It has come to our attention that a company called EDriven Concepts has been calling our clients and leading them to believe that they represent Prospect Genius. We would like to clarify that those individuals, along with EDriven Concepts as a whole, are NOT associated with Prospect Genius in any way.
The rest of this post will provide you with a few audio samples of calls placed by representatives from EDriven Concepts so that you will be able to recognize them. We will not make any recommendations about whether you should do business with this company; rather, we intend to provide you with all of the relevant facts so that you can make an informed decision on your own.
As you can hear from the audio clips below, which were taken directly from the aforementioned phone calls, the sales approach is always the same. First, the sales representatives try to confuse the business owner by referencing a “previous” conversation that never actually took place. Then, they continue the present conversation and allow the client to believe that he or she is speaking with Prospect Genius, not EDriven Concepts.
 
In these additional audio clips, you’ll also hear how EDriven Concepts further attempts to mislead business owners. Given that these phone calls took place on our metered lines, which are designed to record every single incoming call, Prospect Genius can say with absolute certainty that the purportedly “previous” conversations between EDriven Concepts and these business owners never actually occurred. Below, numbers 1 and 2 are portions of the same phone call.

In the following audio clip, you’ll hear Josh Murlin, a sales representative from EDriven Concepts, claim to be a former employee of Prospect Genius. This is completely FALSE.

These amusing clips below show the sales rep attempting to locate a handful of random towns in which the business owner has a poor search engine ranking. Unfortunately for him, it turns out on both occasions that the business owner is already ranked on Page 1 of Google thanks to the work done by Prospect Genius.

Repeatedly, the strategy of Mr. Murlin and EDriven Concepts is to mislead the business owners and let them believe that they are speaking with a representative from Prospect Genius. In Clip 1 below, Mr. Murlin does not admit to being separate from Prospect Genius until three minutes and 43 seconds have passed in a phone call that only lasts five minutes in total. In Clip 2, it takes eight minutes and 44 seconds for him to admit that he is not affiliated with Prospect Genius. But the most shocking part is not that nearly nine minutes go by before he admits this—it’s that the confession occurs AFTER he has already instructed the business owner to stop payment on a check for Prospect Genius and to instead fax the check to him!

These next two clips offer some insight into the “SEO” that EDriven Concepts will provide. In actuality, the company plans to utilize several different local numbers on Google Places in an act that is, quite clearly, spamming. Why is that a problem? Well, as we all know, spamming goes against the rules established by Google. One rule in particular clearly states, “Do not create listings at locations where the business does not physically exist.” In other words, the practice of creating multiple listings—which EDriven Concepts promises to do—is strictly forbidden. Unfortunately, going against Google’s published guidelines is a lot like playing Russian Roulette: while there’s no guarantee that you will get caught, the consequences are dire if you do.

During this final audio clip, you’ll hear Mr. Murlin from EDriven Concepts promise to list the business owner in 150 directories each month. There are two problems with this. First, while there may be hundreds of online directories in existence, the majority of them are not useful or effective in the slightest. In fact, the latest Google algorithm update called “Panda” targeted exactly these kinds of low-quality sites. (You can learn all about Panda here.) This means that since the Panda update, there is little to no chance that any value whatsoever will be provided by links from those directories. Furthermore, as a team of SEO specialists and industry insiders, we can tell you that those directory submissions are almost always done by a piece of software, which means that no human thought or effort goes into the submission process. In short, it’s a very spam-like tactic that no longer works. The second problem with this approach is that many of those hundreds of links will likely end up being relegated to one of Google’s “bad neighborhoods,” a classification saved for directories of poor quality that contain spam-like activity. If that happens, you won’t just receive zero value from the directories—you’ll actually be penalized.

If you would like to research EDriven Concepts even further on your own, here is some contact information that we’ve collected:
EDriven Concepts
41951 Remington Ave Ste 100
Temecula, CA 92590
Miranda (customer service): 951-296-2041
Josh Murlin (sales): 951-296-2245
Please be very careful not to give representatives from EDriven Concepts any sensitive or personal information, as we cannot guarantee its security. If you have any doubts regarding the legitimacy of a phone call, simply hang up, dial our main line (1-800-689-1273), and ask for your account manager.
 
Wishing you pleasant, honest dealings and continued success,
Prospect Genius