Has anyone dealt with Michael Mazziott? He was with Silverman Benefits. Very pushy and evasive.

Dear Aflac Potentials,

As stated in ALL these forums, do not sign with AFLAC.  I also was taken in by the "Awesome speech of be your own boss, work independantly, work from home,make large amounts of income...the sad part is this is so far from the truth.  You do report to someone, they are called a district sales coordinator and a regional sales coordinator, next in line is the state sales coordinator (most of the time they are a relative to someone with in the company (director, VP, Pres, Corp secretary), the who's, who that never get caught because they do hide these individuals from any liabilities. Then AFLAC claims the contract you signed is one way between you and AFLAC, they get by with this by stating 3rd party are no included.  NOT TRUE, the 3rd party contract you never see attached to this is a person, company, that has been approved to license you as an agent, they process your premium through their website to AFLAC for processing, while all along stay invisible and safe.  START SCANNING THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE COMMISSION FOR INFO, IF YOUR LICENSE IS CANCELLED CONTACT YOUR STATE FINANCE DEPARTMENT AND REQUEST A COPY OF THEIR SUBMITTED INFO AS TO WHY THEY CANCELED, ALSO CALL YOUR STATE CONSUMER COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT AND COMPLAIN!  Most of all study your state statutes, most have updated these illegal procedure AFLAC attempts to pull on agent.  Also contact your local or federal court house, YOU CAN FILE YOUR OWN complaint against them.  Go to your local court house and get a copy to use, file this with your State DEPARTMENT IF FINANCE, they will make sure AFLAC receives your complaint.  AFLAC has to acknowledge your filing, if not, take your return receipt you will receive from the FINANCE department to the court house and tell them they have not answered your complaint, they will file other documents to them to have them they received your filings. If you make it before a judge they will make AFLAC proceed to arbitration.  It's a process, however, depending on how passionate you are, as to how they have treated you and kept your hard earned money, it does feel good of accomplishment.                            

Good Luck, stay strong, they depend on agents to not fight, easy money for them.

I started a month ago, it is strict commission sales with no wages.  you are responsible for paying for your training and any licenses in any state you make sales in. the training is 100.00 and your Maryland license is 59.00 and 70.00 dollars for the licensing test.  you cant conduct any business until you get your writing number.  they demand you be in the office at 7 am and some days stay until 7 pm and come in for recruiting on Saturday, all while you aren't earning anything for at least 3 weeks.  Gas gets expensive.  One thing that gets rarely mentioned is that when you do make appointments and "close the deal" is that because they concentrate on selling, they don't train you on the process for presenting and enrolling.  They send a "mentor" with you to show you the ropes.  through everything I sat through no one mentioned that the mentors would be taking half of your sales.  after 7 months of income its a big hit when you lose half of a 5000.00 commission to the guy they force on you to teach you.  They call you an independent contractor, which you are, yet they dictate your time and how you are paid.  I asked about the customer service positions the other day, even though I work for the agency no one could tell me about the position.

I know the potential is there, but I can't in good conscience recruit others for this job.

You are obviously a child who has not yet experienced the stress of being laid-off in a sluggish economy.  We ALL pay into the system while working precisely so it's there when we need it; I have worked and paid into the system for over 25 years (probably longer than you've been out of diapers), and I will not apologize to you or anyone else for receiving an unemployment check now that I need one while I search for a new position.  Not everyone wants a career in commission sales, and these calls are often misleading.  The recruiter that called me couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me what positions they are interviewing for, stating only that "the interviewer would know more about that."  Well I can tell you that every other recruiter I have worked with knows everything about the open position.  How much time did you waste writing that angry diatribe, anyway?  A person as successful as you so clearly are, surely has better things to do.  Oh and, by the way, your post is not all perfect grammar either smart guy; we don't always use perfect grammar and spelling when posting on anonymous blogs do we?  I do know that this site has proven one thing to me: I wouldn't want to work for Aflac if you are a model employee.

Thank god I read this.  Eric real title is "Regional Sales Coordinator".  
http://local.aflac.com/eric_silverman/Agent/index.php

Laura Fisher calls me for an interview and I say ok.  I assumed they read my public resume and has an opening for a job that matches my skill set.  I asked for an email for directions.  I assumed a job description would be sent as well.  Nope.  So I call regarding job description and they give none.  What interview will not give out a job opening description???

Now I read this.  

Sounds totally like a waste of time unless you want a insurance sales job.  No wonder they won't send out a legit job description.

