|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Primerica - Not sure what this is????? posted by Theresa on April 05, 2005 at 03:00:21:
Having worked for the parent company, Citigroup, let me share some insight into the errorneous statements made by PFS.
Citigroup DOES NOT have any business obligations (legal or otherwise) with PFS. I know this since I worked for Citigroup Payment Services ( in FL ), which basically paid all the bills for the corporate conglomerate. In the Expense management manual, any expenses submitted by Primerica were to be denied. The only exception is the corporate arm of Primerica (not PFS or anything insurance related.)
Citigroup doesn't even pay for legal! This is only expensed by PFS using Citigroup's name! A parallel can be drawn with TacoBell or McDonalds. Both have corporate and franchise stores. Those run by franchise have their own business, attorneys, insurance, and pay a fee to use the name. McDonalds simply lends the name (Quality control included) to attract business, but franchise has no relationship to the parent company.
I went to a seminar my brother invited me to on Thursday. Another action that proves Primerica will hire anyone off the street. My brother has a diagnosed learning disability! He's slow and sometimes fumbles his words. Nothing wrong with that in the family. We love him just the same, but as soon as I found out this whole primerica thing is a scam, I pulled him out of it.
It turns out one of his friends got involved in it and started the classes and all. I'm trying to pull her out of it also.
Then I went for this "interview" with the RVP. Ladies and Gentleman, I'm a Sales consultant for a Saturn dealership in Florida. I KNOW how to sell a product. They were telling me how the don't usually like to hire salespersons or those from financial services because they have to be "re-trained." I'm sorry, any reasonablely, college educated individual will undoubtedly see that this is nothing more than a scam. Throughout this "presentation," the emphasis was always about recruiting and not selling.
What were the products? They kept telling me that cash value is evil and only term life was the way to go. Why don't they explain why? Outline it in greater detail and people will believe you! Not these people. It was just a big scam aimed at not so much the $199, but getting you to expose your contacts. Friends, family, relatives, co-workers, et cetera. The "warm" list.
I found it interesting that they don't advertise? Coming from sales, I know that advertising is a life line in my business and brings in a large amount of traffic to the dealership. They said "word of mouth" was more effective than advertising. Again, another lie.
At the end of the interview, I asked the RVP a critical question that pretty much told me that this was not right. I asked him "How do you prospect?" Again, prospecting and qualifying is a part of my business and it is how I make my living. He beated around the bush saying that referrals will lead to more referrals and so on.
The only problem with just constant referrals is that it's a circle, not a web. Eventually, your brother's friends sisters aunts uncles brother's friend will eventually come back to you and your brother. At this point, you'll be dead in the water. Afterall, there is no advertising on their end and no prospecting! You WILL run out of friends and family to sell or recruit! It is a finite resource!
Don't trust your finances with some high school dropout just because he/she wears the Primerica name! I have an American Express Financial advisor and while I paid him $500 dollars to develop a comprehensive plan for my future (IRA, stocks, etc), he was licensed and educated! He even showed me his resume showing where he got his MBA and his previous employers like the Lincoln Financial Group.
Still skeptical? http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/3440269.txt
This SEC filed proceedings against PFS in 1998 because their agents in Michigan were ripping people off!
An excerpt from the Footnotes of the SEC file stating that Primerica is, in fact, an MLM!
[3]:Vecchioni, a top salesman nationwide at PFS, recruited
Michael, Zoppi and Sowles. In accordance with the companies'
financial incentives to create marketing hierarchies, Michael,
Zoppi and Sowles each created his own extensive and successful
marketing hierarchy. The hierarchies, however, were related
through Vecchioni and the four Dearborn registered
representatives shared offices.