(Top Concerns) A Review of Inbound Closer
Today, I’m going to cover a hot topic: Inbound Closer, a program dedicated to helping you along on your sales journey, giving you tips and tricks to make you a better closer.
The program promises to teach you a skill that is in high demand, putting you “dead-center in a thriving, $129 billion-dollar industry that will stuff your pockets with daily commission checks.”
That’s a lofty claim, and a lot of companies have gotten in trouble for promising very similar things.
Is it legitimate?
In this article from IBuyIReview, I dive into the nitty gritty of the Inbound Closer program with the intention of proving if it’s a scam or legitimate company.
Last but not least, I’ll also offer some tips on how to get the most out of your work from home life as well, helping you go that extra mile to quit your 9-5 and earn a sustainable income at all just like I did.
Table of Contents
What Is Inbound Closer? - A Job Report for a Closer
Inbound Closer is a program dedicated to helping you become a prolific freelance salesman earning commissions for businesses in any niche. On the front page of the program, it hooks you in by showing you “how 1,621 people replaced their 9-5 income in as little as 21 days” “using nothing but a phone and a 6-page PDF.”
Apparently, the bar to entry is lower than a laptop and an internet connection.
You’ll learn how you can create a sales funnel which turns more leads into customers for your boss, earning you large, eye-widening commissions.
First, the course claims to help you earn your first paycheck in less than a week and get you to earning nearly a thousand dollars in commissions per day or more. (1) Not many of us are motivated by sales commissions anymore, but for a select few, it’s how they make their livelihood – and those are the people Payton Welch is using as an example in his ads.
Anything that claims to help you quit your normal workplace in under a month based on something as uncertain as sales commissions has my suspicions raised already, but I’ll try to set aside the uncertainty as we go through this review.
Something I do not enjoy at the start is how much this course landing page looks like a funnel. They aren’t even ranking in the top few results for their own name, you have to get here through an ad. When I get there, I wouldn’t even guess what the course was about if the tab didn’t say “The SalesMentor.”
Inbound Closer is a program that will teach you how to become a high ticket phone salesperson and make large commissions.
Now, this program sounds as if it really could work. Inbound sales is a valid business model that a lot of individuals could use to supplement their income.
The problem I have with what they are promoting in the ad has nothing to do with the business model, it’s the lofty claims that they are saying that should not have even been accepted as an ad in the first place.
Google has taken down ads for promising too much that barely scratched the surface of what they are promising, so I don’t understand how this was approved, and I worry that people will put too much faith in the program before they even try it out.
Who is Behind the Training?
There are two people behind the training. The duo are brothers, Payton Welch and Taylor Welch. Inside the training, Taylor wholly claims ownership of the Inbound Closer sales course, while Payton is often seen promoting the program in video ads.
In the program, Taylor states that, outside of Inbound Closer, he owns a $21-million company that helps businesses generate revenue through inbound closing, and that he can provide connections to these companies in need of an inbound closer for students who follow his advice. Keep in mind that this inbound closing is the skillset he is teaching in this course.
That’s a no-brainer; he will both teach you the skillset and provide you with the leads?
It sounds too good to be true.
Payton Welch seems to be just the promoter of the course, but I wouldn’t doubt that he has some equity stake in the program as well for his efforts. Or he could really be living the example of the course and taking a commission for each student closed, but in my experience, that’s rarely the case, especially with a sibling duo.
Payton and Taylor both take turns talking inside the training, teaching you how to be an inbound salesperson. They both have experience in it and claim specific numbers without real proof behind it. To me, the money numbers claimed seem too high to be possible for one person alone, so I suspect they jointly own this other company as well.
They suggest that the training is perfect for everyone looking to quit their 9 to 5 job, but I’m not convinced. If you’re introverted and not confident in your inbound closer sales ability, you will definitely struggle more than the extrovert with a natural talent for sales.
Yes, anyone can share and learn sales as a skill, so while it might not be right way for everyone to make money, I can’t say it’s impossible.
Top Concerns About Inbound Closer
A lot of my concerns in this review are about how they market their course in misleading ways. First, they position the course as a definite, sure thing in a very short timeline, then they tell you that you can make enough money to quit your job in 21 days without even considering no-shows as a commission loss factor in your sales, which would put most people under their minimum-wage paycheck.
