I'm guessing you want to know more about that Andy Willoughby and his Three-Step Plan. Well, you came to the right place.

This is an update to our crazy little post from last year which happens to be the most search-engine-friendly thing we've ever written. Go figure.

I'm glad to see ya'! But enough glad-handin' and grinnin' - let's get down to business.

So you've heard Andy Willoughby's commercials on your local Christian radio station, the ones where he asks "How in the world are ya' anyway?" and offers a plan for financial independence.

You're probably wondering, "What it this all about?" Well, let me tell you.

Ultimately, it's about getting into what used to be known as 'Multi-Level Marketing' (MLM) but is now called 'Network Marketing.' It's the same concept used to sell Amway-Quixtar, Noni Joice and a host of other products.

While the links above are not the most flattering, and the spectre of a 'pyramid scheme' hovers over the entire enterprise, please be aware this is the same sales structure employed to sell Mary Kay Cosmetics, Tupperware (in the old days) and countless other products on which plenty of people have made real money. The basic idea is, you become a distributor of the product(s), then you try to get other people to become distributors - while constantly trying to get all of them to recruit more distributors and all of THEM and to do the same, and so on until you have a massive 'downline' of sellers beneath you. You make money on the sales of everyone in the downline. If you get enough people beneath you, it can mean some serious cash.

Hey, there is a subculture of stay-at-home-moms who live for this stuff.

Depending on your recruitment philosophy, network marketing can also alienate you from all your acquaintances, workmates, friends, family...in fact, every single person on the Earth. It just depends on how you play it.

You're probably thinking, "That sounds pretty good to me," but also wondering, "What happens if I check it out?" Well, chances are, you'd be receiving a phone call from a gal or a fella' working off a script that would go something like this:

Hello John

(not 'may I speak to John Doe please' -sounds too much like a telemarketer)

Hey [John], This is [Your Name] calling you from GA - the reason I am calling is that you responded to the Andy Willoughby three step program that you heard on the radio – Do you remember doing that?

They Respond - YES

So you are looking for a way to make money from home?

Great, well tell me what you do for a living now?

(Develop small talk and friendly rapport) i.e.- how do you like that – how long you been doing that?

Well, that is fantastic – let me give you my home office number.

Next, qualify them with this statement

Now, John I do want you to know that this is a real business and as such it does require an investment – Now we are not talking about $5000 or even a $1000 dollars, but realistically to get your business started properly you are going to need at least $400-$500 dollars to do that.

Now once you look at everything here assuming this is something that you like and something that you are going to want to do, is that going to be a problem?

PAUSE and see there answer and then go from there

(They agree and they have the funds)

Great what I want to do at this point is have you listen to an overview that will explain in detail just how this program works. Do you have about 7 minutes to do that?

Bring on the 7 minute overview call.

John, that was really exciting wasn’t it?

Let them answer 'YES' question (You may also have another way to put this in a different tone that best fits your personality – i.e – John, that was some great info wasn’t it?

John, What did you like best about it?

Whatever they respond with (product, how we build the business) you agree with and you may what to say you know what John I felt the same way.

John, Does this look like something you would want to do?

They say yes then sign them up

Most will say I would like for info sent over:

Great, John –Fantastic – that is what I would do – I would want to get all the info I can. Here is what will do – John, what is your email address – I am going to get you an email out right now with a website where you can go look at an audio/visual presentation.

So, I will send you out the email with the presentation that you can look at and also John if you are wanting to do your due diligence here you would have to agree that one of the best ways to do your due diligence is to try the product –Since it has a 30 day money back guarantee what do you say why you are looking over whether or not this is a business opportunity that you want to pursue lets go ahead and get a couple of cases of product on the way to you.

THEN SHUT UP!

Not every person will say yes – but you are making the effort to close every prospect twice on the first call.

Most will say 'well let me watch the presentation and review the info'

Ok, John – I will get this email out to you in the next 10 minutes - there is about 30-40 minutes of information there - Now, I am going to be tied up for the next two hours...

(Act like you are looking at your day planner when doing this)

What do you say we get back in touch today – What is better for you 3:30 or 4:00?

