I know – when I first came across Commission Cartel, that word – ‘cartel’ – caught my attention. I mean it doesn’t give a positive connotation, does it?

But that’s the very purpose of the creators of such online marketing products – they want us to give their products a second look … and thought.

This, in fact, represents some of the antics of Michael Cheney – the creator of Commission Cartel. As I was researching this product, I found that he has another called the Commission Machine (which I will not cover in this post).

Commission Cartel – The Product

Commission Cartel is promoted as a system that can facilitate your efforts to make money online without a list, a website or knowledge on online marketing. It is a system that even a newbie can get into and make as much as $500 in 30 days … so it claims in the sales page (see below).

I know, by now you’re scratching your head – make money online without a list nor website and little to next to nothing knowledge on marketing? Yep, what you’re thinking … my thoughts exactly …

And note that Cheney is saying you can make $500 within a month using his method. I can’t say that’s impossible because I know of people making money in less than a month of being online.

But this involved sheer determination and hard work and certainly not everyone doing an online business see success within the first month.

As I went through the training, other issues begin to unravel …

How to Effectively Promote a Product? Many Marketers Are Doing It Wrong?

One of the key things I gathered from Commission Cartel is that you don’t reveal everything about a product you want to promote.

Cheney explained that in marketing any product, you must create an element of suspense so as to entice the prospect into finding out more from you and ultimately becoming your buyers.

In promoting your offers, you can talk about why your prospect may need the product, what the product is about but not detailing on how the product actually works.

In my view, Cheney applies what he preaches in his sales pitch for Commission Cartel. Just look at the extract from his sales page above.

He’s telling readers that we need his product because it is the ONE that will propel us forward in the effort to make money online. He’s tugging at the failures that we might have had despite our best efforts and monetary investments in trying to make a steady income.

He’s telling us what the product is – that Commission Cartel is a system. He’s saying why one would need the product and went on about its benefits to those who are still struggling online.

But did he divulge on how the product actually works? No! He left you hanging on how the product works and how it would fit into your online business strategy.

Going Down to the Core of Commission Cartel

Cheney claims the core training (shown in my members area below) will help newbies in making their first $500 online – within 30 days.

The ‘core training’ is made available as the first level offer. And yes, you’re right – there are upsells.

If you notice, there are the ‘Godfather’ and ‘Weapons’ options in the top bar of the members area. These do not come with the basic product, which I got for $10. I came to know that the basic product is now selling at $17.

Discalimer : I have to be honest, I can’t tell you about the upsell products because I didn’t get them.

Cheney’s Commission Cartel is no different than other products that I’ve reviewed in terms of including an element of rarity and urgency. Specifically, these products are usually sold cheaper but would increase in price at actual launch.

Actual Trick

As I progress into the training, it turned out that the core strategy that Cheney claims made him thousands a day online is to create a funnel in your marketing strategy.

What this involves is to offer a front-end product and then an upsell with a bonus. Cheney assures that the best is to create your own bonus. Again, the same strategy that he’s doing with Commission Cartel.

As he recommends this strategy, he provides some sample emails that can be modified to suit your needs (under the Copy & Paste Promos in the training).

Traffic Source

No matter what you are promoting, you still need traffic to get your offers noticed. The traffic source taught in Commission Cartel is via Facebook – using the free method.

Like some marketers I talked about in my previous post, Cheney suggests joining FB groups related to your niche and from there, befriending people whom you think would be interested in your offers.

Unlike what some would recommend, Cheney is against posting your offers in the FB groups per se. Rather, he recommends that you post in your own timeline and get people to PM you for details on your offers.

I personally would not agree to this unless I’m already an established authority in my niche. I can’t imagine my timeline filled with sales pitches.

My Final Take

The Good

• In the training, Cheney suggests that before you start your promotion, it’s best that you buy and try the products yourself. I fully agree with him on this because I think a sales pitch comes out best when you are talking from experience. What you say comes out genuine and that would build trust amongst your potential customers.However, it can’t apply to everything that you are promoting. For instance, if you are promoting bulky physical products like a treadmill, you can’t afford to buy each and every treadmill that you promote, right?The bottomline is that trying out the products yourself will help with the objective in gaining trust and ultimately authority in your niche … by being genuine.
• The training discussed quite a bit on ways to select JV Zoo products that potentially have higher chance of getting sales. This includes interpreting the stats that you see in the JV Zoo members area like Conversion, EPC and refund. For instance, Cheney suggests to go for products with EPC of above $1.However, the discussion is limited to choosing products only in the JV Zoo platform.
  

• I understand that to some, Cheney’s assurance that you can make $500 in your first month online could be ambitious. The good thing, however, is that if you don’t make that $500, then you can always ask him for a refund, with the 30-day money back guarantee.

The Bad

• One of the first that irritates me about this product is the video in ‘Step 1’ – It’s actually a sales pitch for a $1,997 product by another marketer, Dean Holland.
  
  I did my due diligence and found a really disgruntled buyer of this product. I wanted to know what the video was and to think that I spent almost an hour only to be told of a high-ticket product I’m not interested in. Real turn-off!

• Training content for instance creating element of rarity and urgency in your offers and marketing in FB is nothing new.

• The training is divided into different sections with mafia-related terms (as shown in the members area above), that include :
  – Core training (a long video of more than 1 hour)
  – The Dossier
  – MP3 Audio
  – Step-by-step BlueprintHonestly, they are redundant as the content of these four sections overlap each other – talking about the same issues covered in the core training video.

• The course recommended marketers to provide bonus in their product promotion. What I find contradictory is that while he says the Commission Cartel system is suitable for newbies, I’m thinking how is a newbie going to offer a bonus, let alone create his own? Learning to market online can, in itself, be a challenging feat, without learning to create a bonus offer.

Last but not least, I thought this product is about making money online without a list or website. But by suggesting a funnel as marketing strategy, you are attempting to create a list. Additionally – is it enough to keep on pointing people to your affiliate sales page without having a website of your own.

To me, having your own website is a means to allow others to get to know you better – how genuine you are as a marketer, as a business owner.

I can’t say that it is impossible for a newbie to make some sales in 30 days but from experience, that requires considerable effort.

People like Mike Cheney will produce product after product that claim to help people to make money online. While we can’t vouch on the core, genuine interest of such marketers (other than making money for themselves), I see the launch of such products as an opportunity – it enables people like me (who trawl the Internet seeking truly useful products) a chance to provide value to others looking for legitimate ways to make money online.