The Trump Network. Jonathan Budd. What do both of these have in common?

Both of these guys focus on 1 MAIN thing: Recurring Income Streams.

Budd says its about leads and conversions, but at the end of the day, I believe its not about that as much as it is recurring income (or residual income). From what I’ve found, these guys are a few hot names in today’s Multi- Level Marketing (MLM) world. The Trump Network just launched a few months back, but already MLM marketers are spreading the word in hopes to convert more representatives. Jonathan Budd has been very influential with using a lead generation and automation system. They don’t care as much about the initial cost to sign you up, they want an ongoing, recurring payment that you have to pay because you depend on the system they have set up for you. And they want to leverage lots of other people to go to work for them to spread the word. That’s where affiliate partnering comes into place.

Automatic Approach

So far in my journey, I have added a few affiliate links and ads to my site for things that I have personally found a lot of value in.  At the end of the day however, there is something cold, detached and missing from the automatic approach that Jonathan Budd and others sell. So many sales landing pages all look the same, their messages are all similar, and it seems so apparent to me that they are trying to sell me something as the first priority. They only ask for your name and email as the first lead, but its SO obvious they are going to sell you. However, they think that capturing your email on a list means that they will get a CHANCE to get you to purchase whatever it is they sell. And I understand that’s the way of the business world, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

As far as the Trump Network is concerned, I’m glad that so many MLM marketers like it, but to me the site is too highly focused on Trump himself, and there isn’t nearly enough information about the PRODUCTS they are selling. Its all about getting people to sell under you, not about the product. If I am going to sell something I better be able to find out a lot about the product before I commit to anything.

Now, I’ve talked about just 2 of the most hyped up options for MLM that I have found so far. There are many, and I have no idea how to sift through them all because of the simple fact that they ALL want to sell you as that is the very nature of what they do, so its very difficult to get any real and impartial information on any of them.

A Note on Automation in Email vs Twitter

Automation has its place such as in email, but at the end of the day, if over used, its just plain cold and a big Trust Buster alert to the tuned in crowd.

I have a hunch that the majority of my followers on Twitter only found me through an automated system. They are only following me with the hopes that I will follow them, be interested, click on their link, and buy what ever it is they are promoting. I have personally resisted purchasing such a system. Firstly, I have not decided on anything to sell and secondly, I want to interact with humans, not machines on Twitter. I understand the concept that if you get thousands and thousands of leads, chances are you can get some sales, but I believe these types of Twitter accounts are the one’s cluttering up the true usefulness behind Twitter and making that tool full of more fluff than something trust worthy.

As Seen on TV: Misleading, Pushy Sales Techniques

Its certainly tempting to try to grow something online, but I am still reluctant because of the misleading and pushy tactics that are being used by so many of the popular and famous business leaders. I equate it to the As Seen on TV approach that has been used for years on certain TV Commercials. Tactics like timeliness: “if you buy in the next 10 Minutes, we’ll throw in this!” or inflated reduced pricing: “A $490 value, yours today for only $30!”.

My gut instincts are telling me that something big is missing from the way these big names are doing business online.

It may work now, but it won’t forever. People will eventually catch on to misleading sales techniques like HURRY this is only available to the VIP top 500 people for the next 20 hours! I personally just can’t  give into something like that. It feels too much like selling out. As Seen on TV commercials still make money, but quite often its because the product itself truly is unique and ads value. Even still, I choose not to sell my products that way. Ever.

I believe it has to be done differently than some of these top names are doing it. I get that you have to sell, but I just don’t like the way its being done, the old Made for TV sales techniques applied to the web. Its not trust worthy. Though it can covert some, or even many, I certainly hope that consumer’s grow wary of these techniques and look for better alternatives to do business with. And when I get to the point where I’m doing more selling online or in whatever means, I plan to apply sales techniques that are transparent, honest and straight-forward.

What are your thoughts?

