Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The New Amway?

When I was a young IBO, I saw the plan and thought it was realistic to go direct and to find six (6) downlines who could do the same thing. I didn't know the realistic chances of doing this, but the presentation made sense so I went with it. I basically built my group on excitement and it seemed like the system could work. Sadly, as I climbed the ranks, my bottom line did not change. I did not "net" $200 at the 1000 PV level, and I did not "net" $1000 a month at 4000 PV as my upline taught. I had the parameters they taught, but the reality was that my leaders taught everyone to pump what little profits we earned into buying more tools. We were also told that this was the new Amway, not the Amway that people had known all these years.

My leaders also taught people to get out of debt, which was good advice on the surface, but at the same time, any disposable income left over was to be channeled into tools, and for those who did not escape debt, they were told it was okay to go deeper in debt, but only if it was to "invest" in their businesses by purchasing more tools. Thus it certainly appears that upline's advice was purely self serving and had nothing to do with an IBO's individual success. I guess this was the "new" Amway?

I was in WWDB and they (upline) said that WWDB was breaking the most new diamonds and that WWDB diamonds were the most profitable. So here it is more than a dozen years later, where are all these new diamonds? Aside from from foreign diamonds, there are (I believe) less than a handful of new diamonds from WWDB in the US from the time I left the business. Now I may be wrong, but even it was a few more than a handful of new diamonds, that is a miserable success rate given the amount of cash spent by downline on tools and the claims made my upline about the tools.

We have also seen some WWDB diamonds end up in home foreclosures. Where is the integrity and financial acumen these leaders boasted about? Where is the success and long term financial security available to everyone that was touted? I believe more diamonds and emeralds fell out of qualification than new pins emerged. The business was promoted as one that would stand the test of time. Sadly, I believe WWDB and the Amway opportunity as promoted by WWDB has been a miserable failure.
There is little success to speak of, just he same old tired diamonds showing off a lifestyle that some of them apparently can no longer afford. Where is the success?

I'm still to see this "new" Amway.........

2 comments:

Steve said...

Hey Joecool,

The only numbers that matter are the ones that are real, and I have yet to meet anyone for whom the plan numbers are real.

When we hit silver for the first time (7500pv in one month and only 1/12th of the way to Q12), the function host at the rally told everyone we were making $80k a year - just like the numbers in the plan he had shown earlier in the day.

"Remember when I showed you the profit at 7500pv? That's what these guys have done!" he exclaimed.

We weren't making diddly squat above all of our product purchases and business expenses.

Then he took it one step further. "For all the guests in the room... just to give you an example... anyone who has ever hit 7500pv in a month, stand up," he said.

Well, that included our sponsor who just went 7600pv and their sponsor who just went 7700pv and people were standing up all over the room. I don't believe one of them was earning $100 a month.

But it sure looked good to the guests and I'm sure some of them got started because of it.

The truth is that the comp plan doesn't work without a ton (200-300) RETAIL customers, and no one has them which is why the Emeralds and above make the majority of their money outside the plan.

Think of it this way.

If you have 100 RETAIL customers buying $100 BV a month - every month - you'd make about $2500. If you sell at wholesale, you don't make jack.

WWDB has set the requirement for Double Eagle at 8 customers, and almost no one even does that legitimately.

Further, most "Diamonds" are already out of qualification by the time they cross stage at Free Enterprise, but that's a whole 'nother story.

Anonymous said...

If you do the maths you can only make money at crown level. Then you have a with and can handle legs falling apart. With the quit rates i dont believe the diamonds stay qualified long enough to make money. Below that you are obviously not going to make anything.