AmwayTools?

I recently saw commentary which I thought was very significant about the Amway "educational" system. This system is not run by Amway, but the for profit motivational systems such as BWW, WWDB, LTD, N21 etal. In many cases, these systems are touted as the key to an IBO's success. Unfortunately, there is no unbiased evidence that I know of to suggest that these materials do anything to help an IBO progress towards their business goals. Furthermore, these materials cost money. If upline didn't succeed until downline succeeds, woudn't they want everyone moving along, tools or not? As far as I know, uplines don't offer much help unless you are on tools. Do they rally want your success or do they simply want your money?

Also, what is interesting is that IBOs do not have a indivudual training plan. Uplines are often refered to as "mentors". I disagree. A mentor would work with someone one on one and make an assessment as to how to train someone. That isn't what happens for most IBOs. IBOs receive generic information from the diamonds and are expected to know what information to use and what not to use. Some refer to the information as a "buffet" where you pick and choose what you want and need. But how can an inexperienced prospect or IBO know what is useful or not? The label "mentor" sounds like total BS to me. There is little individual attention given to IBOs.

Instead the upline will generalize all of their downline and tell them that that books, tapes/cds and seminars is how they should learn. That eliminates many people from succeeding already. Many people do not learn in these types of learning environments. Many people have difficulty in picking up information from a tape or cd. Some upline may not be good at transfering information to downline in this manner as well. After all, what qualifies someone to teach? They signed up before you and achieved some level of success, even if you can't verify that they are currently qualified.

But still, upline convinces the masses that a one size fits all teaching system. They may also encourage some people to overspend on these materials, without any regard to an IBO's finances or progression in the business. Techinically, a sponsor is supposed to train any downline without cost, yet the downlines literally spend millions to get "trained" but very few people actually make a net profit.

I wonder what sincere efforts your uplines make to train and to mentor downline? Flying to a seminar where they might make $100,000 for a weekend doesn't seem like much personal attention when perhaps over 10,000 may be in attendance.

These training materials might be the key to success. But that success is much more likely to be enjoyed by the people who are profiting by selling these materials, and not those who are purchasing them. That much I'm certain of.