One thing my sponsor often told the group was that many of us were "playing" Amway. What he meant was that many people can listen to a tape or CD every day, read a success book 15-30 minutes each day, attend all the functions, use and/or sell 100 PV or more each month, but never make progress in the business. Basically what he was saying was unless you are showing the plan and sponsoring downline, you are just playing Amway. And while I agree, I honestly believe that most IBOs simply "play" Amway.
They can do most of the CORE steps such as listening to standing orders or cds each day. They can read every day and attend all the functions. They can even use and sell Amway products. But because of previous IBO behavior, many people cannot get anyone to see the plan, let alone sponsor others. Seems like everyone (at least in the US and Canada) know of someone who was lied to, or tricked into attending an Amway meeting. This alone has given Amway a shady reputation and just the mention of the name Amway can send people running. I was tricked into a meeting once, and as an IBO, I saw people get up, cuss and leave the meeting because they were lied to or tricked into attending a meeting based on the curiosity approach.
I do not believe that IBOs in general are dishonest or deceitful. I believe that most of them are probably motivated, wanting more in life, and hard working. But they are taught to duplicate or copy their uplines. I believe it is some of the tenured leaders who teach bad business practices that are duplicated and spreads a bad reputation like an infectious disease. I believe that because of this, Amway's North American sales tanked and now they don't even report the North American sales seperately from Global sales.
When you stop and take a deep breath, you see the signs of weakness and the chinks in the armor of the once untouchable and "divine" diamonds. We see diamonds suing other diamonds and Amway. We see diamonds losing their homes to foreclosure (so much for paying cash). A triple diamond was in chapter 7 bankruptcy and hoards of diamonds leaving their LOS along with their "awesome" mentors and lifelong friends to form their own LOS. Why is this happening? I believe it is because of greed. Why else would you leave a "mentor" and "lifelong friend" to start your own LOS? It's all about the money.
Sadly, while all of this goes on, most IBOs come and go, lose money and "play Amway" along the way. It truly saddens me that this has gone on for so long, and it looks like (in my opinion), that my former LOS, WWDB, seems to have been the worst of the bunch with no apparent improvement in the last 15 years or so.
You can "play Amway" hard, but you most likely won't make enough net profit to buy a value meal a McDonald's. Of course you are welcome to prove me wrong.
3 comments:
I have been engaging with an Amway/WWDB “mentor” for the past four months. When you can’t afford to join right away, they say you are in incubation and they what to help you with your personal development and finances. During the process they mentioned using Amway to fund personal development in some key areas like finance, health, networking, spirituality, etc but when I asked how, the answers were very vague. Like for Health they said,” I take vitamins and now I have so mich energy”. Well lately I have been feeling conflicted and took a step back to figure out what I wanted. I was approached by another Amway group and that really confused me because they had the exact same pitch. When I spoke to my mentor he/she told me that I didn’t understand because I wasn’t engaging enough. I don’t understand why I have to talk to you everyday for something to make sense.Initially the concept of asset building made sense but now I’m really starting to feel like they are exploiting people. Help?!
Anonymous, Amway is not complicated. A "business" owner sells Amway products and sponsors downline to leverage more volume. If they cannot give you a straight answer, it's because they don't have one. They will go in circles answering your question with a question.
Amway is not a means to accumulate wealth. What happens is your upline transfers your resources to create wealth for himself. The upline makes significant money from the sale of books, voicemail, cds, and meetings/functions. In many cases, they make just as much from these sales as they do from Amway.
Think about it. The training has a higher profit margin than Amway products, and the rank and file downline do not get bonuses from the sale of training. At least the rank and file downline get something for moving 100PV.
They need to talk to you every day to convince you that spending your money is equal to investing in your Amway business even if it's not true.
Think about it. A business exists to sell a product and/or services for a profit. If anyone tells you that it's not, they are misleading you. Thus if your "mentors" aren't helping you to sell products for a profit, then what are they doing?
Anonymous --
There some important points you mentioned that need to be addressed.
You said, "When you can’t afford to join right away, they say you are in incubation and they what to help you with your personal development and finances."
This is something I've never heard before, and I've been around this for a decent amount of time. They are basically stating that you are not a fully formed organism by using the term incubation, which is absurd, and as such should be treated as humorous. Amway does not help with personal development, that is something you gain from your parents, school, and social interactions. Personal development is completely disingenuous. Amway has reported average earnings of "ACTIVE" (people that received a paycheck of any amount within the last calendar year) at $1,800 to $2,400 a YEAR. To suggest they are helping with finances, when the average person, including those sparkly diamonds, makes between $150-$200 (it's actually far less when you look at the statistics more accurately) is also absurd.
You said, "During the process they mentioned using Amway to fund personal development in some key areas like finance, health, networking, spirituality, etc but when I asked how, the answers were very vague."
I already addressed the health and finance issues, but let's tackle the last two. Networking is relatively straight-forward. You just have to approach people and not be a jerk, that is networking. You don't need to pay anyone to learn it and you don't need constant training, instead you need a bit of consistent effort and practice with rejection. That isn't something that is taught, that is something that is practiced.
Amway should not be your haven for spirituality. This is actually humorous in a sadistic way. Not only are these people not ethical, which is the basis for most religious tenets, but they are preaching the prosperity gospel, which is considered sacrilegious. If you are looking for spirituality at work, you may want to go join a church, mosque, or synagogue.
You said, "I was approached by another Amway group and that really confused me because they had the exact same pitch."
This is referred to as "cross-lining" and it is strictly forbidden in the world of Amway. Why? Probably because they don't want a bunch of the lowest level people talking about how much they are losing and sucking at Amway. They only want your communication to be with your uplines because that is their form of control. The less people you communicate your issues with, the more likely you are to stick around and not cause others to leave.
You said, "I don’t understand why I have to talk to you everyday for something to make sense."
That's because you are a rational person. The answer is, you don't. You should be trained on how the products work, how you get paid, and if your lucky some tips on how to sell. That's it.
You said, " but now I’m really starting to feel like they are exploiting people. Help?!"
They are exploiting people, they have been doing it for decades. Listen to your instincts and run the hell away!
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