Over 55,000 people paid more than $28 million to a group of companies based in Franklin, Tennessee, for training on how to make huge commissions from telemarketing sales.
The primary name they operated under was The Sales Mentor, but they were also known as the Sales Closer Academy, Inbound Closer, Inbound Closer Accelerator and Sales Pro Academy. They claimed to have helped over 25,000 people earn thousands to tens of thousands of dollars per month and to have a waiting list of companies looking to hire graduates of their programs.
Other claims included:
- “…it’s virtually IMPOSSIBLE NOT to enjoy a job-replacing six-figure income, even part-time.”
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“And if you follow the steps that I’m gonna show you in this video, you’ll have an army of entrepreneurs with multimillion-dollar businesses practically beating down your door…”
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Participants would earn “$700-$1,000 for every single deal that you finalize,” which “often happens in about 45-60 minutes or less.”
The Sales Mentor packages ranged from $97 for access to a video library to more than $9,000 for private coaching.
Federal investigation showed the Tennessee company wasn’t up to snuff
The FTC said the claims weren’t true. In October, 2021, it sent The Sales Mentor two Notices of Penalty Offenses warning that their earnings claims and phony endorsements appeared to violate the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule. When it kept making the claims, the FTC conducted an undercover investigation of the company and then sued it saying that its “pie-in-the-sky promises were false or unsubstantiated.”
The company had no reasonable basis for earnings claims because it never systematically tracked the results of people who paid for its training products. And the waiting list of companies wanting to hire graduates was an outdated list of job openings.
The Sales Mentor has an F record with the BBB. Excerpts of consumer complaints include:
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Their idea of private coaching is horrendous. At the end of the program, they do not help you get a gig like they promised initially when you are being lured to sign up. They kick you out of their group and don’t assist you any further.
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They also led me to believe that they had clients lined up to hire me from their program. This was untrue as well. Their job board was very bare and I ended up competing with hundreds of other people they had signed up.
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I am broke and in debt now and they robbed me of $8,000 and wouldn’t give me a refund and said they would talk to upper management.
Here’s how to learn more about the record of companies
The FTC’s proposed settlement with the company includes a monetary judgment of $16 million, with all but $1 million suspended because the rest is gone.
The FTC and BBB recommend that you do your research before signing up for any business opportunity or training in business development.
Check out the company with the BBB at bbb.org and search online for information about the company with words like “scam” and “complaint.”
Question claims about future riches; promises that you’ll make a huge income and live a life of luxury are strong indications of a scam.
Randy Hutchinson is president & CEO Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Better Business Bureau: Stay alert before signing up for training, jobs