Then, they throw out huge numbers, saying something about being able to make an “easy and fast” $30k/mo.
No, no, no. That’s not how that works in real life unless you are exceptionally good. I mean, within the top 1% of salespeople kind of good.
Most people are put off by blatant salespeople as well, and I understand that you need some tolerance for this going into telemarketing, but these two are undoubtedly salespeople, and I find it difficult to get past that feeling of “are you actually telling me the truth?”
Not to mention that they use a product as an example in the training that is nearly $10,000, which is also atypical. Most people will be offering items that are maybe $2k, potentially up to $4k.
Inbound Closer Review
In this section, I’ll go in-depth into what the Inbound Closer course offers and how you can put it to use.
Essentially, the course is a small training program that gives you access to a pool of students and the occasional job opportunity posted through Taylor’s job connection alerts. The training has some good nuggets of information for those who are new to inbound sales.
Outside of the microcosm of the training course, however, you are equipped to go out and find your own clients and become an inbound salesperson for them. Keep in mind, however, that there is extra calculations you need to do before you start relying on your commission checks:
- Never forget about refunds, chargebacks, and no-shows
- Adjust your commission rate to fit what you need
- Always learn about the product and the minimum price of the product before agreeing to a job.
Take these things into consideration before accepting your first job, and you’re off to a good foot in the new sales journey.
What You Get for the Price
In the Inbound Closer course, you gain access to a few different tools to put into your sales belt:
- Commission Blueprint
This is a mini-course that contains two short modules going over everything you need to earn your first commission “in less than a week.”
Don’t be dismayed if this doesn’t happen. Sales is a tough industry to get into, and if you could learn how to get a customer within a week just off of two modules, then everyone would be doing it.
- Post-Call Assessments
Need a little critique? If things aren’t going smoothly, a team of closers Taylor has chosen will analyze your calls behind the scenes to help you smooth out any wrinkles in your phone pitch and help you start closing sales faster.
- Access to Online Entrepreneur Network
This is Taylor’s advertised network of high-ticket, cash-rich business owners who are actively seeking an inbound closer for their products and services. Taylor will send out a notification when a new job arises but be sure to jump on the opportunity quickly before other students do.
- Inbound Closer Mastermind Group Access
As with many other courses, Inbound Closer has an exclusive group where you can meet up with other students and talk about the course, discuss new methods of closing and learn from others.
- Inbound Closer Accelerator
If you are familiar with accelerators, then you are aware that they are meant to turbocharge businesses into success through funding rounds and business assessments. Taylor’s accelerator is the base 21-day course that is meant to help you learn how to become an inbound closer.
How Much Does the Program Cost?
The course costs a whopping $97.
Right, it’s not that much if you’re already earning a lot of money. Some people may struggle with it if the money is already spoken for, but it’s not enough to break the $100 barrier.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the magic of marketing.
The course is just expensive enough to give it a better reputation, but not expensive enough to put it too far out of reach for most people.
Payton and Taylor even have a page on their site for a 100% money back guarantee.
I haven’t tried to get my money back from this site, but I have also not seen any complaints online about people not being able to get their money back.
If I had to wager a guess, they assume a certain amount of loss for refunds to save their PR, versus fighting each one and getting blasted online.
Overall, if you know a lot of sales already, this course might not be the right choice for you because there are a lot of techniques that inbound salespeople will already know.
If you are looking to learn about inbound sales without any prior experience, or limited experience, the course will have nuggets of information that might prove valuable.
Is Inbound Closer a Scam?
Especially in recent years as businesses have turned more towards online advertising to help their business and continue thriving in a digital world, virtual salespeople are becoming more popular. (2) Sales, in general, has always been a skill that is in-demand, but Payton and Taylor make is seem as if is the end-all-be-all skill that will make you rich.
Sure, maybe if you’re an experienced salesperson who is confident in their skills and willing to work their butts off getting them for a company with a stellar funnel and in-demand product…
But that’s a lot of “ifs” to line up.
If you ask me (thanks for asking), you can absolutely get money doing this, but you can’t rely on the numbers that they claim.