Give them two options Not asking them –you tell them to pick a time so you want a decision today

If they cannot get back today

Say, I totally understand

Now, John you did tell me you where serious about starting your own business and there is only about 30-40 minutes worth of information there so you can definitely listen to that in the next 24 hours – So let me look at my schedule for tomorrow (act like you are looking at it) - Looks like I have so and so time available – which is better for you?

Next, John what you are going to go look at (it is called the Millon Dollar Secret presentation) is very detailed and there is really not a question there that is left unanswered so you are really going to know whether or not this is something you are going to do.

Next day call them

What did you think of that MDS presentation – pretty exciting huh?

Yeah, looks great.

Well John, let's go ahead and get you started...

Sign them up or if more questions get upline on the phone to field questions.

Or, you might receive this call:

Hi. Can I speak with ____ please?

Hi _____. This is ____________ calling you from _____. I’m calling because you requested some information about Andy Willoughby’s 3 step program that was advertised on Christian radio. Do you remember doing that?

Am I catching you at a good time? Do you have a few minutes?

So I guess you’re looking to generate some extra income from home?

That’s great. First of all tell me a little about yourself _____, what do you do now? (listen)

And are you looking to supplement or replace your income?

Well, that’s fine. Now if you grab a pen, I’d like to get some information to you. Tell me when you’re ready.

First I want to give you my name. It’s ___________ and my number is__________. I also want you to take down this #.

This is a 5 minute recording that will explain what this is all about. That # is 1-973-854-4579 (Mike’s message)

Do you have access to the internet? If you give me your email address, I’ll send you over a website that you can check out after you listen to the call. (wait for their email address). Now the email I send will be coming from _______@ ______. _____ enjoy the call and I look forward to speaking with you again soon.

You can also visit here to get in on one of Andy's calls (se habla espanol).

Now, you undoubtedly have questions, the first being, "How exactly do we make money at this?"

At Andy's personal Mangosteen Web portal, he explains the complete compensation plan.

But the 'Three-Step Plan' goes a step further, and this really is the ingenius part:

The Promise Co-op is an advertising program designed to attract high quality, well qualified prospects for your home-based business. Here is how it works. Our members buy shares in the Promise Co-op. The shares cost $105 dollars each. You can buy anywhere from one to five shares per month. Each share will receive leads that come in from the advertising. This is done on a rotational basis. As leads come in they are assigned to the next share position on the rotation. After it has made a full rotation or cycle of all of the shares, the rotational system will start back at the beginning...

Here is how the lead development works. People hear our ads on the radio or see one of our advertisements. (Most hear it on the radio) If they have an interest they either call a toll free number given on the ad or go to our advertised website. If they call the phone number they will hear a phone message that gives them a short preview of our system. If they go to our website they will see the same message in print. (If you would like to hear this message dial 618 355 1774 and press option one.)

What is great about the program is that the leads are all responding to the advertising that they may have heard or seen usually several times. They normally know exactly why they are calling and only call because they want to learn more about developing a home-based business. This makes them a much more productive and enjoyable lead to work with.

The reason home-based business builders buy shares in the Promise Co-op is not because of how many leads they receive every month but because of how many distributors they sign-up from the advertising. Many of our members tell us they sign-up more distributors with less work than any other lead generating program they have used.

You need to understand, when you join the Promise Co-op you are not buying leads, you are buying a share in an advertising campaign. The leads come as a result of the advertising. You get your share of the leads that come in. Promise Co-op and the Willoughbys make no guarantee of the number of leads you will receive per share. Any month the number of leads received per share may go up or down according to the response that the advertising generates.

Bottom line: Would you, or would you not, like the opportunity to get $300 over and over again?

Before you answer that one, I know you have another question just begging to be answered by me: "Johnny, buddy, what in the Sam Hill is a 'mangosteen'?"

I'm glad you asked. The essence of the product is the magical secret of the mangosteen: Xanthones.

(If you want more information on the incredible mangosteen fruit, I think I'll let you find that yourself. Google, and ye shall find. Also, here.)

