Mal said:
Only three main areas I'm interested in:
1. Who employs the Amex reps? (somehow don't think it is Amex direct)
2. How much do they get paid normally. Base/and/or commission? How much commission per signup do they get? Is it only for successful applications, or anyone who fills out the form?
3. Do they get some kind of trailing commission?
From what I understand they are not direct employees of Amex. I came across them a few times on the bus from Castle Hill to the City after a day's work. They would be at Castle Hill and Baulkham Hills, and I am sure other areas in Sydney and then sit there on the bus discussing things like how many suckers they conned today and what sort of card did they flog, how to close deals with customers, to report as much as possible in case the customer closes account in the cooling off period and they lose bonuses. All of this not considering that their discussion may be heard by an existing Amex account holder. I have felt ringing Amex on a number of occassions and complaining but have thought against it as I am not really concerned what they do.
I have seen these people on the same bus trip on other occassions discuss totally different products/companies.
Maybe little_moody_angel has better explanation but this is my experience with them. I totally refuse to deal with "hawkers" flogging Amex products, especially after listening to them discuss customers/clients as their meal ticket, and I do everything online now.