year. Primerica has 30 reps that make $1,000,000-$2,000,000 per year. There are currently 1,835 reps that earn $100,000-$900,000. And, Primerica has 4,314 reps that earn $50,000-$99,000 per year. 14 + 30 + 1835 + 4314 = 6193 representatives. In a company that has 115,000 representatives, only 5.4% of its sales force earns over $50,000 per year. Primerica recruits over 150,000 reps per year. But, the sales force only grows by 2,000 reps per year. This means that over 97.5% of the recruits quit within their first year. And, the law of large numbers demand that there is less than a 10% chance of success for those who do remain. Primerica, like any other insurance/financial venture, is not easy. Nor is building your own personal business simple. It takes many long hours of hard work and sacrifice. Above all, it take perseverance. Unfortunately, there are way too many recruits that sees Primerica as some sort of get-rich-quick scheme. But, being seduced by the idea of fast riches usually foreshadows a recruits under-qualifications. These recruits want fast easy pay without personal effort. In short, they want free money. These recruits often lack the ability to responsibly operate their own business. And, these recruits lack the advanced education needed to successfully comprehend insurance and financial instruments. So, what are we to do with them? Primerica prides itself on not being an elitist institution. Primerica does not restrict its access to recruits with degrees in finance; nor does Primerica restrict its access to customers with at least a $50,000 annual income. Primerica does not discount people who have never had an opportunity to achieve their goals. The Primerica opportunity is available to anyone and everyone. If you think you have what it takes to build your own business, then Primerica will give you the opportunity you seek. What you do with that opportunity is up to you. You can dedicate yourself to your goal; or you can chose to squander your chance while you continue to search for a get-rich-quick scheme. The Primerica opportunity takes hard work; it is not easy. It takes much more than 40 hours a week; often several years as well. Most reps that stay on with Primerica do so on a part-time basis. They continue their careers, selling financial products on the side to friends, neighbors, and social contacts. If most of the reps that you knew only made $5,000 per year, that is still a very respectable part-time income to supplement your current wages. Finally, Primerica is big in partnership. Primerica reps need a very supportive partner to provide financial support while the recruit develops the personal business. That partnership requires respect for each other. If a recruit's partner was uncomfortable with the Primerica recruiter, a recruit must respect those feelings and pass the opportunity by. If the partner is encouraging of Primerica, then the recruit should shop around to the numerous base shops in your area to find an office where both the recruit and partner feels comfortable.