Monday, August 6, 2012

Is Lying Important To IBOs?

One of the things that got me upset after I left the Amway business was the amount of lies and deceit used to attract IBOs, and to keep them in the business. My first encounter with the Amway business was being invited to a beer bust that was actually an open board plan at someone's house. I later attended a meeting and eventually sign up when a very good friend of mine had gotten in and had qualified as Gold Direct (at that time).

As an IBO, I was told that NOBODY made profits from tools. I was also told that WWDB was a non profit organization. Both were lies and to date, as far as I know, not a single WWDB leader has been held accountable for these lies. Other questionable statements were "we don't make pennies until you make dollars", and that upline truly cared about us, and that's why they put on functions. At the time, nobody really knew that some uplines might have been making a living off tools and not from Amway.

Things changed a bit later, with the advent of Quixtar, but then more lies came from many IBOs, such as Quixtar is not Amway and is not even related in anyway. Seems that tricking people into meetings has never changed over the years and still occurs today. There are pockets of IBOs who are ethical, but they are the exception and not the rule. We also saw the perfect water fiasco where IBOs were selling $48 cases of water that allegedly had magical powers, only to find out it was mostly a hoax and Amway finally stepped in to stop some of the wild claims.

The there's the age old lies told about IBO income. I recently had a conversation by email with an IBO who swore that he made $1000 a month from Amway and he said he would shut me up by sending me a PDF copy of his check. Well, none came and he blocked me from contacting him. Now I don't doubt that people can earn $1000 a month from Amway, but the cost will be a bunch of downline to eat losses so you can earn that magical check. Trying to get a straight answer about income from most IBOs is like decpihering hyroglyphics at times.

If you are usinng deception as part of your recruitment process or using other deceptive practices, then you may ask yourself what your prospect will think if and when they discover the truth? This may be why Amway IBOs drop out like flies, where more than 60% of IBOs drop out the first year. I have just touched the tip of the iceberg by the way, I may have to do a follow up blog post to cover more on this interesting topic.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot an important statement heard from the stage, CDs and read in Amway bull s*** books - "fake it until you make it!" Honestly they never make it either but they continue to fake it and hence new people fall into their trap day after day!
Unless you lie you cannot preach financial freedom and that too in 2-5 years time! All the examples they take are built over generations together and with hard work and more importantly crated assets over the years. What asset do you create in Amway? So it is obvious that they have to lie

Anonymous said...

IBO's don't lie, they just misrepresent the truth.


Anonymous said...

that's called lying. either it is the truth or it isn't. wake up.

Unknown said...

I have seen too many IBOs that don't make it when they base their business on lies & unethical practices. The sad thing is most of them don't have a better example!

Anonymous said...

Loosers , just bunch of cry babys .

Anonymous said...

^ i know you are, but what am i? :p

Unknown said...

You people have nothing better to do than to be negative and talk bad about a business committed to helping people realize their dream. Just because you MIGHT have had a bad experience doesn't mean that the Amway opportunity is a scam. Educate yourself and have facts before just bashing a fine organization.

Unknown said...

You people seem to be a bunch of negative, bashing individuals. Did any of you really actually TRY the Amway opportunity?? I did, the first month I signed up the amount I spent on my kit was paid back to me. I love the products, and they have done amazing things for me personally. That is one thing you CANNOT take from me, my PERSONAL experience. That is the best tactic to use with people. Your personal testimony cannot ever be questioned. Why dont you all just give the opportunity a chance and STOP being so negative. You never know, you might actually have a great experience like I did. Besides, it's NOT Amway you had the bad experience with, it was the person. Think about it.

Joecool said...

@William. It's the person and not Amway? What does Amway do to monitor their representative?

How does someone know when these "persons" are often friends and family?

Anonymous said...

william, go build your "business", little boy!

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for the blog, Joecool. Just read a couple of your articles and you reassured me in what I was scared of.I just signed up today because my friend was saying for months how great the skin products are. So she came today, showed me a DVD that looked like BS right away, but I trusted her so I paid $62 so I could start saving money on "great products". After she left I logged onto my account and wanted to purchase a couple of things. Well, the prices made me sick. Ok, I know skin care can be expensive and I don't mind that. But then I started comparing prices of other products:
1. The Amway paper towels cost $46.56 per 24 rolls. It says: If you like Bounty try these! Well Bounty cost $13 per 12 rolls=$26/24.
2. Detergent is $25.66. Tide is $12.95 for exact same amount.
3. Diapers are $38.08 per 36 ct. Pampers Cruisers are $37.94 per 152 ct!!!!!!!
And these prices don't even include shipping!
How is it saving me any money? While one can sit and tell me about "great quality", I can understand if it applies to something like makeup, but I'm sorry, I just don't see how diapers that cost nearly 4 times more than a very good brand (Pampers) can be any different? Are they gonna guarantee that my child will go to Harvard or become or CEO of oil company? Just why should I pay 4 times the amount of what I'm paying right now? Oh! I think I know why! Probably because every single person on top of me must make some money by me purchasing the products! Like you stated: "Now I don't doubt that people can earn $1000 a month from Amway, but the cost will be a bunch of downline to eat losses so you can earn that magical check." Spot on! This concept infuriates me! To me it's a perfect example that the well-known quality of Amway isn't even there. I'm going to cancel my membership tomorrow and I'm not giving a penny to these people. I'm absolutely disgusted by the whole concept.

Anonymous said...

@anonymous above. If you like the concept of MLM, why not try a company that does actually save you money. Research is best :D

Anonymous said...

I had an upline who was a Diamond and would send out messages via overpriced voicemail systems. He would talk about dinners with friends chowing down on amazing burgers and huge amounts of beef. Many of the Platinums would laugh because he would be at McDonalds.

He was famous for saying, "It's not lying, it's motivating."