Is This Amway?

The proper answer to this question is “Yes.”

Not, something like this:

I contract with Amway Global through (Organization/LOA’s name.) Are you familiar with (Organization/LOA’s name?) They usually answer ‘no’ or ‘I don’t think so.’ I follow up with: You’re probably more familiar with our Power Brands Nutrilite & Artistry.

I feel this is very misleading. Dropping the LOS name is a way to deflect the true answer you should be giving to your prospects and customers, that you are a contracted sales representative for Amway Global.

What’s wrong in saying that?

You’re not going through your LOS to get to Amway; you signed a document with Amway Global when you became an IBO. Did you also sign a document with your LOS? Now, it’s been several years since I was an IBO, but I don’t ever recall doing so with INA (my LOS at the time). The BSMAA yes, but that’s something altogether different.

You Amway business is built by selling products, not tools. The System’s purpose is to sell tools and function tickets. “Our” power brands Nutrilite and Artistry does not include WWDB, INA, Yager, Britt, or N21 on its labels.

My point is if you’re content with hiding behind your LOS/LOS/System’s name instead of the Amway name, you’re probably not going to get far in your Amway business. Sooner or later the truth is going to come out, and you’re going to look like an idiot to your customer and prospect, who’s going to feel like s/he’s received the bait and switch.

Joecool has more thoughts on this topic.

IBOFB has thoughts on this topic on The Truth About Amway.

Easy Street Blog Is No More

Well, that was fast. The Easy Street Blog is now showing a Blog not found error on Blogger.

Will we ever find out who Bill was? Was he really an IBO or a someone pretending to be an IBO? Certainly someone out there knows for sure, and he or she isn’t talking.

I like this quote from one of his last posts:

All in all, I was very encouraged by this meeting and I plan to work hard to keep moving up the ranks. I will continue to blog on my progress. I will never quit!

Famous last words!

What Else Are They Making?

From mlive.com, an interview with Steve Van Andel and Doug DeVos on the state of Amway. Here’s a quote from the end of the article:

A number of years ago we made the decision to begin contract manufacturing here and we did that because our volume here was small enough we needed to fill up the capacity here.
…
Today, it looks like half the business we do here is contract, the other half we do is Amway business. We expect as time goes on that will always shift a little bit to make sure we’re competitive.

I touched on this topic before in the past, but I never got a satisfactory answer on the nature of these contract products and the identities of the third-party customers. Anyone have any additional information to share?

Also, does “half the business we do here is contract” mean $4.1 billion out of the $8.2 billion sales figures came from contract manufacturing not tied to the Amway business? Somehow I don’t think that’s the case, but the way the quote is worded makes it seem that way.

Like I said in my earlier post, it makes sense for the corporation to do contract work if they have the resources and availability. I would like to see more light shed on these third-party deals that have in place. What third-party products are manufactured by Amway and how much do these rebranded products cost?

Beans, Beans, Beans

There’s a new thread on AmwayTalk from a brand-new IBO called Beans:

I’m a new IBO. I just joined about three weeks ago, and every time I get with my upline and everything I get totally pumped about the business, but then I come home and google it and read all the negative stuff all over and it’s a real downer. I get to wondering if I made the right decision. I see how I can make money, but then I wonder if by I’m causing other people to lose money by bringing them into the business. It’s just difficult. I have noticed though that most negative blogs and things aren’t very recent, so that helps a bit. I’m not totally sure where I’m going with this but basically I’m just looking for some encouragement as I start out. Also, could I get some slight clarification on the whole “Diamonds make most of their money on selling books and tapes” :confused: ordeal because that seems to be one of the most popular arguments. Thank you very much.

Who should Beans listen to? Critics or supporters? I found myself in this exact same situation the day after I signed up. I went onto the Internet and found a few sites critical of the Amway business. Distraught over this information, I spoke with my uplines, and they convinced me not to believe everything that I read about the corporation on the Internet. And so I stuck it out, rarely going back to anti-Amway web sites until after I had quit.

This was a clearly a mistake on my part. Looking back, I should have listened to what I was reading and left the business immediately. It would have saved me two and a half productive years of my life.

When people quit the business, there’s a period of time where they want to have absolutely, positively, nothing to do with the business. They don’t want to hear about the name Amway/Quixtar, they don’t want to see any product (i.e. they throw everything away) and they more certainly don’t want to listen to any tape or CD (which they also throw away). This is why many critics seem to be from 5-10 years ago. It takes time for many critics to recover and be able to speak about their experiences.

Speaking for North American IBOs, there’s a reason why critics exists, and it’s to provide a cautionary tale for those who find themselves being prospected for or in the Amway/Quixtar business. My advice to Beans is to read up all you can about the positive and negative about the business and make your own decision. Start with the goal in mind and determine if Amway… or some other business opportunity… will help you achieve your goal.

Sell Avon Super Bowl Commercial

While watching the Super Bowl yesterday, I noticed one of the first commercials was from Avon. The ad featured Avon distributors talking about the positive impact having an Avon business had had in their lives.

I feel this was a more effective ad than the Now You Know Amway Global ads they have been airing for the past year. These ads seem to be re-introducing the company, whereas Avon’s already assumes the viewer knows what Avon is. Maybe Amway needed to prop itself up because its distributors have done such a bad job and left such a bad taste in people’s mouths over the years.

That said, if Amway Global were to take a page from the Avon commercial and highlight successful distributors, I don’t think that I would have enjoyed seeing people like Dexter Yager, Bill Britt, or Jim Floor. Instead, they would be better off featuring normal IBOs who are making a few extra hundred dollars of profit each month doing retail sales.