So what the heck is it and why is everyone and their momma’s spamming it on Facebook these days? I decided to do a bit more looking and here are some of the things that caught my attention.
TBA Two stand for The Bold Approach
Websites for tbatwo for an “internet marketing company” are hard to find but from what I've seen tbaco.com, tbatwo.com, and theboldapproach.com. I will touch on these websites a bit more in future posts.
Here are some of the regurgitated blasts you must have seen by now:
“An investment of $25 can bring you over $5,000.00 monthly (residual) income. No selling, no buying, no stock piling of products, no showcases or parties…It’s just that simple.”
“This is the perfect opportunity for you, if you don't have a HUGE start-up cost!!! $25.00=$19,000 MONTHLY!!!! ASK ME HOW!!!“
“Investment of $25 brings you over $5,000/mo. income. No selling, No buying, No stock piling of products, No showcases or parties, No Reverse 2-Ups(Giving up your people) or Cycling; Not even switching of services, plus GET PAID on what you're doing already anyway. No PV, BV, or CV, No Left Leg and Right Leg Plans…IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE!!! Not $499, Not $299, Not $99, Not even $70!!! JUST $25 thats all <>“
The above is just a sample of what I’ve been seeing. It’s all over the place and I just wanted to hit on one point today.
Income Claims
I’m sure you can go and do your homework about the website and such but I’m here to dive into what bothers me. I’m looking for reps to come in and show me what’s up but here are just some things I would like to be addressed in an open forum on my blog.
How in the heck can you openly advertise income?
Every single network marketing company has this in their policies and procedures. Why? It’s a business opportunity and not a job. You can’t promise anything. There is no type of assurance of that return. That kind of money can only come from a team and guess what, recruitment.
Recruiting or Sponsoring someone into a network marketing company is never a guaranteed number which means income to a network marketing company can never be guaranteed. Just like in any traditional sales position all you can do is tell your sale team what they get in commission and what typically reps make. That’s it. Show proven numbers.
See MLM opportunities can NOT specify what money can be made because it doesn’t exist until the rep physically achieves it. This is why so many mlm opportunities like to say the income is unlimited which in essence is partially true. If a number is given out like a $25 for $5000 residual there is going to be problems.
An example of this is trying to sell mutual funds. Invest $100/month and you can have 50% monthly return.
Sure some might get it but to lead with that is dangerous. There are always small clauses that state this type of performance shouldn’t be expected. Sure it’s happened but they don’t want customers thinking that’s what they will get.
That’s like anything in life. If you apply for a job you like to know what the Low, Average, and High end of salary a job offers. If a recruiter of a company only states what the high was you would get a false sense that was the norm when really it’s not.
Coming out of college, mechanical engineering in 2000 for new grads was generally getting around $50k/year. Some were getting like $30k/year and others over $90k/year with a Bachelors of Science from the University of Texas. See you can’t come in and tell potential students that XYZ Company will hire you at 90k+/yr starting out as that might have been a special case for that one applicant. How pissed would students be when they go to apply to find out only one applicant in the last 10 years was offered that and the normal entry job pays $30k/year.
Never lead with income. It leaves a bad taste when those entering don’t achieve that level.
This leads me to the biggest question I have since checking out the website after reading this on their TBATWO.com website
“An 9 year-old successful network marketing company offers you the opportunity to earn unlimited income marketing via the Internet.”
In 9 years where the heck is the income disclosure. Please show me as I hope I just missed it. If not, What the heck is going on. After 9 years you should have an income disclosure that physically states what reps are making as a Low, Avg, High and also detailing the time in the company.
Do some research on any established MLM company like Send Out Cards, Ignite Energy, Melaleuca, Monavie and they all will tell you what reps make in their income disclosure document. They will also tell you income is not guaranteed and that income generated is highly dependent on your own work.
Now I do want to add maybe this is just from a large group within TBA TWO who are using the income claim marketing angle.
TBA TWO states on their website “No claim or guarantee is promised by TBA as to the amount of income you will earn. You understand that it is through your own efforts that income shall be derived, and TBA has no control over the amount of time or effort used.”
Learn from this. Do NOT make income claims for your own network marketing company. It's one thing to display an income disclosure but to shout out numbers is never a good thing for you or your company. Understand that you can build your downline online without pushing hype like above. Solid internet lead generation will get you to the people who are looking to work with you the most.
Please retweet this, Facebook share this, and comment below as I really would love to hear your opinions on this matter even if your not part of this company. Fill in your information below if you are not on my training newsletter to keep up to date on the best marketing tips online to build your home network marketing business
This is part ONE of my series to dig deeper into TBA TWO.
