Russell posted a note about a forthcoming Tom Ferry seminar. It would seem to be the seminar season, so I signed up for that one and two others, purely for the thrill of the chase: Identify the scam, marvel at the upsells, listen for the fall-back sale, all that cheesy crap.
Today was the Craig Proctor seminar. I’ve been getting spam from this guy for years, so I was interested to see what the pitch was. Craig’s ideas are every bit as new as the Claude Hopkins classic, Scientific Advertising, as you can see from the advertorials he puts in Realtor magazine.
There is probably more to the Quantum Leap System than I’m giving it credit for, but the essence of the thing is the long-standing teaser-ad strategy, as exemplified by the headline of this post. That much is covered in a very thorough and much more economical “system” in the form of the two Gooder Group Real Estate Rainmaker books. Ergo, here is my two step system for saving a ton of money by not buying into the Craig Proctor hype:
Step 1. Real Estate Rainmaker: Successful Strategies for Real Estate Marketing.
Step 2. Real Estate Rainmaker: Guide to Online Marketing
But remember, the short statement of the Craig Proctor philosophy is “Frustrate them with a problem then offer a solution.” You might just resolve instead to work with people you actually respect.
Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing
Jay Thompson says:
Thank God. When I read the title I thought you were going to try to sell me on becoming a Proctorologist… I knew better, but my mind was screaming “NO NO NO. NOT CRAIG PROCTOR!”
“There is probably more to the Quantum Leap System than I’m giving it credit for…”
I doubt it.
May 17, 2007 — 2:52 pm
Greg Swann says:
> Proctorologist
Excellent coinage. Just looking at the word makes me wince. 😉
May 17, 2007 — 3:54 pm
Cheryl Allin says:
Ooh, wince indeed!
Sounds very similar to what many agents signed up for last week – a Sane Marketing Manifesto that was not much more than a pitch to join an “iSucceed” type of club – but full of all the basic ideas from ‘The E-Myth Revisited” book.
If it’s “Quantum Leap,” does it include your own holographic “Al?”
May 17, 2007 — 4:03 pm
Dave Lopez says:
Some swear by him and others, well, lets just say that they have cancelled his special Web site and 800 number programs and went on to find a cheaper way. His guaranty program only works if you have the money in the bank, most Realtors don’t. I read somewhere else where a Realtor was tired of being $29.99 to death for the latest and greatest internet tool, DVD, and downloads. It’s good thing he hasn’t stepped up to this plate or he might have committed harri-carri. How much were those books again ;)?
May 20, 2007 — 2:09 pm
James Sanson says:
I am just confused on what is so bad with his system. I know nothing about his system. His websites look stupid, etc., but I just want to know the low down on this cat.
September 23, 2008 — 4:35 pm
Mark S says:
I knew craig proctor was a slimeball over 12 years ago. My mom used him personally to list her home, a two year old beautiful detached house in Newmarket, Ontario, his hometown. After using her home as a bait and switch loss leader, my mom complained and told him he was just using her house to attract buyers to other less expensive houses and had no intention of actually selling hers. My mom suggest she would sell her house herself. Craig, the unprofessional little twerp, got angry at my mother and, told her, and this is a verbatim quote, “If you want your money out of this house, you’ll have to burn it down and collect the insurance.”
If I would have known about that at the time, I would have reported him to ethics. No real estate agent, who is not also a crook, would ever have dared say such a thing, even in jest, much less in anger.
November 27, 2008 — 11:00 am
Anonymous says:
A new age of real estate sales is already begun. Web 2.0 is upon us now, and in the coming years-strategies that Craig Proctor still uses will end up simply NOT working. 80-90% of buyers are now referred to as “Internet Buyers” and that percentage is going further and further up. Buyers are driving around neighborhoods less, they are calling agents less for so called “information” and they are certainly not going to sit out front of car listening to AM Radio (talking house). Many of the tools Craig Proctor uses in his “system” are expensive and outdated. The seminar is an entire up-sell, but can you blame him? That’s how most of these businesses are. You’re paying Craig for information, in order to successfully use the information you need to most likely purchase some of his recommended programs.
Here’s my review:
The hotlines are EXPENSIVE that he recommends. You can receive the same service at a fraction of the cost from providers like arch telecom.
The websites are EXPENSIVE and total garbage unless you’re running local classifieds ads, PAY PER CLICK, or Craigslist ads that direct buyers to your site. While this may work, it’s ungodly expensive and considering the fact that to properly receive leads from Craigslist, you’d have to spam them with multiple ads per day (against CL’s terms of service).
SuccessWebsites will NOT rank in search engines so you virtually will not receive any traffic at all from Search Engines.
Craig recommends high dollar statistic services which can be obtained for free by using the MLS or you can find other companies that are fractions of the cost.
Craig also recommends lots of outdated technology…
Overall, Craig Proctor offers great business principals in his program, but literally his program is 90% the Emyth by michael gerber, with some Dan Kennedy advertising principals. Buy Emyth and Magnetic Marketing and you’ll know probably 90% of what Proctor teaches for only $15.
Craig needs to seriously rethink his coaching business because Craig’s “system” is clearly outdated by years.
January 19, 2009 — 2:12 am
Screwed By Craig says:
I have been using this system for about 8 months and can honestly say with all the conviction in the world that it is a piece of crap. I put myself in serious debt with this fantansy land bull. Automatic robots that provide leads, ya right what type of leads (dead ones). I signed up for this system after going to a half day seminar given by Craig and his sidekicks. He gives you all these money back guarantee but just try to get out. The coaches keep telling you try this and try that but do they really care if it works as long as they get there monthly checks. For all the money me and the other members are paying we should not have to try different things, it should have been tested for us. This is just a way to drag it out. I should have done my research before i signed up to this money burning system. I have spoken to other members and they feel the same. Shame of Craig and his group of crooks for overpromising and under delivering. Trust me do yourself a BIG favour and do your research. Hopefully you won’t be sucked out of tens of thousands of dollars. Just google Craig Proctor Ripoff and read the bad posts. If you believe the good ones, just ask yourself if it is that good why would other realtors boost about the system only to have more competition using the exact same system against them? And by the way i followed the system exactly how it was laid out with the websites, 800 numbers, google ad words, posting ect. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY
February 4, 2009 — 3:51 pm