The Customer Advantage is perhaps the best thing to come along in the world of fundraising for quite some time.

The reason I am so adamant that this is such a great deal is that it costs the church absolutely NOTHING to get started and it creates buzz and wealth for the local business owners in the community.

All the church has to do is to promote The Customer Advantage as their new fundraiser for missions, benevolence, local ministry, youth group missions etc and ask people to sign up for free and share the great coupons of 50% off or more when shopping locally.

It will encourage local business owners from the church to get involved and use The Customer Advantage as a marketing and promotional tool to guarantee customers and increase revenue to the local business.

There is no other form of advertising out there that offers guaranteed customers up front. The local business owner only pays The Customer Advantage when a coupon is sold.

The benefit to the business owner is to get a mass of new customers into their place of business and secure them as repeat customers.

This is especially true when you have a host of loyal Customer Advantage members shopping in the local community. They will look for businesses that have used The Customer Advantage marketing and be loyal to them. They know that the more they shop with businesses who use The Customer Advantage, the more money everyone makes in the long run.

So, what does the church have to do to make substantial money each month? Not a lot. Just keep mentioning the free sign up and making it available through small group messages and flyers so the buzz keeps buzzing.

Take this very reserved example:

If a church signs up 10 new people a month and each of those new members sign up just 1 person a month and they all spend $10 using the coupons, then after 1 year, the church would be receiving $7,925.00 a month from The Customer Advantage.

Now, based on figures put out by Groupon who conducted a test using their 20 million members, the average person spent $80/month on savings coupons. What does that do to the figures in the above example? Well, it gets pretty big. Now instead of $7,925.00 the monthly figure shoots up to $63,400.00.

Even though these figures represent a perfect duplication and consistent spending amount, it has been my experience in the first months of pre-launch that the duplication could be way bigger than this, especially when the church and the benefit of the local community is involved.

So, take a look at the video below and then contact your local church and get them to look seriously at The Customer Advantage.

It is free for you to sign up and free for the church to sign up as well as all their members.

Listen, we live in the richest country in the world and although we are having some problems right now and people are suffering, there is still trillions of dollars circulating each day and now we have the ability to control a slice of it and bring it into the church.

The Church needs you now. 

Sign up for FREE at http://twiceblessed.thecustomeradvantage.com 

Shame on you.

Shame on you.

What do you mean???

Well, this could go one of two ways.  You are either oblivious to how this system works and have not done your due diligence before involving a church, or you are fully aware that this is a scam and prepared to make a buck off your church and the community.  Either way does not bode well for you.

Did you take the time to research and look at the math?  If you had, you would see that the numbers you tout are virtually impossible to achieve.  Or have you simply listened to what people with a vested interest in you have to say? If so, I have a bridge to sell you.

Greed can play a powerful role in blinding ones judgement and willingness to look the other way.

Just because something is free doesn't make it right.  And, mark my words, they will want your money for something if they make it that long.  They already have the co-op for $75.

And that's why I say, shame on you.

Perhaps this will help guide you a little:

Reply More

johnsmith replied on 04-24-2011 9:24 AM

 

Here is my 2 cents...with all my due respect.

 

It can be very difficult for the person looking for a business opportunity to tell the difference between a legitimate multi level marketing opportunity and a pyramid scheme at a glance. How do you tell whether it's a legitimate business opportunity or a scam?

There are six tips for identifying a pyramid scheme. The big difference between multi level marketing and a pyramid scheme is in the way the business operates. The entire purpose of apyramid scheme is to get your money and then use you to recruit other suckers (ahem - distributors). The entire purpose of multi level marketing is to move product. The theory behind multi level marketing is that the larger the network of distributors, the more product the business will be able to sell.

Use these questions as an acid test if you're in the least doubt as to whether the opportunity you're considering is multi level marketing or a pyramid scheme:

Is It a Pyramid Scheme?

1)      Are you required to "invest" a large amount of money up front and / or soon or later to become a distributor? This investment request may be disguised as an inventory charge. Legitimate multi level marketing businesses do not require large start up costs nor will give people to be under your down line.

 EXAMPLE: Seems "free" isn't always the case. How does one buy "15 people"? OR 20 people? Or whatever number of C0-OP’s??….Are these virtual people?, dead people?, wax figures?, what? I assume anyone who signed up for FREE would not want to give themselves to someone else who paid a fee as their upline would expect them to stay right under them. I know I wouldn'twant to share the people I brought in for FREE before launch or after launch. Hmmmm....do I have a point?

