Below is one of the scariest moving charts I’ve ever seen because it illustrates what’s happening to our beloved country and how it is afflicting millions and millions of our fellow Americans like a virus or cancer.
Unemployment literally is all around us with no change in our sights. 2006, 2007 and 2008 were awful. Then we were told to prepare for an even worse 2009. They were right. Then we were told that 2010 could be even worse than 2009. Can’t be right, the markets were doing great, banks were profitable, heck even the auto industry wasn’t begging for money anymore. But don’t tell that to the 10% unemployed !! And we know that the real numbers are even much higher than that.
Is it time for you to seriously look into an alternative income ? One that doesn’t require you to punch a clock working for someone else. Is this the right time for you to really look into what millions and millions of people worldwide have turned into an addittional stream of income. Could this really be the time for you to really understand what the term “residual income “ is really all about and how you could benefit ?
How dark does this graph have to get before you consider having a plan B.
www.PowerOnWealth.com
Anthony Cappello
732 691 7320
http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html
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Ambit Named to Direct Selling News Global 100!
Direct Selling News, the industry trade publication for Direct Selling companies, is releasing its “Global 100: The Top Direct Selling Companies in the World.” After just three years in existence, Ambit Energy has been ranked by our industry’s trade publication as the 38th largest direct selling company in the world with 2009 revenues of $325 million.
So, by offering electricity or natural gas service in just three states, we’ve become the 38th largest direct selling company in the world? That kind of impact suggests a bright future! Congratulations to everyone in the Ambit Energy family, but a special thanks to you – our unstoppable team of Ambit Independent Consultants!
By Barbara Seale
Innovative, recession-proof and profitable in just two years. That describes electric and natural gas service provider Ambit. Its executives give much of the credit to an unusually robust, custom-developed information-technology system.
Entrepreneur Jere Thompson Jr. had successfully navigated telecommunications regulation, building the fastest-growing private company in Dallas a few years before. As that market matured, he wanted to take advantage of the deregulation of electric energy in Texas. He quickly realized that his company already had many of the fundamentals that would let it manage the process of switching and billing a new electric company’s customers. His big, unanswered question: How do you find customers at attractive costs to loyally pay their bills?
The answer came from one of his collaborators, who explained that the kind of customers he wanted were exactly the kind he would find through direct selling. His friend also strongly advised him that if he were serious about direct selling, he really needed to meet with Chris Chambless, who had been one of the top managers at a telecom direct seller.
“I set up a meeting with Chris on a Friday, and he told me about the things I needed to consider,” Thompson recalls. “On Sunday I called him and said, let’s do it! When all the stars line up, things can move quickly. Right away, we started the process of building Ambit Energy.”
Thompson became the new enterprise’s Chief Executive Officer, with Chambless as Chief Marketing Officer. Having been part of fast-growing startups, both understood the problems caused when a back office can’t keep up with demand. They committed immediately to build the finest, most-respected company in America.
“That was bold for a company with two people at that time,” Thompson says, only half joking. “But we knew that we had to be able to support what this channel is capable of generating. We had to be able to handle 10,000 new customers a day with nothing ever falling through the cracks. That’s a lot of data processing.”
They also brought in an experienced management team that had successfully launched fast-growing startups. Together, they laid the groundwork, built the compensation system, developed attractive power products and recruited their first salespeople. They invested in must-haves, such as a world-class IT system. Less important trappings, such as office furniture, literally came from Wal-Mart.
“We knew right away that it all had to do with systems and people and having the right combination of both early on,” Thompson says. “But it didn’t come without angst. We hoped we could buy great off-the-shelf systems. But we quickly found that the time required to modify the systems and the cost of modifications were unacceptable. We had to build our own from scratch. That was painful, long and exasperating. But ultimately, it has enabled us to do things that no one else in the marketplace can do. We can innovate where others can’t.”
He explains that telecommunications company MCI built its reputation on its Friends and Family program.
“That program was all software,” he says. “They developed it internally and in doing so set themselves apart from every competitor. Coming up with innovative products in our industry is all about software development.”
Ambit’s powerful software does such tasks as provide replicated, task-specific Internet sites for each customer. Yes, not only consultants, but customers, too. The sites allow existing customers to refer their friends to Ambit. When the customer refers a minimum of 15 customers who pay their bills, the original customer receives a credit on his Ambit Energy bill equal to the average amount of their payments. If the average is equal to or more than the referring customer’s bill for the month, he pays nothing. What’s more, the credit applies every month as long as the customer maintains a minimum of 15 customers who pay their bills. Quick translation: Ambit customers can get free energy.
