I hear many Amway supporters mention that you will have a real business if you treat it like one. It is my observation that most IBOs do not treat their businesses like a real one. It is also my opinion that the Amway business itself is flawed and many IBOs, in their zeal to sponsor downline, do crazy things at times, such as tricking people into meetings, or being deceptive and misleading. Some IBOs are taught "fake it till you make it". Many IBOs never sell a product and never sponsor anyone. How can anyone build a business under those conditions. Yet that is the most common experience for newbies. Many IBOs do nothing and quit. Knowing these factors, how can anyone expect to build a business when most can't sell products or sponsor people, and when people get sponsored, most "do nothing and quit"?
Many IBOs do not bother to qualify their prospects. They will sponsor anyone who is breathing. It could be due to uplines making the business seem easy. For example, I have heard that going platinum is so easy that someone's dog can go platinum. Another mistake IBOs make is they do not look at the likelihood of an IBO succeeding. They will sponsor anyone, anywhere. Like real stores, opening a new one creates competition and I don't know of any IBOs who take this into consideration before recruiting a new prospect. The solution to a faltering business is apparently to attempt to open more "Amway stores" despite a lack of sales.
New recruits are also encouraged to partake in the teaching system, regardless of their expectations and business goals. This participation in the system is what often leads to IBO failure (business losses). They spend more on tools than what they generate in income. This heavily contributes to the poor retention rate among IBOs. Even IBOs who can progress and make some money will be simply channeling their profits to upline by their tools consumption. It is my informed guess that an IBO must reach the 4000 to platinum level before they start to break even. However, with that said, a hard core dedication to the system can render a 4000 or platinum into a lose money business. And If I might add, only about 1 in 400 IBOs reach the Gold level (source Amway.com) so you are already facing overwhelming odds just to reach the alleged break even point in Amway.
Here's the real test for an IBO. Walk into a bank. Speak to a loan officer and show the loan officer the 6-4-2 or 9-4-2 plan, whichever plan your group uses. And see if the loan officer will grant you a loan based on that plan. It is more likely that you be laughed out of the bank. Seriously, the plan only makes sense, apparently to people who are unable to properly evaluate a business plan. That's because the presentation is more about selling dreams and hopes than about running a profitable business.
Amway doesn't make the slightest business sense, in any conventional understanding of business operations. The idea of signing up ANYBODY to be an IBO, regardless of whether that person shows any capacity for sales or recruitment, is the first red flag. You wouldn't even hire someone to be a street sweeper unless he showed some ability to fulfill the responsibilities of the job.
ReplyDeleteTaking on anybody to be an IBO is proof that Amway is essentially about building down-line, and milking them of fees for tools and functions. The only qualification you need to be in Amway is to have a pulse, and some money. And yes -- signing up lots of persons in your immediate vicinity would be suicidal in any real business. All the IBOs would be in ferocious competition with each other to sign up a down-line, and to sell Amway products at retail to non-members. And of course the products aren't really for retail -- they can't compete with popular store brands, and are mostly self-consumed by the IBOs who order them so as to meet their monthly PV requirement.
Amway was NEVER about the products. Amway was always about mindless enthusiasm, and getting deluded people to send you money every month.