Monday, October 12, 2015

Do Amway IBOs Actually Sell Stuff?

I've been debating with some IBOs about retail sales to customers. While many IBOs claim to have real customers and to teach retail, the reality seems to paint a different picture. Even an Amway corporate blogger at one time wrote a piece stating that sales to non IBOs were 3.4% of Amway (Quixtar) sales a few years back. Apologists will say that many IBOs are actually customers who only buy stuff and do not build the business. While there might be some IBO customers, I highly doubt that the majority of IBOs are paying renewal fees just to buy soap and overpriced vitamins.

I know some groups have their schtick down. They will say they "teach" their IBOs to have sales to about 20 customers which gives them a monthly income and allows them to qualify for a PV bonus. It certainly sounds great, but I would bet that IBOs with 20 actual regular customers are about as common as a founder's diamond. In many groups, the IBOs are taught to "buy from themselves" primarily. Thus the income generated for the diamonds simply comes out of the pockets of their downline IBOs. Sadly, "serious" IBOs often wind up paying their upline (via tool sales) to learn that this sham is a good idea.

I can prove right here that IBOs are not focused on selling products. The focus is on selling the opportunity. How can I prove it? Very simple. Every single time I have seen or heard about the Amway business, there was talk about the economy, inflation, etc. The speaker talks about his easy lifestyle, and how he made it bbig by capitalizing on an opportunity, the Amway oportunity. Then the 6-4-2 plan or some similar variation is shown to the audience. It is shown as "simple", "reasonable" and "doable". The plan is about making money, typically six figures at the diamond level and a decent income at the platinum level. There is little mention about having to sell products, and little or no mention about the actual products that Amway carries. The hype in the meetings is to sell the opportunity. Sure, after the plan is over, a prospect might be given some samples and such, but the emphasis is still on the business opportunity. The products are usually a side note in the presentation.

While IBOs might talk a good game about selling products, the reality is that many active IBOs have very few actual customers. It is my informed opinion that even the few real customers are often sympathetic friends and family of the IBO, rather then people who are genuinely seeking Amway good and services. I wonder if anyone in Amway has ever "shown the plan" by starting out with product presentations and samples? When you really think about it, unless the business has real customers, all you are doing is exploiting those you sponsor for their personal consumption, which might benefit your business a bit, but won't benefit your downline unless they can dupe others into joining them.

So take a real look at your business. Are you actually selling goods to outside customers are are you engaged in a personal consumption game? My undedrstanding is that an IBO does not qualify for a bonus without sales to actual customers. Are you legit or not?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So true....the emphasis was always on duplication not sales...in fact it was constantly mentioned that it was never about sales and recruiting but instead mentorship....if no products are sold and no one else is recruited then how do you build a business just being mentored.....I read somewhere that in order for this not to be considered a pyramid at one time IBO's had to have at least 10 retail customers(might be in the states I'm from Canada) any truth to that because it's certainly never was mentioned to me

Joecool said...

Amway used to have a 10 customer rule but I believe they now have a 50PV retail rule. That is supposed to keep your business legitimate but I suspect most IBOs hardly sell anything. I've read where IBOs just use a friend or relative's address to circumvent the retail sales rule to make it look like customers are making purchases.

Anonymous said...

Yes that's what I was exposed to.....my up line even said I could use my dog or she had used her 1 year old son as a customer

Joecool said...

I bet Amway IBOs actually have very few legitimate customers. The rest are as you said, just ways to circumvent the system.

Anonymous said...

Amway doesn't have many non-IBO customers because nobody really wants the shit.

Anonymous said...

I did it in the 90s & had 147 people in the group 90% who never did squat..sponsored 9 wide & after 3 1/2 yrs & at least $30,000 later, maybe more from loss of regular income and buying crap I didnt need to qualify & later actually had an IRS audit cause I was losing $$ & they said it wasnt a legit business,,, it was, just a LOUSY business... & I even went into a side business with my emerald, another con who claimed to be a born again guy..... who was full of crap all along.... a lot of positive bull tapes, books, functions and then they peddle the false gospel of prosperity preaching..to con you more .. MAJOR SCAM if you dive in 100%... the profit margin on peddling products sucks too... SCAM . the worst is my upline was all Doctors so I believed these successful cretans... The others were FAKING it until they make it which 99.99% never did. TOTAL SCAM. I will admit that when I first saw this .. I told my wife : MAJOR SCAM but the blend of right wing christianity, professionals in the biz? was the perfect con even though most of them lost their asses & reputation. basically it WAS A brilliant CON & I like many fell for it. Because of the politicial ties.. the scammers continue however if you do the research it & look into the lawsuits youll find most of the emeralds & diamonds arent in it anymore... In fact many were making BIG bucks speaking & selling motivational crap & not even qualifying ... SCAM there are other ways to make a buck. Sure youll see one or 2 tell you the BS I retired bla bla bla .. but remember John Gotti & Bernie Madoff did ok for quite some time too. Heed the warning... The sad thing.. is the Amway corp looked the other way while many just lost a couple hundred but many others.. middle to upper middle class lost BIG & even worse .. you can get back those years when your kids are small. the funniest thing is they say "yoou can party with the diamonds on the beaches of the world" & Id tell my wife, the $$ Id like but hanging out with those people? forget it & the 5-10 hours a week? LOL

Anonymous said...

You're right. It's only common sense that if Amway's stuff is so "great", why isn't it readily available? It's the pyramid scheme and it would crumble. Their products are not superior to others and you pay more to feed the upline . I don't see how people fall for the scam in this information age we live in. Amway's reputation precedes them in epic failures of millions. I'm surprised they're still around.

Joecool said...

Thanks for your comments and I had a good sized group as well. But even doing what I was told, I made no money. For that reason, I believe the systems are a scam and Amway enables them.