Don’t worry. This isn’t one of those advertisements disguised as a review where all I say is “of course it’s not a scam… now here’s my affiliate link”.
It’s been awhile since I have reviewed a new program like this. Since I have been seeing ads for The Streamline Funnel System popping up everywhere I thought I would spend some time today checking it out. Afterall, I love “funnel systems” so maybe it was something worth joining.
I should probably point out that The Streamline Funnel System is currently in “pre-launch” until July 1st so there is pretty limited information as to how everything is going to work. Still, that hasn’t stopped hundreds of marketers from promoting it all over the Internet as the “next big thing”.
Since the site is still in pre-launch there isn’t much info on the homepage. Basically just a nice design by cheapminisites.com and a video from The Streamline Funnel System creator Paul Birdsall.
Inside the site there are a few videos explaining how the program is going to work and some advertising materials that you can use to recruit new members. Oh, there’s is also a message that says “during pre-launch it’s crucial you personally sponsor people”. No explanation why though.
Here’s what I have been able to gather about the way the program works. Basically, Paul Birdsall has been hard at work for the last 14 months developing the latest Web 3.0 software that harvests double opt-in leads from the Internet. For only $9.95/month you can send your ads to 10,000 of these exclusive leads every month. Wow!
Ok, let’s break it down. First, can someone please explain what exactly “Web 3.0” is? I mean, we all know that “Web 2.0” was a huge buzz word a few years ago when social networking sites started taking off… but what the heck is “Web 3.0”? I assume if I don’t understand it then it must be something pretty awesome. Right?
Paul claims his software harvests double opt-in leads. Does everybody understand what “double opt-in” means? These are leads that have specifially given you permission to email them. First they say “Please email me”, then you say “are you sure?”, and they say “yes, I am positive”. These are some of the best leads you can get. Spending $1 to get one of these leads on your list is generally considered to be pretty good. 10,000 of these leads for $9.95 is extraordinary! I have to admit though, something about using the word “harvest” makes me think these aren’t exactly double opt-in leads.
I should also point out that the leads you get from The Streamline Funnel System are “exclusive” leads. That means every member will get 10,000 different leads. Sweet! But wait, maybe we should do some math first…
According to my user id about 5,000 people have joined The Streamline Funnel System so far. It’s safe to say that by the way people are promoting this thing there will be at least another 1,000 people by the time they launch next week. That’s 6,000 members. Obviously not all 6,000 people are going to pay the $9.95 on launch day but lets say they did. 6,000 members x 10,000 = 60,000,000 exclusive double opt-in leads. 60 million! That’s twice the population of Canada!
Obviously that is a lot of leads but Paul isn’t really clear about what you can do with these leads. You see the way the “income opportunity” part of The Streamline Funnel System works is that when someone you refer to the site orders additional leads you earn a commission. They aren’t saying how much these extra leads cost but since your commission on an additional 10,000 leads is $50 I am assuming it costs a bit more than that. They seem to imply that your 10,000 leads will be used to automatically recruit new members to your Streamline Funnel System site. When the leads sign-up and buy the additional leads you make free money.
I can understand why people would be willing to pay $9.95/month to try this but who’s is going to pay hundreds of dollars on extra lead packages without testing it out the first 10,000 leads? I suppose if you get enough sign-ups it’s possible a few will try extra lead packages eventually but the videos talk about earning thousands of dollars a month and “all you have to do is join and push a button”.
I should mention that I also did a little research on Paul Birdsall who is the creator of The Streamline Funnel System and found some interesting information. I don’t want to personally smear the guy on my blog but I did find information about quite a few other programs that he has run in the past which are obviously not making anybody any money today. Anybody who is interested in joining The Streamline Funnel System should probably go to google and do a search for Paul Birdsall to get a better understanding of what they are getting into.
That’s about it. So is The Streamline Funnel System a scam? Since the site is still in pre-launch and I haven’t personally shelled out the money to try it I guess I can’t say for sure. I will say that if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck… it’s probably a duck.