How To Spot a B.S. Guru.

Hi,

Here is The Real Estate B.S. Artist Detection Checklist (full text at the link below)
With minor corrections this list applies to the marketing, business, advertising, PR etc. BS artists.

I think that everyone should read this document and print it out.

Simon

Special thanks to Adam Katz for bringing my attention to the author - John Reed.

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1. Emphasis on luxurious lifestyle.

2. Subjective self description.

3. No pitfalls or corrections.

4. No bad news.

5. Universally-applicable techniques.

6. Emphasis on motivational material.

7. Claim to do lots of deals.

10. Emphasis on no-down, low-down techniques.

11. Blank paper and/or filler. B.S. artists’ books contain much blank space resulting from double-spacing, huge margins, extraordinary numbers of blank pages, large type, and so forth.

12. Gorgeous packages.

13. No indexes.

14. No acknowledgments. Here is an item which is virtually effortless, but the B.S. artists still leave it out. It is traditional, gracious, and appropriate to thank the people who have contributed indirectly to your book in an acknowledgment section in the front.

15. No bibliography.

16. High prices.

17. Bundling a book with cassettes. Books are good. So are cassettes. ...But there is no legitimate reason to force people to buy both by only selling your product in book-and-cassette form.

18. Too-good-to-be-true testimonials.

20. Use of the following words.
· perfect offer
· confidential
· sure-fire
· removes doubts
· secret (if it ever was a secret, it stopped being one when he sold the first copy)
· cinch
· always
· lazy way
· anyone can make a killing
· removes risk
· easy money
· easily determine market value
· air-tight
· take the fear out
· risk-free
· judgment proof
· insider
· painless
· fool-proof
· safe
· win/win
· removes guesswork
· easy
· magic
· bulletproof
· gold mine
· complete
· This is not a get-rich-quick scheme
· automatic

21. Testimonials with incomplete names.

22. Prohibition against recording at free seminars.

23. Repeated efforts to sell you more and more expensive products and services.

24. Focusing entirely on the acquisition phase

25. No profit formula.

27. Novel phraseology.

28. Talking like a politician.

29. Inaccurate book titles.

30. Focus on the beginner market.

31. Denounce those who disagree with them as “negative thinkers.”

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The Real Estate B.S. Artist Detection Checklist