What it really is
"Do you really think they understand that (the plan)? You know what they understood? H O P E....... R E L I E F. That's the stuff you got to drop in their heart."
Diamond Distributor Marshall Douglas- Tape: "Noah Built his own Ark" GCS159"What do you really see it as? What this crazy business is, it is hope. Not only can we take this thing can we see light at the end of the tunnel."
Diamond Distributor - Randy Haugen Tape: "This is Amway" DBR932Amway/Quixtar motivational organizations (AQMO's) offer their downline distributors a positive, and caring setting. People are drawn to this different environment when all they see and hear around them is the negative day-to-day news. New distributors are introduced to the "successful" distributors who have quit their full time jobs and have taken charge of their own full time Amway businesses. The allure of breaking free and having one's own business is a common dream for many people. An Amway Products Distributorship is touted as the lowest cost, virtually risk free method of owning ones own business. The AQMO's have discovered that certain segments of the population are open to this thought and are ready and willing to buy motivational tapes, books, and tickets to seminars, no matter what they cost, all in the name of making their Amway Products Distributorship grow and prosper. The AQMO's use the Amway Products distribution channels of their downline as a captive market for their motivational supply business.
"I was taught and therefore taught that the system was put in place to assist people in building their "Amway" business. This is as far from the truth today as you can get as when you are making 80% of your income off of the system, it is totally reversed, Amway is in place so people can sell their system!"
Don Lorencz: Diamond Direct Distributor
Once in, distributors have no qualms paying the costs of these motivational supplies, as they are told it will help them achieve the dream of owning their own business, and being financially independent. . They feel they are getting real value for their money. Successful recruiters understand that the motivational messages contained on the tapes, will attract certain types people to the business. It is said that if people don't like the tapes, they won't like the business. This is true from what I saw. In effect, the Amway products are the least important part of the business. The major focus of the business turns out to be selling HOPE, hope of a better future with financial independence. The primary business of the AQMO's is selling HOPE, and the secondary business is selling SOAP. They need to have the SOAP side of the business as a front for the more profitable HOPE side of the business. Hope sells, and it is very profitable for them. The fact that another, smaller, MLM can sell tapes at a fraction of the cost of Amway AQMO's, means that tapes are a significant income stream to upline distributors.
Next the AQMO's will try to instill the idea that the Amway/Quixtar business vehicle, if "driven" according to their system will work for anyone who just follows their roadmap. Buy enough tapes, read enough books, show the plan enough (12-15 times per month) and you too can one day be a Diamond Distributor walking up on the stage. Just follow the plan, it will get you there. If you don't get to where you are going, you must have done something wrong. The "Amway/Quixtar Success Vehicle" is fool proof. You didn't follow the road map, you didn't try hard enough, you just ran out of gas, or you lost your way due to your "stinking thinking". Everyone assumes the "vehicle" is good enough to take them where they want to go. Few people check out the quality and reliability of the "vehicle" they are taking. Few people check out how many people have gotten to where they wanted to go with it versus those that started. Sure some people have made the trip with the Amway/Quixtar business "vehicle". The people who take the "vehicle" make it only because they have survived the war of attrition. Many site visitors admit they don't save any money on the Amway products, but still buy the products because they like them, they don't have to go to a store, or at least they know to whom the money goes. These are the few new "vehicle" drivers who stay around and become the stable business of the successful few. The successful Amway/Quixtar distributor has to quickly target customers who aren't price sensitive, and those who are waiting for a leader to come in and take charge of their lives. A vastly higher majority of new "vehicle" drivers quit, Forbes estimates at over 50% the first year. They quit for a number of reasons, but most would probably continue to just buy for themselves if they thought they were getting a good value and saved 30% as claimed. Since they don't see the savings or recognize no increased value of the products, they do not re-new their distributorship. . If the "vehicle" were truly an efficient new-wave method of distributing goods and services it should be larger and have more drivers than it has. Paul Z. Pilzer, a noted economist and paid spokesman for AQMO's has stated in an AQMO tape "Economic Paradigms" that he would be really impressed if Amway were a $30 billion company. Amway sales in 1998 at the meaningless term of "Estimated Retail sales" is said to be only $7 billion, and true corporate sales are only about $5.8 billion, and this is worldwide sales.
I looked at the "vehicle" and decided it wasn't worthy of my time. Knowing what I learned, I could not repeat the half-truths, lies, and irrational logic, which are required to interest people in the Amway business. Few people take the time to really understand the business and economic realities behind the business. It can work for a select few people, not because it is a better way to distribute goods and services but because it markets HOPE. People will buy the SOAP, even at premium prices, to get the HOPE.
The Amway Business "Vehicle"
