What do IMOs and FMOs do that AI can help with?
An IMO (independent marketing organization) or FMO (field marketing organization) contracts agents with carriers, sets their comp levels, and often supplies leads, marketing and tools. The work that grows with every agent added is where AI helps:
- First calls on new leads. An AI setter calls each lead within minutes and books the agent it's assigned to.
- Aged and unworked leads. Leads that agents left behind, or that came back when an agent left, get called instead of sitting.
- Callbacks. A lead who calls back at night reaches someone who can book.
- Reporting. Calls, bookings and outcomes per agent in one place, so managers see who is working their leads.
- Records. Book of business, comp levels and overrides, kept where the whole organization can see them.
What can't AI do for an IMO?
It can't sell or advise. Selling, soliciting and negotiating insurance require a producer license (NAIC Model Act #218). An AI setter should book the appointment and leave the recommendation to the licensed agent. It also can't fix a lead problem: if leads are weak or consent is missing, AI calls them faster, not better.
Who is the seller when an IMO distributes leads?
This is the question to settle before an AI calls anything. Under the TCPA, an artificial-voice telemarketing call needs prior express written consent that authorizes the seller making the call (47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(2), (f)(9)). When an IMO buys leads and passes them to agents, the consent may name the IMO, the lead vendor, or a list of partners, not the agent's agency that is calling.
- Read the consent language for each lead source and see whose name is on it.
- Decide in writing who the seller is on calls to those leads: the IMO, the agency or the agent.
- Keep the consent record (text shown, time, source) where the calling agency can produce it.
- Run one opt-out list across the organization, so a lead who said stop to one agent isn't called by the next.
Details are in Can AI call life insurance leads? and, by state, in state telemarketing rules.
What should an IMO look for in an AI setter?
- Calls under the calling agency's own name, with branded caller ID.
- Booking onto each agent's own calendar, not a shared inbox.
- Per-list consent attestation and an opt-out list that follows the lead.
- Hard calling limits the downline can't loosen.
- Pricing that doesn't punish volume across many agents.
- Seats and roles so an agency inside the IMO sees only its own data.
How does Polca work for IMOs and FMOs?
Ava calls the agency's leads under the agency's name, confirms the lead's state, coverage need and age band, handles common objections such as “I already have insurance,” and books the appointment on the right agent's calendar. She never quotes prices, never takes applications and never binds coverage. She calls fresh leads within minutes and works aged leads that were never fully worked. She answers callbacks 24 hours a day and can reschedule on the same call. When a lead wants to talk now, she live-transfers the call to one of the agency's reps, and the appointment she booked stays on the calendar as a backup. Calls are transcribed and summarized, and recorded where the agency's recording setting and the lead's state allow it, so the agent knows the lead's details before the appointment.
Each agency account gets its own environment, caller-ID brand registration in the agency's name, admin controls for seats and roles, and team reporting. Polca also keeps the book of business, commissions from comp level and overrides to advances and chargebacks, and leaderboards. GoHighLevel is optional.
Polca gives your agency calling controls; your agency stays responsible for its own compliance. On every call, AI or human, Polca checks your agency's opt-out list at dial time, adds opt-outs it detects on calls (words like “stop”), calls only between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. in the lead's local time and never on Sundays, caps attempts per lead, and gives you a kill switch for all outbound dialing. Polca does not scrub your lists against the National or state Do Not Call registries. AI voice calls need prior express written consent, and your agency certifies that consent for each list before Ava calls it. Polca gives no legal advice and no compliance guarantee. The full rules are in the Calling & AI Voice policy.
Per agent on Ava, each month (as of November 2026): 46 appointments booked by Ava, 5 clients signed by the agent (about 11% of booked appointments), and $9,856 in annual premium (AP) written, about $118,000 a year. That is about $10 of AP written for every $1 spent on Ava (9.9×, measured against what the agency pays for Ava). Top agents are on pace for $134,000 to $137,000 a year of AP from Ava-booked appointments.
Ava booked the appointment; the agent signed the client. A signed client counts when the agent signed them within 60 days of the appointment Ava booked; AP counts everything signed. Source: production records of the agency Polca was built in. Individual results vary. Hear real booked calls.
Common questions
How can an IMO use AI?
To call and book the leads it supplies to agents, answer callbacks, and report calls and bookings per agent. Selling and advice stay with licensed agents.
Can an IMO's leads be called by an AI voice?
Only if each lead's prior express written consent covers artificial-voice calls from the seller who is calling. Leads that name the IMO or a vendor may not cover an agent's agency.
Does an AI setter replace downline agents?
No. It books appointments; the licensed agent runs the appointment and writes the policy.
Sources
- NAIC Producer Licensing Model Act (#218)
- 47 CFR § 64.1200 (FCC telemarketing and robocall rules)
- FCC Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17 (AI-generated voices are “artificial” voices under the TCPA), released Feb. 8, 2024
- Polca Calling & Recording Policy
Let Ava call for every agent.
Polca's AI appointment setter calls your leads under your agency's name and books meetings on your agents' calendars. The licensed conversation stays with your agent.
Book a call → Hear Ava call you