The same software that makes the free energy possible also enables the Ambit independent consultant who enrolled that first customer to be paid on all the customers. That creates a deep layer of recurring monthly income. Some 8 to 10 percent of Ambit sales are referred by existing customers.
But Ambit wanted its customers to have an immediate positive experience with the company. It also wanted to arm its independent consultants with a strong initial “sales” point. So Ambit offers a welcome gift to customers just for enrolling. Currently, the gift is a travel voucher good for a free three-day/two-night stay at a three-star hotel. Ambit also tracks the kilowatt hours that customers use and credits customers with points toward discount travel. Cruises, airline tickets, travel packages—Ambit customers can earn points toward them every time they turn on the lights or fire up their gas cook top.
“I’ve seen a lot of companies struggle to do the basics right,” Chambless says. “That’s because they didn’t have software systems that were as fine-tuned as ours. Our systems all work flawlessly, so we can think about developing new features.”
Thompson adds, “Startups look at things a different way. They make the most innovation. They say ‘why not’ as opposed to ‘why.’ Innovation will change the way power deregulation will take place and the way consumers will use electricity.”
The approach has allowed the company to offer a customer satisfaction guarantee that it has never needed to use. It guarantees that if the customer’s transition to Ambit Energy isn’t flawless, Ambit will pay the customer’s first bill.
The bold, innovative approach is attracting both independent consultants and consumers. Although Ambit hasn’t yet celebrated its third birthday, it already has more than 200,000 energy customers, 50,000 independent consultants and 230 employees. In 2008 the company earned $197 million in revenue. It forecasts almost $400 million this year. Ambit now offers electric and natural gas services in deregulated markets of Texas, Illinois and New York.
With such rapid growth, consultant income has skyrocketed, too. The company has already paid more than $1 million to four consultants, and two of them earn more than $1 million annually. Those top earners join Ambit’s exclusive Millionaire’s Club. At the company’s annual convention, Ambition, they are recognized with a custom-tailored, gold blazer embellished with a special crest. Whether or not consultants make it into the Millionaire’s Club, all take advantage of a virtually recession-proof product: energy. After all, many people pay their electricity and gas bills even before their mortgage.
High-earning consultants who want to turn their Ambit Energy business into a full-time enterprise even have the option to say goodbye to their J-O-B without giving up their surefire health insurance. Ambit takes advantage of its Direct Selling Association membership to let consultants purchase health insurance.
“We wanted to give people who want to do the business full time an opportunity to do it,” Chambless explains. “People get in on a part-time basis because of our great compensation plan, and many get into the position where they want to work their Ambit business full time. Healthcare insurance holds them back. We were able to partner with one of the DSA-endorsed companies to make healthcare insurance available. That gives people another reason to have confidence in the company. We’ve had a favorable response.”
With so many features that attract consultants and customers, Ambit executives look forward to the future. The energy industry is an exciting place for a direct selling company, Thompson and Chambless believe. They’re convinced that Ambit’s innovative approach will create more millionaires, and that its impact can be significant even beyond saving customers cash and helping consultants earn extra income.
“In the energy industry we’ll eventually see electricity priced as long distance used to be priced,” Thompson predicts. “In the foreseeable future we’ll offer time-of-day pricing. That will allow people to shift their use of electricity from a high-cost time of day to a low-cost time at night. We’ll still help people save money, and as a country, we’ll be able to build fewer power plants and take advantage of our existing capacity throughout the 24-hour cycle. Old, inefficient, more polluting plants can be replaced with more modern, cleaner plants. And we’ll be right at the front of it. That will change the way the industry has operated for the last 100 years.”
Chambless says that such innovation would have far more environmental impact than carbon credits could produce. And the company’s “green” service offerings, called Ambit Certified Green plans, are certified by the Green-e Energy™ Program to reduce the environmental impact of the energy used by Ambit customers.
“We’re one of only two companies that are e-certified green,” he says. “We promote these real green products for those who are environmentally focused. Time-of-day plans work hand-in-glove with green energy. People concerned about the environment, the country’s use of natural resources and our overall use of energy will be looking for companies that can offer products that match their concerns. We’ll be one of the first to offer them. Companies that don’t have the financial stability that we have can’t make that kind of investment.”