I received a call from Byron Bartlett from 'Aflac Recruiting' (410-271-9936) on behalf of Eric Silverman who heads up the Bel Air, MD office. I was suspicious up front and very critical to the 'recruiter'. He said he understood my skepticism and that there was absolutely no sales involved. I begrudgingly agreed to an interview, which I had figured out was a group interview by the way he was speaking vaguely about the situation, and said he was breaking the rules by scheduling my appointment more than a week out. (aside: In what legitimate business is it normal practice to not make appointments more than a week out?)

At any rate, I had a bad gut feeling about the situation so I decided to do my due diligence. And I?m glad I did. Please keep the thread going, and post your experiences so that people can make an educated decision, and save themselves time and money.

Recruitment program bonuses are for the recruits. They earn iPads for opening accounts during their first few weeks. It's an incentive program for them, not the agents. You know, there are good doctors and bad doctors out there too. You choose who you want to see. Yes, there are incentives for agents to bring in more people, as well, but believe it or not, when you are taking time to train people out of your busy day... When you are also self employed, earning a minor 5% override for teaching and training others is nothing in comparison to the time and work you invest.

I have seen a lot of hard working people develop reputable careers... More than not, they tend to be the interns because they just WORK hard. I get irritated by a lot of the negativity I hear at this site. Every week, I spend more than half of my time helping new people canvas, learn to market, etc. they sit in my front seat. We spend my gasoline, we set appointments for them, and I just try to be as efficient as possible so that I can get my own marketing time done (thank goodness my personal experience helps make the time I need to spend less). I do this to help them learn and be successful and to teach them how they should be training their recruits. Not everyone at SBG works this way, but many of us do. Do not judge us all based upon experiences with a few people or information that is many years old!!!

Got the call and said sure I'll come out to  2107-A Laurel Bush Road.  This is the follow up email I received:
Hello & Welcome!

This is just a quick reminder about your Aflac Interview.

Your interview will be held at the Aflac Regional office in Bel Air Maryland.

Date:Thursday, August 2nd, 2012
Time: 3 pm
Address: 2107 Laurel Bush Road Suite 104 Bel Air, Md 21015

Please aim to arrive early so that you can allow for traffic and any unforeseen weather challenges.
This should be very obvious, but just to be clear; which means a shirt and tie, dress slacks, dress shoes and dress socks (suits) for gentleman and the professional equivalent for ladies our dress code is business professional/business attire. Also, you'll find it helpful to bring a notepad, a pen and a highlighter.

Also, if you get lost or are running late, please do not hesitate to call! (Contact information is listed below.)

Finally, if something changes and you can't attend or are no longer interested, please call me.It is not only vital, but also very professional, to please notify me as soon as possible if you have any challenges and/or will not be able to attend so that we may plan accordingly.

If you print the Email it is 7 pages due to the following which is located 7 pages deep:
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Thought it might be worth my time to go out and get some practice interviewing in.......until I saw this Email (which is in 3 different colors also)  This email is the first impression of this company--Seriously????

What an experience I had with silverman/aflac business.  Brought in for an interview--a group.  Then asked if I wanted to go to training school, be sure and mark an x on your resume'.  I went for a second interview and it was couched as my strengths would be used and in demand.  The problem is...no one said the only thing they really want is marketing and recruiting (and for you to buy one of the policies.).  COLD calling was the way to get this done, I guess.  After my warm leads dried up...two days........  The thing I really found annoying was if you were up front about selling aflac with those you call...you didn't get any appointments because there were a bunch of others in front of you who had called.  Also NOT once was a resume' seen.  You had a list of numbers to cold call for recruitment.  You might win a chance to attend a bbq at the silverman house if you got 12 to show up in a certain period of time.  Again, NEVER once was a resume looked at by the caller or by the agency.  it isn't about you or the work, it's about money, only money.  ONLY MONEY.  Though my strength would NEVER be in marketing, the rest I would do great at!  Sad.  It is difficult to believe that aflac that claims to be a family type place would run this way.  The other thing that really bothered me  is this:  if you didn't have the success making appointments that the person above you had, you were the one saying things wrong.  (i.e. you simply weren't dishonest enough.)  I am so glad I didn't invest more in aflac. I certainly wasn't 'trained' or shown the ropes.  The assessment I received was that I am NOT coachable because I just couldn't be dishonest on the phone.

Agents beware of AFLAC's associate agreement. It contains a arbitration clause that should legally be considered unconscionable. It states ANYTHING and EVERYTHING an agent disagrees with must go  through a mandatory arbitration process, no matter what the law says or how illegal it is in common, civil or criminal law.  It also states that IF YOU GET TO ARBITRATION...any and all documentation is kept in strict confidence.  This is why you can never find out any type of settlement cases about AFLAC.  I state if you get to arbitration, most of the time agent complaints are ignored.

