One of the defenses I have heard from Amway apologists is a comparison of the Amway opportunity to a gym membership. The defense is that you have to do something to get results. On that point, I agree. Except the comparison is ridiculous as a gym is not a business opportunity. A gym membership is a product/service that one can purchase. It seems that many Amway defenders so deperately want to justify their positions that they come up with silly comparisons.
If the Amway oportunity was compared to a gym owner, wouldn't that be a better comparion? On that point, if you were recruited to be a gym owner, wouldn't you demand to know how other gyms are doing financially? Wouldn't you want to know the likelihood of success if you were to open a gym? Wouldn't you need to know about operating expenses and potential income before you even thinking about buying a gym?
What if you were told that maybe only 9 or 10 out of 10,000 gym owners make enough income to live on? If more than half of the gyms went out of business in their first year, would you still be interested? If the greater majority of gym owners lost money, would you still be interested? If the majority of gym owners lost money, and many lost lots of money, would that interest you?
Wouldn't any investor with an ounce of business savvy look at this gym opportunity and run in the opposite direction?
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Amway Global - Businesses Recruit!
A commentor on this blog recebtly left a comment saying businesses recruit. Businesses all need people and therefore, someone basically needs to recruit them. I agree with that. But my entire point is that Amway doesn't pay you to recruit. It is why they were found to be legal on that point.
But oddly, the emphasis of many IBOs is to recruit others. Why is that? Why is it important to recruit downline? Don't you have to make the first circle work first?
My anonymous commentor said I should show me a business that doesn't have people working for them. I have a different take on it. Show me a business where people pay to do the work or work for free.
In Amway, most of the IBOs who are dedicated to the teaching system end up with losses. Their upline gets a cut from their purchases and sales, and someone upline makes a nice profit from selling them teaching materials. Therefore these IBOs are taking a loss month after month. Bascially they are paying their upline to be in the Amway business. It is only when the said IBO "recruits" enough downline to absorb his losses does he start to break even or make a profit.
Do the math. 100 PV gets you a $10 bonus. Monthly tools cost can range from $100 to $500 or more, depending on your upline and level of commitment. 300 PV gets you about a $40 bonus. 1000 PV may net you a $250 bonus. If most IBOs are unable to sponsor a single downline, you can see how difficult it will be to progress.
Maybe you need to start recruiting? LOL :D
But oddly, the emphasis of many IBOs is to recruit others. Why is that? Why is it important to recruit downline? Don't you have to make the first circle work first?
My anonymous commentor said I should show me a business that doesn't have people working for them. I have a different take on it. Show me a business where people pay to do the work or work for free.
In Amway, most of the IBOs who are dedicated to the teaching system end up with losses. Their upline gets a cut from their purchases and sales, and someone upline makes a nice profit from selling them teaching materials. Therefore these IBOs are taking a loss month after month. Bascially they are paying their upline to be in the Amway business. It is only when the said IBO "recruits" enough downline to absorb his losses does he start to break even or make a profit.
Do the math. 100 PV gets you a $10 bonus. Monthly tools cost can range from $100 to $500 or more, depending on your upline and level of commitment. 300 PV gets you about a $40 bonus. 1000 PV may net you a $250 bonus. If most IBOs are unable to sponsor a single downline, you can see how difficult it will be to progress.
Maybe you need to start recruiting? LOL :D
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Amway Global - It's All About Recruiting?
One of the reasons Amway Global is considered legal is because agents are not paid directly for recruiting others. Some other MLM opportunities were shut down in the past for this very reason. That being said, just because an opportunity is legal doesn't mean that it is profitable for those involved and it doesn't mean that it is a long term sustainable source of income and many would lead you to believe.
What's interesting is that despite the fact that Amway doesn't pay you for recruiting, it is the emphasis of many IBOs, and the emphasis of much of the teaching in some AMOs. This is because coveted levels such as "emereald" or "diamond" cannot be achieved without recruiting downline. These coveted levels are often promoted with displays of lavish lifestyles, thus the desire of many IBOs is to recruit everyone they know in the hopes of achieving these lifestyles. Sadly, very very few will ever attain those lifestyles, and some of the people who do attain them are not able to sustain them.
Unfortunately, much of Amway's spotty reputation is directly due to some questionable recruitment tactics. People are often tricked into attending meetings, or lured into a meeting without being told what the oportunity actually is. In my first brush with Amway, I was invited to a beer bust as a college student and when I arrived, I was greeted by my friend wearing a suit and the white board set up in the living room. Needless to say, I was not impressed and formed a poor opinion about Amway.
