Today, January 31, 2016, is payday for Marco and U.S. Property Success. It is the 3rd day of his current “3 day” seminar in Toronto that is being held at the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel.  This is the day everything is setup for. The ads drew in the crowds at the free hotel seminars, a much smaller number signed up for the 3 day. During the first 2 days staff have carefully screened the 3 day participants, gathering financial information and advising on how to get / use credit for the real purpose of the whole enterprise: getting a few to enroll for and pay for the miraculous Diamond and Platinum programs. It is very slick, calculated exercise that routinely has dozens of attendees paying $60,000 to $100,000 by the end of the day.  This is the essence of “the seminar pitch“, repeated by many people and organizations. Kozlowski’s group is just one example. (More on the FTC site here. A good overview and history of the seminar “industry” is in this 2003 Washington Post article – “The Pitch to Get Rich”)

The pressure to close is naturally on a Sunday – do it now! No time to get legal advice, no time to do any due diligence, not time to research the company that is named on the contract, not time to consider who is behind all of this, not time to really consider the complexity of the contract you are being asked to sign.  Various companies and offers are used on the “Sunday Close” forms – Do your homework!

Pay attention to the reaction you get when you tell the seminar staff and Marco you’d like to think about it.

The text below is from the January 30, 2016 Montreal Gazette article:

“Only on the third day of the conference, he said, are people told they can invest in additional training — a “platinum” program for $60,000 or a “diamond” program for $100,000. That additional training is not mentioned at the first free seminar. 

“You’re never under the impression that you have to pay something else besides that $3,500,” the man said. “You think you’ll be good to go after that weekend.”

He says that on the first day of the weekend workshop, attendees are asked to fill out forms detailing their financial situations. 

On the third morning, he said, some participants are asked to attend a “VIP lunch,” where they’re told that “only people with great potential” are asked to attend. 

“Really, it’s only people that can plunk $100,000 that are invited,” he said. “But it’s all about ego and making you feel special.”