August 21st, 2008
Lifepath Unlimited Business Opportunity: Does Plan B Pro System Really Work?
If you’re investigating Lifepath Unlimited and trying to get the facts so you can see if the Lifepath business opportunity is the right match for you, this is a comprehensive third party review of Life Path Unlimited and the Plan B Pro System.
With Life Path you have 3 products: the Discovery training series for $1,695, the Breakthrough Event for $8,995, and the Destiny Event for $14,995.
Even though you’re not required to buy all 3 products up-front, if you’re looking at this as a bizz opp and a way to earn the commissions you have to spend the money.
In other words, you’re looking at an initial investment of $25,685 to get started with LifePath Unlimited as a home based business. And that’s not including your monthly marketing budget.
If you’re someone who can handle that type of up-front investment, the question you need to ask is this: how can YOU make money as a distributor for LifePath?
If you start a Lifepath Unlimited business, your up-line will encourage you to start marketing using old fashioned methods: they’ll teach you to bug your friends and family, make your list of 100 people, and work the warm market, asking for referrals and harassing everyone within 3 feet of you.
Or they’ll teach you to purchase bizz opp leads (ugh!) from a lead broker and waste all your time making cold calls all day, attempting to hard-sell a total stranger who’s never expressed any desire to join you as a mentorand doesn’t know the first thing about you orLifepath to join your Lifepath Unlimited business.
If yo’ve been in network marketing, you already know that none of this is very much fun – and it’s no way to grow a successful business in 2010.
LifePath does have something called the Plan B Pro System , with Jenn Lawlor. Without question Jenn is an awesome leader, skilled marketer, and very charismatic personality – but Plan B Pro Systems is prretty clunky.
With Plan B Pro you’re buying into a marketing co-op and getting leads on a rotation basis. And no matter how they dress it up, you’re still reduced to paying for leads and cold-calling.
Basically, you’re required to spend $497 for a “share” in their marketing co-op, which consists of one guy doing AdWords running a PPC campaign for the entire group. So everyone pitches in, and then you would recieve a percentage of those leads on a rotation, depending on how many share you buy.
First off, $497 only gets you 2-3 leads a day. If you want more leads, you need to buy more shares. So on top of $26K to get started, you’re looking at a monthly advertising spend of another couple thousand dollars.
But the glaring weakness with the Plan B Pro System is that you’re not in control of anything. You’re not learning the skills and techniques to become a competent marketer. You’re just depending on someone else to generate your leads – and you’ll take whatever they give you. You don’t get to choose what niches you’re targeting or tweak campaigns or spplit test results and – biggest problem of all – you haven’t done any personal branding.
Let’s break it down so you see exactly how this would work. You pay to join the Plan B Pro System co-op. You get a spreadsheet with contact info: name, email, phone number. And then it’s your job to hunt down the leads.
But these leads have never heard of you. They probably don’t even know about Lifepath. When you follow up, you’re still a total stranger out there cold calling, getting rejected and dealing with tire kickers or a bunch of people who only entered their info into some general form that says “make money online”.
You’ll end up with some people who are receptive, but know nothing about your business. So now you’re the pushy salesman guy, and spend TONS of your time & energy explaining, telling and selling – with very low conversions, if any. Or you’ll get folks who may love the business but just don’t have the money to join.
As a lead gen method, Plan B Pro is theexact opposite of smart targeted marketing using personal branding to identify super high quality leads. On top of that, it’s a horrendous way to run a business and spend your life. And it’s a major time suck.
Brutal truth? With Plan B Pro you’re paying top dollar for unqualified leads and wasting way too much time prospecting – no way to build a 6-figure business.
Objectively, even looking past the $26,000 buy in and simply considering it as a pure business opportunity, LifePath Unlimited comes up short in some crucial areas.
It’s no mystery why 97% of all network marketers fail. They don’t know how to market!
Think about it. The home based business industry is made up of mostly first-time business owners who have no idea how to run a business and no concept how to market their opportunity.
Good News: It doesn’t have to be that way. And you don’t have to be another failure statistic. All you need to do is educate yourself and be smart about your approach to building your business.
You can take charge of your businessscientifically. No matter what business you’re in – whether it’s MLM or direct sales – you’re going to need to learn how to market effectively. That means taking control of your own AdWords campaigns so you can spend less money, get better results, and target a very specific audience.
It also means that you use personal branding and attraction marketing to establish a presence online and make real human connection with your prospects.
It’s also wise tosupplement your paid advertising by mastering the principles of SEO and how to use the various Web 2.0 platforms – like video, blogging, social media and articles- to get ranked organicallyand generate quality leads for FREE to lower your marketing costs and maximize your profits.
Either you know how to do this already, or you need someone to show you how.
In order to avoid the common mistakes and accelerate your learning curve you’ll need a qualified mentor who knows what they’re doing and will take the time to teach you how to market effectively.
The problem with LifePath is, since they don’t know how to market effectively online, there’s no one to teach or mentor you as a new marketer. And that for me is the biggest flaw of all.
Because the bottom line in this industry is, the surest path to success is to find a mentor who knows what they’re doing and can teach you to duplicate their proven marketing methods. And LifePath just can’t offer that.
If you’re committed to making big moneyonline, I recommend you do the following:
1. Look for an opportunity where you can earn high end commissions at a reasonable buy-in.
2. Join a business with a smart and lucrativecomp plan that encourages true teamwork – ie: your mentor has a vested financial interest in your personal success.
3. Market a product or servicethat has real world stand-alone value that people actually want.
4. Choose a mentor who knows how to market and has a system in place.
5. Be sure your leader will allow you to leverage their expertise and success, especially when you’re first getting started.
When you do this right, you only speak with high quality leads who already know you through videos, articles and your personalized web pages. Plus they’ll already be educated by your system as to whatyour business is all about and what you expect in a prospective teammate.
Your day involves friendly, cool, professional phone conversations with committed professionals who have money to get started, are motivated to do well, and are attracted specifically to YOU through your videos, the value you offer through coaching, and being part of a successful team.
If you run your business this way you’ll find that your conversion rate skyrockets, because your system will have filtered out the tire kickers and wanna-bes. And you’ll still be earning commissions from the folks who don’t join you, because you’ll have a smart & efficient funded proposal in place.
Compared to Plan B Pro Systems, it’s just a much cooler, more human way to do business, and it’s also far more lucrative.
Will Schwartz is a professional marketer, author, and mentor who trains serious entrepreneurs on the skills and techniques to be successful in network marketing and direct sales.
An expert on Life Path Unlimited , and the Life Path Unlimited Business opportunity, Will teaches comprehensive integrated Attraction Marketing strategies using SEO, Social Media, Video Marketing, Article Marketing, AdWords and PPC, Team Building, Personal Development and Advanced Closing Techniques
You can find more about Will on his blog @ willschwartzcoaching.
Posted in Internet Marketing