Regarding the business model, people of good will can disagree:

The three step plan is incredibly difficult to get any information out of. They do not tell you what the business is until they have all your information and bother you. If it is a legitimate business, why are they not upfront with what they do?

What is not arguable, is the fact that Xango/Mangosteen/Three-Step Plan is BIG BUSINESS.

If there is money to be made in it, then it has a Convention. You can take that to the bank.

The Xango Convention, in fact, sounds like a real hummdinger. Andy recently had a starring role:

Andy Willoughby started things out for the Convention’s final General Session by asking how many distributors felt they were coming to XanGo after being in abused network marketing relationships. As hands were raised, he laid the hammer down.

"XanGo is no halfway house, folks! It’s the whole enchilada."

And, by that, it means a lot of things. Like XanGo Distributor Communication Manager Dave Webb dancing badly, for example. It means 200K and 500K Premiers were recognized while dancing to "YMCA". Senior VP of New Business Development Beverly Hollister talked about the Japan office opening in March of next year; she said she could see a day two years from now when thousands of Japanese distributors would be coming to Convention.

Distributors Rights Association (DRA): DRA Advocates for the Rights and Empowers Members (both Companies and Independent Representatives) in Multi-Level Marketing.

And without fail, if there is money to be made in it, then there will be legal problems that an association needs to address.

The final question you may be asking is, "What is the religious connection with all of this?"

Xango is based in Utah, where the Mormons are based. Network marketing seems to have found a natural home among the Mormon church - and even if your 'Christian' orientation is not of the Mormon variety, the lessons probably apply across the board.

The Mormons may be a bit ahead of the curve in discerning the potential for exploitation in church culture:

At the Economic Crimes Summit Conferences in 2002 and 2004 (sponsored by the National White Collar Crime Center), recruiting MLM's such as Nu Skin, Neways, Morinda, Usana, Melaleuca, Nikken, and Amway/Quixtar (all of which depend on aggressive recruitment for their growth and with pay plans that indirectly reward recruitment over direct sales of products), were among companies presented as examples of product-based pyramid schemes. These are gradually coming to be recognized as a growing class of white collar crime – i.e., fraud committed by otherwise respectable people. In fact, Utah leads the nation in concentration of "recruiting MLM's" – many headed up by Latter-day Saints!. (Commonly referred to as Mormons). We found the PDF to present a very interesting subject that we have been detecting as a pattern; mormons and Noni and MLM pyramid schemes appear to go hand in hand. The PDF also contains a chapter titled How could well-meaning Latter-day Saints initiate and promote MLM programs that deceive and exploit people?

(1) Because of the powerful networks of association within the priesthood and auxiliary organizations of the
Church and the high level of trust developed within these networks, MLM (a.k.a. "network marketing") is often promoted between members under pressure to build a "downline," to advance inthe hierarchy of participants.

(2) Later-day Saints, with an extraordinarily expansive view of families and of eternity, think big. Our own
scriptures speak of "worlds without number," of eternal families, and of infinite opportunity for eternal progression. So promises that may seem preposterous to others may seem plausible to some Latter-day Saints.

(3) In some ways multi-level endless chain programs resemble the greatest multi-level program in the world – the plan of salvation for families within the framework of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Latter-day Saints, we place great emphasis on our genealogy, eternaly linking our ancestors in an unbroken patriarchal chain – analogous to an upline chain of participants. And our descendants or posterity are analogous to an MLM downline. In fact, MLM promoters often refer to their downline as their "genealogy." Conversely, I have heard family history researchers refer their ancestry as their "upline."

So MLM mirrors the plan of salvation – the one focusing on the salvation of souls, the other on money. One (the
gospel) focuses on eternal truths, while the other (MLM) is dependent on misrepresentations and deceit. One is an infinite program in God's infinite universe, the other an infinite program in a finite market of victims.

More on MLM, here.

My biggest problem with the network marketing model applied to Christian congregations is the blatant hypocrisy it entails. Under the banner of God, we find a welcoming purchasing demographic.

Beware, something like this could be coming to a church near you.