So IBOs and information seekers, if you are recruiting others, I would be of the opinion that honesty and openness about the opportunity is the best way to operate. You will still have people turn you down, but at least they won't form negative opinions about Amway and the way you operate.
What's interesting is that despite the fact that Amway doesn't pay you for recruiting, it is the emphasis of many IBOs, and the emphasis of much of the teaching in some AMOs. This is because coveted levels such as "emereald" or "diamond" cannot be achieved without recruiting downline. These coveted levels are often promoted with displays of lavish lifestyles, thus the desire of many IBOs is to recruit everyone they know in the hopes of achieving these lifestyles. Sadly, very very few will ever attain those lifestyles, and some of the people who do attain them are not able to sustain them.
Unfortunately, much of Amway's spotty reputation is directly due to some questionable recruitment tactics. People are often tricked into attending meetings, or lured into a meeting without being told what the oportunity actually is. In my first brush with Amway, I was invited to a beer bust as a college student and when I arrived, I was greeted by my friend wearing a suit and the white board set up in the living room. Needless to say, I was not impressed and formed a poor opinion about Amway.
So IBOs and information seekers, if you are recruiting others, I would be of the opinion that honesty and openness about the opportunity is the best way to operate. You will still have people turn you down, but at least they won't form negative opinions about Amway and the way you operate.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Amway Global - Prospecting?
Network marketing, own your own business, ecommerce, private franchises. These are some of the common buzzwords that many IBOs have used in the past as a way to get someone curious enough to see the Amway marketing plan. Our group was told not to disclose the Amway name unless directly asked.
I believe this method is still used today, except that I haven't seen any single particular approach recently. I know of one particular blogger has been very active in informing IBOs that they should not be advertising their business on Craigslist. I do see some IBOs still trying to gain prospects on myspace and facebook. Some of these IBOs really need to keep their stories consistent though. LOL One dude on facebook prospected my and said he made $5000 a month in Amway. A month later, he forgot who I was and tried to prospect me again and this time he said he made $80,000a year. When I asked him about the discrepancy, he decided to put me on ignore. LOL
So IBOs, are you honest about what you are trying to sell? Do you hide the Amway name? Are you still trying the curiosity approach? Do you outright lie about the Amway opportunity? Are you prospecting people online? Are you hanging out at Starbucks and at malls looking for "sharp" people?
I find the whole thing funny. And what's also funny is that I did this once upon a time. LOL :D
I believe this method is still used today, except that I haven't seen any single particular approach recently. I know of one particular blogger has been very active in informing IBOs that they should not be advertising their business on Craigslist. I do see some IBOs still trying to gain prospects on myspace and facebook. Some of these IBOs really need to keep their stories consistent though. LOL One dude on facebook prospected my and said he made $5000 a month in Amway. A month later, he forgot who I was and tried to prospect me again and this time he said he made $80,000a year. When I asked him about the discrepancy, he decided to put me on ignore. LOL
So IBOs, are you honest about what you are trying to sell? Do you hide the Amway name? Are you still trying the curiosity approach? Do you outright lie about the Amway opportunity? Are you prospecting people online? Are you hanging out at Starbucks and at malls looking for "sharp" people?
I find the whole thing funny. And what's also funny is that I did this once upon a time. LOL :D
Monday, November 30, 2009
Amway Global - The Reality?
Some IBOs and Amway supporters recently, and in the past have accused Joecool of planting "seeds of doubt" in the minds of IBOs. Granted, I am a critic of the Amway Global opportunity but it's not like I am telling lies about the Amway business. I am basically telling my story, and what I see wrong with the Amway opportunity, which is primarily the motivational groups such as WWDB, Network 21, and/or BWW.
These motivational groups entice prospects to join Amway, and then encourage the IBOs to subscribe to KATE, standing order, book of the month, attend seminars, open meetings, etc. These materials and seminars are often promoted as "key to your success" or "vital" to your business, yet there is no bonafide evidence that these materials help anyone to build a profitable business. Instead, the vast majority of IBOs end up channeling money into these materials, which makes their uplines wealthy. I see it as a gross conflict of interest very unethical. Yet for years, these uplines have shamelessly emptied the pockets of the downline, all the while pretending to be great leaders and teachers. If these teachings actually led to business success, there would be few critics. Some Amway apologists will claim that most if not all who go diamond and above use the system, and at the same time, disregard the millions of IBOs over the years who used the same system with no results. What I find very humorous is that the Amway Champion himself (IBOFightback) has apparently not achieved anything of significance in Amway, except for his 3% bonus, if even that.
