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Do business with me and get a 3 day 2 night getaway for free!

Maybe, I haven't decided yet. I am working on a transaction with a high profile agent in the Plattsburgh, NY area; Andre LaFountain. Andre is a smart cat, he is heavily imbedded in real estate but he also has a few things producing additional income for himself on the side.

Andre has approached me about a travel agency opportunity. I am not sure of the details or of the pay structure. I do know that the business model is MLM. I'm not sure that is enough to disqualify it from being a legitimate opportunity. Of course, I have something else in mind for this program.

As a member of the orginization I will be able to give out vouchers for a 3 day 2 night vacation. The vouchers are intended to be used as bait in order to get people to attend the events that are held as a recruitment tool. It makes sense because it is a nice gift.

The cost is around $449.95 to sign up then $50.00 per month to maintain membership until you have successfully recruited someone then it costs nothing per month.

I am considering signing on for two reasons. The first reason is that if this can generate a small amount of additional income it could help to offset my advertising expenses. The second reason is because I think that A vacation voucher in the mail is a nice way to say thank you for the business; they'd make great closing gifts.

Let me know what ya'll think. Good closing gift? Additional revenue? Thanks.

Posted by Christopher Ohlsen on 02/27/2008 10:35 AM

Comments (7)

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7 Comments on Do business with me and get a 3 day 2 night getaway for free!

FEB

2008

hhhmm, I would be careful. That may make for a great 'thank you" but once they realize that it is also you trying to draw them into the business ...it could kill future referrals. A 'thank you" gift should not have any strings attached or give the impression of strings attached.

Sean Allen

Thats just it. I have no intention of using the vouchers as a way to draw them into anything. I will not be using them for their nitended purpose. Their intended purpose is to use them as a carrot to get people to the event. I am thinking outside the box in the sense that I will not be trying to get my clients drawn into anything and I will not be trying to get them to attend any event. I am thinking of taking this tool and using it for something that it has not been used for yet; a closing gift with no strings attached.

I think there is a company out there that does this for a lower cost and no monthly fee. I will need to check this out.

I do like giving things like this away. We did drawing for a cruise for two at open houses.

FEB

2008

Check RESPA or NAR or something...

Just a thought that kinda goes along with Sean Allen's comment:

You will want to make SURE that it never becomes a perception of "do business with me and I'll give you a getaway" type of deal. I think that violates some RESPA rules or NAR Ethics policy or something. I can't remember which. I just know that the example that was used way back when I was in CE said that you can't even say, "If you buy or sell through me, I'll give you a toaster."

On another note of personal experience: The clients who would be interested in your "get-a-way, give-a-way" (you can use that quote for free) are not those that could do that on their own - the upper middle class & millionaires. The REAL interest will come from the lower, middle class & "po-foke". Unless travel TO the hotel/resort is provided (taking care of planes, trains, & autos), the only ones who will be able to take advantage of the offer will be the middle class for two reasons: 1 Time off of work & 2 Afford ability of travel

The reason why I know this is because I won 3 "FREE Vacation Get-a-Ways". I have gone on ZERO vacations so far. When I won the first one, I couldn't afford the plane ticket. I was "po". The second voucher I won was for a free 3 night, 2 day cruise. I didn't go because at the time, I couldn't get off of work. The 3rd one that I "won", i just didn't care about. It was a trip that I could afford, I was a realtor so "time off" wasn't an issue, but by this point, if I was going to go there, I wanted to be in a nicer place than where I could stay "for free".

I'm not sure how your program works, and I don't want to dog it totally, but like Dave said, there are a ton of other options out there.

Do the research & if I were you, I'd get some of the following stats:

When ________ income range travel, they spend ________ on the hotel/resort stay & __________ on travel on average.

Then I would give vouchers that barely TOP what those types of clients normally spend.

Jethro would be embarrassed to find himself in a multi billion dollar resort & Trump wouldn't dare stick around a super 8, unless he was going to knock it down.

Is this making any since?

Nice idea though. I'm going to look into it myself. Thanks for sharing!

Dave - I am meeting with Andre on Saturday to discuss business among other things. I am sure that this will be one of the topics of conversation that we discuss. I will look into something cheaper as well, I may sign on with him depending on what I find out, but even if I don't I really like this style of gift giving.

Ray - Thank you for your input and advice. You're right about the travel considerations. The getaway does not include travel expenses. So you are correct in that the demographic will play a key role in whether or not this gift will be used which will also determine whether or not it is appreciated. This could make a very nice gift for the middle class. I am going to do some research myself into cost effective closing gift ideas. Thanks again for the advice, this has given me some ideas.

I'd like to know how that goes, please keep us updated.

MAY

2008

D. Bass - Well, so far I have not signed up for this program. I am thinking that I probably won't. The travel organization is YTB (Your Travel Business) and from everything that I have read they have a great reputation within the travel agency business. The thing is I am very busy with real estate financing and I am also working on a couple of money producing real estate deals on the side. Andre says that it does not take a lot of time invested to actually make money which I know is true because I have seen his back office and he has earned quite a bit from it. Its just that I am not as passionate as Andre about it and I can't even see myself putting as much as he puts into it which is not a whole lot with regard to time. I think that the vouchers would make good closing gifts but there are nicer closing gifts that I have found that cost less... If any of you have any any experiences with YTB and actually made a significant amount of money while having fun traveling and writing everything off as a business expense I'd love to hear from you but for now I am sticking with what I know and love.

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