Making the right early investments in the right things positions the company for future innovation and growth. Though Ambit is already profitable and growing, its leaders still ensure that every expenditure is the right one. Thompson jokes that it’s hard to get arrogant when you’re sitting at a $19 Wal-Mart desk.
Circling back to the early goal he established with Thompson, Chambless says, “We never said we wanted to be the biggest company. We just said we wanted to be the finest and most respected. We’re making investments that will allow us to do that. Our decisions with employees and customers are focused on that goal, too. If your actions let you be among the finest and most respected companies, you may have a chance to be one of the biggest, too.” DSN
Every time I speak to a prospect about my business I speak with passion about every aspect of it, both positive and negative. Yes, negative, more on that later on. But my passion comes (and yours should too) from my deep rooted reason for dedicating myself to the success of whatever it is I’m doing. You see, as a 30 plus year self employed veteran in the food business there have been many, many struggles and sacrifices that just come with the territory. One of those struggles, and unfortunately the most common, is the battle with the checkbook.
One summer day (this time of the year usually brings a little bit of checkbook relief but not in this story), on payday, my lovely teenage daughter walks into my very hot office cautiously and almost apologetically. I was sweating terribly, not so much from the heat but from trying to figure out what bills to pay first and how to cover them. It was at this moment that my daughter, at her young age still not aware of how banks work, says to me that the bank wouldn’t cash her payroll check. I would have preferred someone taking a baseball bat and hitting me across my back because it wouldn’t have hurt as much. It killed me to know that my daughter became witness to the ugly side of running a business. Being overdrawn was not an uncommon incident, but this was My Daughter !! When this occured I had been in the mlm business a few times but it wasn’t until that moment that my “why” had truly been defined. My other “why’s” were always about just the money, but this day I had discovered a much deeper “why”.
I now look back on that day, very often, as the day that my true reason for succeeding in network marketing emerged. I don’t ever want to experience that feeling in my office again. That feeling of frustration and despair, not knowing if things were ever going to change for the better.
If your considering going into this or any other business that could change your life for the better, clearly define the reasons for joining. Doing that seemingly very simple task will pay you back handsomely in the future ’for that will be the foundation on which you will build your business. Use your “why” as the fuel to feed your I-will-not-be-denied engine. A deep rooted ”why’ will also serve as your armor and shield against those who will try to destroy your dreams.
Ambit Energy not only offers residual income, it offers generational income. How cool would it be for my daughter (and son) to one day cash All my checks from Ambit Energy long after I’m gone. Yeah, real cool. PowerOn.
Have you seen this commercial yet ? The one where this debt reduction company tries to get your attention by flashing this statistic that 400,000 businesses go out of business every single month, and they claim it to be factual. Well they got my attention. My first reaction was ” that sucks “. My second reaction was ” that really sucks ”
400,000 businesses. 400,000 business owners. 400,000 families affected. Every month. OUCH !!
Many of these stories can’t possibly end well. Financially, many end up in ruin because many have depleted life savings, or borrowed max money to launch their business. I’m talking about being on the hook for 300k, 400k, 500k and up to start up their life’s dream only to end up bankrupt. You can’t imagine the pain. This resulting from the lure of self employment. The idea of no boss, no ceiling on income potential, and more freedom can be intoxicating. But the loss of capital can choke you to death.
The multi level relationship marketing business model is still the ONLY business out there that offers ANYONE who has ever dreamed of self employment the opportunity to achieve truly life enhancing or life changing income potential WITHOUT life changing risk to personal finances. There is no business out there where you have in your control the chance to earn many thousands of dollars every single month with an investment of only a few hundred dollars. A few hundred dollars. I’m amused at the ” failure rate is too high ” arguement as a condemnation of our industry because the failure rate of brick and mortar businesses are never discussed during the same conversation.
Electricity and Natural Gas not up your alley ? Then go sell vitamins, or juices, or financial products. There are good companies in a broad array of products and services to choose from. You will pay a modest start-up fee, and you will have the opportunity to make alot of money. And if you don’t, you’ll be out approximately what it would have cost you to take your family out to a ballgame. PowerOn.
How many times have you found yourself immersed in a conversation about how bad things are ? Could be with your spouse, your neighbor, your coworker or just a friendly chit chat on line at the supermarket or bus stop. Now if your someone who’s never had a negative philosophical moment about finances or the personal state of your own economy, then pat yourself on the back and move on for this post is not for you.