2) If you do have to pay for inventory, will the company buy back unsold inventory? Legitimate multi level marketing companies will offer and stick to inventory buy-backs for at least 80% of what you paid.

3) Is there any mention of or attention paid to a market for the product or service? Multi level marketing depends on establishing a market for the company's products. If the company doesn'tseem to have any interest in consumer demand for its products, don't sign up.

4) Is there more emphasis on recruitment than on selling the product or service? Remember, thedifference between multi level marketing and a pyramid scheme is in the focus. The pyramid scheme focuses on fast profits from signing people up and getting their money. If recruitment seems to be the focus of the plan, run; it may well be a pyramid scheme.

These next two questions will help you determine what the focus of the company is:

5) Is the plan designed so that you make more money by recruiting new members rather than through sales that you make yourself? This is the signature of a pyramid scheme operation.

6) Are you offered commissions for recruiting new members? Another pyramid scheme trademark. It's the number of people who are willing to sign up that matters in a pyramid scheme,not the products or services being offered.

How to Protect Yourself From Pyramid Schemes

As always, when you're investigating a potential business opportunity, you'll want to gather all the information you can about the multi level marketing company's products and operations.

Get (and read) written copies of the company's sales literature, business plan and/or marketing plan. Talk to other people who have experience with the multi level marketing company and the products, to determine whether the products are actually being sold and if they are of high quality. Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there have been any complaints about the company. And listen carefully when you're at that multi level marketing recruitment meeting. Inflated claims for the amazing amounts of money you're going to make should set your alarm bells ringing.

Being part of a successful multi level marketing company can be both profitable and fun, but unfortunately, some purported multi level marketing opportunities are actually pyramid schemes designed to flatten both your wallet and your dream of running a business.

 

Question; Where does the $75 dollars (from the co-op's -TCA) go? I would love someone involved with this company (The Customer Advantage) TCA to fully explain this option of co-op to me. I hope I didn’t offend anyone by asking one question. Thank you!

Happy Easter to everyone!!

 

And this:

http://linkvaark.com/2011/03/05/dail...ntage-part-ii/ 

http://linkvaark.com/?s=the+customer+advantage+comp+lan 

http://www.cornichon.org/2011/01/why-most-online-coupons.html    

http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?p=1037657 

Is It a Pyramid Scheme?  No This is a Free membership, Group buying power with multi level recruitment commissions if the last 2 people on earth signed up to The Customer Advantage they won't be able to sign people up, but they would still benefit from being able to save money from discount offers. No one loses.

1)      Are you required to "invest" a large amount of money up front and / or soon or later to become a distributor? This investment request may be disguised as an inventory charge. Legitimate multi level marketing businesses do not require large start up costs nor will give people to be under your down line.

The Customer Advantage Is Free to Join, No Minimum Purchase requirements and no annual fees.  The Coop was 100% voluntary. 

 EXAMPLE: Seems "free" isn't always the case. How does one buy "15 people"? OR 20 people? Or whatever number of C0-OP's??....Are these virtual people?, dead people?, wax figures?, what? I assume anyone who signed up for FREE would not want to give themselves to someone else who paid a fee as their upline would expect them to stay right under them. I know I wouldn't want to share the people I brought in for FREE before launch or after launch. Hmmmm....do I have a point?

 One doesn't buy 15 people a co-op in this case an advertising co-op is a pool of money used for paid advertising purposes to promote or recruit. Instead of me doing all my own advertising I could pay into a pool and advertise as a group. The concept has been around for years. So no you don't have a point.

2) If you do have to pay for inventory, will the company buy back unsold inventory? Legitimate multi level marketing companies will offer and stick to inventory buy-backs for at least 80% of what you paid.

There is no inventory with The Customer Advantage. You are being rewarded for advertising and sharing, there is no product for you to sell and no initial investment that you have to make.

3) Is there any mention of or attention paid to a market for the product or service? Multi level marketing depends on establishing a market for the company's products. If the company doesn't seem to have any interest in consumer demand for its products, don't sign up.

Consumer demand has been proven 40 million Groupon members and deal of the day sites popping up everywhere.....

4) Is there more emphasis on recruitment than on selling the product or service? Remember, the difference between multi level marketing and a pyramid scheme is in the focus. The pyramid scheme focuses on fast profits from signing people up and getting their money. If recruitment seems to be the focus of the plan, run; it may well be a pyramid scheme.

It is hard to classify The Customer Advantage  as an MLM, the reason being is you are only signing up people to be a member to receive discount offers they are never charged a membership fee and are never required to purchase a discount offer.