So be ready to work hard, use your money for gas, phones, computers, and when you least expect it, to have your commission and any renewals ripped out from under you for no reason....why

TERMINATION BY NOTICE WITHOUT CAUSE - Either party may terminate this agreement at will, without cause or reason, upon giving 30 day written notice to the other party.  

800notes.com, Thanks for this opportunity to maybe help the next innocent agent that may get caught in Aflac's web.

I currently work for a corporate company and I did go in yesterday for a group interview and have received a call for a second. I have to admit it appears shady and I have major concerns. I hear Aflac is a great company to work for and they have many awards but is Laurel Bush Rd for real??? I don't think I want to leave a job that pays really well to work for one I'm not so sure about. What company let you make your own hours let's you use a personal e-mail and a personal cell without compensation? I don't know about most people but giving my personal information out doesnt hold well with me. Plus when I went in I saw a total of 3 people. A girl in the training room having people sign in someone in the "regional office and Eric Silverman who held the session. Where was everyone else? To many questions and my gut feeling is telling me not to go further. I did call the main 800 number on the Aflac sure so I know that this person does work for the company but still am I ready to give up all my hard work to go into a job that so many people question?

An insurance CE instructor made a valuable observation.  There are thousands of laws which protect an insurance buyer.  There are no laws that protect the new agent. I have represented Aflac for 9 years. the turn over is 300 percent.  My district has 15 agents.  Only 3 have been here more than a year. I have seen 2 agents lose their homes.  Sooner or later this is going to end up on 60 minutes.

I received a call too, but it was  from an "Aflac HR" person's cell number.  Same deal...saw your resume on CareerBuilder, come in for a group interview at  2107-A Laurel Bush Road.

I received a call from Mark Transparent (sp?) just yesterday.  Nothing was stated in the call that it was for AFLAC, but he pulled my resume from Monster.com and wants to schedule an interview.  While I didn't read all the previous posts, but many of them were on the nature of AFLAC's hiring process in this area.

Previously, I signed up to work with them, thinking it would be more of a nine-to-five kind of job.  It entails recruiting and working toward a residual income.  As with others of this type, there are different aspects to how you structure your "business."  You decide how much you put into it, whether you're willing to recruit others in your team, etc.  I wouldn't call it a scam, but I do wish they were more upfront about it, so that time isn't wasted when a person wants to decide if they want to take the opportunity or not.  I had a recent run-in with Primerica. Thought I was being interviewed for a "job," but I was actually being recruited into a pyramid.  I would say there is nothing wrong with this, if it's what works for you, but seriously, be upfront about it.

I agree with everything you said in the above post except for the point that he is the only region that does mass recruiting. Dave morningstar preaches the same tactics around the state. Just to give you an example. Last year Eric Silverman had 519 recruits in his region, caroline morningstar had 124, bostick 163, klinger 198, jaeggi 238, fish 226, payne 147 and so on. The reason for the mass recruiting is that there is a direct correlation among mass recruiting and selling a lot of insurance. Yes, granted eric silverman does recruit the most, but this is a problem that is state wide that stretchs to the marriottsville office. Morningstar had 1803 total recruits last year in the state.  The 2nd place state had 661, third had 652, fourth 611, five place 559. Dave must not think that by bringing in a ton of new recruits word will get out on our recruiting process. he also must think that by doing this it will not give us a bad name with businesses in the area that get ambushed day in and day out with calls. associates at aflac dont even scrub any lists to make sure companies are not on a do-not-call list prior to them calling. I see some of them calling out of phone books!


Don't get me wrong.....

Dave morningstar and eric silverman are extremely good at what they do. They must think that by doing mass recruiting the benefits outweigh the cons. The question is whether or not this process can be sustained with negative press among the unemployed community as well as the business community. Only time will tell. As for now, Silverman is only at 68% of his goal for the quarter which ends in two weeks. His MPI numbers were not met with consistency last year and he is currently like 40 something in the country in sales when he is always top five. Is this the beginning of the end of an era for eric? Again only time will tell.
Thanks

Silverman "Benefits" group calls desperate vulnerable people who are looking for solid employment and he paints a pretty picture of what job details. They don't care about you & his tactics put any schoolyard bully to shame. They're the only region in Maryland who does this type of recruiting (yes he'll take ANYONE) and convinces these people to buy all sorts of products they can't afford so he gets a bonus & meets his quota on their sales. Aflac is great but call state office in Marriottsville for guidance.

