I heard a great comment from a commentator on a related Amway blog. Basically, he said if IBOs were so successful, people would just naturally be attracted. And that's true! Where I live, the local electric company is an attractive place to work with a good salary and benefits package. When there's a handful of openings, you might get as many as 6,000 people applying for these positions. When the federal government hires for the post office, you get thousands of applicants for a handful of jobs as well.
But IBOs have to justify their positions. The common ones are how Amway products are concentrated, or they have magical ingredients in their vitamins. It is my position that if these products were so good and the opportunity actually produced successful IBOs, there would be no need to be deceptive about the products or opportunity. The products could easily be marketed. In fact, customers would be seeking IBOs to find the products and there would be lines of people waiting to see the opportunity. Instead we can find stories about people being tricked into a meeting (I was one of them) or we hear about outright lies and deception by IBOs to get people to see the plan.
What really happens is IBOs themselves are the primary consumers of Amway products. Many IBOs are deceptive when inviting people to see the Amway plan. Some prospects are outright lied to when recruited for the Amway opportunity. The curiosity approach is still used by many, because mentioning "Amway" is more likely to get you funny looks than genuine interest. If what I am writing is not true, why do IBOs need to deceive people? Why don't some IBOs open their books and display the financial success they claim to have? Why so secretive? Why aren't there hoards of new diamonds and emeralds each month? Instead, you mainly hear of the Amway growth in foreign countries. Most likely because the Amway name and reputation has not yet been soiled as it has in the US and Canada.
In the US, I see primarily the same old diamonds who were in control of the functions and systems from more than 12 years ago. In fact, factoring in diamonds who quit or dropped out, I believe there are fewer diamonds now than when I was an IBO. Some of these diamonds also had some apparent financial difficulties. The opportunity is far from how it's promoted. Success speaks louder than words, and where North American Amway success is concerned, the silence is deafening. Do you believe the hype or your own eyes?
6 comments:
Great article, it's the deceptive marketing practices and the lack of retail sales that hurts new people. Not to mention the fact that there is no fair compensation for referring people to training systems; those profits are passed to the top where the top earners make 90% of their income (the training profits dwarf their Amway profits). Mainly, it's the lack of full transparency that is ruining the industry. It's why most of Amway's growth has unfortunately been international. Thanks for the article.
Jason, thanks for the comments. You're right. The Amway compensation is unfair although it's disguised to be fair. There's not much emphasis on sales and that makes sense because Amway's stuff is highly overpriced to begin with. The foreign markets are Amway's bread and butter now. China is the biggest market until they figure out the scam.
This might sound weird but have you ever considered going to an Amway meeting or something undercover just to see what they're still teaching/ doing as far as spreading truth? Don't mean for that to sound shady or anything haha. I just remember seeing somewhere you've been away from it since the 90s.
I just got approanched while i was out Christmas shopping, Of course the guy didn't say it was AMWAY. We exchanged phone number after a 10 min conversation about business oppertunity, I thought it would be in the field i am currently in. He asked me what I did. He called the next day we met up and its tempting if your looking to make extra money and the way its layed out. I told my wife about it when I got home and she was not having any of it. Even today I was just thinking what if it did work, but one thing i would not do is buy there products, if i dont buy, how would I make money. Then you think what friends would join. I asked the guy is your team made up of friends or people you didnt know. The one thing my wife said was if it was so great and people really made money why isnt everyone doing it. I am glad you have this blog. See things more clear. I dont think I would have joined but it was tempting.
Yes, the prospect of making money is tempting until you actually join and realize the opportunity is actually costing you money instead of making you money. The products are so expensive that you would have great difficulty selling anything. There are many easier ways to make money. I'm glad you found the blog helpful. Thanks!
I actually did see the plan again a few years ago. I had some kids of my friends ask me about Amway and I allowed them to show me the plan and their main points were basically the same and they still use the 6-4-2 plan. Although I've been away from Amway for a while, I still talk to IBOs on forums and on facebook at times. Basically not much has changed since my IBO days.
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