Martin Ottmann is a longtime critic of the Church of Scientology who is known for his dogged search for documents that describe every aspect of Scientology management and life. We asked him to bring some of his expertise to the Underground Bunker and help us dig into the dark corners of this secretive organization.
Martin sent us a 1974 document written by L. Ron Hubbard, who was apparently irritated by flagging sales at Scientology outlets.
“This is the infamous Registration Program #2,” Martin tells us. “Without exaggerating, I would say that the enforcement of this program has caused more misery among the public Scientologists than any other management program within the universe of Scientology (at least until Miscavige launched the Ideal Org program).
“This is the basis of the Scientology money machine.”
Martin recommended that we learn more about this document by showing it to former Sea Org worker Mat Pesch. “I’m sure he has a lot to say about it,” Martin told us.
We called up Mat and Amy Scobee, who live in Washington State, and we sent them a copy of “Registration Program #2.”
They both immediately recognized it.
“We would do this program over and over again,” Mat said.
“I was the dissemination secretary on FSO, and it was a position with sales underneath it,” Mat added — meaning that it was his job to increase sales at the Flag Service Organization, which runs Scientology’s spiritual mecca, the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida. “One of my stats was global GI, or gross income,” he says.
“Yeah, we did all of these things. The ‘reg’ of the week, the flowers, yes,” he says. “Every one of these targets are in at the FSO and also probably every other major church in Scientology.”
In Scientology parlance, a “reg” — short for registrar — is essentially a salesperson responsible for trying to convince church members to spend more money on courses. We told Mat that Hubbard, in the document, seems especially aggressive.
“Oh, he’s hard core about it, no doubt,” Mat said. “Every staff member is drilled on how to take money. You were actually trained how to put your thumb over the money and pull your hand away. Every staff member at the whole organization is drilled on it.”
Wait a minute, we said. Scientology staffers are literally taught how to grab money from people?
“I am not kidding you. That drill exists and gets done,” Mat answered.
We told him we noticed that much of this policy is in regards to a book by a man named Les Dane titled Big League Sales Closing Techniques, which we had heard earlier was a favorite of Hubbard’s.
“Les Dane, when he was alive, used to come to Flag and do seminars,” Mat said.
Scientology takes its pressure sales techniques very seriously, he added.
“If a reg fails to get money from a public, the chief registrar is listening, and the reg has to write down what they failed to do that Les Dane would have done. They have to go through that correction even if they’ve been there for 35 years. It’s no joke. The whole subject of money, and taking money from the public is serious business,” Mat said.
Well, you’ll get a sense of that yourself as you scroll through this document. Give it a look and get a sense of how much Scientology is, first and foremost, a money-obsessed business…
L. Ron Hubbard: Registration Program 2
We look forward to your thoughts on the many recommendations in this document!
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Mark Fisher on David Miscavige, part two
More great stories of the period when David Miscavige pushed others out of the way in order to take over Scientology. Also: The intricate art of waking up Miscavige in the morning, in the latest podcast from Surviving Scientology…
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 30, 2014 at 06:40
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