Following an information search on Google some time ago I now regularly get emails from Chris Cardell offering me free CD's etc. I just wondered if anyone from 4N had come across him or had taken him up on the offer?

Chris Cardell regularly runs a promotion offering you a free 3 month trial of his VIP Circle and free 6 CD set. The catch is you must pay £4.99 for the P&P. It's still a good deal, and I tried it out last year.

Some of the advice you get from Chris Cardell is very good, some is just common sense. I found alot of repetition in the literature I received which is why I cancelled my subscription after the trial period.

Some of the CDs you receive are also very good - including interviews with Jay Conrad Levinson etc, but again you'll find alot of repetition.

I'd recommend taking up one of the trials to see what you think - for £4.99 you can't go wrong!

Mark

Chris puts things across very well, a lot of it is pretty obvious but as its put across so well you may gain from that too.

As Mark says you can get the above offer, then i think its a monthly payment unless you cancel it, so just make sure you take the right decision.

He knows what hes talking about for sure with marketing, but then so do I .

Ive listened in to a couple of his free webinars and they were ok, basic with some good thoughts, well presented certainly, and i think that his strength is the way he comes across rather than having amazing extra knowledge or marketing skills.

Mike's bang on the money. Chris has a background in radio and illusion. He then used these skills in business presentations and marketing.

His material is good but, exactly as Mike says, it's normally small tit bits dressed beautifully. I've checked out all his work and although the material becomes meatier the more you pay, the problem is this:

Paying £40/mth for access to a website that he updates once in a blue moon and a monthly teleseminar is expensive. Paying £195 for similar but with higher grade material, a fortnightly call and a twice yearly conference is not much better. And his courses are good but expensive again.

My advice?

If your paying for sales & marketing advice, get a proper expert to look at your exact requirements and get them to guarantee their work. You'll get far more from it and there are loads here on 4N (Gill Bray, Stefan Thomas, Daryl & Paula Hine, Gary Gorman, ...the list of good ones is almost endless. Even me)!

If you want free stuff, get my email (sign up here)

If you want CDs to listen to in the car, go with Chris

Sorry, typo. If you're paying for.....

...and of course add Mike to that list!! (Could be loads of others too, but as he's contributing to the post...)

Sorry Mike, should've name checked you initially!

I like what he sent me on the free emails, but the push push push for the free cd that you only know you have to pay £4.99 P&P for after you've filled in a load of stuff on the website got on my nerves so I unsubscribed.

And on principle, I don't like 'free' stuff costing £4.99.  It's not the money (even I have a spare fiver!) - it's the principle.

Jon,

Many thanks for the name check. Much appreciated.

I can't particularly offer an opinion on Chris Cardell although I know Julian Wellings has subscribed to some of his stuff and will no doubt chip in.

Cheers

Gary

PS.Bit late posting this tonight. I'll post something a bit more insightful tomorrow.

I stumbled on his website a while ago (not sure if I've had the "pleasure" of an email from him, but if I did it would have gone straight in the junk folder) and to be honest was pretty underwhelmed.  Basically the same stuff that was being tossed around when I was studying GCSE Business, and just a dressing up of general info you can find on any half-assed business or marketing blog.  Important, yes - insightful and unique enough to pay cash money for?  Not in my opinion.

Personally I prefer my advice - whether marketing or any other area of business - to be rough, raw, and actually useful.

Yep I ordered the CD set for £4.95 p&p and 2 month free trial. I assumed I'd get a request at the end of the 2 months asking me to confirm if I wanted to continue with recurring monthly billing. I was wrong. I'd unwittingly signed up for monthly billing when I provided my credit card for the £4.95 p&p.
In month 3 a £48 charge appeared on my card which I challenged and they kindly refunded.
On checking the small print afterwards I noticed that they had mentioned recurring billing would kick in if not cancelled. It wasn't that obvious though.
In terms of the advice, it is broad brush and as someone mentions above, probably better to get bespoke advice pertinent to you own situation.

As with anything to do with sales and marketing training the best way to get true value for money is to really identify what skill or behaviour you are trying to improve on.

I often get asked to put people on my sales training workshops but because I (like Jon) offer a full 'no quibble' money back guarantee I go out of my way to make sure a training course is the right solution for both the business and the individual before taking the booking.This approach can seem risky (particularly when cashflow is an issue) but I'd rather truly solve a problem for a client so they use me again than just take the money and leave them ultimately back in the same situation.

Often a training workshop is the right solution but sometimes a more one-to-one business coaching/mentoring approach is more effective at changing and improving long term performance.It is time well spent to sit down with an expert (and Jon mentions several here) and really get down to the nub of the issue in order to avoid wasting time and money later on.

Relating this back to the Chris Cardell programme or indeed any other development programme I'd recommend only investing if it will genuinly addresses your specific circumstances.If not go the bespoke route everytime and get, not necessarily the cheapest solution, but the one that delivers the 'bigger bang for your buck' and your business.

Regards

Gary

Thanks everyone, good stuff. I have to say that every email I get tells me what I already new but as some of you say he packages it up.

Hi

I'm signed up to the monthly £40 membership and must admit I've found it really useful.  The inital CD box set was great.  A lot of it I have heard before in some guise but Chris puts it in such a way that I feel as if I can take action on the knowledge. 

They are a nightmare to get hold of though with any queries!

Claire

However, most people are too busy. They need someone who will follow up on the information & make them implement it. If you spent £1000 on training and never did anything that would be a waste. If you spend £5000 on training and got £10,000 worth of return, that would be an investment.