Wednesday, February 9, 2011

How To Justify Yourself?

I remember how our upline diamond used to talk about how people justify themselves. They'll compare themselves to a neighbor or a co-worker and justify that they are doing okay. Or they may say that they went to public school, therefore public school is good enough for their kids. Or a man might respond to a wife's request to see Alaska by telling his wife to look in the freezer if she wants to see ice. We justify ourselves by finding someone equal or worse off than ourselves. It makes us feel better to know that we aren't that bad off.

Then uplines will tell you that you should strive to bet better, which is good. Ironically, they'll also tell you that the way to do better is to join Amway and to dive into the tool system. While there might be initial excitement and euphoria, it wears out quickly, especially when the quick profits and advancement in the business never materializes for most. It is then that the uplines cleverly inject subtle pressure to keep you active by labeling people who quit as losers or failures. Their tools will tell you to never quit, or that you will eventually make it if you keep pressing on. The standing orders are filled with stories of guys who were broke, signed up for Amway, had struggles, but they never quit and now they are diamonds living large and only working functions out of the love for their downline. Don't you ever wonder why nobody can name people who actually built a diamond business, and then walked away, collecting hoards of cash and living happily ever after? I do not believe these people actually exist.

The sadly, but ironically, the IBOs begin to justify their business losses. The phrases are common. I am a nicer person, I am a better father and husband. I am doing God's work (Amway is God's work?). I learned about business from being in Amway. There are many nice reasons people give to explain their involvement in Amway and the systems, but making a nice income is rarely ever one of the reasons. I do hear some outrageous income claims, but not a single IBO has provided any evidence or proof of this income.

Another justification that IBOs make is that Amway products are the best, therefore they cost the most. They also justify the cost with the concentration factor (I hope you don't spill any). Of course, product quality is subjective and secondly, many people are not concerned about quality when it comes to ordinary household goods such as bar soap. Most people look at price and value, which is why WalMart and Costco are wildly successful. It's really humourous at times when you see IBOs in action justifying their products and their business opportunity.

Obviously, it's a tough sell in North American where it appears that Amway sales have gone down and even with the national advertising campaign, I'm not sure a significant impact was made. Here's food for thought. WalMart's slogan is Live better, save money. Amway's slogan is "Now you know". Nuff said!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I get personal satisfaction every time I see a 'positive' amway commercial after they spent decades declaring from stage that only stupid companies advertise on T.V. and radio.

They tried to convince us that amway is so superior to all competition they would take those advertising dollars and give them to the IBOs *the crowd would cheer and scream wildly.*

Wonder how that advertising's going these days?

I doesn't matter b/c the extreme vast majority of those who were IBOs when they made the 'no advertising' claims are long gone. This new generation thinks amway is so clever with advertising and all.

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to amway.

Fired up! Gimme another CASSETTE TAPE!

Joecool said...

I remember the line fed to us that Amway pays more bonuses because they don't spend money on advertising. I wonder what uplines tell their groups these days?

Anonymous said...

Why don't the pro-ambots discuss issues like this with us, instead of resorting the the very worn out, "You're just big ole' meannies and stuff."

Their uplines have them beating their chests feeling ever so proud that they 'got' us when they come on these sites and attepmt to ream us out with the ever popular, "You were just too lazy to build your business, you big ole' meannie ogres; you wanted to get rich doing nothing, you lazy negative nellies."

Have I left anything out?

David said...

I think the commercial for Amway advertises "The Amway Opportunity" and tells the viewer to contact an Amway IBO for more info. It doesn't tell you how to find your nearest Amway IBO. I'm still waiting to be prospected or cold contacted by an Ambot. I guess I'm not a very good prospect. Sob!Sob!Sob!

Joecool said...

I wonder seriously, how many calls were received as a result of that commercial? In my opinion, the commercial was a gimmick so IBOs can say "see, we have commercials, we must not be a scam!"