The first time I was prospected for Amway, I was in college. I actually didn't know much about Amway but I had somehow formed a negative opinion of it. Needless to say, when I was invited to a beer bust and it turned instead to an Amway meeting, my impression of Amway wasn't that good. Some years later, I eventually did join because a close friend of mine had achieved platinum and he had assured me that it could be done and that he would make sure that I would also achieve it. I did achieve a level just below platinum (4000 PV), but I quit for several reasons. First of all, I didn't make a net profit as the expenses for tools ate up my profits. Secondly, the more I progressed in the busines, the more and more my upline wanted control of my life. For example, we were told that we should check upline before getting married, buying a car, or even having children, etc. I thought that was very strange and I eventually left the business for good.
But in the US at least, I believe Amway's name to be so battered that an IBO cannot sponsor downline and build a business without lies and deception. There are hoards of stories confirming testimony that lies and deceit are common in prospecting potential IBOs. This was extremely rampant when Amway changed their name to Quixtar. IBOs would deny the connection or IBOs would say they are with network 21 or WWDB and claim something ridiculous such as Amway simply being their supplier. The promotion of perfect water also brought on silly antics about a $50 case of water being capable of performing miracles. If the opportunity could stand on its own merits, then IBOs would not have to resort to such desperate measures.
Even the Amway presentation if often filled with deception and lies. I remember seeing the presentation and they said shopping through Amway, an IBO would save 30% over local retailers. When I actually saw the catalogs, I wondered where are the savings?? The 6-4-2 plan or similar variations are made to sound easy and the presenter talked about lifelong residuakl willable income, which I also find to be deceptive if not an outright lie.
But can Amway be successfully promoted without lies and deception? It is my opinion that an IBO has no chance of building a business by being completely upfront and honest about Amway and about being an IBO. Even with lies and deceit, many IBOs still cannot get people to see the plan or to buy products. An Amway rep has stated that very little Amway products are sold to non IBOs. So if you cannot sell products and you cannot get people to see the plan, you cannot build a business and if you are purchasing tools, you are simply digging yourself a financial hole that will only grow larger as time passes. The cost of 100 PV is alreay more than what most families and/or singles spend in a month on household products. This means that most people simply cannot sustain themselves in the business and it explains why most IBOs drop out in the first year.
It is why lies and/or deception are needed for an IBO to have a chance at promoting and building an Amway business.
4 comments:
The honest Amway business explanation plan: "Hi there, I'd like to sell you a business with a failure rate of over 99 percent, a cult like atmosphere and a reputation so bad I can't even tell you the name of it. So how about it, wanna come to a meeting?"
LOL - so true!
Everything in this post - Spot on. When I was first an IBO, there was no mention of Amway at all. It was Quixtar. I was telling a friend about how I had joined and they said that it sounded a whole lot like Amway. I defended it like any other new IBO does and said that it wasn't. He, like any rational person would do, insisted that it was. It shook me up and I went to my upline and asked point-blank if this was Amway because I had heard of Amway, but not Quixtar before this. My upline didn't even know how to explain it to me. It used to be Amway but they went completely online and when they did they were able to "create" a whole new company called Quixtar. And I believed the lie. Then a few years later, magically it was slowly re-branded Amway again to match their world-wide business base. Hmmmm..... I was also told to say that I worked for myself and with WWDB as a partner and not for Amway. That they were just the supplier where we get our products from. Again, I believed the lie. A true business does not have just one supplier. They have many. And they for sure do not pay triple for what some of the other suppliers can get which is the very same thing or very comparable. Thanks for another great post!!
Great comments! I was in WWDB and we were told the same lies. That we worked with WWDB and Amy was a supplier. Total BS. The checks came from Amway. I also bought into the lies an trusted my upline. I quit before Quixtar was born. This business is a sham and WWDB is even worse. What ticks me off is that the WWDB lying diamonds were never held accountable and some of them are still on stage teaching crap to their downlines now.
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