Friday, March 11, 2016

Amway Motivation?

I believe that Amway IBOs have approximately a 50% attrition rate for the first year alone. If you look at a 5 year window, I believe the attrition rate is something like 95%. So what we're saying is that out of 100 IBOs, only 5 will be around in 5 years, or out of 1000 IBOs, 50 will remain after 5 years. This is extremely significant because if you are a business builder, you will need to replace half of your IBOs every single year. For this reason, I am very doubtful that there are IBOs who "built the business right and built it once", who no longer do Amway related work, but still collect significant residual income. I would guess that significant income could be defined as being enough to live a lifestyle in the top tax bracket (for the US) without having to report to a J-O-B.

Now I understand that some IBOs take it personally when I bring up subjects like this. It is because they have been deceived by some upline diamond or big pin who has sold them on a dream of financial prosperity for life if they will only work hard for 2-5 years. I once thought so too, but realized that there isn't a single diamond that I know of who built the business right and walked away to enjoy the beaches of the world while truckloads of money rolls in. Kinda makes you wonder why you see Crowns still working, and diamonds actually quitting or resigning. I have asked the question many times and it has never been answered. Can anyone name a few people who built their business right and built it once who is currently enjoying these lifelong residuals? Also, if that were a benefit, why doesn't Amway say so?

Instead, you have a constant and endless flow of motivation being sold to IBOs. This motivation comes in the form of cds, books, meetings, functions and other things like voicemail messages. It's sad that IBOs have to continue to pay through the nose for motivation and "teaching" about the Amway business when there are cheaper and more efficient means of communication. For example, why would you need an expensive voicemail when a facebook group account can disseminate messages to your group in seconds at no cost? It is because the uplines want to extract every possible dollar from their downline. Because of the internet, I believe people are starting to figure things out and avoid the systems altogether. I hope Joecool's blog contributes to this.

All the motivation IBOs truly need is to see a net profit at the end of the month. If IBOs actually earned an extra $200 a month, or $50 a month, or $600 a month as advertised, there would be no need for motivational speeches. The IBOs would simply look at the growth in their finances and they would keep going. The poor retention rate is easy to explain. IBOs are losing money because of the system expenses and they lose their motivation to continue. If you are an IBO or a prospect, stop and think for a minute. If you are making an extra $200 a month with minimal effort, would you need functions and other materials to motivate you? Or would you have intrinsic motivation from the profit? All the motivation you will ever need is a net profit. Take that to the bank.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe, absolutely right!

The most effective and long-lasting motivation for any businessman is a tangible PROFIT! If Amway IBOs could depend on a steady income every month as a result of steady labor, they'd stay.

When you don't make any perceptible profit in a business after long effort, your natural tendency is to give up and try something else. And you have hit the nail right on the head, Joe: the entire "motivational" crap that Amway peddles is purely to prevent IBOs from doing this very natural thing. Amway screams "STAY! STAY! Success is just around the corner!" And some poor schmucks stay for ten or fifteen years, until they are completely destitute.

And quite true -- since when does someone have to "pay" to be motivated? What purpose does it serve to sell CDs and tapes and ConmmuniKate and function tickets and all the rest of that stupid, worthless garbage, except to drain dollars from down-line?

Everyone who is tempted to join Amway should read Robert FitzPatricks' "MLM: The American Dream Made Nightmare," especially his latest posting about the coming collapse of the entire MLM fraud, worldwide. FitzPatrick shows, in no uncertain terms, that the entire concept of an MLM scheme is to enrich a small coterie of up-line at the expense of anyone who is joining the MLM for the first time.

That's why the "Tools" are so important. They are the main conduit for cash to up-line pockets. As for the products that the company sells... well, they are essentially meaningless camouflage. If they were any good at all, you wouldn't need an MLM plan to push them.

Joecool said...

The upline's goal is to keep everyone in as long as they can. That's why the teaching is to "never quit" or they will talk about Amway saving marriages, or Amway made me a nicer person, etc. These are not bad things but you didn't join the business to try and be nicer. You joined to make money.