Sure if no one spends any money then no one makes any either. There are no fast profits to be made for signing people up.

5) Is the plan designed so that you make more money by recruiting new members rather than through sales that you make yourself? This is the signature of a pyramid scheme operation.

Again -It is hard to classify The Customer Advantage as an MLM, the reason being is you are only signing up people to be a member to receive discount offers; they are never charged a membership fee and are never required to purchase a discount offer. 

6) Are you offered commissions for recruiting new members? Another pyramid scheme trademark. It's the number of people who are willing to sign up that matters in a pyramid scheme, not the products or services being offered.

You get paid zero dollars for recruiting; you only get paid if someone you recruit buys a discount offer of their own free will. No one is ever required to buy anything.

Question; Where does the $75 dollars (from the co-op's -TCA) go? I would love someone involved with this company (The Customer Advantage) TCA to fully explain this option of co-op to me. I hope I didn't offend anyone by asking one question. Thank you!

The Coop money went into a pool for advertising and recruiting members, it was 100% voluntary and not a requirement. The Customer Advantage has also offered a 100% refund if you want your $75 dollars back. 

I am a member of The Customer Advantage and I have not paid one penny to be a member. Is it a scam? I seriously doubt it but then again that is my opinion, only time will tell what John's true intentions are which will most likely be on a scale of greatness!   Is Amway a scam or a pyramid? No it's a great business model that gives people the opportunity to work hard and be rewarded, yes you have to be able to sell people on it but the potential is there.  

Ufuk is just here advertising something that she believes in, and in all due respect if you believe in saving people from scams and not disrespecting people that are actually trying to do some good in the world then you would have just placed a link here to Scam.com that people could go to and form their own opinion.

Hope this answers most of your questions Chuck.

Ufuk Sepin-Curtis Posted: 04-25-2011 9:14 AM

Take this very reserved example:

If a church signs up 10 new people a month and each of those new members sign up just 1 person a month and they all spend $10 using the coupons, then after 1 year, the church would be receiving $7,925.00 a month from The Customer Advantage.

Now, based on figures put out by Groupon who conducted a test using their 20 million members, the average person spent $80/month on savings coupons. What does that do to the figures in the above example? Well, it gets pretty big. Now instead of $7,925.00 the monthly figure shoots up to $63,400.00.

Math:

Daily Pyramid 3/4/2011: The Customer Advantage, Part II

You actually missed the one about "Do the recruiters make ridiculous income claims?" - Another red flag.

Fortunately, Ufuk addressed that:

Take this very reserved example:

If a church signs up 10 new people a month and each of those new members sign up just 1 person a month and they all spend $10 using the coupons, then after 1 year, the church would be receiving $7,925.00 a month from The Customer Advantage.

Now, based on figures put out by Groupon who conducted a test using their 20 million members, the average person spent $80/month on savings coupons. What does that do to the figures in the above example? Well, it gets pretty big. Now instead of $7,925.00 the monthly figure shoots up to $63,400.00.

I will agree with you on one point.  There is no product.  I will now refer to this as a ponzi scheme that is well disguised instead of MLM.

A clever team leader might say this to his downline:

Listen Joe all you have to do is spend $10 a month.  Don't worry if you aren't going to use the coupon as no one will know and its not like you have to redeem it, you just have to buy it.  Now, if you invest err,,,spend $10 a month a can convince others to do the same thing, you will make the huge income Ufuk is stating above.  Not bad for $10 bucks!  How easy is that.

I mean do you really think making money is that easy?

Of course there is the other problem with the math pointed out earlier regarding the volume minimum but let's not confuse ourselves.

Credit to http://linkvaark.com/?s=the+customer+advantage+comp+lan for the above explanation.

May I also ad that with your example of:

If a church signs up 10 new people a month and each of those new members sign up just 1 person a month and they all spend $10 using the coupons, then after 1 year, the church would be receiving $7,925.00 a month from The Customer Advantage.

There would be 15,850 people in that group for the church to see those numbers.

How many people live in your town?

How many other churches are in that town?

Would any of the 15,850 want to make the same amount as the church?  How many people signing up expect to make money?

Are you signing up the church? How about giving up your position in the matrix to the pastor?

I'm not particularly religious, so I really have no basis for saying this, but I can say that there is something "off" for lack of a better word that anyone is mixing "church" and an mlm company. Of course I am all for charity, so I definitely see a greater purpose, but still; I can't quite get a grip on that yet. The way things tend to go, TCA hasn't even launched yet, and we don't know that it even will, so how exactly is this even in its current stages?