Lauren don't do it! I have been with Aflac over 10 years and Eric Silverman is shady and can't keep any agents because he's a moron. Aflac is awesome but steer clear from his "agency" which makes me laugh out loud. BTW, Aflac HQ wouldn't approve of his tactics.

Hey guys and gals!

I wanted to shed some light on Aflac and The Silverman Benefits group. This is the deal. Every Monday and Wednesday evening from 6 to 9 on Monday and like 5 to 7 on Wednesdays they have group recruting sessions. They call these sessions "leverage nights." The reason why they call them leverage nights is because the whole goal of recruting is build your own personal team to sell insurance. The thought process behind this is that by having more people on your team you will have more opportnities to make money because everyone knows someone who owns a company. The goal of Aflac if you didnt know is to bring supplemental benefits to a companies employees at no cost to the employer. If you have more people on your team you will have a better chance to get into more companies and offer more benefits which results in more money in your pocket!

Here is where the problem is....

Last year alone Aflac in the state of Maryland had like 1900 new recruits. Guess how many the second largest state had.....450!!! That is where our state let the ball drop! Aflac around the country does not act this way with its potential hires. They search through many resumes and hand select very few and train them for many months before allowing them to fully sell the products. With that being said Aflac in Maryland has been number one in the entire country for the last 10 or so years. The sales practices in Maryland are different and in someways not even complient with the rest of the country. I used to feel terrible calling people late at night telling them i was with the silverman benefits group when it was really Aflac. The entire market is saturated with underqualified indivduals who give Aflac a bad name.

Lastly and most important.....They will never and i repeat never not offer you a job. Even if you were a bum off the streets they will hire you. My only advice to anyone who is thinking about getting appointed with them is to make sure you either enjoy cold calling and marketing or you have a lot of friends and family that own companies with employees.

Residual imcome with this company does not exist...your no pay and your charge backs will not allow it!

Your stock is not worth much at the end of the day

Eric Silverman is a nice guy and is a great motivator. If you have the work ethic and the inner desire to be wealthy you can be by following his advice.

The first couple months will be rough!

Administrative positions at this company do not exist...Paper work is only filled out if a sale is made...you have to sell something first for that to take place and people do not hand out their paperwork to anyone to split the commission.

If you do not want to be contacted by Aflac/The silverman benefits group take your number off of your resume on career builder until you need to print it. This will only allow them to email you!

Aflac can be a very rewarding career if you have the right mentor. My district sales coordinator there only made probably thirty thousand a year if that.

***if you have any questions or concerns re-post and i can help you***

I got a phone call yesterday from Paul Thayman, and today from Barbara Bushman. They seemed pretty convincing, and i held high hopes for this interview.... until now. After seeing all of these " scam artist " blogs, I'm extremely disappointed. Within 24 hours of uploading my resume that apparently " exceeds all others" (according to Bushman) I received a phone call and an e-mail. However, the man called me from his "direct line" he says, which is : 443 834-4714. The interview I had scheduled was for March 12, 2012 at 12 p.m. I'm safely assuming I shouldn't go ?

Did you find out if they had any non commission only positions?

Received the following email also:
Hello-
My name is Barbara and I'm a manager with a benefits company based in Bel Air, MD and also to include satellite locations in Baltimore  and Wilmington, DE.

We have reviewed your resume on Career Builder and would like to discuss with you some of the career opportunities in management, sales, marketing and customer service that we have available right now.  We have quite a few positions available that we are looking to fill immediately and I think you'd be the perfect candidate.

We have an award winning mentor-driven training program and are eager to schedule you for a first interview.


Even in this economy, our business is growing and I think you would be an asset to our expanding organization.

Please contact me ASAP at the number listed below or by email.
I really look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Barbara Bushman
An Independent Associate

(410) 459-8069

Got the same email, but I went out to check it out. If they do in fact at this point have salaried admin  jobs due to growth either I'll hear that or be on my way as well. Will post back with followup results.

Eric even warned of these reviews, "would you trust a bunch of people on forums or Forbes?".

The real question here is he a liar and scamming for commission only sales people?

As the email stated they have administrative positions. I personally, like probably many others, that I am only interested in non-commission only employment opportunities at this time. The line is call back, within a day if he doesn't call you back to see if you get the 2nd One-on-One interview/job offer. If you do, there is a one day training session and then you begin work.

If that is BS, I'll be making a few calls of my own and reaching to my friends in Annapolis to see how we can fix this. It's called bargaining in good faith. I don't think Aflac would want to be associated with a company or organization using it's name to lure people in for any of that nonsense.

