Senior Healthcare Consultants: How safe are they for agents?

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 07:39 pm Post Subject: Are you $hi++ing me??

All I can say is WOW! I found this thread while I was on hold with the 800 number listed in an SHC recruiting email I got from my resume being posted on Career Builder. They must have done an auto scan on my resume and picked up the word "insurance" from when I started my IT career with an insurance company in the early '80s. Never being in sales, I thought, hey, as an IT manager all these years, half my job is "selling" anyway (IT folks know what I mean), so why not call the number and check it out! After getting off of hold and being forwarded to a voicemailbox for the recruiter listed on the email and leaving a message, I finished reading this and know to definitely stay the hell away from SHC! Now with this info in hand, when the recruiter calls me back, I think I'll have some fun with her! It will be interesting to see what kind of responses she has! Thank you all for saving me and many others a lot of potential time, effort, money and grief with this piece of $*!+ company!

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 01:40 pm Post Subject:

I was going through a rip off report about SHC before I could reac h this forum but they seemed to provide quite a good feedback about this company. I am a little confused though after reading all the negatives written here as I was looking for some Senior Healthcare Consultants complaints just to check out if they are a worthwhile company or not. I have an interview lined up with them on the 22nd of this month. Any advice?

Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:42 pm Post Subject:

Curiousnneedhelp – You need to understand that Rip Off Reports works like the Better Business Bureau. Meaning, as long as the company replies and tries to work out a solution with the complainant they will receive a good score. You need to make an educated judgment on what you believe to be true. In fact chances are that all the complaints are true, but as long as SHC works with Rip Off Reports they will seem like a good company.

If you are just getting into insurance sales, STAY WAY from SHC. There are tons of companies out there that will pay for your training. This is of course in exception to your licensing; just about, everyone will want you to obtain your license on your own.

I shortly worked for SHC, and I posted here before. I can say that almost all of the claims about the company are true. I can promise you that you have a 99% chance of losing your money if you go with them.

During your interview, ask them about some of these reports. I would put money on your interviewer getting nasty.

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:05 am Post Subject: amazed

I can't believe people are so bitter here.

I have recently gone through the interviews with this company, and to be fair I have seen nothing held back.

Are they going to make themselves look bad? No of course not. But in all fairness they lay out everything to you.

Every bit of information conveyed here in complaints has been explained fully to me by recruiters. SHC explains what you could pay for in the beginning, the 18 dollars per preset appointment is not a surprise at the last minute. If anyone with half a brain searches the website and reviews the information(like SHC requests you do) they will know all this information.

To be honest anyone who gets all the way to Dallas, THEN decides they don't like all these fees is an idiot. If the company isn't for you, don't go for it. There may be better out there, but by no means is this a scam.

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 01:15 am Post Subject:

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 01:19 am Post Subject: You Decide

