Start Where You Are
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Posted by admin on July 8, 2009
Today was a day of reflecttion for me. I found myself looking back at everything I did and did not accomplish just to see what I could have done differently. I’m at a cross road in my life and it’s way past time for a change.
Bear with me. I’m wrapping my mind around alot of things and putting some things together. I’ll blog more tomorrow.
Posted by admin on April 28, 2009
Have you ever purchased a product from a guru and within a few days, you started getting calls from someone saying that they’re calling on behalf of that guru to “check on your progress”? Then about 10 minutes into the conversation, you realize you’re being pitched some type of coaching program.
It’s happened to me on more than one occasion. I’ve been mulling this over for quite some time now and I just want to see what you think. Please keep in mind that not all guru’s do this. But it has been happening more frequently than I’d like. Let me start by telling you about one of my experiences.
I recently purchased an online product from a well known “guru”( who shall remain nameless). Within a couple of days of my purchase, I started getting calls from a couple of different 800 numbers. I usually ignore these calls because I get so many of them. This particular caller was relentless and left a few messages. I finally listened to one of the messages. I was told that I was going to receive a call from an agent of the guru who’s product I purchased to check on my progress. I even received an email ( the guru’s product name was the return address) telling me to expect this call. Well alright now!!! That’s what I call excellent customer service. I’m impressed! And obviously a little naive…ok…..maybe alot naive.
The next day I got another call and this time I answered it. I mean come on, a personal call from an agent just to check on my progress and maybe answer a few questions? As far as I’m concerned, I’m a fan for life. And here we go. I get questions asking me if I’m enjoying the product. ( Duh! Well of course I am! ) Then he asked me what were some of my challenges. Funny thing though. As I began to tell him, he kinda cut me off in mid sentence to move on the the next question. Ok…..a little rude… but I’m thinking maybe he has alot of other people to call and he just wants to make sure to move this along.
Then I start getting the affirmative questions. You know the ones I’m talking about. Those questions that keep you in the “yes” mode when you answer them. That’s when it dawned on me. I’m being pitched!!! What in the ham sandwich is going on here??? I stopped him and asked him what he was selling? A coaching program??!! Huh??!! Are you serious? And it cost how much?? Ummmm….no thanks. That’s when it got nasty. He then, in a very condesending tone, proceeded to tell me that I’m going to spend at least $6000 dollars to get up and running and that I would not succeed without his program. I had heard enough. The next sound he heard was the lovely sound of the dial tone in his ear.
This had to be a scam! How did this guy get my information? How did he know that I had just purchased this product? I sent an email to the support desk of the guru who’s product I purchased telling them about the call and copying the email. Ask me if I got a response. Nope. None. Nada. It’s as if I never said a word.
Now, imagine my surprise when I found out that a part of the back end of product launches is the selling of leads to third party vendors for coaching purposes. These companies have nothing to do with the guru in question other than the fact that they pay for the leads. Now forgive me if I’m wrong, and please correct me if I am, but I could have swore that he said our information would not be sold? Am I missing something? Did I completely misunderstand the concept? Isn’t the sale of your information to a third party vendor a breach of trust? Or am I being too sensitive? You tell me.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that lead generation is a great way to make money online and offline. There are plenty of companies that will pay handsomely for targeted leads. But does that give someone the right to sell my infomation to just anyone after they said and put in writing on their site that they would “never sell your information”?
From what I’ve been able to find out, this seems to be a common practice. Have the big product launch, sell all you can, then sell leads to vendors with coaching programs. Easy sell. Your list is already in buying mode. I can’t tell you how angry and disappointed I was when I found out about this. That action to me is the classic example of what not to do to the people who trust you. At least give your list a heads up that there is a compatible coaching program that you’d like them to take a look at.
I don’t know. Sound off. Tell me what you think.
