A number of people have told me that Bo Short’s "It Takes Practice" tape was the best contacting tape ever made for Network Marketing. I bounced the idea of remaking this tape off of Bo the other day and he seemed open to it.
Would you like to see Bo Short make "It Takes Practice – 2005"?
Yes! Seems like a good idea.
I can't believe what I'm reading. Absolutely It Takes Practice '05. Or I.T.P. 2. Or Return of I.T.P….
I bet I listened to that tape 20 times. Bo's sense of humor, warmth and professionalism are huge AND contagious on that tape. A remake should go over well.
Ty,
As someone who has this tape at home, I would say it is a wonderful idea.
Would it be available for download?
Keep us posted.
Thanks for all you do
Shane
Good Ideal!
I still keep that tape in my car and listen to it every once in a while so I'd love to have a remake of that.
Lance
Remake an Amway prospecting tape? What a great idea! If it worked so well for Amway distributors to cold contact "prospects", it's sure to fit the bill in Passport, right?
You know, maybe you could tell people about "residual income" opportunities, "leveraging their time" by recruiting others to do the work for them, and setting up "multiple income streams" to move them into the "cashflow quadrant" while you're at it. That worked well for Amway promoters, too.
Good luck building a better mousetrap. Glad I'm not a mouse.
LawDawg, you're just being negative. Negative people don't like anything. The Passport folks obviously want the tape/cd/audio so why not give it to them? It's not like it's being forced on anyone. They seem to really want it and thinks it can really help them so what's the big deal?
Ty, have you ever actually heard that tape? It's not about "contacting" people in an honest and ethical manner. It's about "prospecting" for a recruiting scheme using such fine techniques as "answering a direct question with another question."
Why would Passport or Bo want to promote a recruiting scheme?
Oh, I get it . . . so it's not a tape about how to cold contact people you don't even know as "prospects" and potential recruits into your MLM?
I think you should listen to the tape before you decide to remake it. Last I heard, Passport wasn't a recruiting business – it was a retail sales business that wasn't interested cold contacting prospects. In fact, that was the biggest thing that Set It Apart ™.
But it's under new management, I hear.
BTW, I thought one of the other things that Set Passport Apart ™ is the absence of this kind of silly cult of personality. Seems like YOU (Ty Tribble) know more about recruiting for Passport and selling Passport products than Bo Short. And if it's not the same tape because it doesn't reflect your methods and values, why call it a remake. Why not call it "The New Bo Short 'how to cold contact every Tom, Dick and Harry prospect and recruit them into your MLM' Tape"?
So explain how the Quixtar tools are a problem if the people paying for them:
a.) Want them
b.) Like them
c.) Ask for them
d.) Believe they're benefitting from them
Thanks!
sniffsniff
Why is it suddenly smelling like World Wide Dream Builders in here?
Ty, that's almost exactly what WWDBers say. Darn near to the letter.
So what percentage of Passport's volume is retailed vs. purchased by distributors for their own consumption?
I'm not looking for a fight. I just expected better than this.
In two short years it's already turning in to a recruiting scheme. I was stunned just reading that someone considered it a good idea to remake a Bo Short Amway recruiting seminar – and even more stunned to read that Bo agreed it was a good idea.
And, no, "we can't track that information" isn't acceptable, Ty.
Even AmQuix tracks that information. They used to have it on their SA-4400.
Finally, you can deny it all you want but your pitch is eerily like WWDB. Hooking people up with bogus MLM motivational gurus and remaking prospecting tapes is NOT what Passport was about 18 months ago.
My, how things have changed . . .
…and your pitch is sounding eerily like a zealot who is not considering all of the facts and simply lumping everyone together because of three letters…MLM.
Ty, has anything of monetary value changed hands between you and Michael Oliver, or any other so-called Network Marketing trainer featured on any of your sites?
Why do you need all this motivation, anyway? Last I heard, businessmen are motivated by enjoying their work and profits. Don't know of ANY business owners (outside of MLM) who need WEEKLY training seminars to run a business selling consumable products. But then, let's be perfectly straightforward here . . . I'm beginning to doubt the focus is really on selling products – as is attested by the posts on this site, which overwhelmingly consist of plugs for networking "training" and motivation.
And no, the problem isn't paying for training. The problem is running a recruiting scheme where the focus is on making money signing up more members, rather than getting customers for your products. That requires a lot of motivation of the non-monetary kind – which tells everyone alot about what is going on here.