Hi Chuck,

And after all this and you have no doubt that the christian thing to do is to continue perpetuating this scam, I'm sure you won't mind letting us know what church you attend unless of course you are trying to hide something from them.

And if you are an innocent lady who truly had no clue, I'm sorry for you and I hope you will make it right.  My intention is to stop people from being scammed and losing their money.  And before you say but it's free, think of "aiding and abetting" the criminal and remember all those people that put in their 75.00 hard earned dollars because so many people were signing up. 

Sure, let's keep it simple and use your conservative numbers.  You would have to agree that people join this to make money and I'll even give you the scenario that people would be happy with $1000 a month. So, according to your numbers, it takes 1050 people to make a $1000 a month.

Do you think the pre-launch people expect to make a 1000? I would say they would be disappointed but happy enough so let's go with that. After all, that's why they signed up in pre-launch!

If all the pre-launch sign-ups 100,000 expect to make $1000 a month and it takes 1050 people in each group to achieve that, you will need 105,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE (100,000 x 1050)  to achieve this.  The entire US population is only 300 million.  And let's not forget about the competition:  Groupon, Living Social, Facebook, and others using the same pool of people.

Not only that but 105 million x $20 is 2,100,000,000 billion dollars handled through TCA website each month. Extraordinary!  Almost unbelievable isn't it?

And I guarantee you people aren't just thinking $1000 or they wouldn't bother - Just look at Ufuk and her examples.

Geesh, am I the only one who can count.

And you have a nice day.

Chuck,

I'm not familiar enough with The Customer Advantage to know what their business model consists of.

What is the $75 fee you refer to? Is it a free membership, or is it a free enrollment then $75 to participate in the comp plan or one of those similar bait and switch deals?

Can you clarify?

Like I said I tried to keep it simple. There are a lot more numbers that go into that equations as well as the human factor, some will just save money on discounts, some will tell a few friends, etc. Each individual's success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire and motivation.

Could someone make the amount of money that Ufuk has estimated they will make,  possibly that depends on if TCA even launches. It will launch its just a matter of when....

For the purpose of staying on track with this thread, should churches be involved? 

 It could be a great way to make extra money, to fund the church's  purpose, what ever that may be, help communities and save the churches patrons money on dining out etc. 

Churches as a whole are always looking for ways to make an extra income to cover expenses etc.

An example would be: Placing a cell site on top of their church and earning revenue once a month on leased space.

If a church sold all their patrons a coupon book for $30 that might save them $300 would that be unethical........

I encourage anyone ready this thread that hasn't signed up to The Customer Advantage to go back up to the top, click on Ufuk's link and sign up for free and get the information about The Customer Advantage from their website so that you can form your own opinion.

The bottom line is -- no one has been scammed by  The Customer Advantage it's just as it states  "Free membership".

 I have no ties with Ufuk what so ever but I wish her the best of luck!

Best of luck to you as well Chuck.

The bottom line is no one In TCA has been scammed out of anything. 

May I ask why you are inquiring?

Did you read the linkvaark page?

To answer your question regarding the co-op, I recall seeing a post from someone involved that went something like this:

"Joining the co-op for $75 is a "no brainer" if you want to make even more money."    Nuff said!

I see.  Well if we are keeping the church's best interest in mind perhaps this would be better.

Keeping with your numbers scenario again, how about this?

We have 1050 people willing to spend $20 a month, right?  And in return, the church makes $1000.

Or, Joe, a church member, was thinking about putting his car wash with TCA deals to help both him and his church.  The 50% deal would be $20 a wash with the normal price being $40.  Joe will only see $10 because the other $10 goes to TCA and the church makes $1000.

Joe gets $10, TCA gets $10, and the church gets $1000 based on the 1050 people buying. 

Or, Joe a very good parishioner and car wash owner, offers the same deal directly to the church's 1050 people willing to spend $20 bucks for the church.

Joe gets his same profit of $10 per wash.  Church gets 1050 x $10 = $10,500 woohoo

We have just now eliminated the greedy people at the top of the pyramid pocketing the $9500 in the name of the church. 

Now there's an idea. Have a local business directly give a daily deal to a charity/church. 

May I ask why you are inquiring?

I did read the pages you linked about the owner and his prior marketing businesses / campaigns. It was pretty interesting stuff.

Whether it makes him a bad bet or just persistent, I don' t know.  I don't participate in the business, but I've read stuff on other execs that make him look like an angel. At the same time, any time someone goes to such lengths to create a website about an execs history - they definitely pissed someone off in the past. And having a completely clean business record I guess makes someone with a site like that dedicated to him look unsavory. It's all a matter of degrees. Once the FTC starts banging on your door, or you get a permanent cease and desist from the Attorney General, you've moved from the minors to the majors.

