One of the apparently common practices among major IBO groups is still the concept of "buy from yourself". I believe IBO leaders teach this because most people are not familiar or not comfortable selling goods and services. Therefore, to teach buy from yourself makes the business an easier sell. In reality, an Amway IBO is simply a commissioned salesperson with no benefits. But presenting the opportunity that way is unlikely to yield results either, thus the buy from yourself has become a common practice. It sounds like something that most people can do, rather than emphasizing the need to sell to people you don't know.
Buying from youself makes you a customer and not a business owner. Buying from yourself doesn't generate your business a profit. Would you open a car dealership to buy a car? Now I am not suggesting that supporting your own business is a bad idea. What I am suggesting is if you are the primary or exclusive customer of your Amway business, then you aren't really running a business. You are simply a glorified customer. I believe some or many IBOs fall into this category because they are simply unable to move products to non IBOs.
What an IBO is really doing is paying his upline's bonuses. Amway overcharges more than 30% of the cost of their product. They have to do this in order to be able to pay IBO bonuses. Since most IBOs are at 100 PV or less, the lion's share of the bonuses earned are channeled upline when a purchase is made. It is not a level playing field as some IBO leaders might suggest. Also, some of your uplines who don't even know you might benefit from your efforts. Now that's residual income right?
What compounds the situation and makes it worse is when an IBO pays for standing order or attends functions where some of these IBO leaders may teach this bad business practice. You as an IBO already pverpay for products for which upline gets most of the bonus, but then the problem is made worse by IBOs paying to receive this bad advice. When I was an IBO, I heard speakers talk about skipping rent or mortgage payments to attend more functions, or having your family skip a meal so you can buy standing orders. Buying from yourself is just another example of bad advice given from upline to downline. What makes it worse is that some uplines profit by giving bad advice.
Are you buying from yourself almost exclusively? Can you think of any truly successful business where the owner is the main or possibly the only customer? I can't think of any.
3 comments:
Buying from yourself artificially inflates the profit of "the business" because the profits are made by sacrificing your own wallet.
Buying from yourself is taught because Amway products are difficult to sell. Many IBO's are stuffing their households with unused Amway products that can't compete in the general market.
The entire idea of "buying from yourself" is based on an unspoken assumption that is false.
The assumption is that you, as an IBO, are a part of Amway. And since you are part of Amway, buying from Amway is "buying from yourself."
But this assumption is completely wrong. An IBO isn't part of Amway. He's just a commissioned salesperson employed by Amway to recruit more IBOs and to generate PV. Claiming that Amway is "your store" and that buying Amway products is "buying from yourself" makes about as much sense as claiming that sweeping up the floor at Macy's makes Macy's your personal department store.
When you buy from Amway, all that's happening is that you are paying for overpriced products that can be bought cheaply and more more conveniently at a retail store. You get a lousy ten-buck reimbursement at the end of the month that doesn't come near the huge cost of those mediocre Amway products.
You're not "buying from your own store" when you buy Amway crap. All that's happening is that you are getting ripped off.
But Amway freaks are so irretrievably stupid that they simply cannot perceive this fact.
Good point. IBOs think they are buying from their own store but they are really buying from Amway. IBOs get fooled into thinking they own a business but in reality, they are customers of Amway and customers of the system (WWDB, BWW, N21).
And then, on the other side, they are commission only sales people working for Amway although there is no employer - employee relationship. More like an independent contractor.
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