A business exists to make money. But because Amway IBOs are not making money, upline must sensationalize some side benefits to keep the downline going because nearly all IBOs keep seeing losses month after month due to the cost of the products and the cost of the tools and functions.

Anonymous said...

I read many of the posts. Surely this is the best business ever. The products are many times more expensive than competitor stores. You dont need to have any customers. If you dont go pn this silly tools system you have few costs. And with all that you can make money. You just have to keep telling everyone its great.

rocket said...

Funny how the big Amway defender Shaun Guthrie from Edmonton, Alberta seemed to think motivation was important when he was buying it from Brad Duncan in WWDB.

Now that he is out of it, his Woodworking venture seems to do just fine using Facebook as a communication/advertising tool. I wonder why he isn't using voicemail or motivational rallies to spread the word?

https://www.facebook.com/CaskWoodworking/

I emailed him asking if he made a cutting board for his buddy Brad Duncan yet, but he didn't answer.

Classic and Typical ex IBO behaviour. Braying like a jackass about how everyone else was lazy/stupid/short sighted working a Jay-Oh-Bee in a passive aggressive way.

History clearly shows who was misguided. The motivation is useless. The business should be profitable enough without the motivation so it isn't required for success. Since the products are of poor value, the whole scheme is a loser of a business model.

Anonymous said...

A sponsor telling the prospect not to go to internet or google in 2016 is plain absurd. The prospect will end up searching the web about mlm and will find out the lies and deception of this so called "business".

Joecool said...

Yes, by not buying tools you would have a slim chance to make a little money.

Joecool said...

Good to see you Rocket! Yes, I remember Shaun boldly making many claims. I even recall the one about buying a home in cash. But he was taught well. He doesn't complain about Amway and has probably blamed himself for the failure. I feele bad for him. His upline really gave him some bad advice, (Cashing out his 401K)

Joecool said...

Yes, but oddly enough, that's what uplines still tell their prospects.

Anonymous said...

The uk gouvernment cracked down on amway some years ago forceing lower prices , curtailing tools organisations and insisting on teansparency on reel incomes of ibo s. What amazes me is that at that time there we about 30 diamonds who built the business when prices were outragaeous and ibos were ripped off on tools. Since the new laws uk has not had one diamond and those in place at the time are all gone except one

Anonymous said...

Many of the older up-line (especially the dinosaur diamonds and older platinums and pins) are not especially Internet-savvy. So for them, telling someone "Don't go to the Internet" is do-able, because they themselves aren't used to using the computer for research.

Of course, this won't work when dealing with younger persons, who go to their computers regularly for quick access to information. It would be like telling our parents not to use the telephone.

Amway, despite all its repeated bullshit about being "a forward-looking, 21st-century enterprise," is actually a rather clunky, creaky, clattering old contraption from the late 1950s. And the basic mindset and culture of many of its old-guard up-line reflect that.

Joecool said...

Yes, person to person sales is a dinosaur and outdated mode of sales.

Joecool said...

Funny how regulations hurt Amway. especially when actual sales are required to customers.

Anonymous said...

When Amway starts up in a new area or country, the growth happens quickly. That's because it's something novel, people don't know much about it, and there's a groundswell of enthusiasm from naive persons who are sucked into the "quick wealth" promises of the business. Naturally, it's easier to become a Diamond under those conditions.

Only later, when reality begins to sink in, do people realize that Amway is just a smoke-and-mirrors cover for a pyramid scheme. Then the growth slows and eventually ceases. Diamonds fall out of qualification, and new Diamonds don't develop. If the government steps in to examine the fraud and regulate it, the game is over.

That, in a nutshell, is what happened to Amway in the U.K.

Joecool said...

I would also note that I don't know of many new diamonds popping out of the US.

Anonymous said...

My upline platinum sponsor told me to do my research. I guess he expects few people to do it because he was shocked when I asked him a bunch of questions.

So now at meetings they say "why would you believe what some random person says on a blog" Not realizing that they are kind of a random person telling me not to believe a random person on the internet. The events are kind of funny.

Unknown said...

Because you would never come and see

Anonymous said...

Come and see what? The non-existent new Diamonds?