ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- A year after announcing plans for a multilevel
sales network, Neoquest Marketing Group has attracted 100
representatives to sell travel, generating about $4 million in
sales per year, said Tom Keesling, the company president.
But Keesling has his sights set on a much larger network of
multilevel marketers.
He said he is talking with several companies that have between
75,000 and 90,000 sales representatives -- who sell products such
as vitamins or cosmetics -- to add Neoquest's travel program to
their lines. The plan is to have the multilevel marketers sell
travel in addition to their other products.
To handle growth in travel bookings, Neoquest contracted with
ResWorld, a call center in Cape Coral, Fla., where Neoquest
representatives refer their business.
The company expects to forge an agreement within a few weeks
with a large multilevel marketing company.
"We're finding that the multilevel marketing industry has a
built-in sales force looking for new products. What more exciting
product is there than travel?" he said.
Most of the marketers make sales presentations through
appointments with families and friends in their homes.
Keesling's plans for a multilevel sales network -- the kind that
has traditionally raised eyebrows in the industry -- stirred
interest when announced last year because of Keesling's
background.
A longtime Denver-area agent and former United Airlines sales
manager, he is the son of Thomas Keesling, a former ASTA president
and owner of Travel Associates in Denver.
Travel Associates, a decades-old agency and member of the
Virtuoso consortium, initially handled the referrals from Neoquest
sales reps, but that arrangement was dropped when the ResWorld
agreement started.
Neoquest also has ARC accreditation and can handle some of the
business in house, Keesling said.
Keesling said he is aware of the industry's concerns regarding
the reputation of multilevel sales networks, some of which have
been accused of operating pyramid schemes or card mills.
Some of the multilevel companies that entered the industry in
the late 1990s, signing up people for $495 a year and drawing them
in with ID cards offering industry discounts, have since closed
down.
Keesling said his business model parallels legitimate multilevel
marketing companies that successfully sell a range of products.
At Neoquest, participants do not receive ID cards unless they
meet the International Airlines Travel Agent Network's minimum
productivity requirements for an Iatan card -- and only after they
have completed the Institute of Certified Travel Agents' certified
travel associate curriculum.
"These people are not professional travel agents on day one, but
they will have on-line training and complete the ICTA courses,"
Keesling said.
To become Neoquest reps, participants pay an initial $195 fee
plus $99 a year. They earn 40% of the agency's commission.
Compensation also is derived by the multilevel network as sales
reps recruit other reps, creating a "downline."
In Neoquest's case, the "downline" is four layers deep. A sales
rep receives 10% commission of a member he or she brought to
Neoquest; when that rep recruits another person the original rep
receives 9% of that second level of the downline; when that person
recruits another, the original sales rep receives 8% of the
person's commission, and so on.