Best Version Media reviews

The biggest con is that there is down-time in income while you collect sales, so if you do not have 2 -6 months living expenses covered while you are trying to get this going, then it's not for you. The other big con is that it really does matter where you live in order for this magazine to be a success. The magazine caters to rich, successful families and you must convince advertisers that that is what they want. Smaller cities are tough because the local businesses already have a network and a good handle on how to sell their wares. My city really only has one development considered successful and they rejected the free magazine coming to their homes. Other developments were too small for advertisers to be interested. So know your city and your local businesses before you take the plunge. BVM will say it doesn't matter where you sale, but it does. It will take much longer for some areas and if you're not already retired with an income, you won't make it.

Why I no longer work for BVM is this: it wasn't my thing. It is purely a sales job, and you are a door-to-door salesperson. You must make 40-50 cold calls a day to be successful, and garner at least 3 appointments a day. It's a ton of hard work, which is fine...but for the right person. If you are experienced in sales, you'll do great with cold calls, walk-ins, etc. The problem was I had no experience in sales and I disliked the walk-ins, cold calls, etc. I gave it a huge amount of time, but after a while, I realized I was unhappy and couldn't do this for 3 or more years. The other con is that in the weekly conference calls, management focuses on telling the "easy" stories; for instance, their #1 story is a female publisher (formerly a high school principal) who had no sales experience but went to print in less than a month. This is an absolute anomaly. They also have conference calls of publishers who go to print quickly, thereby not helping to improve the confidence of associate publishers who have yet to go to print. I kept feeling worse about myself with every call. I only heard 1 conference call where it took a female publisher much longer to go to print, and if you ask around with fellow publishers, that's the norm. I would honestly say if you go at this full-time, be prepared for 6-8 months of no income. That is more accurate. In regard to training, it was good but not great. You receive a ton of free training and sales materials, which is awesome, but when there's a training call, the "scenario" is always easy, for instance, a buyer who has a question or two, but always buys in the end. That's not how it works at all in the real world. Every sales appointment I had I was drilled and questioned and a lot of skepticism followed. I also think it depends on the area; if you are a publisher in a friendlier area (Southeast or Midwest), you definitely have an advantage over associate publishers in the more standoffish parts of the country. Also, I found that the people who were very successful at this job are stay-at-home moms, people who already have major contacts in their area, and those who have years upon years of sales experience.