There were some interesting discussion points on my Failure By Design article so I wanted to write a follow up and point out even more reasons why you are doomed to failure in Amway. As discussed earlier, if most IBOs and prospects do little or nothing, then that's already a more than 50% failure rate. Out of the remaining who apply themselves and try to make an effort to profit, less than 50% of those IBOs will make any money because that's how Amway and most other MLM's are designed.
But what makes Amway even worse? It's the systems such as WWDB, Network 21 or BWW that teach you how to fail. Of course they will call it "CORE steps" or teaching you hot to be successful but what these steps actually teach you is how to engage a lot of your time in activities that cost you money (business expenses) but there are hardly any activities that produce income. Showing the plan can help your business but even many Amway defenders will claim that there's maybe a 20% sponsorship rate. I personally doubt this because most people wanting to sponsor never do. The other step that can make you money is to retail (sell products) but with Amway's bad reputation plus having generic quality products at premium prices, Amway is a tough sell.
The other "success steps" such as reading books, listening to CDs and attending seminars and meetings are activities that cost you money but bring on no income. And these activities comprise the majority of an IBO's time and resources. Even current IBOs can track their activity and expenses and easily see that I am correct. In the famous 6-4-2 plan, the majority of IBOs only earn 100 PV which gets them a (gross income) bonus of about $10. An IBO listening to CDs, participating in voicemail and books and functions easily exceed $150 a month in business expenses and more if they are hard core dedicated. If you were like me where the large quarterly functions (i.e. Family Reunion or Summer Conference) took a plane ticket to get there, then the expenses were enormous relative to the $10 that many IBOs earn.
The only way an IBO can actually make decent money is to sponsor a lot of downline, who in turn will absorb the upline's losses and allow for a profit, or to sell products like crazy. But I've never seen or heard of a platinum who achieved that level by retailing Amway products alone. Those who do an open minded and honest price assessment will easily see that Amway products are overpriced. The products are overpriced by design, because those generous Amway bonuses that your diamonds and emeralds receive are included in the price of AMway products. How else can Amway pay those bonuses? The Amway owners aren't billionaires for no reason.
So there you have it. Amway is a business opprtunity where the vast majority of those who try, fail. But former Amway IBOs and people who had a brush with Amway shouldn't feel bad. They failed because Amway is designed to make most people fail, in my opinion and I have explained how and why I have formed that opinion. Good luck if you read this and still join hoping to overcome the overwhelming odds.
You could make money in Amway simply by selling products to the general public, but you would have to be a really super salesman who could talk persons into buying expensive things that they could get more cheaply elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, this is why IBOs in Third-World countries often do better than North American IBOs. In a small, undeveloped poor country, there might not be a lot of competitive products for sale. So when the Amway guy comes around with his suitcase full of glitzy samples, Third-World customers are dazzled and will buy from him. That won't happen in a big capitalist country where the shelves are crammed with plenty of different products.
I think you also might have some success retailing Amway products in a small, isolated, rural community in the United States where everybody knows everybody else. Because of the limited population and the close interaction of people, a single person in town selling Amway stuff might develop a good business. Of course, in a small out-of-the-way place like that, it would be suicidal of him to try to develop a down-line.
Anonymous at 2:25pm
ReplyDeleteI agree and on that last point, the guy would definitely need to not build a downline. He would only sell and he could make maybe 400 a month or so. More if he could retail to local farmers in the small town and sell that expensive fertilizer. Otherwise no good.
In other news Amway laid off 90 employees in the North America division. Also a testing company that was contracted via Amway (they also owned rights to it) closed down as well...
And more news on why Amway is part of the gig culture and is like Uber and will be what everybody does soon.*shivers*
~Joseph Manman