Engineering Your Success,
Lawrence Tam
21 Comments
David Chiang Hock Leong · May 5, 2011 at 3:43 am
Timeless wisdom that my team in Singapore needs to hear and follow. My Chinese-speaking upline keep trumpeting the potential income till all my downline felt demoralized. As for me, I am troubled by this unsettling method and I had stayed away from him to seek advice from others. Thank goodness for your sharing. Best Regards and Keep up the Good Work!
David Chiang Hock Leong · May 5, 2011 at 3:40 am
Thank you for your article.. I will share it with my team.
Matt · September 21, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Hey Lawrence, great post.
I completely agree with you. I have TBA Two members spamming my wall and their own wall with all these income claims. The one that gets to me the most, is when they say “Turn $25 into $5000 residually every month, if my whole Family can do it, you can too”.
The funny thing is, when I ask them about their WHOLE family making $5000 a month, they can never back it up, OR they say I am being rude for even asking. Look, if your going to make a claim, better back it up.
I enjoyed the post, and look forward to some more.
Cheers
Lawrence Tam · October 5, 2010 at 11:56 pm
you get it Matt. If people ask YOU, all you can say is it’s an opportunity with NO guarantee just like any business plan. I mean come on. If you lead with money you will get leaches who will sue cause you didn’t pull through on the claim.
Lawrence Tam · August 14, 2010 at 4:41 pm
interesting you talk about “it's about the money” because my product IS money. http://www.NumisPresentation.com
The $25 Home Cashflow Solution · August 14, 2010 at 11:15 am
As to the actual TBA two site, that's the company site, we run our our “thing” and send traffic to our respected http://teamfamonline.com site. Alexa ranking not being high, can be a sign a of a golden opportunity that is under the radar, which is what I believe the TBA opportunity is.
There's no “major flaw” with Team Fam stuff. Team Fam is the one that actually birth the TBA Two of TBA, and is putting TBA Two on the “map.” I disagree that business opportunities are about the latest and greatest product. Those that have chased such have not found themselves on able to achieve any greater pillar of success. Yes, its is nice to have a great product if one can, but business opportunities are for making money.
McDonald's doesn't have the best fast food, but they make the most money because they have a marketing system that produced and produces the most outlets that allow them to sell the most food and thus make the most money. Likewise with network marketing, a system (comp-plan) that can attract and produce success for more people will win out. Network marketing needs a opportunity and system that is viable for the average person around the globe. We have it with Team Fam and TBA Two.
When you look at the comp-plan of TBA Two, its a winner. When one looks at the system that TEAM Fam has, it's a gold mind. So to heck with getting hyped up on the latest and greatest lotion, potion or whatever, that does equate to building a network and making money. Give me a system that if I work it and put my energies into it will give me a TRUE FAIR chance to succeed and make at least 4-5 figures in monthly residual income.
You simple cannot find that with the typical traditional styled mlm's. They are not designed to work for the average person, thus the high failure rate. If you look at their comp plans they are no different than the many layers of corporate america, that most people can never achieve the higher ranks to make the bigger money, or I should say don't have a legitimate chance of making the executive rank money.
Networkers that are wise don't chase and focus on product, they focus on the ability of the system to make money because they are in business to make money, just give me a decent product is all they ask regarding product. And if you look at the top earners in network marketing you don't find that they are making money because they've got some great product that they are out selling retail, and getting the difference from the wholesale price, you find that they endured and established a network of people that allows them to have income that does not rely on just themselves.
So, my man, its not about product, its about making money:
Lawrence Tam · August 13, 2010 at 9:55 pm
on top of that. my blog has been up since feb 2010 only a couple months. With THOUSANDS of reps why is the http://www.tbatwo.com/tbatwo/ alexa and traffic website so low? from alexa.com scores my little blog has 10 the traffic online as tbatwo. I think it's time they start learning real marketing vs throwing around income claims. It's the same stuff as the narc that car people and look where that company went.
Lawrence Tam · August 13, 2010 at 9:52 pm
very well written but there is the major flaw in all of the team fam stuff that just doesn't sit well. If you take a random sampling of anyone wall with how the residuals of $25 can turn into $xx dollars that is just like waving a carrot. That's like saying a fast food chain can make $xxx dollars because 1 store has. It's an opportunity. To rely on incomes is risky business. I respect a lot of the people in the biz but I would really like to see their marketing efforts change to what the products can do and income potential but listing $25 to xxx is not good for our industry. If so, every single company would start listing it and that is just not good for those coming into the industry to be lured by the millions when so few actually get there. It's better to market HOW and WHY team fam is killing it and not that you can make money. of course you can. it's a business. right?