Related Posts

• January 3, 2010 -- Definition of Financial Freedom
• November 17, 2009 -- The Infamous Kirby Vacuum Trust Buster Alert
• November 25, 2009 -- Bank of America’s Lost My Trust: “Affiliate Partners” Unethical Practices
• November 8, 2009 -- Best Kept Secrets of How to be a Millionaire & Other Trust Buster Phrases
• October 31, 2009 -- Trust Agent Inspired Term: Trust Busters

I Hope Someone Can Learn from My Mistake and Opt Out from Unethical Marketing

I have nothing against marketing or sales. In fact, I work in a marketing department. I am all for selling, but I also believe in honesty. I believe those two concepts can go together successfully. I don’t think its okay to pull one over on someone. And I am still disappointed everytime I hear about it or if it happens to me. There is a big difference between offering someone a product or service and just plan unethical sales techniques.

Before I go into detail on my story, let me cut to the chase, the law requires that banks and credit card companies allow consumer’s to opt out of thier marketing. This includes the scammy affiliate partner marketing that happened to me in the story below. You may want to consider doing this for some of your banks, though it of course depends on the company you are dealing with and if you can trust them. Banks, just like anyone else, should have to earn your trust. And my bank has lost mine.

Apparently, You Cannot Trust Bank of America

I have had a Bank of America credit card for about 9 years and have been happy with it. Until now. I know many others have already encountered this, but today BofA lost my trust.

Recently, a representative from Bank of America called me and said that I was a “preferred customer” and because of my outstanding record, they wanted to send me information on a cash rewards program. She talked extremely fast, and was hard to understand and said that she had a cold. In retrospect, I should have seen the red flag go up that this was a misleading sales call. However, I honestly had no idea when I got off the phone that I had signed up for anything. I thought that I was getting informational packets in the mail. Who was I kidding! I should have had my guard up.

I proceeded to get 3 different charges on my card for small amounts, $1.00 and two for $1.95. Immediately that week, before I got anything in the mail, I called to cancel these ‘services’ with thier ‘affiliates’. They were for auto rewards, cash rewards and travel rewards, all of which were going to start charging me a monthy fee of $24.50. I was told that they were all canceled. This week, my card was charged for the fee. When returning the calls to ‘cancel’ again, I was told that I had never canceled them.

When I contacted Bank of America, they said that all that they could do for me was have me file a dispute and then they could also issue me a new card. They also said I could opt out of future affiliate sales calls.

So, my reward for being a ‘preferred’ customer is a dispute case caused by my credit card company themselves, tons of wasted time, and a feeling of overall frustration.

I’ve heard many BofA hate stories, and I want to make it clear that I do not hate BofA. I simply think that businesses should run on fair and honest business practices, and this practice is cause for complaint.

This issue is still not resolved, but I plan to contact B of A and ask how they intend to redeem and repair this relationship that they have now put in jeapordy. My hopes aren’t that high, but I’m going to attempt to give them the benefit of the doubt one last time.

I want to close my account in priciple, but I feel obligated to leave it open, since I just learned how closing a card would affect my credit score. Sigh.

On a side note, I found this site below very humorous. Its a complaint about Bank of America, but then at the top is a BofA banner advertisment. I’m guessing they don’t get a lot of traction with that ad!

Question: Will fair and honest business practices and sales prevail? Or will businesses continue to get by by “pulling one over” on consumers?

Related Posts

• December 26, 2009 -- Online MLM Recurring Passive Income Stream Techniques: Trust Busted
• November 17, 2009 -- The Infamous Kirby Vacuum Trust Buster Alert
• November 8, 2009 -- Best Kept Secrets of How to be a Millionaire & Other Trust Buster Phrases
• October 31, 2009 -- Trust Agent Inspired Term: Trust Busters

Trust Busted! Do People Still Get Tricked Into The Kirby Vacuum Sales Pitch?

Apparently, yes.

If it is 8:30 on a Thursday night, raining heavily and very dark out, a young man rings your door bell, and offers you a “FREE” pack of Kleenex or a box of baking soda, your best response should always be: “Thanks, but I’m not interested.” Slam.(The best was I took the Kleenex from the guy, then said I wasn’t interested and he asked for the Kleenex back.)