I have been through the webinar by Fritz Simonson and have had a phone interview with him. Don't know if they are going to "select" me, but let me give you my thoughts about the company so far.
1. The management team is very young. Most are in their early 30s. I am always concerned when the people running a company are this young.
2. They are concerned with money and perks. They have a hunting lodge and they give away Range Rovers. I am always concerned with a "high roller" mentality. It is easy for people with this attitude lose site of the big picture.
3. Their CFO is not a CPA and apparently has never held any significant CFO or Controller position in the past. In fact, he used to be a salesman for SHC. This shows they are more concerned about sales experience than financial accounting experience. They won't be able to grow without real financial leadership.
4. They don't want to show you any financial information on the financial strength of the company. Let me ask you, if you are going to spend 60 to 70 hours a week building a commission stream, wouldn't you want to know how financially sound they are? Wouldn't it really suck if you worked for a couple years and then had the company go out of business and see your commissions go away? Of course you would. SHC won't do business with an insurance company if they aren't financially sound, why would you want to do business with a company that can't prove to you they are financially sound. Fritz got a little testy with me when I asked him for audited financial statements. Wonder why? If you are financially sound, you shouldn't have a problem showing financials.
5. Most of the testimonials on their website are officers or senior managers. Not much from the rank and file. Wonder why?
6. A new agent’s day will start at 6 am with a conference call with your manager. This was not disclosed until the phone interview. With this schedule it is conceivable you will be working 70 to 80 hours. The early literature says you will not have Saturday appointments, as you get further into the interview process, that becomes less clear. Additionally, they say you won't have appointments on Sunday or Monday, again given the "don't quit until you meet your quota" mentality, I don't believe it.
7. I would assume their sales have been taken a hit with the bad economy. Baby boomers are delaying retirement because their investments took a 30% to 50% hit last year. Since they are continuing to work, they are still receiving medical insurance from their company plans.
8. They like to send "new" salespeople to small towns. Apparently small town people are easier sells. So expect to log some serious out of town travel in your first year.
9. You do it their way or the highway. GEt used to that answer.
10. I asked him what happens when you go to an appointment and the person acts like they don't know about it or refuse to let you in. His response was you tell them you are going to call back to the "office" and listen to the recording of all the calls setting up the appointment. He said they will usually feel guilty and let you in. That is the type of attitude you have to have to succeed. I also asked him how he would handle an irate son or daughter that was upset you had their retired parent sign something without consulting the son or daughter. He said you ask them if the son or daughter is an expert in Medicare? Will it work? Probably. But that is the type of attitude you have to have. But the bottom line is you will pay $18 for each appointment, whether you get in the door or not. Translation, you are wrong, SHC is right. Get used to that answer.
11. They never talk about customer service. It is all about making your quota and doing it the SHC way. If you don't make a sale, it is your fault for not following the SHC way. They believe their approach is bulletproof if followed to the letter.
12. You have to pay for your own training. It is $599 plus travel, food and lodging in Dallas. The problem with paying for the training is they don't really have anything invested in making good selections for new agents. If an agent doesn't work out, SHC isn't out anything. No harm to the company. In fact, they just made money. A little bit of a conflict of interest here if you ask me.
13. Go watch the testimonials. Look at the senior executives eyes. Do you see any real empathy? Do you see any real excitement? Do they look exceptionally smart? Do you see anyone with gray hair? You be the judge.
14. They are very upfront about how hard the job is. They tell you what the costs will be and they tell you it is all about making money. I give them props for that. I am sure there are some people make a lot of money. I am also sure there are people who are barely making any money. I would say the people making a lot of money are few and far between, and that the executives are making a killing.
It really comes down to me that I don't know if they are financially stable and I question how young the management team is. I also see warning signs in the "high roller" personalities I see. I do think helping seniors make a decision on their healthcare is very important and I have no doubt that if you apply the SHC process you will be successful. But does that translate into actually helping the senior? Tough call.

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 01:37 am Post Subject: Senior Healthcare Consultants

I worked in the corporate office for 3 months. What I found out is that they routinely hire sales people and then terminate them when it's time to pay commission checks. I would NOT recommend getting tangled up wth this company, they are shady in their businss practices.

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 08:55 pm Post Subject: It is true, they Scam

I am an experienced agent, 10 yrs. I worked for them for 2 mos. I Sold 10 policies my first week out and made less than $600. This was a high closing rate. I went out and found extra customers to sell to while I was running the appointments. The appointments are 75% bogus. The people think that you are from Medicare. SHC is always looking over their shoulder. They tell you not to replace A policy that they previously sold to a customer, it is called churning. They will still send to existing customers and expect you to get them to switch anyway to a new policy. This is because they get more first year commissions than from the existing renewals. They are covered if you get caught because you signed that you wouldn't do it, so they fire you but still get paid. They encourage getting a sale regardless of which company the senior already has, even if it is worse or more expensive. They teach you to badmouth every competitor and give you propaganda to carry, even if it is a company that they can sell also. They try to teach hard- one time close. You will pay to work for them, they put no skin the game. They will keep your commissions to pay for leads, you pay to get all the training, you pay all expenses. If you close lots of sales they will increase the percentage of hold back on your checks. When you leave, you will never get a call or e-mail returned about anything, even if you think they owe you money. You will have bosses, not managers to listen to and to report to, many of them. The appointments are bad, they will give you a list of existing customers to try and go churn into new policies. Stay away. With my high closing ratio, and Senior Market Experience, I quit fast after seeing that SHC was going to benefit most of the work. They raised my Holdback after seeing a high close ratio. Nothing I could do about it. The insurance company pays them directly and they give you a cut, whatever they want to.

