KevinL Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 In defense of MLM programs . . . Those that are successful in these companies rely on getting people to dream. They find out what is your hot button, a bigger house, car, vacation, whatever. Then they ask you if you can achieve these dreams doing what you're doing. Most Americans can't, they are stuck living paycheck to paycheck, with minimal chance for a significant lifestyle change. Then they offer you their plan. It's a ray of hope, a chance that there is a way possible for you to change your life and get those things you always dream of. It's a small chance, but (maybe) a small chance is better than no chance (if that's what you have now). People that buy into this then take on the task of promoting this system in their own circle of acquaintances. The dream is what drives them, and what the product is, really makes no difference, as long as it is a consumable that people will buy over and over (vitamins, soap, ...) If your friends really believe in what they are doing, they think they are offering you a chance to get out of the rut. Don't hold it against them for taking the chance themselves, and trying to share it. Hold it against them if they persist after you've said no. And it makes no difference when you get in. There are millions of Americans, and no area is saturated by any particular MLM system. Even in the town where Amway began, way less than 1% of the residents are Amway distributors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefjay Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 BC, give them Kevin's phone #. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 In defense of MLM programs . . . Those that are successful in these companies rely on getting people to dream. They find out what is your hot button, a bigger house, car, vacation, whatever. Then they ask you if you can achieve these dreams doing what you're doing. Most Americans can't, they are stuck living paycheck to paycheck, with minimal chance for a significant lifestyle change. Then they offer you their plan. It's a ray of hope, a chance that there is a way possible for you to change your life and get those things you always dream of. It's a small chance, but (maybe) a small chance is better than no chance (if that's what you have now). People that buy into this then take on the task of promoting this system in their own circle of acquaintances. The dream is what drives them, and what the product is, really makes no difference, as long as it is a consumable that people will buy over and over (vitamins, soap, ...) If your friends really believe in what they are doing, they think they are offering you a chance to get out of the rut. Don't hold it against them for taking the chance themselves, and trying to share it. Hold it against them if they persist after you've said no. every word of that is true of ANY financial scam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 And it makes no difference when you get in. There are millions of Americans, and no area is saturated by any particular MLM system. Even in the town where Amway began, way less than 1% of the residents are Amway distributors. BUt, you have to realize that 1% may well be market saturation for the large majority of these products/programs, so while the MLM promoters may well pull that statistic out, if the market is only going to have say even 2% of the population as customers, and 1% of the population is a distributor (and let's assume that 2% are not distributors), then that is a whopping 2 customers per distributor on average. That is why the vast majority fail. Anyway, dinner was good, their "presentation" was essentially what I thought it would be, touting the vitamin packs, etc. But, I am on my own vitamin/supplement regimen that I pay probably less for on a monthly basis and I am pleased with it, and mine includes extra stuff such as the protein powders and creatine, etc. that this doesn't. Typical pyramid scheme, though, you are limited to 5 customers, and depending on the "path" you take, some of them are just customers and others are distributors and you get a piece of their actions all the way down. My favoite part, and I did not mention this to them in front of them but did when my wife asked me about it on the way home, was in the "sample" that showed how with just 5 levels of people under you you could make $25,000 in residual income. Granted, that was 5 levels of having 5 distributors under you, each of whom had 5 under them and so on, came out to approximately 4000 people (5+25+125+625+3125). As I told my wife, let's assume that there are 1 million people in our area. Of that, 20% or 200,000 are on some form of vitamin or supplement. Of that, you can convince 10% to switch to this product (a high estimate in my opinion). That means there is a total market of 20,000 people in the area. To make the numbers they are touting, you would need to get 1 out of every 4 potential customers to come in under your line. Just not a reasonable expectation, particularly considering that, even if the person above our friends was the very first line in our area, we'd at best be the third line of people, in other words on that 125 person level, meaning we'd need to have a target area with a population a little closer to 125 million than 1 million. Obviously I am/was pulling the numbers out of the air, and I think my estimate on the percentage