"your pitch is sounding eerily like a zealot who is not considering all of the facts and simply lumping everyone together because of three letters"
Translation:
"You're negative! I can't hear you . . . I can't hear you . . . hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . "
And despite your last attempt to dodge it . . . the all too valid question remains on the table:
"How does AmQuix manage to get data on the percentage of its products that are retailed vs. self-consumed, and you can't?"
You can attack the questioner all you want for being "negative." But it still won't answer the question.
There is nothing wrong with contacting people in an honest and ethical manner. There is also nothing wrong with multiple streams of income or leverage. It's the multiple streams of mind numbing meetings and pocket emptying training systems that you have to worry about.
I wouldn't say anyone is being negative, but at the same time it isn't logical to say that 1 + 1 = 3.
Shane, Yes, if the audio is made, it will be available for free download to all Passport associates.
1. I have never accepted a penny from any Network Marketing trainer.
2. Network Marketing is sales and recruiting. We have conference calls and training on both. Anyone with any mathematical sense can take one look at Passport's compensation plan and see that it is weighted towards retail sales.
– We talk more about retail sales than any other MLM that I know of outside of perhaps Avon and Mary Kay (even turning away people that don't want to sell products)
– We have monthly training on retail sales
– We reward retail sales with a 50% bonus after the first $85 (higher than any compensation plan I have ever seen)
– Our prices are conducive to retail sales (often three times less than competing MLM companies)
(That pretty much makes us retail sales focused, no?)
3. It has nothing to do with you being negative. It has everything to do with your your clouded judgement based on your experience (and the experience of others)with one particular scheme.
4. Amquix does not have (nor have they ever published) an accurate number on the volume that is self consumed vs. sold to retail customers and neither do I*. The best I could do is a survey and I will be doing one later this year.
* Products are many times purchased from the company by the associate and later sold to customers.
Dawg,
First, Go Dawgs! (That's a big deal coming from a Coug)
Second, do you honestly think that the tape would be put out without updating it with consideration to the current thought process and values we hold today?
Lastly, I am pretty sure that some LOS edited Bo's tape to leave out the part where he said: If people ask, "Is this Amway?" You say, "Yes it is, what do you know about it?".
I am not in Passport (at least not at this time), but from what I have researched about Passport and what I know from AmQuix (having been in for a few years), it seems that Passport is quite a bit different.
As with any business, you don't just hang out your sign and expect people to stampede through the door. You will have to do some form of advertising. Even McDonalds, as recognizable as it is, still advertises on a constant basis. The vast majority of NMers don't have the resources to use print or TV, so they have to actually engage people one on one. If there is a resource out there that can help take some of the fear and uncertainty out of the process, use it and make it available to others. If Passport decides to put a contacting/prospecting resource out there, it will most likely be free and totally voluntary, unlike AmQuix. I am also sure any approaches discussed will not keep the Company shrouded in mystery unlike, "Is this AmQuix?" "Well….I really can't explain it over the phone. You really need to come to this meeting and hear this successful guy to get all the details."
From what I have found, Passport is not "system" driven, unlike AmQuix. The system business is AmQuix's main business these days and the product business only serves to give it a thin veneer of legitimacy. Passport offers free (long distance charges may apply for the phone conferences, I am not sure) training on their products and the how-tos of building a solid business, which is a win-win for the Company and its Associates. There are no tapes to buy and no functions to attend. No one seems compelled to attend the phone conferences and are not labelled a loser or negative for choosing not to participate, unlike AmQuix.
There are no "performance levels" in Passport other than $85 per month. This should very effectively eliminate the practice of unscrupulous upline buying bigger pins (because there are no pins) and forcing unwanted products on downline, as all to often happens in AmQuix so the "successful" can maintain appearances.
It appears that Mr. Short has no problem with Associates sharing in the future of the Company as he has brough Messrs. Tribble and Stone on board to help chart Passport's future. I am sure as the Company continues to grow, additional positions will be filled from the ranks of its Associates.
How'd I do, Ty?
There is nothing wrong with cold contacting people for a Network Marketing business. In case you haven't noticed, Passport is a Network Marketing business. Part of that business is selling products and part of it is bringing in others that sell products and Passport pays people for both.
It would be closed minded to assume that every person you talk to about Passport would only be interested in the products. Personally, I leave the door open for the individual to decide…Passport Products, Passport Business, or neither.
As for the name of the audio…who cares? I called it that because a lot of people know of that audio.
QBlog,
I am not connecting your question at all to the discussion going on, can you explain?
Dawg,
It smells more like a whitewash *(probably wrong choice of word – should be "biased prejudice") of Network Marketing on your behalf.
