Is Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) a Scam ?
I recently recieved an email from a reader about my blog. He, like me, is starting out on his Internet Marketing venture and was pleased with the content I had provided.
In his email he mentioned that he was considering a program called Carbon Copy Pro (CCP). I had never heard of Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) so naturally I wondered if it was another scam.
I have spent some time researching Carbon Copy Pro and it has proved to be one of the harder online programs to get info about.
The reason for this is it appears one must pay $50 before any real questions are answered. This is very annoying for anyone on the outside looking in, however, for anyone wanting to be a part of Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) this $50 application fee is actually a blessing, as it weeds out the tire kickers and people who aren't very serious. This allows them to hone their time on only QUALITY leads. So the leads of course are WAY LESS than with any other program that allows access to info for free. But the leads for Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) naturally have a MUCH higher conversion rate as only seriously interested people will cough up the initial $50.
I can by no means label Carbon Copy Pro a scam as people are indeed making money at it. However, it appears to be exactly "what is says on the box" ie Carbon Copy Pro (CCP). You essentially pay money to be part of a program that teaches you how to get others to pay money to learn the same info. I can't see much more than that ! There doesn't appear to be any real "product" except for training. It seems to me to be a bit of "we know how to get people to part with large sums of money, if you part with a large sum of money we will teach you how we got you to part with your large sum of money and you will make a lot of money from Carbon Copying our method".
Personally I don't see much more than that. I can't knock the methods and "secrets" that they have for sale, one, because I have never seen them as Im not a member and, two, because the methods are obviously working for some people.
I really enjoyed this blog : http://ccproblog.com/category/mark-worthens-latest-ccpro-stats/
Check it out. It's a Carbon Copy Pro member detailing how much money he has made with the program over time. He shows what he has put into the program and how much profit etc. I loved this blog as it's exactly what I would do and essentially exactly what I AM doing with the programs I am playing with now. His blog revealed that after paying your $50 fee their appears to be a $149.75 monthly fee for this program as well as another $49 monthly fee for the website/back office. I'm not sure if these are optional or not, but nevertheless this guy is paying it. Further, it appears to have any decent level of success in Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) you need cash to play with for advertising and promotion. Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) appears to essentially be a HIGH RISK HIGH RETURN online marketing opportunity.
If I was to join Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) I'd probably join with this guy, as I like his style. Further, he is obviously successful at this so he would provide some good training I think.
Here is the guy above's latest stats (April 24 2009) :
Revenue (cumulative totals for past 18 months)
1488 Leads
6 Application Refunds: $150
69 Team Sales: $46800
Expenses (cumulative totals for past 18 months)
Marketing System: $2845.25 ($149.75 per month)
Primary Company Website & Back Office: $1129 ($49 per month + $99 annual fee paid in January) (6)
Advertising: $16156 (PPC, Ezine, Banner, etc.)
Profit (cumulative totals for past 18 months)
$110481 (Revenue) – $20130 (Expenses) = $90351 (Profit)
Return On Investment (ROI)
Thus, his $20130 investment in the CCPro Marketing System and advertising has yielded $90351 in profit or a 349% ROI.
So you can see from the above figures there is a lot of money to be made with Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) but also one needs to be willing to invest a lot of money also. Although he has spent $20k, that wasn't all at once. If you check the blog you will see his first month he spent less than $1000 but from what I have read it's recommended to have $2500 to play with in the beginning and that estimate looks about right.
If we analyse the figures we see the QUALITY of the Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) leads he is getting ie 10% of the leads turn into Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) applications and almost 1/3 turn into sales. Those are seriously high conversion rates which just goes to show that the initial $50 fee cuts out a lot of the "fat" and lets these guys get straight down to business and focus on the seriously interested candidates. A very smooth marketing move I must say.
From this info it also appears that the intial $50 fee is refundable although only a small number (about 2%) have availed themselves of the refund option.
I can also deduce that $25 of the $50 is paid in commission to the sponsor, but this is just the small money. The big money comes from actually getting these people into the Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) system.
Something I would REALLY love to know is what are they "selling" ? You will notice he has made 43 sales earning him $54,102. That's over $1000 per sale, but what is being sold ? The system is a monthly fee so perhaps the company pay a straight commission for each signup ? The company will earn about $2400 per year from each person paying the $149.75 + $49 monthly fees so maybe Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) front the whole year's commissions to the seller ? I'm not sure, but I'd love to know. This info isn't readily available but like I say there doesn't seem to be any product except a "secret" of how to get others to join this ridiculously expensive program.
He is also making almost $700 from each "team sale". Again, I don't know what this is but I can only assume one gets commissions from downline members sales also, but this of course is pure speculation.
I also enjoyed reading the following forum : http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/14_5620_1.html
Here is one post from the above forum that I believe had a great element of truth in it :
Hi guys
In my line of work, I speak with a handful of CCP reps every week. And I participate in a mastermind group with one or two of the CCP affiliates who are commenting on this thread. Here are my 2 cents:
Carbon Copy is a competitive business model.
What do I mean? At some point, the winners will be those that are willing to spend the most and the quickest. Period.
That type of system will work...but the time MUST come when it prices the average guy out...or the overwhelming amount of banners and reps that is circulating will simply thin out the possible income. And I am hearing from some that it has already happened.
You got the top earners telling you to join them and learn how they did it but they are doing it by simply spending the most to advertise. I am speaking to a guy right now that just got into CCP and I just text him and asked him "so how is CCP going?"
He text back "I have made one sale (from the initial batch of leads I bought and cold called) and none since then...I need LEADS!"
He went on to tell me that Jay actually says in the training that if you don't have a ton of money to buy leads, that you should go put business cards in books at the bookstore!!! LOL!
See, he doesn't have $5K per month to advertise. So his upline simply says "go read the training".
THAT is what a competitive business model is. Money and timing are key parts of the success.
In a creative business model, money and timing do not matter. ANYONE can be successful even if they cannot pay for expensive leads or Google adwords.
That's why I learned how to market BEFORE I did something like CCP.
I know that CCP reps will flame me but the truth is that it's the same old thing with a fresh new look.
__________________
Danny Arrington
The above was posted Jan 2008 and I haven't been able to read through all the posts yet to get some up to date forum info but I think there is a lot to what Danny has said above. Like many online programs it's all about getting in early. Most internet programs will eventually hit what I like to call their "critical mass" or "terminal velocity" so to speak i.e. eventually everyone who is going to, or can join, will have joined and there will be no more people left to sell to. When that happens the last people who joined will make no money whatsoever. That seems to be what this guy is saying above, and he said that over 1 year ago ! In the forum I also read of one Carbon Copy Pro member complaining that leads weren't converting at the rates at which they used to. So perhaps Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) is already reaching it's critical mass, who knows ?
If you have any bad Carbon Copy Pro (CCP) experience or if you care to shed some light on this situation please send the info to ccp@business-opportunities-reviewed.com. I ask for "bad" experiences because these tend to be the most truthful. We can already find a lot of people singing the praises of Carbon Copy Pro (CCP), it's always harder to find the people who have tried and failed or lost money etc. By talking to these people we can get some very useful and truthful information.
