I often find it comical that to this day, I still see people who like to hide the Amway name when recruiting others. I believe this tactic has been a major factor in why Amway has a bad reputation in North America. When I was recruited, I was lied to as well. I was invited to a "beer bust" only to find out it was an Amway meeting. I went home that night thinking WTH was that? They lie to us and then expect us to join the business. And to this day, I believe this practice continues. They might use another name such as "Liberty Marketing" or "Worldwide Group" to mask the opportunity they are pitching. My question is why?
Over the years, IBOs have tried all kinds of ways to disguise the Amway opportunity. In the past, it was network marketing, e-commerce, online shopping mall and the corporation even changed Amway in North America to "Quixtar". Sadly, the name change to quixtar did not work, probably because the same tactics were used when recruiting new IBOs into Quixtar. Amway eventually changed the name back to Amway. I believe this bad reputation in North America is why Amway, in years past, enjoyed the most business growth overseas where people either do not know the Amway name, and likely because there haven't been enough former Amway/AMO victims to soil the name in other countries. As markets mature and people get to know about Amway, we se what is happening now. Amway revenues have plummeted from 11.8 billion in 2013 to 8.8 billion (global) in 2016. That's a serious decline!So IBOs, how can you expect someone to trust you and do business with you if you are deceitful or outright lie about the Amway opportunity? Are you ashamed of the Amway name? If you are ashamed or scared to drop the "A bomb" on people, how will you ever be able to show any plans, let alone sponsoring anyone into the business? My former sponsor used to tell our group that the biggest challenge is overcoming the name Amway. To be fair, Amway the corporation is not the reason for the bad reputation. It is the unethical and bad behavior of IBOs that lead to a bad reputation but on the other hand, it's not the like Amway police have been cracking down and visibly taking action against the violators so Amway is also guilty to some degree.
Conversely, people who come right out and talk about Amway are unlikely to net any decent results either because of the past reputation. It's an almost no-win situation for IBOs and prospects. For these reasons, I believe it to be nearly impossible to build and maintain a group, especially if your goal is to reach diamond. It seems as if more diamonds have left Amway in recent years than there have been new diamonds. I believe this to be spot on for WWDB, my former LOS. So IBOs, are you ashamed of Amway? If not, why are there still so many IBOs using trickery and deception in recruiting prospects?
If you avoid using the Amway name, what are you ashamed of?
When Amway made the silly decision to switch its name to Quixtar, it only showed that the geezers in Ada, Michigan who were running the operation were still clueless about the internet.
ReplyDeleteIn 1970, you could still change a company's name and fool many people into thinking that you had no connection with your old name. But a lot has happened since then. Anyone by 2010 could do in-depth research on a computer, and discover tons of information that might otherwise be hidden. The internet hit Amway like a massive punch in the face, and they have never really recovered from it. Despite all their bullshit about being "on-line savvy," Amway's management is still trapped in a 1959 template of doing business.
This is the real reason why Amway IBOs find it nearly impossible to recruit anyone into a down-line, except the most ignorant, naive, and inexperienced losers. Everybody else can use a computer.
My brother got a call from a college friend, inviting him to hear him out about his new business. My brother asked what it was, jokingly saying he didn't want to drive all the way to hear about Amway. They guy on the other end went quiet, and awkwardly ended the call.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I can hammer that in to Amway distributors who claim to have "business mentality". If you're associated with a brand that you are deeply embarrassed by, you are probably in the wrong business. If you cannot meet prospects wearing a branded baseball cap (or in Amway's case, a tie - lol), run. I cannot overstate how silly this looks to the outside world. And that where the sales pitch to justify the expensive products is the premium brand!
It must be one of the biggest ironies in the Amway "business" opportunity, amongst some stiff competition.