Joecool Off To Vegas Again?

Another vacation for Joecool.  I'll be back on Tuesday or so.  Until then, please enjoy an article about Amway and recruiting.

What does the HR department is a company do? Recruit?  That's what I was told when a diamond speaker was trying to downplay the fact that so many Amway IBOs are focused on recruiting. If you've ever been accosted by a zealous and probably new Amway IBO, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. Newly sponsored IBOs often have the motivation and zeal to try to recruit anyone and everyone they know. They are trying to achieve what upline has told them is needed to accomplish their "dreams". Afterall, nobody is going diamond or even platinum without an army of downline right?  But it also begs the question, in addition to being unpaid commission only sales people for Amway. IBOs are also unpaid HR staff who do the recruiting as well?  Isn't it amazing how much free for work Amway the uplines get their faithful followers to do for Amway?  It's great for Amway, but maybe not so much for the IBOs.

But upon closer inspection, you can see the real problem. I mean if I as an IBO, someone could simply sell tons of products for a profit, then the focus doesn't have to be on recruiting, but simply on sales. But over the years, I've unsuccessfully challenged IBOs and Amway defenders to name 1 or 2 people who has sizable Amway businesses sustained primarily by sales and not by recruiting an army. Of course, nobody has even been able to give me an answer.  And that's because Amway products are generic in nature but premium in prices. It makes it a tough sell when your friends and family can get far more product and value at a retailer at a fraction of the cost of Amway products. Try doing an open-minded price comparison and you'll easily see what I mean.  I've seen some Amway IBO created price comparisons and they don't hold up well to scrutiny.

For these reasons, upline developed the concept of buy from yourself and get others to do the same. People generally do not like selling things anyway, so it makes sense that a concept of buying from your own store makes the Amway business seem more palatable to the masses. Of course, the problem with this method is that you end up focusing on recruiting and you've basically turned Amway into a product pyramid scheme. Look at the FTC vs. Herbalife some years back. They found that a majority of sales were not made to actual customers but appeared to be made to the distributors themselves. Herbalife is required to track these sales now and it's yet to be seen how this FTC injunction will impact Herbalife long term.  

But if you're a prospect or an IBO and focused on recruiting, then you are likely doing so because you too, are unable to sell Amway products just like all the critics claim. Oh, I've heard stories of people having hordes of customers, but nobody has ever shown evidence of such.   Nobody can answer why the "diamonds" seemingly have large groups of downline "buying from themselves". Like the mysterious "Amway retirees" that no one can identify, nobody has been able to identify a few successful and sustainable Amway businesses that relies on product sales primarily. It's because the majority of groups are basically focused on recruiting and running pyramid schemes.