Scott@KarmaContent said:
On the subject of MLM, has anyone had any dealings with the Cobra Group? If you've ever seen the charity 'chuggers' that apprehend you on the street or the people knocking at your door asking you to sign up, they are probably something to do with the Cobra Group (or one of their many, many aliases).
Several years ago I was unemployed, skint and answered an ad in the paper asking for sales and marketing professionals on a £500 pw basic + commission. I travelled to Preston from Fleetwood where I lived at the time and walked into the weirdest company I'd ever known. You were immediately took into a room with a load of other people and talked at like you were part of some cult, selling you the idea of how we were all going to be millionaires if we stuck with them and didn't listen to the 'neg heads'. I walked out when they started doing all this American chanting and yeehah! kind of stuff and dancing around to pumping dance music ready to go out trying to sign people up for Talk Talk, Sky and various charities on the streets of Preston. Not my cup of tea.
I did quite a lot of research into them after this as the whole thing fascinated me, mainly because the people involved in the Cobra Group looked dead behind the eyes and talked in a really odd way like they'd been brainwashed.
It is MLM at its worst, with most people earning less than the minimum wage (because they are self employed) even though they are doing 15 hour days. They all stick at it because they are sold on the idea of becoming a team leader and then building their own team and eventually their own business within the Cobra Group. As annoying as those young students are who do the chugging, they're total victims themselves only they just don't realise it yet.
More info here:
https://zainabusman.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/how-i-fell-victim-to-a-recruitment-scam-in-the-uk/
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2010/08/cobra-group-makes-a-mint-while.html
http://appcogroup-cobragroup.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/appco-group-also-known-as-cobra-group.html
Anyone else had any experience of them? They go by a multitude of names.
Hahaha yes, many years ago I had been involved with Cobra.
In fact, I still stay somewhat in touch with one of the local "owners" (not the actual cobra owners but if you did cobra you know what an owner is
). My friend had a very successful office and several people over the period of a few years progressed and had their own office under him too. He is an excellent salesman and team builder.
Political issues arose, and he soon realised he would be better off on his own. Now he has a "boiler room" type setup selling phone contracts, doing very well, to the tune of 7 digits.
I personally did pretty well with cobra, converting people from one G+E provider to another. I progressed up to assistant owner in my office, and then politics got in the way and I left them to pursue other ventures.
It was a great learning experience.
PS - when I say politics, I mean sneaky behind the back type BS and scheming, underhanded nepitism and general shadiness. I hate politics!