When my sponsor introduce me to SFI, he said "there is an online program i want you to join, you can join free without any financial commitment" that alone aroused my interest in SFI. So I registered and became interested in the the program, maybe if he did not present the program like that to me i would have been turn-off.
So when Introducing the program to a prospective member, if this same strategy is used i think it will not turn the person off.