Doing My head in!!!!

[ashproperties]

Hi. I found this whilst searching for something else, but was intrigued at the comments... I'm speaking as a Team Leader for the Utility Warehouse (UW) and I'd like to clarify some points made in this thread. Apologies in advance if I go on a bit!

Firstly, UW pay an extra 2p per kW/h on top of the standard rate, so the customer benefits from that - approx £45 a year for an average household - guaranteed for 3 years.

As businessmen, as part of your normal sales pitch for solar panels, if you introduce the customer to the UW not only would you get a one-off bonus of say £20 for introducing them (this is an average, depending on the services they take on) you would get approximately 3% of their monthly utility spend (compare this with how much you pay each month for your own gas, electric, phone, broadband) - and you get this month after month, year after year. More importantly, as they will be FIT customers, you also would get 2.3% of the value of the electricity they generate - month after month, year after year, if they take on 4 services. Think of how many customers you can introduce, and it becomes a reason stream of regular income.

An example of 4 services is Gas, Electric, Phone and Broadband - stuff that almost every household uses. As an example of value, the phone and broadband (i.e. BroadCall) the standard service is 19.99 per month that's the UK's cheapest home phone and broadband bundle. UW also provide the UK's cheapest mobiles. for instance my own phone costs £10 per month sim-only for 500 minutes and unlimited texts...

So, if the customer gets 4 services (as above), they also get 10% extra discount on their energy - equivalent to more than a month's worth of free energy. With 4 services, they get free landline phone calls all day, evening and weekend. And with a Cashback Card, they can save 3% off their food and petrol, and savings of up to 7% from other retailers. And there are other ways of saving money off their bills...

Overall, not only is it a great deal for the customer, it is a great source of residual income for the person who introduces them... Being a UW distributor is not about pyramid selling. You provide a service for the customer saving them money on products that everyone uses. You do not need to 'build a pyramid' of people underneath you to earn some extra income, simply introducing customers on a regular basis will generate cash - profit straight to the bottom line for your business. So, if some of the people who you introduce as customers are interested in becoming distributors (and some will) then that is another matter, and where the income can start to grow - but its not vital!

In terms of the comments from the OP, I must admit, I'm not keen myself on spamming anyone with emails offering services like this - we all tend to just put them straight into the junk folder, and get hot around the collar in the process. I operate my business generally through contacts I make in the course of my work as landlord, property developer and through my IT business. I mention the service, the savings and the benefits. No hard sell. If they are interested in saving money, they generally sign up. Not just residential customers, but also business customers too (but different terms for businesses).

Its just another income stream to augment my other businesses. And who would not benefit from that.

You do need to be an authorised distributor to introduce customers, and with free ongoing training, great support, and a chance to build a decent residual income over 3-5 years time, that's why I'm doing it.

Hope that clarifies a little.

Let me know if you need more information.

Regards
Andy H

 

[SRE]

Being a UW distributor is not about pyramid selling. You provide a service for the customer saving them money on products that everyone uses. You do not need to 'build a pyramid' of people underneath you to earn some extra income, simply introducing customers on a regular basis will generate cash - profit straight to the bottom line for your business. So, if some of the people who you introduce as customers are interested in becoming distributors (and some will) then that is another matter, and where the income can start to grow - but its not vital!

You do need to be an authorised distributor to introduce customers, and with free ongoing training, great support, and a chance to build a decent residual income over 3-5 years time, that's why I'm doing it.

Hope that clarifies a little.

Let me know if you need more information.

Regards
Andy H

Sorry Andy I must be having a bad week :-( I can't see how what you're talking about isn't pyramid selling - or to put it in today's terms - multi level marketing. I was involved in exactly this type of business for a few years with different products and I can't really see how UW is any different - here's Wiki's description ...

Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation.[SUP][1][/SUP] Other terms for MLM include network marketing,[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP] pyramid selling,[SUP][5][/SUP][SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][7][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP][SUP][9][/SUP] and referral marketing.[SUP][10][/SUP]
Most commonly, the salespeople are expected to sell products directly to consumers by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing.[SUP][1][/SUP] Some people use "direct selling" as a name for MLM, although MLM is only one type of direct selling, which started centuries ago with peddling.[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP]
MLM companies have been a frequent subject of criticism as well as the target of lawsuits. Criticism has focused on their similarity to illegal pyramid schemes, price-fixing of products, high initial start-up costs, emphasis on recruitment of lower-tiered salespeople over actual sales, encouraging if not requiring salespeople to purchase and use the company's products, potential exploitation of personal relationships which are used as new sales and recruiting targets, complex and sometimes exaggerated compensation schemes, and cult-like techniques which some groups use to enhance their members' enthusiasm and devotion.[SUP][10][12][/SUP]


you make money from us selling products to our customers, your line manager takes his/her cut from your cumulative sales, their area/regional/national manager takes their cut from your line managers turnover - all creating - a pyramid. Have I lost the plot?

