Saturday, August 21, 2010

Schizophrenic marketer can't decide TVI Express is scam or not

Weasel (Farthing Wood)Image via Wikipedia
Mr. Terry Dorland wrote a VERY short review of TVI Express, in which he came across as scatter-brained and schizophrenic. At the end, he encourages you to learn marketing in order to recruit a lot of people, which he defines as "being an entrepreneur".



So what did Mr. Dorland write? His article is at http://ezinearticles.com/?TVI-Express-Review---The-Most-Important-TVI-Express-Review-Youll-Ever-Read&id=4870913  But is it really "the most important TVI Express Review"? Hardly. It had very little useful information, consisting of only four paragraphs, and glossed over important information that he should have covered.




Mr. Dorland starts:

First, let's get to the facts. TVI Express is a travel based Multi Level Marketing company that offers a travel club membership where people can save on almost all aspects of travel. They also offer a 6 day and 7 night vacation package free of charge for anyone who joins the club. Before we get into more specifics of the company, I want to make it clear that I am not a rep. and I'm not affiliated with them in any way anymore. I was a rep with TVI in 2009 and I offer a unique inside look at how the company works. I've been involved in network marketing full-time for more than 4 years now and have enjoyed success with multiple companies, so I understand what it takes and how a true entrepreneur must approach a network marketing business.

The analysis has problems from the very beginning. In a MLM, the product or service must have real value. According to Mr. Dorland, TVI Express's "main product" is a travel club membership, with the 7-day 6-night trip as a "sign-up bonus".


As it had been admitted on plenty of other websites by Tarun Trikha and by independent analysis of various bloggers, TVI Express discount on travel is exactly the same as Travelocity, as it is Travelocity's engine underneath. Since Travelocity is free to use, the main product is worth exactly ZERO.

Mr. Dorland also have not mentioned the impossibility of redeeming the 7-day 6-night trip until June 2010, a 16 months after company launch, and perhaps, even now. According to many, the redemption site is down. AND you need to pay additional $150 USD to redeem it, if it can be redeemed.

Thus, what Mr. Dorland claims to be the main product, the membership, is worthless, and the company, by inference, is also worthless.

Then Mr. Dorland claims he's NOT a rep and not affiliated, then claimed he WAS a rep. Which is which? When did he quit the company? Did he keep up with the news and developments since? Obviously not.
Yet he claims to be a multi-year veteran in the network marketing arena.  Sounds to me he needs experience in fraud-sensing.
The compensation plan with TVI Express is based on what's called a 2X3 force filled cycling matrix. There are a heck of a lot of nuances with that type of compensation plan that I don't want to go into complete detail about now, but the basics are this: Someone joins for $250. They complete 2 matrices and earn $10,000. All you need to do to qualify is to recruit 2 people, and you have the ability to do it again and again. On the surface it seems easy enough, and to a newbie, it does look easy. I don't have any problem with this type of compensation plan, but the way it is sometimes portrayed by TVI reps is not entirely accurate. They will adamantly tell you that you just need to get your 2 reps and you're all set. In reality, this type of compensation plan can be EXTREMELY lucrative for people who can recruit HUGE numbers of reps themselves, but you will need more than 2 personal recruits.
This is where Mr. Dorland shows his total ignorance of the reality of network marketing. All he can talk about regarding TVI Express is recruiting. He never mentioned anything about SALES, or even realized that TVI Express has no real products to sell.

When you have no product, you have no sales. If you have no sales, but plenty of recruiting, you have a PYRAMID SCHEME, not a MLM, no matter what sort of fancy name like "forced cycling matrix" you slap on the scheme.

At least he's honest that you need to recruit a LOT of people, not just two.
TVI Express has had legal problems in both China and Australia. A number of top reps in China were arrested on fraud charges, and the company is not permitted to do business in Australia anymore. As a U.S. citizen that won't pose any problems recruiting people from a legal standpoint, BUT it will cause people to take notice. The internet has made information readily available and potential recruits and customers could easily find information on the Australian and Chinese legal issues which could dissuade them from doing business with you as a TVI Rep.
One sentence gloss-over... Did Mr. Dorland explain WHY may TVI Express considered to be a scam? No. Did he explain what charges are the folks in China and Australia facing? No (It's pyramid scheme in both cases) Why would TVI Express be considered a pyramid scheme? Did not mention.

What he chose to emphasize instead, is that as long as American government (and local authorities) don't act against you, who cares if it may be illegal? It's just bad publicity.

The weasel-ness is coming through... What does the final paragraph say?
The key developing a business and a substantial income with TVI Express is to approach it as an entrepreneur, not just a sales rep. I can't stress this enough. MLM Companies come and go, but your business, YOU Inc., doesn't change. No matter what network marketing or MLM company you decide to join, in order to be successful with it, you must build your value as a leader within the company and the industry as a whole by learning advertising and marketing skills that you can pass on to your team. That is the number one skill any network marketing distributor MUST learn to be able to consistently sign up new distributors and build a large organization with TVI Express or any other company for that matter.
He tells you that you have to approach it like an entrepreneur, but then he tells you "you must be a leader by learning advertising and marketing skills" and "you must learn to be able to consistently sign up new distributors and build a large organization".

His definition of entrepreneurship is "advertising and marketing in order to recruit a lot of people".

Unfortunately, that's nowhere CLOSE to the real definition of entrepreneur. Another bit of weasel-ness.
And a final bit of weaselness... The article tells you to visit tviexpresssecrets.com

If you visit that site, you will find that the website is promoting something OTHER than TVI Express.

Definitely a weasel.
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