One of the network marketing opportunities receiving the most buzz in the last year is ITV Ventures.

What is unique about it is that, unlike almost every other network marketing program on the market, ITV Ventures has created a way for its participants to get hot leads, both for the business opportunity itself, and for the natural products it promotes, without forcing one to try to sell to or recruit family members, business associates or friends.

It does this in a very interesting manner, which it calls the “Home Agent Program” (“HAP”). ITV Ventures produces and then broadcasts nationally 30-minute infomercials. Interested viewers can then dial the toll-free number appearing on the TV screen – and the call is immediately forwarded to the home phone number of an ITV Ventures member (called an Independent Business Owner, or “IBO”). The call is answered by the IBO and they speak to the caller/prospect and try to close the sale. Generally, it’s comparatively easy to close the sale, as the caller has just finished watching 30 minutes of a marketing pitch about the benefits of the particular product, so they have already been presold.

If they close the sale, the buyer becomes that IBO’s customer for life. IBOs earn a 35% to 50% commission on every product sale – and ITV Ventures itself takes care of the shipping, credit card processing, etc. If the caller watched an infomercial about the business opportunity itself (as opposed to a product infomercial) and the IBO closes them, the IBO makes a $100 commission and the caller joins his downline, as a new IBO.

So it all sounds very good. IBOs receive very hot leads from people they don’t know and which they can convert into buyers and profit from.

So, what’s the catch? Well, there are, as would be expected, a number of costs involved:

1) To become an IBO costs $299 (this is a reduction of $200 from the previous signup charge of $499).

2) There is a monthly fee of $29.95 and a minimum wholesale volume threshold of $100 per month. If you and your customers combined do not sell at least $100 of products in a month, you will be charged (and will receive) $100 of products from the company. This threshold is pretty easy to reach after the first month though, and it doesn’t kick in until Month 2 anyways.

3) One must also join the HAP to receive the infomercial calls – if you don’t join the HAP, you are still free to sell products in the traditional network marketing manner. It costs another $299 to join the HAP. This pays for a criminal background check – and you receive 200 free “call credits” (see below).

4) Because booking television time for the infomercial broadcasts is expensive, ITV Ventures recoups this money by having HAP members pay for call credits ($1.00 per credit). Inbound calls to HAP members require call credits – the exact number varies by product. For example, each call taken from a caller watching the Almighty Cleanse infomercial might take 15 call credits (which costs $15). HAP participants are asked to see this charge as a business marketing cost –which makes sense. It is deductible for tax purposes.

IBOs make money from the commissions earned when they sell a product (whether through the HAP or otherwise), when they sign up a new IBO to their downline ($100) and from residual commissions on the sales their downline makes.

As regards the HAP, the key it would seem, in order to cover the costs of receiving calls, is to upsell the callers, so they buy more than just the bare product offered in the infomercial (for example, by getting the customer to opt for the monthly delivery option, where they automatically receive the product every month, thus multiplying the IBO’s commissions), and by building up an ongoing relationship with their customer (whom they “own” for life), so the customer continues to buy more products through them over time.

Overall, the ITV Ventures business model is definitely unique. Before joining though, one should have a serious discussion with the IBO who is trying to recruit you. Like any business opportunity, you should make sure you understand how it all works and the costs involved before signing on.