I spent enough years with WWDB to know what they say (or said)and they never approached people with the intent on seeing if their product or business filled a need. They approached people to get them to the mysterious meeting.
You are entitled to your opinions on Network Marketing. You believe that MLM = Bad. I don't.
As for your question, there is no way to track that number, given the way that Passport products are sold.
*added later
And the key phrase about it was, "it will be available for a FREE download".
Fact is LawDawg, you are looking for a fight. What's your agenda?
Again Ty, I think it would be a great idea, regardless of what LawDawg thinks. It's obvious he is out to make Passport into a system like WWDB.
Actually, it's just the opposite, Lance. I'm out to help make sure it doesn't become a system like WWDB. And if you are retail focused, why dig up an Amway recruiting seminar? Why encourage your people to engage in the cult of personality that is the central feature of most overhyped MLM?
Bo showed me an incredible level of integrity by coming out against HR1220 and in not participating with the DSA. Now I see in a few short months someone thinking of remaking Amway prospecting tapes (free or not, isn't the point – you are bringing in a piece of the Amway culture that should have no place in Passport). And then I see a prominent Passport associate-owned sites plugging for Len Clements, who – unlike Bo – DOES support the DSA's efforts to legalize pyramid schemes and further ruin the reputation of your industry.
Ty,
You know as well as I do that you can talk about what you promote and your compensation plan all day long, but it doesn't mean anything if the reality is still that the vast majority of the market for your products is your own distributors and they are being told to make money recruiting and networking.
As you well know, it's quite easy to pay lip service to sales while trumpeting the advantages of "leveraging your time" by recruiting. So the gold standard in spotting a pyramid scheme whether there is a real, retail market for your products or services.
As far as AmQuix self-consumption numbers, those are based on their survey. However, even with their "survey" technique, they can't help but disclose that less than 20% of Amway products are sold to retail customers. If you could honestly show that more than 50% of Passport's volume is outside its distributors then THAT would Set You Apart.
Passport LLC has nothing to do with Len Clements, however one of our true strengths is that the Independent Associates are truly independent. Unlike some companies, we do not restrict involvement in other business'.
Stringing together minutia in an attempt to further your point is not becoming and neither is making a judgement of an audio that has not even been made.
Lastly, I like Network Marketing and I am not alone. Part of Network Marketing is building a networking business and part of Network Marketing is building a sales business. It would be stupid to ignore either part.
Then certainly you can verify that the majority of the income is from retail sales to customers, right?
Evading an issue with a strawman is not becoming, Ty.
And as far as an audio that hasn't been made yet, there are a lot of things you haven't done yet that if you suggested you were going to do them I would voice an opinion. Though I'm starting to feel sure it would be disregarded as coming from a negative person (your preferred term is "zealot") as a means of avoiding having to deal with it. Well, you'd do well to not be so dismissive. It didn't get you very far when you were an Amway distributor and it won't get you far now.
Let's talk law for a bit.
Since In re Koscot Interplanetary, Inc., the FTC has presumed that marketing products with an MLM compensation is fraudulent. To overcome this presumption, a company can establish that it has safeguards to ensure that the income in the scheme is tied primarily to retail sales to consumers _and_ that these safeguards do, in fact, serve to tie income in the scheme primarily to retail sales.
What safeguards are in place at Passport to ensure that bonuses are primarily paid on retail sales to customers? Do these safeguards, whatever they are, actually serve in fact to tie the compensation primarily to retail sales? If so, how do you know? I gather from your previous response that nobody has studied that yet.
You see, Ty, you continue to not understand some basic aspects of human nature.
The idea behind MLM is not being your own boss but automatically becoming a sales manager – whether you are qualified to be one or not.
In ordinary business, somebody actually learns how to sell stuff before they start hiring new salesmen and training them. But in MLM, everybody is automatically qualified to be a sales manager on day one even if they've never sold a single thing in their lives.
The whole appeal of MLM is to get other people to sell the stuff for you so that you have "exponential growth" create "income streams" of "residual income" and "leverage your time."
So do you really focus on learning to sell and building up a customer base? Of course not. You focus on trying to get that special six or eight to sell for you.
Does the ordinary MLMer know a decent salesperson if he or she sees one? No. Would they know how to train them to sell? No. Would they expect their recruits to do the same thing and try to recruit six more people not selling so they would have some "residual income"? They should – that's the whole point.
And where does that leave everyone? In a so-called sales business where nobody really wants to sell anything.
