premier-financial-alliance-logoA marketing video on the Premier Financial Alliance website identifies David Carroll as CEO and Founder of the company.

Somewhat curiously, Carroll’s name does not appear anywhere on the Premier Financial Alliance website.

According to the “about us” page on the Premier Financial Alliance website, the company claims to have been in business for “over three decades”.

For over three decades, PFA has provided thousands of people from all walks of life the opportunity to start their own business and gain the financial freedom to live their dreams.

As an innovative leader in the financial services industry, PFA has continuously transformed people’s lives by giving them the tools they need to create successful careers.

Despite this claim, the Premier Financial Alliance website domain (“pfaonline.com”) was only registered on the 27th of August, 2009.

david-carroll-ceo-founder-premier-financial-allianceDavid Carroll (right) is listed as the owner of the domain, with an address in the US state of Georgia also provided.

A LinkedIn profile for “Premier Financial Alliance SEAL Team” exists, which links directly to the Premier Financial Alliance website.

The founding date for the company is cited as the year 2000, which again conflicts with the information provided on the PFA website.

David Carroll only lists his position as CEO and Founder of Premier Financial Alliance on his LinkedIn profile.

I was unable to put together an MLM history for Carroll, which is certainly strange considering the claims made on the Premier Financial Alliance website.

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but between claims PFA is thirty years old and a lack of general information about David Carroll available, I’m flagging Premier Financial Alliance’s corporate history as suspicious.

Read on for a full review of the Premier Financial Alliance MLM opportunity.

The Premier Financial Alliance Product Line

Premier Financial Alliance’s LinkedIn entry claims the company is involved in the insurance industry.

Despite this, there is no mention or clarification of products or services sold on the Premier Financial Alliance website.

Instead, the Premier Financial Alliance website prioritizes marketing of a “career opportunity”:

As a PFA associate you will be in business for yourself but never by yourself.

Our nationwide team of experienced field trainers are with you each step of the way. You will learn our secrets to success and build your new business according to our proven and time tested strategies.

The PFA website does not disclose what the “business” is.

Another page on the Premier Financial Alliance website claims ‘PFA has gained the respect and support of a number of successful corporations‘.

No information about who these corporations are or why they respect and support PFA is provided.

A “Financial Strategies” page did look promising, however rather than detail PFA’s product line, it’s just more vague marketing.

Our proven strategies for financial preparedness enable you to plan for the future and be ready for any of life’s obstacles.

We cover you no matter what may come your way. And its simple. One product, with multiple benefits that extend over the course of a lifetime.

It’s my experience that if you have to try this hard to learn what an MLM company is selling, there’s probably something shifty going on.

PFA appear to sell some sort of service that combines insurance and personal finance. Beyond that the company fails to disclose any particulars, which in MLM is a pretty big red flag.

The Premier Financial Alliance Compensation Plan

As far as I can tell, the Premier Financial Alliance compensation plan sees affiliates sign up for some life insurance policy, with commissions paid when they get recruited affiliates to do the same.

Premier Financial Alliance Affiliate Ranks

There are ten affiliate ranks within the Premier Financial Alliance compensation plan.

Qualification criteria for the ranks is split between “Builder’s Track” and “Personal Track”.

Builder’s Track qualification relies on volume generated by a downline, whereas Personal Track qualification relies more on an affiliate’s own activity.

Both qualification methods for all thirteen Premier Financial Alliance affiliate ranks are detailed below:

Builder’s Track Qualification

  • Career Associate – recruit three affiliates and generate at least “9000 target points”
  • Field Associate – have a downline that has cumulatively generated 25,000 GV and recruit three affiliates who have recruited at least three affiliates themselves
  • Senior Associate – have a downline that has cumulatively generated 50,000 GV and recruit five affiliates who have recruited at least three affiliates themselves
  • Provisional Field Director – have a downline that has cumulatively generated 75,000 GV and recruit five affiliates who have recruited at least seven affiliates themselves
  • Qualified Field Director – have a downline generating at least 100,000 GV a month from at least three unilevel legs (each generating a minimum 30,000 GV a month) for three consecutive months
  • Senior Field Director – have a downline generating at least 150,000 GV a month from at least four unilevel legs (each generating a minimum 30,000 GV a month) for three consecutive months
  • Regional Field Director – have a downline generating at least 250,000 GV a month from at least five unilevel legs (each generating a minimum 30,000 GV a month) for three consecutive months
  • Area Field Director – have a downline generating at least 350,000 GV a month from at least seven unilevel legs (each generating a minimum 30,000 GV a month) for three consecutive months
  • National Field Director – have a downline generating at least 450,000 GV a month from at least seven unilevel legs (each generating a minimum 30,000 GV a month) for three consecutive months
  • Executive Field Director – have a downline generating at least 750,000 GV a month from at least eight unilevel legs (each generating a minimum 30,000 GV a month) for three consecutive months

Personal Track Qualification

  • Career Associate – recruit three affiliates and generate at least “9000 target points”
  • Field Associate – recruit three affiliates who recruit three affiliates within thirty days of signing up as a PMA affiliate
  • Senior Associate – recruit five affiliates who recruit five affiliates within thirty days of signing up as a PMA affiliate
  • Provisional Field Director – generate a minimum 100,000 PV (minimum 15 recruits) over twelve months
  • Qualified Field Director – generate a minimum 180,000 PV (minimum 30 recruits) over twelve months
  • Senior Field Director – generate 250,000 PV (minimum 40 recruits) over twelve months
  • Regional Field Director – generate 320,000 PV (minimum 50 recruits) over twelve months
  • Area Field Director and higher – must qualify via Builder’s Track qualification

“Target” points aren’t defined, but appear to be PV generated based on what personally recruited affiliate spend when they sign up.

PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by an affiliate’s own purchase product and that of their customers.

GV stands for “Group Volume” and is PV generated by an affiliate’s downline.

Recruitment Commissions

Premier Financial Alliance affiliates receive a commission when they recruit a new affiliate.

How much of a commission is paid out is determined by a Premier Financial Alliance affiliate’s rank:

  • Career Associate – 30%
  • Field Associate – 45%
  • Senior Associate – 55%
  • Provisional Field Director – 60%
  • Qualified Field Director – 70%
  • Senior Field Director – 75%
  • Regional Field Director – 77%
  • Area Field Director – 79%
  • National Field Director – 81%
  • Executive Field Director – 83%

What these commissions percentages pertain to or how much they might represent in dollars is not disclosed.

Residual Recruitment Commissions

Residual recruitment commissions in PFA begin at the Qualified Field Director affiliate rank.

The commissions themselves are paid out via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

unilevel-commission-structure

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Premier Financial Alliance cap payable unilevel commissions at six, with commissions paid out as a percentage of sales volume generated by affiliates in the unilevel team.

How much of a percentage is paid out is determined by a PFA affiliate’s rank:

  • Qualified Field Director – 8% on level 1, 5% on level 2, 3% on level 3, 2% on level 4 and 1% on level 5
  • Senior Field Director – 13% on level 1, 10% on level 2, 8% on level 3, 7% on level 4 and 6% on level 5
  • Regional Field Director – 15% on level 1, 12% on level 2, 10% on level 3, 9% on level 4, 8% on level 5 and 2% on level 6
  • Area Field Director – 17% on level 1, 14% on level 2, 12% on level 3, 11% on level 4, 10% on level 5 and 4% on level 6
  • National Field Director – 19% on level 1, 16% on level 2, 14% on level 3, 13% on level 4, 12% on level 5 and 6% on level 6
  • Executive Field Director – 21% on level 1, 18% on level 2, 16% on level 3, 15% on level 4, 14% on level 5 and 8% on level 6

Renewal Grid

The Renewal Grid component of the Premier Financial Alliance comes with no explanation.

I suspect however that it’s a percentage commission paid out when personally recruited affiliates renew their insurance policies through the company.

Quoted commission percentages for the Renewal Grid are as follows:

  • Qualified Field Director – 1.5%
  • Senior Field Director – 1.75%
  • Regional Field Director – 2%
  • Area Field Director – 2.25%
  • National Field Director – 2.5%
  • Executive Field Director – 2.75%

Joining Premier Financial Alliance

Affiliate membership with PFA requires payment of a “non-refundable” $125 fee.

Note that payment of this fee alone

does not allow you to market any of the products or to receive any compensation from PFA’s affiliated Life Insurance companies and/or any other company PFA is contracted with.

On their website, Premier Financial Alliance fail to disclose additional costs or criteria that qualify an affiliate to earn commissions.

PFA affiliate marketing material claims affiliates are required to “obtain (a) life insurance license”.

Whether this is through PFA or a third-party and potential costs are not disclosed.

Conclusion

Premier Financial Alliance is a pretty good example of how not to run an MLM company.

A target retail customer-base isn’t readily identifiable, based on a complete lack of product or service information presented on the PFA website.

The compensation plan is a bit of a mess, with percentages not really meaning anything until they are put into the context of products and/or services being paid for.

This would require costs of said products and/or services, which are again not disclosed.

In 2016 for an MLM company, this is not good enough.

Leave the alone the fact that I can’t identify whether or not retail is even a possibility within the opportunity.

If some sort of life insurance is the product offered, logically that would be sellable to the general public (non-affiliates).

Yet nowhere on the PFA website or compensation plan is there any representation that sales to retail customers are possible.

Instead it’s all about affiliate recruitment, with both the PFA website and compensation plan openly focusing on recruitment.

Another point of consideration is that if life insurance is the product, it’s most likely offered through a third-party – so what are Premier Finance Alliance as an MLM company themselves selling?

Or are 100% of the commissions paid out by third-party insurance companies? Which if the case, then begs the question what do you need to sign up with PFA for?

As far as the compensation plan goes, it’s entirely possible to achieve the Regional Field Director rank through chain-recruitment. At no point are retail sales required or mentioned.

If Premier Financial Alliance is indeed an MLM company full of affiliates earning commissions based on how much their recruited downlines are spending each month – that’s a problem.

Given the vagueness presented on the PFA website, I’m inclined to suspect that is the case.

I haven’t had to spend that much time researching an opportunity just to find out what they’re selling, only to still come away empty-handed.

Approach with caution.