What Amway supporters may call "seeds of doubt", is in reality, I believe an IBO's conscience simply telling the IBO that what is printed on this blog is probably the truth and that what is said here often makes more sense than what upline is teaching.
So IBOs and prospects, ask yourself, are these seeds of doubt or simply awakening your conscience who tells you to think twice?
These motivational groups entice prospects to join Amway, and then encourage the IBOs to subscribe to KATE, standing order, book of the month, attend seminars, open meetings, etc. These materials and seminars are often promoted as "key to your success" or "vital" to your business, yet there is no bonafide evidence that these materials help anyone to build a profitable business. Instead, the vast majority of IBOs end up channeling money into these materials, which makes their uplines wealthy. I see it as a gross conflict of interest very unethical. Yet for years, these uplines have shamelessly emptied the pockets of the downline, all the while pretending to be great leaders and teachers. If these teachings actually led to business success, there would be few critics. Some Amway apologists will claim that most if not all who go diamond and above use the system, and at the same time, disregard the millions of IBOs over the years who used the same system with no results. What I find very humorous is that the Amway Champion himself (IBOFightback) has apparently not achieved anything of significance in Amway, except for his 3% bonus, if even that.
What Amway supporters may call "seeds of doubt", is in reality, I believe an IBO's conscience simply telling the IBO that what is printed on this blog is probably the truth and that what is said here often makes more sense than what upline is teaching.
So IBOs and prospects, ask yourself, are these seeds of doubt or simply awakening your conscience who tells you to think twice?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Amway Global - Why IBOs Fail
It is not secret that many IBOs fail in the Amway business opportunity. The retention rate is poor, and frankly, the compensation for IBOs usually won't even cover the monthly cost of the website fees. So uplines should figure out why so many downline fail and then address it instead of advising IBOs to never quit and keep buying more tools. Based on what I experienced, I would have to say my uplines (who are still around today) didn't care about their downline, which is why we received bad advice such as IBOs had to keep paying for standing orders if your downlines quit.
But IBO failure goes beyond this. In order to sustain a business, you need to establish and build a customer base. Amway's own figures suggest that there is about 1 cutomer for every 4 IBOs. Less than 4% of Amway goods are sold to non IBOs. How can any business sustain itself in that manner?
Many IBOs will cite concentration and quality as the reason for Amway's premium prices. But it is apparent that it is primarily IBOs who see things this way. The public more likely sees Amway products as generic with premium prices. Ironically, IBOs seem to shift to the viewpoint of the general public once they stop being IBOs. Seem that IBOs don't mind premium prices when they believe Amway will allow them to retire early and walk the beaches of the world, but when that dream ends, so does product loyalty.
Hard work and effort doesn't necessarily equate success in Amway and I will explain. Say I was selling Iphones for $50. People would be flocking to me to buy one. I would probably run out of the Iphones before I ran out of customers. The price is great and thus the demand exceeds the supply. Now say I was selling regular cell phones and charging $1,000 for a regular run of the mill cell phone. I may sell one, but more likely my only sale will be to myself as a representative of the cell phone company. There would be no demand, only perhaps an artifical demand by the purchase of $1000 cell phones by the cell phone retailers. This is exactly what Amway IBOs, or sales people are experiencing. People in general don't care about the phytonutrients in double x. They see the whopping price and they buy vitamins at Walmart. As a side note, does the inclusion of phyotnutrients in a vitamin drive up the cost that much? I suspect not.
In any case, I believe this is why most IBOs fail. There are too many disadvantages to overcome.
But IBO failure goes beyond this. In order to sustain a business, you need to establish and build a customer base. Amway's own figures suggest that there is about 1 cutomer for every 4 IBOs. Less than 4% of Amway goods are sold to non IBOs. How can any business sustain itself in that manner?
Many IBOs will cite concentration and quality as the reason for Amway's premium prices. But it is apparent that it is primarily IBOs who see things this way. The public more likely sees Amway products as generic with premium prices. Ironically, IBOs seem to shift to the viewpoint of the general public once they stop being IBOs. Seem that IBOs don't mind premium prices when they believe Amway will allow them to retire early and walk the beaches of the world, but when that dream ends, so does product loyalty.
