stay away from WFG

Todd wrote:

When they start the presentation...
They will try to direct you to sit as close to the front of the room as possible. You may see agents rushing the people they invited to the presentation to the front and fighting for front row seats. The rest of the agents fill up the chairs in the room to make it look like a full turn out.
Now you get to watch a short video about why WFG is so great followed by a 30 min-1 hour presentation.
At the end you will be givin a card to fill out telling what you are interested in with WFG.

I was not directed towards the front as the seats were already taken. They put out enought chairs for 3 rows of 10 and added more as needed. WFG agents filled out the seats and were present for the seminar. As per Todd it did make it look like a full turnout.

I was quite disapponted that there was No Video. Instead we had 2 guest speakers (Who were WFG agents).

The card was given out during Registration.

Todd wrote:

They will try to set up a recruiting appointment with you within 48 hours and tell you that it's so important that you need to take time off of work to be there if you can.
They may say things like, "Bob is an MD here and he was telling me about how impressed he was with you when he met you, I hope he has time to interview you."
Then that person goes and gets Bob and Bob will say something like "The only time I have to meet with you in tommorw at 3 or the next day at 4:30" They will act like they are really busy to make your interview seem like it's really important.

They did try to set up a meeting in the next 2 days, but I won't be available.

Todd wrote:

Then they will try to rush you out of there as soon as they set a time with you. Make sure you stay around as long as possible because everyone will be waiting for you to leave so they can have their postgame meeting. So if you stick around and be really friendly and talk to all the black/gold/bronze name tags they will have to wait until you leave to start their meeting because they want all the REDS out.
If they finally ask you to leave, tell them you are so excited about WFG and want to join for sure and ask them if you can stay for their meeting after the meeting. Usually if you make them believe you are joining them for sure they will let you stay for this and then you will might see/hear some f___ed up s___. Pull your name tag off and there will be less of a chance they tone it down for you.

I was unable to get into the post meeting as they had a WFG Agent escort me to a smaller meeting room. I told them that I would be busy for the next few days, so we had the recruiting meeting right away.

I'll give you the details in a later post.

What material was covered in the meeting Sgt Steele?

or all they did was talk about what you can make and blah blah blah.

Todd wrote:

Anyways, this is the basic format for how these things go. Lots of variations though because WFG agents preach and preach all the time about "follow our system and you will win with WFG", but almost no one actually follows it exactly.

I can see that there is a basic format. You were pretty spot on with the WFG procedure.

Todd wrote:

<quoted text>
The whole thing is designed to run like a machine. A recruiting machine, there are reasons they do things a certain way to effect you subconsciousley and it's all planned right out and it's supposed to be exactly the same every week.
The reason I am saying 'supposed' to be is because WFG agents are sloppy and depending on the office you may not notice what's going on or you may be more like "hold crap these people are sooo unprofessional".... It's like a woman who is wearing makeup, some women you can tell they have 50 layers painted on their face but the point of wearing makeup is to make it look like you aren't wearing any at all.

I will go into detail about the Presentation later but the way everything was run was quite unprofessional.
There was alot of confusion when I "couldn't remember" the name of my recruiter. The offices had name plates on the doors and were about 7 or 8 feet by 7 or 8 feet. I wasn't aware they made offices that small. It would have given the appearance of more space if they had cubicles. During the tour they asked me if I knew any of the people in the office. This is Toronto, not Hicksville where everyone knows everyone else.

Before the actual meeting I got the feeling that, with all the football slaps, hand shaking, and fake smiles they wanted the "reds" (New Recruits) to feel isolated. They want you to join so that you could be part or the group. How professional is that?

The Seminar.

There were 2 guest speakers at the seminar. The "Guest" speakers were wfg agents.

The first speaker gave a bit of history about themselves and how WFG has changed their lives. There was some statistial information (Ex. 91% of people will retire below the poverty line). Then they then talked about what wfg does and how they are assoicated with Aegon, their sponsorships, and who their Product Partners are. They also talked about how the banks are using money from the common man for profit (Last I checked, banks were a business. If they don't make a profit what would they do?)

The Second Speaker talked about how wfg helps people and how we are inefficently using the 4 investment "vehicles".

1)RRSP
2)Open or non-registered account
3)Insurance
4)Mortgage.

Keep in mind this is a Canadian presentation.

With the first speaker telling everyone how bad the the other financial institutions are, and what a great company wfg is. And the second speaker telling everyone how you can acheive financial freedom by following wfg. This would appeal to your sense that you can help others and also get rich. Whats not to like about WFG?

Not once did they mention the cost or the type of training you would receive. Not once did they mention how much you would be paid or the compensation schedule.

The only thing that they did mention was that the average commission was approx.$4000.00 and as a part time associate all you had to do was make 2 sales a month and you could take home about $2000.00. 2 sales a month isn't that hard is it.

WFG is the Amway of the Financial World. They even make you wear name tags at the meetings like Amway.

My Personal meeting with the recruiter.