Honestly, I personally don’t care if they have the best product in the world and it is worth the huge price tag, the sales pitches that I have received from the door-to-door salespeople from Kirby have been just plain scammy.

In the past 2 years that I have lived in my house, despite my “No Soliciting” sign, I have received numerous sales pitches, 2 of which have included the Kirby vacuum salesman.

As a Kirby Salesman Your Strategy is Simple:

1) Confuse and catch someone’s attention before they slam the door in your face by offering them something for free

2) Do everything you can to get into their house and “demonstrate” your vacuum, emphasize all the cool features and terms

3) Prey on the person’s emotions and make him/her feel guilty and obligated. For example,  say that you are going to get fired if you don’t make the sale or beat up by your boss, etc.

Many of us want to trust in the decency of businesses and other people. I’ve learned that quite often, especially in difficult economic situations, that’s not always possible. Consumer’s have to put their guard up and fight to ensure that they are treated fairly with many businesses.

Kirby Vacuum Scam

I personally have been scammed quite a few times in the last few years, and I’ll be documenting all of my mistakes on this blog. In fact, I just got scammed a few weeks ago, unwillingly in a few minute phone call from my “friendly” credit card company, Bank of America.

The lesson we have to learn is people have to earn your trust. This is why I loved the book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan. It talks about people having to earn trust, not try to  con or scam or cheat their way to get it.

The bottom line is this: I don’t ever want to buy a vacuum that costs $2,000 from someone who uses unethical sales tactics to trick consumers into making bad purchases. And neither should you.

Just a Few Kirby Scam Resources:

• http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/kirbysec.htm
• I love this site, “Kirby Vaccums Will Suck the Life Out of You and Your Marriage.”

The practice of unethical sales techniques has got to end some day. Trust-worthy businesses have got to succeed. Consumers have got to stand up for themselves in whatever forum works. Currently, it seems that YouTube and online social channels provide a great forum for this, but you have to create quite an upset to be heard.

Related Posts

• December 26, 2009 -- Online MLM Recurring Passive Income Stream Techniques: Trust Busted
• November 25, 2009 -- Bank of America’s Lost My Trust: “Affiliate Partners” Unethical Practices
• November 8, 2009 -- Best Kept Secrets of How to be a Millionaire & Other Trust Buster Phrases
• October 31, 2009 -- Trust Agent Inspired Term: Trust Busters

Day 14: Trust Buster Alert – Be Cautious of the Words “Secret” and “Millionaire”

I’d like to take a look at the psychology behind the marketing and selling of wealth and financial tools and strategies. It baffles me that the general public doesn’t see through the sales pitch when a book, article or movie uses words such as “Secret” or “Millionaire” and combine that with an unrealistic time frame such as “In Just One Week”. Do you realize that it is not a “secret” if everyone knows about it?!

Yet, despite the little voice in the back of our heads telling us this could be a hoax, for many of us, we are still drawn to these flashy phrases. Its as if they hold the keys to something that has eluded us, and if we uncover it, all of our questions will be answered. Most people would like to know how to be a millionaire, so they are (consciously or sub-consciously) immediately drawn to the term and their odds of purchasing increase.

My caution is this, though these terms can appeal to the masses through impulsive purchases, if there is not true depth to the offering past the catchy title, people will be left feeling duped and frustrated. Or, they may try something, but they will quickly give up because they have not reached their full potential of being a “Millionaire” already. The same holds true for weight loss programs that sell “Lose 20 pounds in a week!” etc. I believe that honesty and authenticity should prevail over simply selling a product. This could get into an ethical debate, but this is the path that I personally will choose to follow.

Popular Examples of the Term “Secret” and/or “Millionaire”:

• “The Secret”: a best-selling, somewhat cheesy, but insightful movie that swept the nation and was promoted by Oprah herself. I would have probably titled this move “Positive Energy and The Power of the Universe” – but would it have sold as many copies?
• “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by T Harv Eker: I love this book and the concept of changing the way you think about your finances and wealth, but would probably have named it something like “Achieving Your Personal Financial Freedom – It’s All in Your Mind.” Yet Eker knew that he would hook people by using the catch phrases of secret and millionaire.
• This list could go on and on to include “The Millionaire Next Door”, “The Automatic Millionaire” and more.