 

[Markc]

I've been contacted twice now about this and god help the third one!

Its got scam written all over it from what I've seen and I will be buggered if I lower my high sales standards to try and push this to a customer. I would be embarrassed to do so. If its that good it should be advertised nationally and not pushed through the back door.

 

[digital48]

Hi. I found this whilst searching for something else, but was intrigued at the comments...

From reading around quite a few forums (fora?) this seems to happen quite a lot... someone with connections to Utility Warehouse 'stumbles' across a negative posting and attempts to explain it all away. If it runs true to form, several other interested members of their community will be along shortly.

 

[Worcester]

Utility Warehouse does have an MLM or whatever you want to call it business model, (I am not a UW distributor just in case you're wondering) though a distributor can make a reasonable secondary income just from a customer base.

UW is now so large an energy provider, they were made a compulsory provider of FITS last time round as opposed to a voluntary provider.

Despite the potential for American Style ra-ra events, when bundled and when you have lazy buyers, they are an acceptable offering, of course because of their size all their selling tactics are quite heavily regulated, that of course doesn't mean that you don't get a few crazies out there!

Also MLM companies prosper whenever the economy goes into decline as people look for other sources of income, so that does tend to attract the crazies sometimes.

UW is one of the better MLM companies and for some people the products stack up. Get a savvy buyer and they will allways get a better deal for the components elsewhere. As I said though there are a lot of lazy buyers that like the idea of all on one bill... (bless..)

Does it make a sensible offering alongside what else we're doing?

Perhaps not if you are an electrician, however if you were previuosly selling double glazing or conservatories and now selling Solar PV, perhaps it makes sense once you've got them sat down with a pen in hand (anyone elso noticed how many of their installs have a conservatory already or is it just my clients? !)

If you think the offering is sound, then it could work 2 ways for you, the UW distributor refers his clients to you, and you refer your clients to them. You of course get to choose which UW distributor you want to work with!

As for the pyramid thing, heh that's life. Customer - Installer - Whoesaler - Importer - Manufacturer, they all make a cut out of what you sell. It's just that you get to see them all on a regular basis !!!

 

[Neilga]

Telecom plus plc the FTSE 250 listed parent company promote the Utility Warehouse business through a network marketing business model. The majority of the income of a successful distributor comes from the network of distributors who join their team – income is not dependent on the number of club members an individual distributor gathers but the number their team gather.
Now I’ve no doubt that some ignorant people will start squawking about ‘pyramid selling’ – well first of all pyramid selling is illegal and a company engaged in it would not be in the FTSE 250, would not have been voted PLC of the year by the Financial Times and would not be recommended in Which magazine as best in class for all the services it provides.
All company sales organisations work on a commission basis – in a car dealership when a front line salesman sells a car, his manager, area manager and regional manager all get a commission but that’s not called ‘pyramid selling’.
Network Marketing is a legitimate business model and is used by a surprising number of well known and highly respected companies because it massively cuts overheads allowing prices to be kept as low as possible.
Utility Warehouse distributors are not allowed to advertise on radio, TV or any other national media. All internet advertising by distributors is also under close scrutiny.
Finally, the main point – Utility Warehouse is not in the business of selling gas and electricity – they operate a Discount Club whereby members (not customers) can achieve discounts in various ways against their utilities bill, (gas, electric, broadband, phones – and hopefully soon tv & water). They also have various guarantees about being the cheapest utility supplier. There are several members who now receive a zero bill or actually have money paid into their account. If you don’t have to pay anything for your utilities why would you switch? On average members are having around £30 per month discounted from their already competitive bills.
With reference to 'solarsavings' recent attachment, as of the 15[SUP]th[/SUP] January 2012 the bonus rules will change, all you will need to do to receive the bonus is sign up 3 customers in 90 days and you will receive £100 on top of the regular income.

 

[JD6400]

Touchy touchy , call me ignorant but if looks like chicken , smells like chicken even tastes like chicken then my money is on it being ?:hurray:

 

[moggy1968]

I looked at it in some detail and there's no denying it works for some people, but it's not for everyone. I thought it would dovetail well with my solar business but in the end I didn't do anything with it.

 

[SRE]

Neilga - latest UW disciple ;-)