There is too much they leave out in the training, including – and this is a huge one – no-shows and chargebacks, which will take a chunk out of your overall commission take when the months out.
Failing to consider this is a huge mistake, and a lot of experienced salespeople will tell you that it’s not a small chunk that you lose from these things.
Your potential might be close to the $1,000 that Payton and Taylor claim. Once you figure in these losses, however, your cut may only come out to $200-$500. Again, that assumes that you’ve obtained a high-commission paycheck and that leads are actively coming in.
Remember, you’re not prospecting, you’re an inbound salesperson, so you are relying on their marketing to work. If it doesn’t, then you’re out of leads and there’s nothing you can do about it. No funnels you can tweak, no control over the situation.
I don’t think that I could say that Inbound Closer is a scam, but they certainly set off a lot of red flags in their marketing, and you’re probably better off spending your money on weekly groceries and self-teaching the information to yourself. They don’t offer anything magical in the course that is going to change your life.
Here's What I Think...
In the end, there’s no magic script that’s going to get sales, and it’s going to be difficult to get your money back from the course using these methods.
There’s some value to the course’s information, certainly, but it wasn’t anything life changing that I couldn’t find by searching for information about inbound closing on the internet.
If you want to get to the top in this type of industry, then you’re going to have to do a lot of legwork to make it happen.
Keep in mind that every part of the decision-making process is down to your own due diligence in this course, meaning that you need to find your own niche, your own leads, and get your own sales.
You aren’t given a real formula, client list, or call list.
You get booted out the door and told “go get sales. (3) Remember, you can quit your 9-5 in 3 weeks.”
It’s true that you don’t need any prior sales experience to get started, but the course (and course owners) have no personal stake in whether you get to the top or not.
Overall, teaching someone how to become a freelance salesperson isn’t my idea of a foolproof course, and yes, it’s important in any course that the student takes the time to really do their most, but this is too risky in my book.
No course or new business is a cake walk to watch, but promising that you can quit your 9-5 in 21 days is too much of a gamble for me. I’m certain there are people who have pre-emptively quit their daily grind to work on this program, and that’s a heartbreaking idea, especially knowing that many of them didn’t wind up “getting to the top” as they thought they would.
Even though they state that the results they use as an example aren’t typical of student results, they do their best to keep you hooked on the possibility that you could be the atypical. I wouldn’t be surprised if they came out and said “hi, try our affiliate program too.”
Beyond that, Payton Welch continues to advertise other programs, upselling you into course after course, so it becomes very clear that this program – and your success with this program – is not his priority, but it’s the first step in a funnel to purchase his other products.
If he’s offering you new programs right in the program you paid for, you are literally paying him to sell to you. That’s not my idea of “a good program.” It’s an affiliate marketing scam to watch for.
Ready for a Legitimate Program?
If you’re ready for a program on how to start making money online that won’t break the bank and string you along with false promises, then I have a recommendation that you’re going to love.
Not only is it a legitimate company that has tried and tested everything that you will learn ahead of time, so you see it work, but it’s a company that is dedicated to providing a thriving community full of entrepreneurial souls.
The program? It’s called Local Marketing Vault.
Don’t worry – you don’t have to be experienced in marketing to get started. If you are, however, it only helps you.
You’ll learn everything you need to start acquiring leads for local businesses through the magic of ads, and best of all, the owners James and Jason give you funnels that they have directly made a profit with in the past. They are genuinely invested in each and every students’ success, which is refreshing to see in an online course.
Want a sneak peek of the goods? Check it out below:
References:
- Anurag Harsh, Sales Commissions Are Useless In Motivating the Modern Workforce, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sales-commissions-are-useless-in-motivating-the-modern_b_593b69ace4b014ae8c69e086
- Stephen Diorio, Building a High Performing Virtual Selling Channel, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2020/04/22/building-a-virtual-selling-channels/?sh=698f8187521b
- Carl Richards, Thinking Like an Entrepreneur, https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9C02E2DF1238F936A25753C1A9679D8B63.html
I buy and review courses so you don’t have to. Sometimes, I even find courses that are legitimate and worthwhile; and that’s how I accidentally came across one that led me to building a 6-figure business in a little under 5 years. Now, I still review courses because it’s my favorite hobby. 🙂 Learn more about me here.
