Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Amway - Success Is About Sales

One of the things IBOs like to tout is how Amway had over 8 billion dollars in sales. That's great for Amway. The Amway corporation surely made a good profit from those sales. I'm pretty sure that the DeVos and Van Andel families would use Amway products. But I'm also sure that their purchases are an insignificant portion of the Amway Global sales. Most of their sales are to IBOs and to customers of IBOs. After paying operational costs and their eomployees, Amway makes a nice profit, which is why the families who own Amway are (last I heard) registered as billionaires.

IBOs, regardless of level, make up the sales force for Amway. But IBOs do not work for Amway. They are "Independent Business Owners". They are supplied products from Amway and receive their bonuses from Amway for the amount of volume they move. They can also sponsor downline which helps them to move more volume since downline's volume is also credited upline.

Many IBOs however, in the past and even today, hold the philosophy of "buy from youself and get others to do the same". I believe this method of running an Amway business was created because many people do not like the prospect of selling products, especially when the business often requires a "personal touch". Thus many IBOs simply buy from their own business and hope to sponsor a lot of downline. Sadly, most IBOs cannot sponsor anyone and cannot or do not sell Amway products.

Many IBOs are taught to move at least 100 PV, which is equal to about $300 in sales. However, if an IBO fails to sell any products, then effectively, the $300 in sales belongs to Amway and the IBO had nothing, rendering the IBO as a customer.
If the IBO sells a few items and consumes the majority of their 100 PV, then Amway still gets most of the sales and the IBO gets the rest.

The point it this. If your consumption dollars exceed your sales dollars, then whatever income you receive, is simply comiong out of your own pocket. It would be like clipping coupons and then when you use them at the store, you count the coupon value as profit. Ridiculous right? But sadly, it is what many IBOs have done, and continue to do today. What makes things worse is when an IBO spends their hard earned money to purchase standing order, voicemail, and seminar tickets where they teach this garbage. It's like paying your upline and Amway for the priviledge of consuming and sellling Amway products. Everyone makes a buck except the lower level IBOs.

Amway had over 8 billion dollars in sales last year. How much net profit do you think they would have if the DeVos and VanAndel families consumed most of that volume? Right, they would have massive losses. What makes IBOs think they are any different?

No comments: