Tag: Harland Stonecipher

An Objective Prepaid Legal Services Review – Is It A Scam Or Should You Join

The History Of Prepaid Legal Services:

Prepaid Legal Services, Inc is a multilevel marketing company that sells legal membership plans. The plans provide for legal service benefits, including unlimited attorney consultation, letter writing, document preparation and review, will preparation, traffic violation defense, automobile-related criminal charges defense and a general trial defense. Basically, they allow customers to have access to legal representation and attornies for a FRACTION of what it would cost outside of the membership.

Founder, Harland Stonecipher, started Prepaid Legal in the early 70s after noticing an enourmous need in the market place. The flagship product is the Life Events Plan and currently there are more than 1.5 million members in North America. A couple of years ago, due to a demand in the market place, the ID Theft Protection feature was added to the membership. The power of Prepaid Legal’s concept is that it sells a very unique service that people from all walks of life can get value from. They really don’t have any real competitors in the traditional business or MLM arena.

Training And Leadership In Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.

Prepaid Legal Services is led by some of the most dynamic and documented leaders in the network marketing industry. Besides founder Harland Stonecipher, the corporate team contains many seasoned MLM veterans like Jeff Olson and co-CEOs Randy Harp and Mark Brown. On top of that, there are many seasoned veterans that sit on the Board of Directors. One example is current Board member, Stephen R. Hague, A 35-year veteran of the insurance industry, Hague has served as Chairman and CEO of several insurance companies. Hague replaced former Board member, John Addison, co-CEO of Primerica, when Addison resigned in 2003.

Prepaid Legal Services, Inc. mainly focuses on building a business using offline building methods like contacting your warm market and handing out company DVDs to sharp people you come across. This DVD-approach has caused a major surge in the company’s recruting numbers across the US and Canada. With that said, they have recently instituted online presentation, lead capture pages and webinars for reps that want to leverage the internet to build their business.

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.?

Prepaid Legal Services, Inc. has many benefits if you are searching for a home based business opportunity. Prepaid Legal leaders are great at teaching and promoting the funadamentals of building a network marketing business. The methods that are taught are simple yet effective, assuming you do not mind contacting people you know. Another attractive feature is, if you are uncomfortable at giving presentations, there are a ton of tools, resources and systems you can use to recruit people into your business. Another huge benefit that might catch your eye if you’re researching Prepaid Legal’s opportunity is that there’s a very generous income opportunity just from selling memberships. In short, the Prepaid Legal opportunity is great for the average person to join and make a profit in their first 30 days.

One disadvantage (if you want to call it that) that Prepaid Legal Services has is the potential for a rep to receive a chargeback. In other words, if a customer cancels their prepaid legal membership within it’s 1st year, the associate willl get a chargeback. Personally, I don’t really see this as a disadvantage because all businesses, traditional or MLM, have some sort of chargeback feature when commission is paid on a customer that cancels, ex. life insurance.

In closing, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc. is an established company that is marketing a service in a groundfloor industry. Besides having a valuable service and a rich comp plan, the fact that customers who have no interest in joining a network marketing business will still buy and hold onto the membership is a huge benefit you need to look at if you’re interested in building a customer base that’ll pay you on-going residual incoem for years to come.

Prepaid Legal & Blastoff Networkboom Or Bust

A Match Made In Heaven?

Why would a 38 year old NYSE company like Prepaid Legal Services, Inc hook up with a brand new internet start-up company like the Blastoff Network, the internet equivalent to a Home Shopping Network?

An Overview Of The Leading PrePaid Legal Services Provider

The inspiration behind the founding of this 38 year old NYSE company known as PrePaid Legal Services, Inc was a car wreck involving Harland Stonecipher back in 1969. While the other driver was determined to be the cause of the accident, she none-the-less initiated a frivalous lawsuit against Stonecipher that cost him thousands in self-defense legal fees.

Mr Stonecipher had car insurance and health insurance which covered all related expenses but the legal fees to defend himself from a baseless lawsuit which he ultimately won, were all put-of-pocket expenses for Stonecipher and left him nearly broke and searching for some type of legal coverage that would have minimized those expenses as well.

With no existing providers of legal expense coverage, Stonecipher decided he would start his own company that would provide individuals with an insurance-like product that would help individuals with some reimbursing of designated legal expense costs. Today, Pre-Paid is a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and advertises 1.5 million members all owners of Pre-Paids legal expense and/or identity theft plan making Pre-Paid the undisputed leader in the legal services industry!

So what is it that would inspire a unique and largely successful company like Pre-Paid Legal to combine forces with an internet startup like the BlastOff Network?

The Answer May Lie In Blastoff And Its Marketing Strategy

The idea for the Blastoff Network came from William Rodgers, Scott Berman and Adam Smith whose combined vision it is to provide Blastoff members with a cash-back online shopping experience involving over four hundred internet merchants like iTunes, Macy, Southwest Airlines, Best-Buy and hundreds more. Blastoff members can build a network by inviting people to join them in the Blastoff experience where they too can share in savings and cash rebates from shopping online.

According to Harland Stonecipher, CEO/Chairman of the Board/President/Director of Pre-Paid Legal, “When you combine the rewards-based, ‘viral’ nature of the Blastoff platform with the large, well-developed and powerful direct selling organization of Pre-Paid Legal Services, it’s a combination that offers incredible potential.”

The partnership of Prepaid Legal and the Blastoff Network provides Prepaid with a link on the Blastoff homepage advertising Prepaids legal expense plan membership where anyone can sign up to become a member and owner of a Prepaid Legal membership plan.

How Much Does Prepaid Legal Stand To Gain?

That being the case, it’s not hard to understand why Pre-Paid Legal has struck an

million member mark? We’ll see! After all, it is all about exposure! Whoever can deliver their product to greatest number of consumers at the least cost wins! And Pre-Paid just might be a big winner in this game but only if its sales force is motivated enough to push existing sales way beyond where they are now, namely the 1.5 million member mark! Time will tell!

Show Me The Money!

I guess what all the associates with PrePaid need to be asking is whether or not they will be able to create an income stream from Blastoff without any significant effort or involvement on their part?

The real money will be made by savvy Prepaid Legal representatives who take advantage of the Blastoff website to drive traffic to it with the idea of exposing someone new to the PPL membership link and then following up with them to get them signed up as a new member. As always, the fortune is still in the followup!

Network Marketers Are Already Best At Viral Marketing

The Network Marketing profession has always be one of hype and exaggeration my opinion. Not that hype and exaggeration are not present in other industries or businesses but they seem to be a staple in MLM. Sorting thru the hype and having some real down-to-earth expectations of the effects of viral marketing will go a long ways towards producing solid and lasting results with Prepaid Legal and the Blastoff Network.

Check out my most recent piece on viral marketing, Viral Marketing Puts MLM On Autopilot! to learn more about how Attraction Marketing and Social Media can add value to your marketing strategies, click on the link at the bottom.