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 07:45 am Post Subject:

I wonder what would happen if everyone that worked for SHC got together and made a mass Texas Department of Insurance complaint. Is there anything that they could get “hit” on or are their shady practices just enough in the grey area to stay safe? Is there even a grey area?

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 12:40 pm Post Subject: SHC

What can I say....every negative thing you read on here is true. I don't even know where to start....how about... I LOST THOUSANDS.

I lasted a little over a month - never did get a paycheck.

I was given 4 pre set appointments my very first day. 3 of the 4 were not even home. So, right off the bat I was at a negative $54.

The management will call and leave you voice mails all day long wanting you to call them. All they want to know is $$$$$ - what did you sell?

If you call them, they don't answer the phone. When you leave them a voice mail with a question, your call is NEVER returned.

You are expected to sit in these morning meetings and listen to the same crap over and over - all about the money! If you miss a meeting, you get voice mails that say "why weren't you in the meeting? It is a requirement."

By the end of my first week, I was at a negative of over $250 due to the charges for pre sets. By the way, at least half of them were no shows or told me to get lost when I got there. Most of the seniors have absolutely no idea why you are there.

That's not all. Until you sell $10,000 in production a week, you do not get any reimbursement for gas, lodging, etc. So add another $200 to that $250 after my first week. Now I'm in the hole $450.

Then, they send me 4 hours to field train on my dime again. So, now add another $100 to that. After one week I am negative $550.

After field training I only sold two Medicare supplements so they removed me from pre set appointments. What does that mean? That I had to find doors to go knock on and sell a certain amount before I get leads back...if you can even call them that. By the way, I was told that you only get taken off pre sets after your learning curve...which I had just been told two days earlier was 6-8 weeks. Well, this was after 2 1/2 weeks that I was taken off pre set appointments. Then, when I asked about it, well imagine that, I misunderstood. Yeah, right.

So, then I spend another $100 to field train again. I requested the trainer come to me because of the money situation. Of course not...I again drove and paid for yet another hotel.

Then, surprise..surprise...after my second field train I was being sent almost 2 1/2 hours from my home. I was expected to either drive it up and back every day or get a hotel. Either way, it cost me over $200 for the week. I requested to immediately be moved closer to my home until I could get ahead. I was told a request would be put in. Yeah right. I turned around only to see I was being sent there again the next week.

Finally, I had no choice but to quit. Do you think SHC cared? Not a chance.

So, here's the deal...I was told when I interviewed that I should plan on only making $200-$400 a week for my first few weeks. Well, I never made a dime. Then I was lead to believe I would get 3-4 quality pre set appointments a day. First of all, they were either not home or tried to get rid of me when I got there. Second of all, I got 3, 2 or sometimes even 1 pre set a day...meaning hard core door to door selling which you are told this job is not. The website says you should be able to travel within 90 miles. Then when you get to Texas you are told "that is just an average"...be prepared to travel up to 4 hours! Are you kidding me? After already spending a non refundable $599 set up fee. Wow!

My advice to you...if you are not a hard core salesperson...don't bother. You will end up regretting it. They lead you to believe that is not what this job is. Don't fall for it. Also, if you don't have at least $5,000 to pay for this and still keep your bills going...forget it.

Overall, I don't recommend this place to anyone for any reason.