PBA is not your typical scam where people are basically just trying to steal your money and you end up with nothing to show for it, although very close. PBA does have a "business model" where it allows you to have access to their business model through a licensing agreement. And for all intents and purposes there is a legitimate business, that does seemingly respond to a legitimate need. That's how they get you hooked.
However the PBA process is a woefully insufficient, totally manual process they call a "system" that really equates to a 7-10 e-mail Spam email marketing campaign. The latest email campaign was entirely untested before it was distributed, just to illustrate the rinky dink nature of this "organization". No legitimate, knowledgeable marketer would ever mass distribute any viable campaign without having tested it first and at least having some notion as to how it will be responded to. When I asked about the near 0% response rate I was getting I was told, "we didn't have time to test it before rolling it out". Of course these are leads I have paid money for as I waste my time and marketing efforts on an untested campaign. After many complaints the campaign was pulled and replaced with another untested campaign...although this time they at least said that it was tested.
Personal Business Advisors does virtually nothing to improve the process or the marketing mechanisms. As I mentioned, the process is entirely manual. We use a Contact Management System that is now 2 years out dated (ACT 2009) and woefully insufficient for any legitimate Emarketing operation particularly as it relates to autoresponse and automated tasks etc.. The current marketing emails , which is the only marketing mechanism they use, are basically the same 7+ emails they have used for the last several years. PBA is completely out of touch with the Emarketing world and in my experience totally unwilling to even consider proven modern day E-marketing strategies, rather preferring to stick with "tried and proven" decade old technology and methodology. At best, this illustrates the lack of creativity and willingness to innovate and at worst it illuminates the viability of a tired, ineffective mechanism (by itself) that they rely on to drive their business.
PBA is really ONLY in the business of selling licenses. Their only interest is getting your money. This is where they spend their time and money, getting people to write them checks. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. PBA makes big claims of the number of deals you can do and the large 6 figure salary you can make and it just simply is not true. They can not and will not substantiate ANY of their claims like any legitimate franchise would or any business that was for sale for that matter. IN fact when challenged the retort is consistently "we never said that." Bottom line is they will say what they need to to tickle your ears but it's all sizzle, no steak. The facts simply do not validate the claims no matter where you are geographically. Any attempt at encouraging or attempting to force accountability are consistently met with more unsubstantiated blather or responsibility deflecting. There is very little to zero transparency from the corporate end of things, to the point that they actually discourage PBA Sr. Advisors from talking to one another. They can't stop it but they do not like it. WHY??? If everything is great and wonderful, wouldn't it be great if we all encouraged one another? Well, they don't want us confirming what we already suspect...that the business is not legitimate, at least not near to the level they are selling. If that is not enough of a red flag for you, consider this. What sales organization are you aware of that does not talk openly about it's completed deals, who did what, how much they made, how they did it, etc?? Every legitimate sales organization talks about their sales at least on a monthly basis to get people fired up and excited to get out there and sell. Not PBA. They refuse to talk about sales. If that is not a red flag the size of Texas, I do not know what is.
I know that if you have read this report to this point you've either decided to stay clear of Personal Business Advisors (PBA), or you've decided that I am a nut. So if you are serious about not losing $30-55k or more of your money on a bunch of empty BS, take this challenge. Look us all up on Linked IN. Search under Companies on "Personal Business Advisors". Many of us PBA Sr. Advisors are on Linked in so contact one or all of us and see if what I am saying is not true. Look for Sr. Advisors or Executive Sr. Advisors. Any other title is likely a corporate person. You'll very quickly see that PBA is based enough on a real need that it seems very real, but the claims of the system, what you get, the help they say you will get, the (poor) quality of the leads, etc. It's all just talk and can not be substantiated by fact of any kind.
I was unfortunate enough to have believed the sales pitch because like most of us who got involved with this, which is largely made up of Sr. level managers and out of work Executives, we believed it because we were at a place (desperation) where we needed to and wanted to believe it because we needed it to be true. And they preyed on that. None of us could ill afford to loss $30k+ but that didn't stop them from taking it from us, without any conscience.
PBA is in one business and one business alone and that is selling licensing agreements to a business that is little more then window dressing. They are greedy, pompous, arrogant, and interested in one thing....MONEY. How they get it is seemingly insignificant to them. They appear to me to be without conscience. My suggestion is to run as far and as fast from this opportunity as you can before it is too late. You will either believe me now or believe me later, but eventually you will come to believe every word I have said. In the time that I have been involved with this group, I have seen roughly 15 people come into the business. All but one, and he is just giving it a few more months, are completely out of the business as I write this. This equates to something in the neighborhood of $500k in licensing fees to PBA. They claim to have 500 some Sr. Advisors across the world with anywhere from 100-250, depending on who you talk to, that are full time. Yet I have been on just about every weekly call that we have had and have never seen more than 28 people on the call and that is with all the corporate folks and the presenter(s). So if you are considering this opportunity, just know that your chances of success are near 0%. I am not saying it is impossible, just very, very unlikely. Again, the system is really just a process and a manual one at that and is at least 5-7 years behind in modern day Emarketing methods. Save your money and buy something legitimate. It's too late for me I already lost my money but it isn't too late for you.
personalbusinessadvisors.com Uwe Brettman CEO
10-27-2010, 07:01 PM
Personal Business Advisors (PBA) - BEWARE
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