I’ve been interviewing a number of people who have bought into $10,000, $20,000 and more programs, and got completely ripped off. They spent a really significant amount of money, were manipulated into purchasing, and the programs held zero value.
I’ve heard these stories for years and years, and I’m finally getting around to writing a guide so that you can spot these misfortunes *before* you waste a significant amount of money that the program leader refuses to refund, and then you’re stuck feeling sick every time you get your credit card bill.
Today I’m sharing an excerpt from the beginning part of the guide to give you a taste. If all goes well, the rest of the guide will be available next week.
Although this is a teaser please know that the complete guide will be free, and you won’t need to opt-in, so you can share it with everyone you know, without anyone ending up on an email list if they don’t want to be.
Now, without further ado:
An excerpt from:
[Don’t] Buy Now
How to spot the scammers and avoid buying unethically-priced business coaching.
Let me tell you a story. This story, like the other stories here, is a compilation. I’ve changed some details to protect people’s identities (no one wants to be sued for libel). But the individual events happened, over and over again.
“I was coming out of depression after a divorce. My health wasn’t great, and I knew that I needed to pick myself up. I wanted to find my heart, my calling, I wanted to engage in the world again. I had some training in a healing modality and I wanted to help people.
“I came across this business development “platinum” program. The price seemed really high, especially for how little money I was making at the time. I’d never been in business before, and I didn’t know what it would take. It sounded great, like it was really going to work, and it was all in language I really resonated with- no harsh or cold business language, except that they really wanted me to make money, too!
“When I first spoke to him he said all the right things: he heard me, he supported me, his voice sounded empathetic. He also offered me a discount right there on the phone, that I could pay several thousand dollars less if I signed up on the phone. I didn’t know what to do, I was already leaning toward it. I decided to do something new for myself and risk it. I jumped in and gave him the credit card.”
“For the first month I was full of hope and optimism. But it became clear that the whole program was mostly audio recordings and a little video and PDFs, and very little feedback or coaching. The “coaching” were these 1 hour classes once a month where a few people got an answer or two, and they weren’t helpful to me.
“When I wanted to quit they told me I didn’t have a ‘success mindset’ and that I was letting poor attitudes get in the way of making it work.
“I eventually just dropped out. I didn’t know I had any recourse- it didn’t look like I did. When I asked for a refund, they sent me threatening emails, and then stopped replying to me.
“I’m still carrying $20,000 in debt from that program. I feel actively sick whenever I see my credit card bill.”
Does this sound extreme? (I wish it were.)
I’ve been teaching and coaching the integration of spirituality and business for self-employed people since 2001, and I’ve heard so many stories over the years, and the consequences are terrible:
People have been hurt emotionally, left feeling battered and worthless.
Years have been wasted, listening to abusive program leaders who bullied them.
People have given up on their businesses entirely, worn down and pulled under by the debt they carry with zero results to show for what it cost.
I’ve written about it from time to time, but I realized I wanted to put together a more comprehensive guide for folks.
In this guide I want three very specific outcomes for you:
First and most important, I want you to avoid getting caught in manipulative sales techniques. I want you to know when and how they are being practiced on you, so you can walk away, keeping all of your money and your time and your dreams intact.
Second, I want you to feel confident in how you think about business development services. Whether it’s coaching, training, personal/spiritual development or some combination, I want you to feel more clear looking at offers, and, despite how good the marketing is, being able to walk away.
Third, I want you to know how to discern whether a price being charged is ethical. Is the service priced too high for what’s being offered?
To achieve those outcomes, we’re going to cover these three topics…
Common unethical sales strategies, so you can recognize them and avoid them.
The truth about business training.
What is ethical pricing, and how it applies to business training, so you can discern whether a program you want to join has a price that makes sense.
…….
Now, I’m going to jump a little ahead in this excerpt so you can read 1 of the 11 manipulative techniques I describe.
.…..
10. * Isolation * (This is NEVER okay.)
Isolation is when you are urged to make a decision without consulting anyone else in your life, like your partner or spouse, or friends or colleagues.
This is a common high-pressure sales tactic used when a marketer knows that there’s a high chance that if you talk to someone else, it will become obvious that enrolling is a bad idea.
This tactic is never, ever okay. If the program won’t stand up to the scrutiny of a trusted friend, partner or colleague, then it’s not worth it.
—
Okay, that’s the excerpt!
In the full guide I share more stories (anonymously), so that you can get a real feeling for what it’s like to be in a manipulative sales process, and also you can feel some confidence that if you say “No!” that you won’t be missing out. I also share the full 11 techniques, including a one-page cheat sheet to refer to, as well as the other topics.
If you have any questions, please ask. In the meantime, we’re working hard on editing and designing it into something that will be easy to read and share.
With gratitude,
Mark Silver
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
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4 Responses
Thank you so much for your work on this, Mark. I’m wondering about something. I’m not sure I’d call the people I paid so much money to “scammers.” I know there are scams out there, but I also think there are a range of practices, not all of which are consciously trying to bilk you. The folk I worked with belonging to a framework of selling which is very prominent in certain “consciousness” circles, and it actually works for some people. I still consider the approach unethical (for all the reasons you site), but I don’t think they were consciously scamming people. And, for me, they are the real problem (or at least, one big one). There’s a large community of folk in the “consciousness” world who honestly think this is the right and only way to sell. And then their followers try to sell that way, fail at it terribly because it violates their ethics, and they blame themselves rather than the hard-sell tactics they were taught as “the only way.” It’s mind-boggling. So, I guess my question is, is there a difference between outright “scammers” and the folk I’ve run into? Are there different things to look out for? Just some questions as I remember my own adventures in over-priced business growth programs…
Hey Leslie- It’s so true! So many people have learned the selling techniques without realizing that they are terribly manipulative. I have to admit that the subtitle doesn’t carry the nuance you’re referring to.
There’s a section in the guide where I make that exact point. However intentions don’t change the effect of the manipulations. And, in fact, it can make it worse, because someone with a strong sense of intuition can read the marketer, correctly, as honest and sincere, and have their guard down against the sales techniques used in the process.
Hi, Mark. Thank you again for your perceptive, honest, heartfelt approach to your work!
My upset came at some point after I had finished the high-priced program. The coach used a technique to help people get over their issues, whatever they are. I had done a short program with this person and it was wonderful. I was looking for more of that kind of clearing of issues. The high-priced program involved plenty of contact with the business coach and use of the healing technique. Great! My sense of trust got eroded, however, when I discovered (after having signed up for the premium, year-long, intense, high-priced program) that there was a lower-priced program with less intensity. Wow! Why hadn’t I been told about that?
There are other issues about the high-priced program that were not good for me, though they could be (and were) good for other people. It seems that a discernment process ahead of time would be helpful.
That kind of discernment is so helpful, and so rare… sigh…