SFI Marketing Group Review – Will this lead to success?

SFI Review

Product: SFI
Overall Ranking: 40 points out of 100  2/5 stars
Price: Free to join
Owner: Gery Carson
Website: https://www.sfimg.com/

SFI Background

Started in 1998 by Gery Carson, SFI was originally known as “Six Figure Income”. It later changed the name to “Secure Future International Marketing Group”

In the beginning, they had just one product that was sold in just the United States. Today SFI has grown into a company selling more than 90,000 products all around the world.

SFI has been trading for 16 years and, in that time, has paid out millions of dollars in commissions to their affiliates.

Who is Gery Carson?

Gery Carson is the president and founder of SFI. Before starting SFI, Gery was a top marketer and distributor for some direct sales companies. He was also successful as a magazine publisher. Gery was an innovator in the direct mail and Internet marketing industries for more than 20 years.

What is SFI?

SFI is an affiliate and multi-level marketing program aimed at getting referrals to TripleClicks, an e-commerce site. You make commissions when people who you have referred make purchases, and you also make some money when your team members earn points from the SFI internal points system.

Who is this for?

SFI is for anyone with a computer and internet access who wants to become an affiliate marketer, but making money will not be easy or rapid. Everyone who is of legal age in their country of residence can become an SFI affiliate.

How to start earning with SFI

As this is a rather complicated system, I will put it as simply as possible.

There are several ways to earn with SFI, here are two main procedures to earn money.

1. by referring people to TripleClicks, you get a percentage on everything they buy.
2. by enrolling your own team, and you make a percentage on everything they earn.

This is the SFI 3-step plan to a full-time income

SFI calls this the ultra simple 3-step plan.

1. become an Executive Affiliate (EA)
2. recruit 5 affiliates
3. then teach your 5 affiliates to do the same

To become an EA, you need 1500 or more Versa Points, and there are basically 3 ways to achieve this.

• Purchase items that you normally buy from other stores from TripleClicks. Buy products (worth 1,500 VP or more, and you achieve EA status for the month.
• Refer customers from your own website
• Earn ActionVersa Points.  VPs are awarded for different actions either to do with building your business or supporting your team.

This system recommends that you recruit people under you and then you encourage them to recruit people. This is, without a doubt, an MLM system.

As you require 1500 VersaPoints each month, you will probably have to spend some money to achieve this. The first month after joining it is relatively easy, but subsequently, it becomes more difficult.

The system in more detail

VersaPoints

VersaPoints are SFI’s in-house points system.

After signing up, you have a “to-do” list with tasks to complete to earn Versa Points (VP). Some actions are worth 10 points, some 20 points, and some as much as 150 points.

The more VersaPoints you earn, the higher you will rank, and you will be able to earn more from the Triple Chicks Executive Pool. You must have a minimum of 1500 VP per month to qualify for a share of the pool.

The TripleClicks Executive Pool.

SFI put in a percentage of every purchase into the TripleClicks Executive Pool for the affiliates to share. The size of your share depends on the number of VP’s you have earned in the month.

Earn with TripleClicks

TripleClicks is one of the biggest e-commerce sites, with more than 90,000 items for sale. When people that you have referred to TripleChicks or SFI buy products from the site, you earn a commission.

 Sign up your own team

If you really want to make a living from SFI, you are strongly encouraged to sign up your own team of SFI affiliates.
When you have your own team, you receive a percentage of anything they buy at TripleClicks, plus you receive the matching number of VP that your downline has earned in the month. Hence your share of the TripleClicks Executive Pool will be much greater.

Additional money-earning streams

Each month when you have 1500 VP’s you are allotted a minimum of two co-sponsored affiliates, and you make a percentage on all orders they place at TripleClicks.

It is possible to earn VersaPoints and cash royalties if you can refer companies that sell products to TripleClicks.

If you can get people to complete actions such as filling out forms in the SFI Pay-Per-Action Program, you will be paid up to $12 per action.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• established company
• free to join
• no wild promises that you are going to get rich quickly. In fact, you are told to give it at least a year and, more realistically 2 or 3 years before seeing a substantial income.
• a broad range of products
• no upsells

Cons

• to be successful, you have to sign up other affiliates, and then those affiliates should sign up more affiliates. A system like this is generally known as multi-level marketing (MLM)
• you are encouraged to start marketing to family and friends, which isn’t good for your relationships
• many inactive affiliates

Training and tools

Although there is some training, I found it to be a little basic and not very inspiring. Following the SFI training, I think a newbie would have a hard time generating an income.

These are some of the methods suggested to a beginner to start getting some referrals.

The list goes on, and there are one or two decent methods of promoting TripleClicks (like the social media suggestion) However, pushing friends and family is something I don’t like and wouldn’t advise.

Help and Support

There are a few methods of getting help at SFI.

• The Support Desk – you are recommended to go to the support desk for general questions. There you will find many resources, including the knowledge base. Type in your question and get the answers. If you don’t find what you are looking for, you can submit a ticket.
• SFI Forum – on the SFI Forum, it is possible to have questions answered 24 hours a day by either the forum moderators or other SFI affiliates. Sometimes it is even possible that SFI president Gery Carson himself replies to your question.
• A2a or affiliate to affiliate – this is the social network for the affiliates. In addition to exchanging with your fellow affiliates, it is also possible to contact your sponsor and your team leaders.
• By phone or fax – there is a phone and fax number published on the site.

How much to join

SFI is free to join, however, if you progress to Executive Affiliate status, you will probably have to buy things from TripleClicks to reach your monthly 1500VP’s.

I was surprised how many people are enrolling at SFI more than 3,500 per day or 140,000 in a month. In all, they have over 3,200,000 members in more than 200 countries.

My final opinion

SFI is not a scam.  However, for someone new to internet marketing, it would be hard to get people to sign up and buy products from TripleClicks. That is unless your family and friends help you out, which is not something I endorse.

Before you see a substantial income, it could be anything from six months to a number of years.

I won’t be recommending SFI, although some people do make money from this site. I am not a fan of MLM, and to be honest, I found the system of VersaPoints a little complicated. Also, you will probably end up spending money to maintain or make up your level of VersaPoints to the Executive Affiliate level (1500VP).

Nevertheless, if you are an experienced internet marketer and you think MLM is OK, you could probably make this work. If you are tempted, by all means, sign up and have a look, it is totally free.

Verdict: not recommended

What should you do now?

If you want to make money online, there are other options. If you check my recommended list, you will find programs that don’t involve multi-level marketing.

Have a look at my #1 recommendation, and you will discover a structured training program that will teach you the correct way to build an internet marketing business.