Scalable MLM platform offers complete control on compliance and security

Complexities in business expansion with a diverse agent network

Insurance MLM companies establish in the market with two major investments, other than capital, passionate network of agents and trust of customers. When their network expands, sales increases, so do the challenges in onboarding, agent training, commission processing, compliance, and security management.

Recently, an enterprise-level insurance MLM business approached us looking for an agent management solution that could also solve their existing concerns on compliance and security. The company has an agent network spread across the US with a large product portfolio in three main categories, term insurance, Indexed Universal Life (IUL), and fixed index annuities.

Manual onboarding challenges with documentation and KYC verification, which was important for meeting regional compliance requirements, cost time and resources. The manual process could not help the company identify agent skill gaps and the standard training process failed to address individual agent support needs. This slowed down the agents’ progress and the company’s profitability was affected.

Manually processing payouts caused delays in commission payments giving rise to high agent attrition rates. The multi-level agent network, calculation complexities along with strict compliance regulations prevalent in the US affected the company’s growth.

The insurance MLM company was in need of a platform that could cover all their challenges and ensure efficient operations.

An MLM platform with complete control over compliance and growth

The product development team at Epixel MLM Software developed an enterprise solution that can manage an expanding agent network and successfully operate with compliance and security.

The system can onboard any number of agents simultaneously.

Manage compliance with regulations in different markets.

Calculate and distribute commissions with override and pool bonus structures.

Provide an overview of agent performance with leaderboards.

Agent training with escrow control.

End-to-end security controls.

Agent onboarding with role-based access

The agent onboarding system supported three user roles, business admin, agents, and clients. Each role has its own portal with role-based features that reflect their responsibilities. An electronic signing feature in the platform managed complete legal documentation of agent agreements and W9 forms.

The registration process has a pop-up signature module that records e-signatures within the platform. The signed documents were stored and made easily accessible for admins and distributors in their corresponding back offices.

Multi-level commission calculations and payout management

The insurance MLM company operates on a unilevel compensation structure with direct, pool, and override commissions. The commission percentages depend on the promotion level, type of business (training, personal, or split) of agents and have to be calculated on a weekly basis.

The compensation plan management system, when configured with the compensation data, auto calculates payouts on time. Every transaction by the agent is recorded in the system and agents are promoted based on the criteria set by the admin.

Business admin can at any time modify the compensation structure and agent promotion criteria and the system updates the whole process with the new inputs entered.

Agent training system with escrow control

The insurance MLM company wanted their agents to be well-informed about their products and moreover the compliance and regulations governing the insurance MLM industry. Standard training models cannot ensure right knowledge reinforcement. Hence, we developed an agent training system with escrow control that mandated new agents to complete assigned training programs on compulsory topics like policy features, industry regulations, and platform usage before activating their sales role.

The system’s tracking feature monitored completion rates to allow commission generation to the agent who completed the necessary training modules. The feature helped the company build a well-informed agent network who are prepared to sell within ethical and legal boundaries.

Dashboards with performance insights

The back office of each user role has a dashboard that displays the user’s performance, earnings, and next goals. The dashboard can be set to display the preferred metrics that need to be tracked by the user.

The business admin dashboard includes a wide range of metrics that include business and team performance. Admins can identify low performers and extend needed support to help them through their difficult phase.

A team performance menu displays group sales volume, team size, and downline activity. The same metrics are available on agent dashboards with data restricted to single user activity. In addition, agent dashboards include commission progress bars that show eligibility to the next rank or level. This feature helped agents plan their sales strategies beforehand.

Leaderboards

A company-wide leaderboard listed high performing agents for each payout cycle. The results were automatically updated with performance data and the same reflected on all user dashboards regardless of their role in the organization. This improved agent engagement rates and instilled healthy competition among the network.

Brand website

The insurance MLM company needed a front-end website to function as a client support portal and agent recruitment tool. The website was developed with the following features:

Separate product pages for term, IUL, and annuity insurance.

Automated lead capture forms.

Appointment booking and management.

Webinars with Zoom integration.

Agent registration with payment options.

Replicated websites were also generated for agents during their registration process. Agents can easily manage appointments, follow ups, promotions, and customer support through these branded replicated websites.

Security control features

Security of data and organizational assets was a non-negotiable factor. Hence, we developed built-in security features that helped the business stay compliant with regional and global regulations. The system has multi-layered security features that identify potential threats and safeguard the assets in the event of policy violations or compromises.

The role-based access feature gives users role-specific privileges and revokes their permissions when they leave the system.

The impact of a compliant scalable platform

The scalable MLM platform accelerated the expansion of the network and established an accurate compensation process. Operational costs reduced, resources were allocated efficiently and replacing routine manual tasks with automation improved agent engagement. All in all, the organization witnessed smoother operations with uninterrupted processes and active agents joining the network.

Reduction in agent onboarding time

A 75% decrease in agent onboarding time was expected with automated registration, documentation, and KYC verification.

Increase in training completion rate

Escrow-controlled training with progress tracking feature encouraged agents to complete the assigned courses within the stipulated time. This was anticipated to increase the agent training completion rate by 80%.

Improved commission payout accuracy

An estimated 90% improvement was to be seen with the automated commission management process with accurate and real-time payouts.

Reduced commission disputes

Payout-related confusions and escalations were cut down to an expected 60% through a transparent payout process with audit trails, transaction history, and downloadable reports.

Increase in new agents and network expansion

A 30% growth in new agent numbers across all levels was forecasted through faster onboarding, personalized training, sales tools, and performance leaderboards.

Documentation completion rate

E-signature facility with automated KYC verification ensured that agent agreements and W9 forms were documented with an expected 100% completion rate.

System uptime during peak business periods

The system was designed to handle any number of agent registrations and commission transactions with an expected 99.99% accuracy without interrupting other business processes.

Security control

The multi-layered security control features protected the entire organization with no breach or compliance violation.

Challenges we faced

Getting complete control over compliance and security was a tiresome challenge to overcome. Even though the agents were trained in compliance and security policies, implementing them successfully needed close monitoring of their activities within the system and on channels like social media.

The calls for change in compensation structure brought with it challenges to maintain accurate and on-time payouts. Thanks to our adaptable compensation system that auto aligns itself to even the minute changes in compensation structures.

Expected Results

Faster onboarding

75%

Documentation success

100%

Improvement in payout accuracy

90%

Reduction in commission disputes

60%

Increase in agent training completion

80%

Faster network expansion

30%

Zero compliance violations or security incidents

System uptime

99.9%