Hey guys, Joe Burnich here with bigwestmarketing.com, and we help small businesses take it to the next level by simplifying all this internet marketing stuff. Today’s going to be kind of fun. We are going to dig in and watch some clips of one of these spammy marketing companies calling in while you’re trying to get some work done. You know who I’m talking about. We’re going to watch this, we’re going to tear it apart, we’re going to figure out what they’re lying about, how to spot these guys, and then how to shut them down so you don’t get taken advantage of. Let’s get started with that right now.
Okay, so Joy Hawkins is one of the big names in the SEO world, and I found this little clip online of her actually receiving a call from one of these spammy telemarketers claiming to be a Google partner. And what I wanted to do is kind of show some clips, and then I’ll cut away and we can talk about how to spot these guys, so you don’t ever get taken advantage of. And it’s going to be kind of fun. So check this out real quick.
Okay, he’s not available by chance?
No, his wife Joy might be, but she’s in the bathroom right now. She ate some bad Chinese food last night.
No worries, yeah, we can just try another time.
Well, if you want, she’s coming right back. Do you want to talk to her?
Is she like a partner?
Okay, so they’re pretending they have this business, and they just happened to get this call while they were setting up for an SEO conference it looks like. So watch what happens when she starts pressing him for information.
… in Bend Oregon?
Correct.
Okay. [inaudible 00:01:58] Northwest Hill Street, Suite 3?
Yep. And sorry, who is this?
And the zip code… We’re a brand rep, we’re a Google channel partner.
What’s a Google channel partner?
Handle verifying. We do verifications and evaluations for the small [inaudible 00:02:24].
Google asked you guys to verify businesses?
We’re a partner, we just make sure your information’s correct and that people are fine with their service in their area, and if there were issues, our immediate help [inaudible 00:02:41], we have options for them.
Oh, so Google doesn’t do that? You guy do that? I’m confused.
No, Google does not call out to people’s businesses, they’re way too large. That’s why they contract with companies like us.
Oh, so they asked you guys to do this?
Okay, so he’s calling himself a Google channel partner saying that Google contracted with them to do this. That is a complete lie, guys. If anybody ever says that when they call you up, that’s a red flag. It’s time to shut them down right then and there. Now in this video, they’re kind of toying with this guy and they’re kind of having fun. I’m going to skip to another part where we’re talking about the different tactics that they use. Okay? And so watch this.
Are you guys like new?
Nope. Been around for like a decade.
Okay. What [inaudible 00:03:43]?
Right. So again, I’m just trying to understand, you said you need to verify the listing, you verified my information. So what are we still talking for?
Okay, so basically what he did was he did a search for their business or pretended like he was doing a search for their business on Google and he’s like, “Well, you’re not coming up at all.” Okay? And I’ve had these guys call before and try to say that I’m not coming up and then I’ll do a search and I’m number one, two or in the top three for the search that they’re making. So just be really careful when they say you’re not coming up in the search engines. That’s just a pure lie. That’s a pure sales tactic to scare you, make you worry that this Google channel partner, which is BS is worried about you and they’re trying to help. Okay? It’s just a sales tactic you guys. You got to shut these guys down. And so I’m going to skip again over to another part where he actually talks about being certified.
Yeah. Like how are you Google certified? I’ve never heard of this certification that you’re talking about.
If you go to brandrep.com, you’ll see our credentials.
But you didn’t answer my question. What is this certification certify you for? I’m trying to understand how you’re better than the other dozens companies that have called me about this.
Just the different levels of partnerships. [inaudible 00:00:05:19]. A lot of them don’t have much of an align for this and we help them out getting on it quicker, but you guys pretty much do that as well-
Right.
But-
Okay. So he’s saying that he’s a certified Google partner and she calls him out on it and she says, “I’m sorry I’ve never heard of this.” And he says, “Well, go to our website.” And so he’s got some fancy logos on there that make it seem legitimate. So these guys are good. These scammers are good. You’ve got to be on guard for this. Okay? And Google does not have certified partners except for Google Ads, but they don’t do it for Google listings, they don’t do it for SEO. All of that is just a scare tactic to get you to hand over your credit card and have them fix everything up for you because they’re a Google partner. It’s BS, okay? It’s a lie.
And I get calls every day from clients saying, “Hey, I just got a call from this guy and he’s saying he’s a partner and that I’m not showing up. What should I do, Joe?” And then I go and look, and you’re still ranking. You haven’t lost any rankings. Okay? Nothing’s changed in the last month since we worked. Or you’ve been even ranked higher in the last month, and you’re still getting these calls. And these calls happen all the time and they’re getting more sophisticated all the time. Okay?
So I just wanted to show you guys this. I wanted to show you Joy Hawkins do this. What’s kind of funny is at the last SEO conference that we went to, our SEO specialist, Jess, got a selfie with Joy, so I just wanted to throw that in right there. Like I said, Joy is one of the leaders in the SEO world and it’s kind of funny when you see somebody like that just shut these scammy little telemarket or spam guys down. It was just kind of funny, but what’s not funny is these companies are ripping people off for thousands and thousands of dollars every single day. Do not be a victim. Okay? Now you can kind of see the tactics they use. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, give us a call and we can talk about it, 406-493-1881. Once again, Joe Burnich with bigwestmarketing.com. Talk to you soon.
