A Valuable Lesson!

I did it! I admit it! Perhaps it was an after-lunch brain shutdown ...I was curious... And I called. Advertising worked (sort of... I'll explain this in a minute)

Read on to learn from my mistake... and theirs

I was driving along in my car and pulled up to a stop light. Just then an ad came on to the radio pitching:

"Easy Money On The Internet" System. "Call Now and we'll send you a free tape to explain the system Call 1-800 -xxx-xxxx"

I was at a stop light.... My cell phone was right there... I swear it was staring at me! "What could it hurt", I thought, "It's free... I"ll listen to it, find a hole in the system, and dismiss it" So I did it...I called.

A lovely operator (inbound tele-salesperson) answered the phone and asked me my experience using the internet to make money. I talked to her a bit and allowed her to "pre-sell" me a bit. She told me some of the "features" of the system... which was basically Web Design advice and possibly software. Seo Advice and "access" to high demand products to sell.

From her description... it wasn't anything I couldn't find via this forum for free... all for the affordable rate of $29 a month for 10 months. $290 for a turn key business? Sounds pretty good. I was plenty sceptical of course (which if you've read any of my other posts you'll know i'm plenty sceptical). But I was dying for my "free tape".

It turns out that in addition to my "free tape" I would be given temporary (30 days) access to "the system" for free and once I started making money (supposedly hand over fist) then I could buy the system as detailed above. I thought " Wow Not only can i listen to the tape to find holes but I can try it out... heck I could give a few hours of my time a day for 30 days to set my computer up to generate cash" If it works... Great if not.. hey it didn't cost anything right?

So I told her to "Bring it On". Expecting next for her to ask me for my mailing address etc. Well I was shocked to learn that my "free tape" and "free trial" was going to cost $9.99 in shipping and would I like to pay with visa Mastercard or Amex.

Now being a big proponent of evaluating things from a perspective of ROI I can already hear some of you saying " Geez $9.99 for all that isn't a huge investment... what gives ROI Poponent"

To this I tell you two things.

firstly and pretty importantly... By giving them my credit card info they could "if unscrupulous" begin billing my card for ten easy payments of $29 if I don't cancel my "free trial" by some date on some terms and conditions I can only read once they already have my payment info. Which is something I'm pretty leery to.

Secondly and the point of all of this is. A free offer is not free if it costs $9.99. It's simply a "monkeying around with the math" it could just as easily be a "9.99 trial offer" and "free shipping".

They violated the very first principal of marketing... Promise only what you can deliver and deliver more than you promise. They promised a free tape and in actuality it cost $9.99. This devious practice right up front soured the possibility of doing business with them becuase if they are devious enough to pull this up front... what else aren't they telling me! After 10 months there is an annual subscription renewal? I have to use their webdesign and hosting with fees? Trick me once... shame on you... Trick me twice shame on me!


So ask yourself. What does your marketing message say AND imply. And are you losing business once people respond to your offer and learn that it's not exactly as advertised.

In my case I hung up immediately (the operator was still chattering on). The radio station i heard it on I happend to know charges between $400 and $1,000 for a commercial during the time period I heard it (don't get me started on that)... and It's not the first time i've heard it. So this client is at a minimum spending $5-10K to advertise on the station per week. The radio station effectively delivered the message (i heard it and responded... so too other must have) but they ultimately received no revenue from me. and probably others.

This company is spending big dollars to advertise and to hire a call center to ultimately present themselves as a scam.

Learn from their mistake. Make sure your advertised offers aren't only "true" (truth is variable based on perspective) but honest!



If you're interested I have the # but I don't want to advertise it for them here.