of people you can convince to use the product is high, it really opened her eyes at how difficult this is and why 99% of the people that get into these lose money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinL Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 My favoite part, and I did not mention this to them in front of them but did when my wife asked me about it on the way home, was in the "sample" that showed how with just 5 levels of people under you you could make $25,000 in residual income. Granted, that was 5 levels of having 5 distributors under you, each of whom had 5 under them and so on, came out to approximately 4000 people (5+25+125+625+3125). As I told my wife, let's assume that there are 1 million people in our area. Of that, 20% or 200,000 are on some form of vitamin or supplement. Of that, you can convince 10% to switch to this product (a high estimate in my opinion). That means there is a total market of 20,000 people in the area. To make the numbers they are touting, you would need to get 1 out of every 4 potential customers to come in under your line. Just not a reasonable expectation, particularly considering that, even if the person above our friends was the very first line in our area, we'd at best be the third line of people, in other words on that 125 person level, meaning we'd need to have a target area with a population a little closer to 125 million than 1 million. Obviously I am/was pulling the numbers out of the air, and I think my estimate on the percentage of people you can convince to use the product is high, it really opened her eyes at how difficult this is and why 99% of the people that get into these lose money. 1) Regarding your potential market, I doubt you are limited to a geograpic area, are you? I mean, you could get Darin as a customer and now you have a new branch in Austin. Darin gets me in Cleveland, and presto-whammo, BC Enterprises is nationwide! 2) Most people will have 0-1 customers. Assuming there are any significant "levels" above or beside you is incorrect. The VAST majority of the branches will dead-end immediately. The reason these things fail is most people are too afraid / timid to actually do the work to promoe them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 The reason these things fail is most people have too much class to spam this garbage to thier friends and have better things to do with their life than to actually do the work to promoe them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgaddis Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Yeah.... I had two "friends" (one female, one male, separate incidents) that tried to sell me on these kinds of things. In some cases - and I believe in both of my cases - they're simply trying to make more money. Off of you. That's not what friendship is about, IMO. Anyways, enjoy the dinner, keep an open mind, but if they start questioning your decision (if they do, in fact, do this) then tell them no dessert! Bingo...its not about helping you get into it and make money at it, they are just trying to make money off you...tell them to F off.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 I still remember the Excel long-distance MLM from the mid-1990s... That was the only one that I ever listened to that really seemed to make ANY sense to me at all. That said, I still didn't do it. PS - My parents were Shaklee distributors for nearly a decade and my wife's aunt sells some sort of vitamin something-er-other that my kids take ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
policyvote Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 2) Most people will have 0-1 customers. Assuming there are any significant "levels" above or beside you is incorrect. The VAST majority of the branches will dead-end immediately. The reason these things fail is most people are too afraid / timid to actually do the work to promoe them. And that was the killer for me. Can you bust ass building contacts, networking, seeing every personal interaction as a business opportunity, put in 20-30 hour weeks on the side and get rich? Well, if you have the charisma, intelligence, sales skills, and contacts, then yes. Same goes for car sales. Insurance sales. Vacuum sales. ANY kind of sales. Especially with Quixtar and the like, they're selling the sales process as the product, and they pretend that this is some kind of breakthough, some new thing that's never been done. The problem is TAANSTAFL--there ain't no such thing as a free lunch! If you have what it takes to get rich selling things to people, then it doesn't matter what you're selling (even if what you're selling is sales itself). You still have to put in the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears for a long time before money starts rolling in. Peace policy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Ahh.. they're good people... just IMO a little taken in with this idea that you can make money off of this with a minimum of work. I'll enjoy the dinner, enjoy laying out the facts once the spiel stats and maybe open their eyes that it is not so lucrative. Maybe they're just inviting you guys over to see if you're interested in swinging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 Maybe they're just inviting you guys over to see if you're interested in swinging. If only I was Jack from Jack in the Box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.