Hard work and effort doesn't necessarily equate success in Amway and I will explain. Say I was selling Iphones for $50. People would be flocking to me to buy one. I would probably run out of the Iphones before I ran out of customers. The price is great and thus the demand exceeds the supply. Now say I was selling regular cell phones and charging $1,000 for a regular run of the mill cell phone. I may sell one, but more likely my only sale will be to myself as a representative of the cell phone company. There would be no demand, only perhaps an artifical demand by the purchase of $1000 cell phones by the cell phone retailers. This is exactly what Amway IBOs, or sales people are experiencing. People in general don't care about the phytonutrients in double x. They see the whopping price and they buy vitamins at Walmart. As a side note, does the inclusion of phyotnutrients in a vitamin drive up the cost that much? I suspect not.
In any case, I believe this is why most IBOs fail. There are too many disadvantages to overcome.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Amway Works?
The business works if you work it! That's what many Amway enthusiats will claim. I do not believe that is true and I will further explain in this post. Many IBOs who claim that the business works are usually new and are unable to show any evidence that the business works, except perhaps to show a photocopied check from an upline diamond or the like.
Let me make a disclaimer that some people do make significant money from Amway, but most of those folks are tenured diamonds who are almost in an exclusive club. There is only a short list of new diamonds that I know of in the US, and I have heard that even these new diamonds may have had legs in other countries. It would seem that Amway is not growing in the US and Canada. Also of note, Amway did not release figures that are seperate between Amway North America and the rest of their overseas operations.
Ok, so Amway enthusiasts claim that the business works if you work it. Business in its simplest form is selling a product or service for a profit. Yet many many IBOs spend so much of their time doing other things, as advised by their upline "mentors" who sell them training materials that take up much of their valuable time. Listening to tapes/cds, attending functions, reading books, and other training activities not only costs the IBO money, but takes up valuable time in non -income producing activities. Nobody makes sales reading books or attending seminars.
Inviting people to see "the plan" may be a way to help generate volume but with Amway's reputation, even this is a hit and (mostly) miss activity.
Yet IBOs spend almost all of their time doing ese activities (the work) when they could be better off not getting the training and focusing on selling the Amway products and services. Even that comes with a handicap as Amway products as a whole, costs a lot more than purchasing similar or the same products as a big retailer such as Costco or WalMart. It is why most IBOs eventually get discouraged and quit far before the promoted 2-5 year plan.
Few people will even bother to see the plan once you mention "Amway" and for those who are open minded and motivated to register end up having to deadl with a hard to sell opportunity along with high priced common commodities such as soap, vitamins and energy drinks. It's pretty easy to see that the business does not work, even for most of those who actually work it. There are simply too many issues with the business that hanidcaps those brave enough to try. It seems even the fiercest defenders of Amway are unable to provide a shred of evidence that they have actually made a profit from this opportunity.
Let me make a disclaimer that some people do make significant money from Amway, but most of those folks are tenured diamonds who are almost in an exclusive club. There is only a short list of new diamonds that I know of in the US, and I have heard that even these new diamonds may have had legs in other countries. It would seem that Amway is not growing in the US and Canada. Also of note, Amway did not release figures that are seperate between Amway North America and the rest of their overseas operations.
Ok, so Amway enthusiasts claim that the business works if you work it. Business in its simplest form is selling a product or service for a profit. Yet many many IBOs spend so much of their time doing other things, as advised by their upline "mentors" who sell them training materials that take up much of their valuable time. Listening to tapes/cds, attending functions, reading books, and other training activities not only costs the IBO money, but takes up valuable time in non -income producing activities. Nobody makes sales reading books or attending seminars.
Inviting people to see "the plan" may be a way to help generate volume but with Amway's reputation, even this is a hit and (mostly) miss activity.
Yet IBOs spend almost all of their time doing ese activities (the work) when they could be better off not getting the training and focusing on selling the Amway products and services. Even that comes with a handicap as Amway products as a whole, costs a lot more than purchasing similar or the same products as a big retailer such as Costco or WalMart. It is why most IBOs eventually get discouraged and quit far before the promoted 2-5 year plan.
Few people will even bother to see the plan once you mention "Amway" and for those who are open minded and motivated to register end up having to deadl with a hard to sell opportunity along with high priced common commodities such as soap, vitamins and energy drinks. It's pretty easy to see that the business does not work, even for most of those who actually work it. There are simply too many issues with the business that hanidcaps those brave enough to try. It seems even the fiercest defenders of Amway are unable to provide a shred of evidence that they have actually made a profit from this opportunity.
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