However, I’m inclined to think that just about everyone else has had many conversations about how their lives would be better or less frantic if they just had a little more of something called money. But you know what conversations get you? Right, nothing ! Oh, it could lead to more converstaions about how much you wish you had a better job, or how your kids are sucking the monetary life out of you, or something far worse like how your going to possibly save your house and credit.
What I’ve found most interesting over the years is that people LOVE to talk about their problems, but very few people actually DO something about it. Surely, lots of people get second jobs and that IS doing something. But do second jobs last forever? People get burned out quickly because they’re always reminded that in order to get ahead or stay even, they have to exhaust themselves with two jobs. And at what cost ? Personal relationships suffer. Family time dwindles.
Which brings me to my point today. What are you doing TODAY that will enhance your life in, say, 3 to 5 years from now ? What plan are you putting in place that will advance your personal and family financial situation. “Anthony, 3 years is too long to wait to start making some real money” Oh, really?? All you have to do is to think back 3 years ago and ask yourself what it was that you started back then to make your life better today. Chances are your answer is “nothing” And look what happened. 3 years just passed !!
Now don’t assume that everyone is giddy after 3 years in business. Some never make it, some make it in less time. Point is, this post isn’t about anyone but YOU. What are YOU doing today to make tomorrow better ? Is Ambit Energy your answer ? I don’t know. Reach out to me and let’s have that conversation about YOU !!
FAQ
Small Commercial Program:Frequently Asked Questions
Q
For enrollment purposes, what is considered a “Small Commercial” account? A
While there are exceptions to everything, a good rule of thumb in identifying these accounts is a monthly usage of 3000 kWh or less per month. Anything with usage higher than that is generally considered Large Commercial.Q
Can I enroll Commercial accounts everywhere in New York? A
Commercial service is available only in the Con Edison territory of New York.Q
How will I know if I can enroll a business for Ambit Energy service?A
Customers with a service class of EL2, SC2 or EL7 for electricity and GS2 for gas are serviceable by Ambit Energy. This information is located on their Con Ed Bill. However if you can’t verify this information, you can always try to enroll the customer and the system will tell you immediately if it is a business we can service..Q
How do I enroll a small business account? A
The process for enrollment for these accounts is exactly the same as for a residential customer.Q
Do small commercial accounts have a point value for bonuses?A
Yes, one point for each account. If a customer switches both electricity and gas this is considered a bundle and is 1 point for Jump Start and CLB purposes, but 2 points for 6-level commission qualifications and leadership promotions.Q Do I get paid CRB for commercial accounts?
A
Yes. Q
Do I get paid CRI on commercial accounts?A
You bet!Q
Can I enroll commercial accounts for electricity and gas? A
Yes, both services are available.Q
Will these accounts be eligible for the 1% savings guarantee? A
Yes, absolutely.Q
Will these accounts be eligible for the 7% discount for the first 2-months? A
How will bands work for commercial accounts?A
The bands are the same for these accounts as they are for residential. Q
Are commercial accounts eligible to earn Free Energy?A
Yes, this fantastic program is available to all customers.Q
Will commercial accounts receive a 3-day/2-night voucher for switching?A
Yes.Q
Can commercial accounts earn travel rewards each month?A
Yes, these accounts receive all the same fantastic benefits our residential customers enjoy.
You’d think that the top reason for joining any business venture would be to make alot of money, right ? Certainly this is usually the case and I see no departure here from that assumption. Ambit Energy is no doubt a company that allows anyone to achieve their financial goals, but I’d like to address what I feel separates Ambit Energy from all other opportunities.
Having spent some years promoting one MLM after another, achieving different levels of success along the way, and some failures, it occured to me that I kept trying to convince/educate my prospective customers that “mine” was better than “theirs”. Although my belief system has always been very high there always seemed to be an inherent challenge with these companies. TRUST. “Why should I spend twice as much for your product when I’m happy with what I’m already buying for half the price with no pressure to reorder, EVER !! ”
This was always difficult to overcome. The customer has to hear you “pitch” one product after another, for a higher cost, then wait for it to be shipped, then get pressured to go an “autoship” which almost always ends up being overinventoried. The customer gets burned out and eventually bows out of your business.