I told them that I was not sure about the "opportunity" but was more interested in the products.

As a result we spent 50 min talking about the opportunity (what the costs would be and the training I would receive) and 10 min on my financial plan.

Does this make sense to you? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

When I asked the recruiter about the training, they informed me that it would be field training. I would sit in on a sales meeting and take notes. I was not informed that the referral for the sales meeting would come from me or that the trainer would get all the commission.

As for the costs I told the recruiter I didn't have money for the following;

1) 125.00 "administration costs"
2) 235.00 for insurance course
3) 100.00 to write insurance exam

This does not include any monthly costs.

Sgt_Steele wrote:

<quoted text>
The name tags were all white but the names were in different colours. I saw red, blue and gold. People who had been with the company longer had metal name tags.
I was given a tour of the building with my guide pointing out the company slogan "No Family Left Behind" (Powerfull stuff), the $100,000.00 wall of the people who made over 100,000.00 in the last year (there were about 6 or 7 pictures), and the wall of incentive trips (people who were rewarded trips by the company).
After the tour I was lead a meeting room where the "seminar" was to take place. No music was playing but the room was full.

Yes, Red were guests like yourself, blue were wfg reps without licenses and gold tags were reps with a license.

Sgt_Steele wrote:

<quoted text>
They introduced me to the guest speaker (Who was a current WFG agent) and then the speaker was pulled away. I was not introduced to the person who runs the office (The office had a number of "Agencies" under the same roof).

All of the speakers must be licensed wfg agents. That person was pulled away because they are required to meet all of the guests(red names) before the meeting starts to give them a chance of directing the presentation better towards some of the guests.

Sgt_Steele wrote:

<quoted text>
I was not directed towards the front as the seats were already taken. They put out enought chairs for 3 rows of 10 and added more as needed. WFG agents filled out the seats and were present for the seminar. As per Todd it did make it look like a full turnout.
I was quite disapponted that there was No Video. Instead we had 2 guest speakers (Who were WFG agents).
The card was given out during Registration.

Yes they will usually put out chairs 1 row or 2 ata time to try to get the guests to sit up front because otherwise they would mostly sit in the back because they probably feel uncomfortable being there. And they don't put all the chairs out to start because they don't want empty seats so it looks full.

Sgt_Steele wrote:

The Seminar.
There were 2 guest speakers at the seminar. The "Guest" speakers were wfg agents.
The first speaker gave a bit of history about themselves and how WFG has changed their lives. There was some statistial information (Ex. 91% of people will retire below the poverty line). Then they then talked about what wfg does and how they are assoicated with Aegon, their sponsorships, and who their Product Partners are. They also talked about how the banks are using money from the common man for profit (Last I checked, banks were a business. If they don't make a profit what would they do?)
The Second Speaker talked about how wfg helps people and how we are inefficently using the 4 investment "vehicles".
1)RRSP
2)Open or non-registered account
3)Insurance
4)Mortgage.
Keep in mind this is a Canadian presentation.

The reason there are 2 speakers and not just 1 is for contrast.

The theory behind the presentation is to 'disturb' and 'intrigue'.

So basically the first speaker will talk about all the problems about how only 9% of people can retire and look how the bank is raping everyone and look how compound interest builds against you.

That person's job is to do 2 things,'disturb' you and give the company credibility. They talk about aegon and aegon is so great and thats why wfg is great and look at all the reputable companies we work with.

So the first speaker tells you all about the problems and then the second speaker brings you the solution(JOIN WFG).

It's like good cop bad cop. You're supposed to get depressed from the first speaker and excited with the 2nd speaker and OMG WFG WILL SOLVE ALL MY PROBLEMS!

Sgt_Steele wrote:

My Personal meeting with the recruiter.
I told them that I was not sure about the "opportunity" but was more interested in the products.
As a result we spent 50 min talking about the opportunity (what the costs would be and the training I would receive) and 10 min on my financial plan.
Does this make sense to you? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

No matter what you say as long as you don't spit in their face, they will try to recruit you first always. They think if you arent interested in the opportunity then that just means you need more information on it.

The idea is never to try to sell products first because if someone isn't interested in the products then why would they be interested in selling the products and then you have lost a potential recruit.

Sgt_Steele wrote:

When I asked the recruiter about the training, they informed me that it would be field training. I would sit in on a sales meeting and take notes. I was not informed that the referral for the sales meeting would come from me or that the trainer would get all the commission.
As for the costs I told the recruiter I didn't have money for the following;
1) 125.00 "administration costs"
2) 235.00 for insurance course
3) 100.00 to write insurance exam
This does not include any monthly costs.

Did they not mention that as soon as you pay the 125 they want another $40 or so for business training material? What about the actual background check you need before you can apply for a license? What about the actual cost of the license?

“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
-Abraham Lincoln

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take
you.”
-James Allen

“Everything that happens to you, everything you become and accomplish, is determined by the way you
think, by the way you use your mind. As you begin changing your mind, you begin changing your life.”
-Brian Tracy