Every time you start talking about leveraging time, residual income and whatnot, it doesn't matter how your comp plan works or how much time you spend talking about retail sales at your free conference calls – people will spend their time recruiting rather than selling. "Selling is for suckers", while "recruiting" sellers is for real networkers, business owners, etc. That is the implicit message that everyone hears, whether it is explicitly stated or not.
That is the nature of MLM.
Of course, you are welcome to show What Sets Passport Apart. Note though, that I've already given you the only meaningful criteria.
"I've already given you the only meaningful criteria."
Meaningful to someone that has no interest in building a Network Marketing business…
…someone offering no suggestions to make Network Marketing better.
I am disregarding some of what you are saying because you are "Non-Believering" unrelated minutia together in an attempt to further your agenda and prove your point. (See Len Clements and "bogus mlm motivational gurus")
I plainly state to people that they must have customers in virtually every conference call I do. This is not to appease you, Lawdawg, this is to help people understand the smart way to build a business.
I'm afraid you are the one that is not thinking this through. Where in the world do you think customers come from? They don't appear out of thin air. They must be contacted or approached at some time.
If people want to build Network Marketing smart, they will approach people without their agenda in mind and allow the other person (through dialogue and real listening) to come to an understanding of whether or not the product or business would solve a problem. The approacher should not be the one deciding what the approachee wants to do….customer, business, or neither.
I've offered you a lot of suggestions to make network marketing better over the last year or two. Your approach now is that if I disagree with you just label me rather than answer my questions. I'm a "zealot" or I have an "agenda." If you think that's some sort of dialogue, you are sadly mistaken.
Here are my questions again:
What safeguards are in place at Passport to ensure that bonuses are primarily paid on retail sales to customers? Do these safeguards, whatever they are, actually serve in fact to tie the compensation primarily to retail sales? If so, how do you know? I gather from your previous response that nobody has studied that yet.
And as far as data on self-consumption being the only criteria, that's based on the legal authorities. The presumption is that a scheme using an MLM comp plan is a fraud, unless the company demonstrates that the income in the scheme is primarily from retail sales.
Since the presence of safeguards that in fact tie compensation primarily to retail sales is the one thing that makes an MLM not a pyarmid scheme, it seems to me that you should be prepared to answer my questions.
How many seminars? How often? Which hotels and which banks? Who put on the seminars?
Excuse me . . . but I seriously doubt that any bank sends its employees to several motivational seminars each year.
Lawdawg,
So you are now saying that people don't need sales training or weekly sales meetings?
You want us to be a sales business, but then you don't want us to help train our sales people. That makes perfect sense.
Passport brings in an outside speaker each month, thus far, none have been motivational. These speakers are MLM Trainers, Sales Trainers, Financial Trainers, goal setting and life coaches, etc.
We are a sales driven home based business, but we find our sales people via Network Marketing. You don't have to like it, but the truth is we do it legally and ethically.
You do it legally and ethically? Okay, then you shouldn't have any trouble answering these simple questions:
What safeguards are in place at Passport to ensure that bonuses are primarily paid on retail sales to customers? Do these safeguards, whatever they are, actually serve in fact to tie the compensation primarily to retail sales? If so, how do you know? I gather from your previous response that nobody has studied that yet.
Let me give you some assistance here.
The tactic of changing the topic by only responding to a side issue isn't going to work guys. You say you do it legally and ethically, I've asked for proof at least three times now. I even clearly laid out what the proof should be. And yet the simple questions remain unanswered . . .
. . . chirp . . . chirp . . . chirp . . .
"I even clearly laid out what the proof should be."
What law(s) are you referring to?
Quote "Why do you need all this motivation, anyway? Last I heard, businessmen are motivated by enjoying their work and profits. Don't know of ANY business owners (outside of MLM) who need WEEKLY training seminars to run a business selling consumable products."
EXCUSE ME!!!!
I have worked for many hotels, and have managed Banks, and every place I worked I was sent (by my employer) to seminars to learn about business, and most of it was motivational.
This is just not true….
The Bank was Usbank and the Hotel chain was the Hampton Inn and Suites.
Heck Usbank flew me to vegas for a week for a big hyped up shin dig…
And we met every thursday for a conference call with different specialist in our field (oh sounds firmiliar)???
Also got together once a month with all the managers over a day long local training..
I left Passport a while back.
Having heard "It's Called Practice" (I even heard it set to music :), I would find it interesting to listen to a new "contacting" training session by Bo. I wonder what differences you'd notice between the Amway version done years earlier and the Passport version.
I guess I don't really see a problem with offering people a free training on contacting, when you need to do it to sell your products and your business plan. Maybe I've been brainwashed too much, and it's shrunk or something. 🙂