Multi-Level Marketing Schemes

[JoeR]

I thought there was a thread for this already, but I can't find it.

Have any of you been subjected to any of the various multi-level marketing (network marketing/PYRAMID) schemes by your family, friends, coworkers, someone you met once and has your phone number, etc.?

I remember a guy at BJU when I was there who got into Quixtar/Amway and tried to get me into it. I didn't know what he was doing at first. He had a "business opportunity" he wanted to share. Well, of course, he introduced me to his immediate supervisor/upline, and I got all kinds of pressure. I even chose to go to the big monthly meeting, just for giggles. Wow, what a show! Nothing like having charismatic speakers tell you all kinds of BS to get you motivated. Kind of like a fundy sermon. . .

Anyway, one of the newest ones I have seen is Visalus/Body-by-Vi on my friend's Facebook. He is so excited that he now "qualifies" for the BMW. I hope he knows how everything really works. Apparently, one of their slogans is, "I told you so" regarding how to respond to naysayers. He has only been doing it a month, and he is already saying, I told you so. But, he also said that he is still learning how the compensation system works, while also praising the compensation system. Of course it's great, his leaders told him so. Sound familiar?

I hate to know that people get screwed over by these pyramid schemes (I know, that term is debatable, but you know I'm right). I want to tell these people to run like hell away from these things, but they get the same kind of pressures that you get in a fundy evangalistic service. Why are these things almost exactly like everything fundy? Fundy sermon, fundy culture, fundy pressure if you want to get out, etc.

These MLM's scare the crap out of me.

[Scorpio]

(10-04-2011 08:22 AM)JoeR Wrote:  Why are these things almost exactly like everything fundy? Fundy sermon, fundy culture, fundy pressure if you want to get out, etc.

I would say money and once you are out you might tell everyone else the truth about what goes on.

I had the Amway pitch given to me about 20 years ago. I had the "acquaintance" bring his higherup to give me the sales pitch. they actually broke down my week in hours to tell me how many hours I could spend selling their crap. Which is interesting since I have heard a couple of fundy sermons along the same theme.....you have x hours a week available for you to pray, read your bible, witness etc.

[Phatchick]

Oh yeah, BTDT. I will never forget the Night of the Mary Kay Klones (insert scary music here). I’d gone back to college at the age of 30 and like most returning college students had little time and less money. A fact I was bitching about to some friends at lunch when an acquaintance piped up and said, “What you need to do is go into business for yourself. I can take you to one of our meetings this weekend, so you can see what it’s all about”. Turns out she sold Mary Kay part-time. Now I knew all about Mary Kay, of course; been roped into a couple of parties by friends whose friends or family members flogged the stuff. Wasn’t terribly impressed with it, IMO, I could get the same results from products from the drugstore at a much better price. But I figured it couldn’t hurt to listen, extra cash is always a good thing.
I’m not exaggerating. That meeting was probably the freakiest thing I’d been involved in up to that date. There must have been at least 150 women crammed into that banquet hall, all of them in skirts, nylons and heels. There I sat, in a pair of slacks and my best sweater, feeling more than a little out of place. I later found out Mary Kay reps have a pretty strict dress code for theses little gatherings, full court dress and trowel on the cosmetics. Nice of my friend to warn me. There on stage were a number of ladies wearing, to my eye, very tacky polyester blazers. Four of them were in red and one, who was being deferred to by the others, in purple.
Because I was a newcomer I got the “privilege” of being trotted up on stage and used as a model for some new makeup line they wanted the girls to plug. All eyes on me in my office casual and favorite pair of low-heeled Keds ankle boots. I was being weighed in the balance and found decidedly underdressed. After a makeover (and a bit of well deserved public embarrassment) the lady in the tacky purple jacket (I found out later she was a regional sales director and the purple blazer is as coveted by Mary Kay klones as the green Masters jacket is by golfers) got up to speak. The speech and the reactions it got could only be described as a combination of a baptist revival meeting, the Republican national convention and outtakes from “The Stepford Wives” (the creepy 70s version). Apparently, all the worlds problems, from overpopulation to war and global warming could be solved by getting out there and selling more overpriced skin care and recruiting more sucker...{ahem} consultants to flog the stuff with them. The scariest part was the way those women (including my friend) were eating this up. They just sat there, in rapt, worshipful awe, hanging on every verbal jewel that dripped from Purple Lady’s lips. All the while, I’m thinking what a bunch of utter bullcrap but not daring to say so since the meeting was being held the next town over and my friend was my ride home. After the meeting she and her district manger (one of the ladies in red blazers) took me out for coffee and proceeded to give me the full spiel on Mary Kay and why every red-blooded American woman should be selling it. All I had to do was lay out $100 and they could promise me a full and happy life, giving my friends and family the skincare they deserved. I promised to think about it and let them know (I didn’t feel like walking 25 miles home) but I’d already decided I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to enter an already saturated market or alienate family and friends. Besides, seeing people getting that worked up over makeup frankly scared the hell out of me.
Nowadays, when MLM invites are issued, I turn tail and run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.

