One of the things I heard as an IBO, and still witness today, is IBOs telling prospects that their income is none of your business, or "nunya". That you can refer to the compensation plan and see that you are compensated for volume. That your effort will yield different results than their efforts. All I can say is what a load of baloney. If you are researching the Amway business opportunity and the person contacting you won't disclose financial details of their business, red flags should pop up all over the place. Sure, if your potential sponsor is new, they may not have much to share, but are they willing to share or claim that it's a trade secret?
Remember that your sponsor will receive a financial benefit from your purchases and/or sales for the life of his/hers and your business. Volume that you move, plus your downline volume will be a part of your sponsor's and upline's volume. For that kind of reward, you'd think that people would be open to sharing. Now I'm not suggesting you ask to see the sponsor's personal job income, but surely, you'd want to know what kind of time, effort and expenses you might expect, along with the kind of expected results that your potential sponsor may be experiencing so you can decide whether it's worth the investment of time and money, especially if you will be encouraged, or more like expected to purchase training from the upline.
If your potential sponsor has a downline, and has been around for a month or more, wouldn't you want to know what their results and expenses are? It's perfectly reasonable to ask and expect a response. Since Amway leaders often talk about duplicating, wouldn't you want to know what you would be duplicating? I wouldn't want to put in 12 hours a week plus a few hundred in expenses if the likely result would be a net loss. Now I understand that a new business might not prosper right away but what are the indicators that a profit is coming? If you have trouble selling and sponsoring downline, you will more than likely never make a net profit. If you are selling and sponsoring, but still not profiting, then what? Are the tools and training expenses eating up all your profits?
It is my conclusion that uplines and potential sponsors don't share this information because it would not be attractive to prospects. Most IBOs run at a loss, especially if they have tools and training expenses and they might be putting in a tremendous effort. We know that some diamonds have financial difficulty. We also know that some, possibly many diamonds make more money from the tools and training than from Amway. I believe that the Amway opportunity is a far cry from how it's presented with the mansions and sports cars. I believe the reality is a sad one. If you are told by your potential sponsor that their business income and/or results are none of your business, you should pack up your bags and run!
If your potential sponsor has a downline, and has been around for a month or more, wouldn't you want to know what their results and expenses are? It's perfectly reasonable to ask and expect a response. Since Amway leaders often talk about duplicating, wouldn't you want to know what you would be duplicating? I wouldn't want to put in 12 hours a week plus a few hundred in expenses if the likely result would be a net loss. Now I understand that a new business might not prosper right away but what are the indicators that a profit is coming? If you have trouble selling and sponsoring downline, you will more than likely never make a net profit. If you are selling and sponsoring, but still not profiting, then what? Are the tools and training expenses eating up all your profits?
It is my conclusion that uplines and potential sponsors don't share this information because it would not be attractive to prospects. Most IBOs run at a loss, especially if they have tools and training expenses and they might be putting in a tremendous effort. We know that some diamonds have financial difficulty. We also know that some, possibly many diamonds make more money from the tools and training than from Amway. I believe that the Amway opportunity is a far cry from how it's presented with the mansions and sports cars. I believe the reality is a sad one. If you are told by your potential sponsor that their business income and/or results are none of your business, you should pack up your bags and run!
3 comments:
It is comical how MLM coach (whose materials are used by many in Amway) Matt Morris addresses the question.
He suggests several "strategies" to answer this "objection", one of which is also Nunya. He suggests mocking the question with counter questions of asking the prospect how much he has in his savings account or retirement savings.
It's not the same thing, for a business partner about to follow a recipe, and about to be coached, it is the least he could expect to have answered clearly.
That is how it works in real business anyway. My accountant knows exactly what my small business turnover (and net profit) is. In the past, when we discussed partnerships, I had to disclose it to others as well. As was the case with the odd customer who wanted reassurance that we would have the stability to be able to service them. Similarly, a prospective franchise owner can expect from the franchise group, a pro forma income statement, based on real earnings of other outlets. Now back to the Amway case, if the upline is really paranoid that he cannot trust the prospect (which is a bit rich, seeing that trust the other way round must be implicit) he can have the prospect sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before he discloses what he earns from the business.
Not willing to answer this simple relevant question (which should be a selling point if things worked!) really should be a major red flag.
Ironically, what is actually none of your business is what the upline does with his money.
The pictures of mansions, cars, boats, cruises, trips, jewelry from the upline, or more typically someone a bit further up, are none of your business. Your business is knowing exactly how much the business or the mentor you are trying to emulate is earning, and that part is every bit your business to know. If he wants to show you fancy stuff, or rope in his upline to show you fancy stuff, and he feels comfortable boasting, and you want to listen, well that is between the two of you, but if you have any whiff of a business mentality, it should play absolutely not part in any decisions.
Your business is knowing the what the "proven" business you are about to copy, the person who is going to mentor you, is earning.
Telling potential recruits that their chances in Amway are very low, and that it might take years before they develop any down-line at all, and that they will be losing 500 to 700 dollars a month until they finally break even, would be insane. The recruits would run like sprinters away from the entire idea.
So quite naturally Amway promoters will paint a rosy picture of mansions and jet planes and fancy cars and world travel to expensive resorts. All of it is bullshit, but Amway promoters know that it is the sort of thing that losers like to hear and believe.
The great psychologist Sigmund Freud was once asked this question: "Why don't you analyze the dreams of your children?" Freud replied: "I can't. I have to earn money so that they can keep on dreaming."
At least Freud was a realist. Unlike people in MLM rackets, he knew that dreaming by itself didn't bring in any money. Try telling that to the assholes who sign up for "Dream Night."
kwaaikat,
As usual, excellent and spot on comments!
What amazes me is how people get fooled by the none of your business blather by upline. Even for me as a slightly brainwashed IBO at the time, this sent up red flags all over the place.
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