I have BIG NEWS to share with YOU…

http://May1st2007.com/?x=1189901 The BIG NEWS: Internet Marketing pioneer Rick Raddatz is launching five major new marketing services in 2007.

Cost: Free

This is your last chance!!

Well things are all set with Schefren and Strategic Profits. I got my second refund with no issues at all. It is nice to have a company handle things properly and do what is right without making the customer fight for it. Like I said, I love Shefren’s program but I just cannot handle it right now. If you would like more info on him and what he teaches, the following link will take you to his FREE page where you can download his materials and watch his movies at no cost:

==> http://schefren.infusionsoft.com/go/vault/bizdream

Very good stuff. I actually got a lot out of the free materials before I signed up with them. His subscription materials are even better if you can handle it. Now on to the rest of my day. I will be organizing my office and writing up a 30 day action plan.

 

I have decided to drop the Rich Schefren program. The materials are very good but I just can’t justify the cost and time requirements at this time. Perhaps in the future but not now.

Now the fun begins with refund requests so we’ll see how they handle that. When I first signed up with them, they said there was a 30 day guarantee. I signed up on 2/12 and they didn’t even have the site up and running until early March. I requested the refund on 3/29. I was then charged a second time on 4/3. I received a refund on one month’s payment on 4/6.

So now I was charged for two months and refunded for one month. I have requested a refund on the second month now as well.

I have been updating everyone for quite a while now on my Consolidated Solutions Group business and want to continue doing so for those looking for information on this company and their opportunity. This post is meant to be an update as well as a rant and a plan for going forward with CSG.

First let’s talk about commissions…
Since starting with CSG, I have been reluctant to submit my own leads for homeowners facing foreclosure because I saw no evidence that CSG could handle the leads properly. I focused my efforts on building a team instead. I have now decided that this approach is not very fruitful. To date I have earned a grand total of $178.74 in override commissions and zero team bonuses. That is since joining back in November 2006, nearly five months ago. There are three deals in the pipeline which will be paid out in May for a couple thousand dollars more in additional override commissions.

Now if I were submitting my own leads, I’m sure I would be earning with CSG but I have not been doing that. As a real estate investor, I work with many homeowners myself directly for free to help them keep their homes, with the expectation that if/when they eventually do need to sell, they will call me. Not everyone can be helped, however and that is where short sale outsourcing can be helpful but not too many of those end up becoming deals taht actually close.

Downlines…Does size matter?
At this time, I have a total of 3,419 people in my downline. In that group, there has been a total of two deals done and closed so far that I have received overrides on. The downline agents are pretty much not producing any business at all. At least not the levels that I get paid overrides on. There is obviously an issue with CSG’s business model if only one person in 3,419 does any deals in 5 months.

In my previous post, I said that I’d rather have quality over quantity and that is true, however, the quality I got from this group, and that CSG promotes heavily, is the recruiting efforts, not the lead submission. Getting a lot of people in your downline does not make you any money unless they upgrade, which is another issue altogether.

Disappointment
The issue I have now is that I have become very disappointed with CSG and the business they appear to be promoting which is Team Building and getting the Mentor Fee which is 50% of the upgrade fee. That seems to be their big push. There are no upline overrides paid out on those “Team Bonuses” at all. It is referred to as a “Mentoring Fee” by CSG and is supposed to help make the sponsoring agent provide more personalized support  to the newly upgraded agent. I can already see that this is going to be a big issue for CSG since they are not selling anything with that program and that is what causes Attornies General to investigate and shut companies down.

I’m sure they have given this all some thought, and they do offer services and products in their lineup, but I have concerns. They are supposed to be training people and making this business easier for their agents, but that is clearly not working. They are spending too much time promoting the business of getting people to upgrade and build teams and not enough on teaching people how to submit leads.

In any event, I plan to stick with CSG while they continue to grow and improve their business. I will be submitting my own leads soon to see how they get handled and I will start communicating more within my downline pay levels to identify those who want to do work this business for real and work with them by providing marketing materials and samples of how I do this business.

UPDATE: Please Read the Comments and my replies below.