[boymom]

I believe the pitch we got was for vitamins; can't remember the name. We actually just wanted to buy the product, but were subjected to the whole shebang. Fortunately, we weren't very motivated.

[elfdream]

Ours was selling term life insurance through A.L. Williams. You could make lots of money selling insurance. That sounds ok but they didn't tell you that is all you would EVER do.

I've seen some of those Pink Mary Kay cars around town. I honestly can't tell the difference between their products or anyone else's.

Had Amway thrown at us. We were not assimilated.

[JoeR]

Most, if not all of the car programs through these MLM's require you to hit sales volume of $xxxx amount for a certain period of time. Then, they pay a certain amount towards a LEASE of a specified vehicle, which is just a reimbursement. The lease is a contract between YOU and the lessor, not between the MLM and lessor. That means, if your sales dip, then you lose the reimbursement. Chances are, you could have a really strong month or couple months, and then fall short, which means you are stuck with a lease on a vehicle you might not otherwise be able to afford. In my friend's case, it is a BMW 3-series at $600+ monthly. Oh, and you have to have the product logo plastered on the vehicle at all times. So, people know what you are selling as soon as you drive up. I guess I would just see that as fair warning, and not engage in any conversation, which I think is the opposite of the desired response.

[laurat99]

My brother and SIL were selling Herbalife and wanted hubby and I to get involved. Brother would wear the pin with "I lost ___ lbs, Ask me how" and go on about how just taking the pills, *ahem*, tablets, with no lifestyle change helped him lose weight. My response was, so when you stop taking the pills, *ahem* tablets, you gain the weight back, right? He had no answer for that and a garage full of junk. He has since gained back all the weight lost and added some. Hubby now jokes he should be wearing a button that says, "I gained ____ lbs, Ask me how."

[Darcy]

If you look at all the signs of a cult, Amway fits them all. Only without the religion. It's like a financial cult.

I do direct sales through a natural beauty company. That's way different than Amway. It's not a lifestyle, it's just a part-time job and super fun.

Two of my siblings and their families are drinking the Amway Kool-aid. I hope it works out for them.

Oh and Mary Kay? :pppppp Still full of toxic chemicals and heavy metals and the products aren't that great.

[Presbygirl]

(10-04-2011 09:07 AM)boymom Wrote:  I believe the pitch we got was for vitamins; can't remember the name. We actually just wanted to buy the product, but were subjected to the whole shebang. Fortunately, we weren't very motivated.

Was it Shaklee? It was back in the 80's. Now it's Monavie. The grape juice drink.

[JoeR]

(10-04-2011 11:08 AM)Presbygirl Wrote:  

(10-04-2011 09:07 AM)boymom Wrote:  I believe the pitch we got was for vitamins; can't remember the name. We actually just wanted to buy the product, but were subjected to the whole shebang. Fortunately, we weren't very motivated.

Was it Shaklee? It was back in the 80's. Now it's Monavie. The grape juice drink.

Could be JuicePlus+ also. Who knows, there are probably other more obscure ones, too.