All this being said, there can often be valuable information in some of these “wealth-help” books, movies and articles. The tricky part is sifting through what holds true and what is essentially a scam. And to me, it can be hard to know when they are all named the same variation of the words secret, wealth, millioniare, etc.

For the past two weeks, I have been able to clearly assess my net worth, debt, and get a little more organized using online tools such as Mint.com and Mitto.com. I am also trying to simplify my life style and prioritize my time. Where do I go from here?

Education.

I’ll be taking a closer look at the popular minds of Dave Ramsey, Suzie Orman and others and I plan to read articles and books. So far, the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker has been inspirational for me as it looks at changing your attitude and outlook towards your finances before you can truly make a difference in your quest toward financial freedom (not necessarily being a millionaire, just financially more free than the average joe). It has a similar perspective as “The Secret” in that good things come to those that use and exhibit positive energy: you will get results where you focus your efforts. (I’ll be posting more about Eker’s concepts and how I relate to them shortly).

Behavior of Wealth and Finance

I also plan to look more into behavioral economics and behavioral finance with the intent on understanding my own psychological factors involved in budgeting, finance and investment decisions. I’m considering reading books such as Nudge that discuss this concept.

Before I make any large changes from where I am presently, (besides trying to simplify and organize), I’ll need to evaluate and learn more from the experts.

Please comment and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Related Posts

• November 9, 2009 -- Eker’s Jars and the Millionaire Mind Philosophy
• December 26, 2009 -- Online MLM Recurring Passive Income Stream Techniques: Trust Busted
• December 21, 2009 -- Be the Change You Want to See in the World
• November 25, 2009 -- Bank of America’s Lost My Trust: “Affiliate Partners” Unethical Practices
• November 21, 2009 -- Review of FiLife: Your Financial Lifeline

Day 6: Inspired by the book “Trust Agents”, I’ve thought of a term to use “Trust Busters”.

I’ve been reading the book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, by Julien Smith and Chris Brogan, and I find it to be very refreshing. I love the concept that social media and the online social communities are about authenticity and being real, and that everyone as individuals has a place to build trust by joining in the conversation in a different way than it has been in the past. Its so anti-intuitive to the alternative route that many follow online with some of the affiliate marketing practices. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against affiliate marketing. In fact, I’m facinated by it and can’t wait to learn more. (You may have noticed I linked to an Amazon book from this posting through a Amazon Associates link). I just think there are ways of going about financial freedom that are genuine and authentic and then there are ways of trying to make a quick buck. Both can probably return results, but I question the staying power of the second method.

The main concept that I will be looking at in my blog from more of a philisophical standpoint is all of the junk that clutters the web. Can it really have a long-lasting life? As an offshoot to Smith’s book’s concept I’m going to use the term “Trust Buster” to describe practices that I encounter along my journey that I find to be either cheesy, misleading, or just plain unethical. I have found that the term has been used before in relation to Roosevelt and politics, but it has a new meaning in this context. Its my personal belief that many of these concepts can earn money for some, but thier staying power is limited because people want to know the truth not just be sold.

I’m going to try to start a few sites with income generation options, but the difference for me is that I want them to be well designed, well maintained, thoughtful, and useful sites. If I get traffic to the ads from them, that is nice, but the main purpose will be to find my place online and what I can add through my own current and ongoing acquired knowledge.

Related Posts

• December 26, 2009 -- Online MLM Recurring Passive Income Stream Techniques: Trust Busted
• November 25, 2009 -- Bank of America’s Lost My Trust: “Affiliate Partners” Unethical Practices
• November 17, 2009 -- The Infamous Kirby Vacuum Trust Buster Alert
• November 8, 2009 -- Best Kept Secrets of How to be a Millionaire & Other Trust Buster Phrases