As of this date they are still "mining" CareerBuilder at the very least, pounding to fill the "Introductory Seminars" for potential candidates. As of today Eric is claiming there is only one (1) training session prior to a formal "One-on-One" interview/offer which of course is prior to the training if selected.

The non commission based opportunities pitch is still being made although I can't validate whether these claims are now a reality, I haven't not been called back, nor have I attempted to call.  He did through numbers out for non-commission based opportunities of from $30k-$50k, and the ponders could make from $75-$115k. No light on pay structure (commission only or base w/commission) for the upper rates.

I must admit, the pitch was polished and good as far as the product (appears to be supplementary unemployment insurance to me as it was never really explained specifically what type of insurance he's hawking, disability, etc...?) the group is offering, but my concern is the method of earning. "Keeping an Open Mind" was stressed a number of times when discussing employment opportunities and expiation of job offerings. They too called me several times even though I specifically told them I was not interested in commission only opportunities. Will keep a link to this thread and post back after I learn more. If he is finally  looking for salaried based administration or base w/commission, this could be a worthwhile opportunity for some folks.

Marc, I went to the AFLAC interviews ..both 1 and 2. I know it is a great company. They also show a video of you and about how you built your business. What kind of money did you set aside to start. It is pure commission and it can be very tough.At least initially. So I was wondering if you had any recommendations for the kind of money set aside to do this job full tilt.-Regards, Ravens Fan

Where are some of the better AFLAC offices ? I am from Maryland.-Regards, Ravens Fan

I have been brought in for the initial and second interview. I have my suspicions and have pulled back to analyze the situation. I know it is pure commision and was wondering first..what was the culture like in the Silverman Benefits Group and second..how do you succeed there and third...how much should you put aside before taking a commission sales job. In theory,  I think AFLAC has a great business model and their stock is widely held by many top mutual fund managers. Having said that, I need some insight into how Silverman's office really works. Is it just a boys club with leads given to an inner circle or can you make it if you bust your a**.

I am not even going to get into all of why I think this is tomfoolery but I do need to ask a question...how many people have received an interview invitation via text message...WHO DOES THAT???

Hello,

I received the following email:

Hello-
My name is Barbara and I'm a manager with a benefits company based in Bel Air, MD and also to include satellite locations in Baltimore, and Wilmington, DE.

We have reviewed your resume on Career Builder and would like to discuss with you some of the career opportunities in management, sales, marketing and customer service that we have available right now.  We have quite a few positions available that we are looking to fill immediately and I think you'd be the perfect candidate.

We have an award winning mentor-driven training program and are eager to schedule you for a first interview.


Even in this economy, our business is growing and I think you would be an asset to our expanding organization.

Please contact me ASAP at the number listed below or by email.
I really look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Barbara Bushman
An Independent Associate

(410) 459-8069





--

Barbara J. Bushman
Executive Vice President
Silverman Benefits Group
PH:    410 459-8069
FAX:  410 741-3209
bushman.sbg@gmail.com



I called them and scheduled an interview for Monday...however after reading these posts I believe that I am going to cancel.....I didnt realize that its a pyramid scheme.

Mark Dyson called me yesterday for an interview today, 01/24/2012, at 6:00 pm.  He found my information on the MD Workforce Exchange site--MD Unemployment.  Obviously, I'm canceling the interview.  I am not good at sales which was my first flag.  

I researched online and found Silverman Benefits Group at 2107A Laurel Bush RD, Suite 102 in Bel Air.  However, I was advised on the phone and in the email from Mark to go to Suite 104.  Furthermore, Maryland Insurance Administration's website lists Suite 102 as well as Eric's Producer License expired August 2011.

THIS IS HOW THE AFLAC SCAM WORKS---they have a mass hiring program, and dont even pay min wage ;so theyget suckers to try and sell the product to friends and relatives-and they burn out in a few months-so then they get there name out for free---PLEASE CONTACT THE IRS--THIS IS A SCAM BY AFLAC TO HIRE PEOPLE FOR FREE----DONT BE FOOLED --THE COMPANY AVOIDS PAYING EMPLOYMENT TAXES AND BENIFITS--IT IS NOT LEGAL WHAT THEY ARE DOING-IF THEY CALL TELL THEM OFF--ITS A SHAME WHEN A BIG COMPANY ABUSES PEOPLE LIKE THIS WHO ARE LOOKING FOR A REAL JOB---SHAME ON AFLAC !!!!!!!!!!!!