The $25 Home Cashflow Solution · August 13, 2010 at 9:45 pm
The heart of your post about leading with income claims has its validity. However, I do believe you've stretched the matter here. First, I'm an active member of TBA Two, and I believe it is a very simple, powerful, and profitable home business opportunity that is the right price, $25, for the right time, more importantly it gives its participants a fair chance to succeed versus many of the other network marketing opportunities out there. I've been involved in this industry for 16 years, and quite frankly most of the mlm business opportunities are not really structured to where the average participant can achieve a 5 figure monthly income without going reaching some extreme level that few can and will get too, and more so those mlm simply are not designed for the reps to excel in a simple fashion.
That being said. The ad you addressed in your post is just that and not a reflection of the viability of the opportunity, as is alluded to in the post. Yes, the ad should say something more along the lines of “$25 Can..”, but my understanding is that if the income presented in an ad is directly related to the actual compensation structure of the comp plan then that is acceptable. That income “enticements” ads need to be in line with actual compensation structure that one sees in the presentation. So for example, something like turn $25 into $19,525 is proper because a 5 x 5 layout in the TBA 2 complain will do just that.
Thus there is absolutely nothing wrong with leading with the money in an ad. People join business opportunities for the income opportunity, first and foremost.
As with every opportunity thrilled and excited reps do make unintentional errors in their marketing but make no mistake this opportunity is golden, don't be fooled by the $25 price. There is only one team that is making waves in TBA Two, that is Team Family which has 5 figure monthly earners and the top earners in TBA Two.
Lawrence Tam · August 10, 2010 at 4:46 pm
When you lead with income claims and can't back it up… up oh. It's never a good sign to shout out to the would guarantees when your in an opportunity. It attracts the lazy those looking for a free meal.
JudyY MLMmentor · August 10, 2010 at 4:08 pm
great post- clearly explained. I knew there is something fishy about TBA but couldn't put my finger on it! I also find it annoying that TBA reps “puke” all over your page 10 -15 times a day with the same nonsence
Lawrence Tam · May 1, 2010 at 11:46 pm
yes, 360 will be another I'll be covering 🙂
steveshoemaker · May 1, 2010 at 4:32 am
Now that was informative Lawrence. I see this and the 360 thing all over my wall and my groups wall. I'm like you hey if it's real show the numbers. Great blog I wish I had have thought about writing on this one.
Steve Shoemaker
Lawrence Tam · April 19, 2010 at 8:40 pm
so it's a head scratchier to me but regardless if they get away with it or not, it's generally not a good sign to run that route
Lawrence Tam · April 19, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I think to a point if you show what you make it's fine but even then the FTC is cracking down. but when many reps are making the same claim for the same exact number something is wrong.
Larry W. Coleman · April 19, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Thank you Lawrence for the straight forward approach your taking with regards to the subject of income claims. I too have wondered how you can quote figures as absolutes in regards to commissions? I”m curious about this company on the internet called armchair millionaire .com. As well as GPA get paid today .com. Both companies make rediculous income claims.
Thanks Lawrence
Harold Hutchinson · April 19, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Well said Lawrence. I've been around Amway for years ( I never developed it) but followed their progress and used their products for over 30 years. You are right about the integrity of companies such of these who cut the path through the legislative nightmares with the FTC and other state agencies about these issues. New companies would be well advised to follow their lead to stay out of hot water. The Direct Sales Association (DSA) of which leading MLM's are a member if they are 2 years or longer in business, has strict membership guidelines regarding this. Any company worth its salt that is 9 years old would zealously pursue membership in this organization and would have financials to back up their claims. If any company fails to measure up to the standards, they are likely to run headlong into issues with regulatory agencies.
Lawrence Tam · April 19, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Always bad for business when you convince someone that the future is real and lead with expectations of investing a little to making a lot. You must educate people that it's an Opportunity and nothing is set in stone.
Oscar-business · October 5, 2010 at 9:18 pm
hey guys business people want to see the money! and real business people can look deep inside if it is a chance to make money in an opotunity
Lawrence Tam · October 5, 2010 at 11:57 pm
exactly why my product IS money. but still leading with money and money claims is a giant red flag. Many companies get closed due to money claims. Be careful with how you promote your business.
Rob Schweyher · April 19, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Hi Lawerence! Thanks for sending me this important email! It's bad business to lead with income disclosures. You really can't make promises on things you don't know.
Thanks Rob!
Have fun making money!