Regarding the $75, I just can't find anything that says it costs $75 to participate. Everything says "Free". I must be missing the post about $75 to join the coop. Do you have that link?

Thanks

Ok, I'm gonna have to start from the top on this one, what exactly does TCA have to do with church? lol

Wow Chuck you have it all figured out!

So is the church going to pay for the advertising to get 1050 people to Joe's car wash?

What about next month?

Will Joe be willing to give the church another $9500?

 TCA is set up so that the church can sign up 1050 people and won't just have to count on Joe every month or coming up with another fund raising idea. Those 1050 people will be offered 50% discounts from 30 different businesses every month and they themselves will be saving money even if they never sign anyone up to TCA.

So it's set up so that a church has a continuous way to bring in funds, not to mention Joe can sign up his own customers and get back some of the cash or even make enough cash to cover the loss from giving away a carwash for $10.

 TCA gets paid for putting together the advertising and getting paid visitors (people that have already paid) to Joe's carwash.

 Joe will also know exactly how many people bought the discount because it is 100% trackable, unlike conventional advertising.

You would rather the 50% go into a corporations pocket like groupon instead of 27% of it back to TCA members and 23% to TCA?

Or Joe spending money on non effective advertising?

Seems like a no brainer to me yet here you are with your simple mind not being able to grasp the whole concept.

  I like what Char said “If TCA succeeds I will eat my words." Looks like you will be doing the same ....

Have a Great Day Chuck!

Regarding the site exposing John Milanoski, I can only tell you what my intention is and maybe his is the same - He's just better at it than I am.

I am no one special and don't know any one particular person.  I have just watched scam after scam unfold, had family members lose money, and I am tired of seeing people get scammed.  It IS that simple. I view it somewhat as a public service if only people would listen.  Instead, they listen to the crap these scammers hype and fall for it every time.  If you start paying attention to the facts and know what to look for, you will see the same pattern unfold every time.

For example, 

The "free" customer advantage offered at least 1000 co-ops at $75.  That's 75,000 and it could have been more.  Free isn't free.

Also, you will notice that John M. never addresses the math.  He merely talks about dreams blah, blah, blah.

Click on the church ladies site and you will see her talking about making six figures within a year.  How stupid does she think we are?

All classic red flags and my hat goes off to linkvaark and everyone else's should too.

Nothing.  MLMers see it as an easy way to get a mass of people to sign up under them to pad their pockets.

Of course they twist it and say they are helping the church make money.

"Wow Chuck you have it all figured out!

So is the church going to pay for the advertising to get 1050 people to Joe's car wash?

What about next month?

Will Joe be willing to give the church another $9500?"

Next month?  They have 10 months before they break even with what tca would have brought them.

 "TCA is set up so that the church can sign up 1050 people and won't just have to count on Joe every month or coming up with another fund raising idea. Those 1050 people will be offered 50% discounts from 30 different businesses every month and they themselves will be saving money even if they never sign anyone up to TCA."

"So it's set up so that a church has a continuous way to bring in funds, not to mention Joe can sign up his own customers and get back some of the cash or even make enough cash to cover the loss from giving away a carwash for $10."

Sermon for the week as the church needs money now.  Pastor:  How many of you are going to go home today and buy a $20 coupon for a car wash?  If everyone today, 1050, could hand wash their car and donate that $20 dollars in this box, we could raise $21,000 today and feed two homeless families for a year.  OR doing TCA will get us a $1000 which will take us 21 months to reach our goal.  BECAUSE...

 "TCA gets paid for putting together the advertising and getting paid visitors (people that have already paid) to Joe's carwash."

 "You would rather the 50% go into a corporations pocket like groupon instead of 27% of it back to TCA members and 23% to TCA?"

NO, I'd rather that 100% percent go to the church because we are talking about fundraising for non-profits here in this discussion and not about how to make a buck for individuals.  A congregation willing to spend $20 x 1050 = $21,000 a month in order to raise $1000 a month is absurd. 

"Or Joe spending money on non effective advertising?" 

And, if Joe wants to throw in a car wash deal every so often as mentioned previously, it's a nice idea.

"Seems like a no brainer to me yet here you are with your simple mind not being able to grasp the whole concept."

Oh don't worry, I get it.  BRING....IT......ON

MY OPINION IS ONE THING BUT YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE MATH.

How's TCA doing there tomsab?  

Man there's a lot of gullible people in this world.