Ambit Energy has the perfect business model because it is the same product consumers are already buying and they sell it for less. “Mine” is not better than “theirs”, it’s the same. My customers don’t have to trust me that their getting the same energy. That trust was gained by the state’s Power Commission or Board of Utilities when they granted Ambit permission to conduct business in their state. My customers don’t have to be concerned about whether they’re paying too much for their energy because Ambit Energy gaurantees their savings.
Electicity. Natural Gas. Leadership. Savings. Perks. Compensation. Gaurantees. Of all the pertinent keywords one could muster about this company, the most important keyword is actually about it’s product and that is that it is a MUST HAVE.
WE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT IT and IT WILL NEVER BE FREE.
And those, my freinds, are MY top resaons for joing Ambit Energy. PowerOn.
On this month’s training audio, I will guide you through the specific steps of what you say and what you do with prospects to overcome the pyramid objection, but I want to give you the basics here of another way to explain M.L.M.
To start with, if you’re doing a one-on-one where you’re actually with the prospect as opposed to talking with them over the phone, then you will want to draw for them what I’m going to show you here. If you’re on the phone, start by sending them to Brilliant Compensation Online and then have this discussion with them over the phone while asking them to draw it while you walk them through it.
When/if the pyramid objection comes up, ask them to think about a typical business where there is a sales rep and a sales manager. Draw the picture below showing ONLY one sales manager (the man in blue) with sales reps working for him. Make sure you make the statement, “The manager is only valuable to the sales reps if they have experience selling what they’re asking the sales reps to sell.” Then ask, “Does this make sense to you?” Or “Do you agree with this?” It’s very important to get them involved in this discussion.
Once they are involved with the discussion, I normally probe a little with “Does the sales manager normally make a little more money than the sales reps?” Which most people will answer “yes”. I then ask, “Is what I’ve just drawn a pyramid because sales reps work under a sales manager? Is it a pyramid because the sales manager makes a commission off what the sales reps sell?”
This is where the discussion normally opens up. Try to keep them on just answering what has been discussed up to this point. Meaning, if they try to take it further and ask or say something else, reply with, “We’ll get to that…right now just tell me if this is a pyramid.” After that is settled, then move on.
Ask them, “What happens when there are more sales reps than the manager can handle?” What you’re facilitating them to answer is, “The company needs to hire another sales manager.” Then you can say, “Good! Where can the company get this new sales manager from?” You are trying to guide the prospect to see that either the company can hire a new person from Monster.com (or wherever) or they can take one of the existing sales reps and make them a manager.
Guide them towards seeing that the better way would be to take an existing sales rep and make them a manager because they are already knowledgeable on how to sell that product. If they were to hire a new person they would have to educate that person on the products and the way the company operates. But, that new person wouldn’t have the respect of the sales force because “He’s never done it!”
But if they take an existing sales rep and make them a manager – they would know the product, know the way the business and company operates and would have the respect of the sales reps. But regardless of which place the company chooses to get this new manager, you’ve now added a new manager. Now draw another manager (beside and to the right of the man in blue) with sales reps below her – just like the image below.
Then say, “This is the way that most companies grow their sales force. Does this make sense?” Get their agreement.
Then label the top of the picture “Multi-Width-Marketing.” Then say, “Multi means more than one. “Width” meaning that it grows laterally and marketing means that they are all marketing the product. Make sense? Any questions on this?”
Once all of this is settled in their mind – then move forward. DO NOT MOVE FORWARD UNTIL THEY UNDERSTAND UP TO THIS POINT. There can not be any confusion AT ALL.
Then say, let’s just take the same picture and draw it a little differently. Circle the man in blue and his sales reps and say, “I’m going to draw this sales manager again.” Draw it on your paper. Then say, “Instead of hiring a new manager from Monster.com we’re going to take a person who already knows the product, the company and the business and make them our new sales manager. Since it will be one of these sales reps I’m just going to keep the drawing the same by drawing a new sales rep under them. Draw it like this image:
You don’t need to draw 3 levels to make the point. So just draw two levels to begin with. Then, label level 1 and level 2. Then write at the top “Mu.lti level Mar.keting and say, Multi meaning more than one, “level” meaning growing vertically and marketing meaning that everyone is marketing the product.
This should give you the basics of how to handle this objection once and for all.
DO NOT MISS THIS MONTH’S TRAINING AUDIO. I go into depth on this as well as give you the most important points to make early in the conversation so that if they claim it’s a pyramid later – you can take them back to what they already said.
http://expertmlmreview.org/ambit-energy
