multi-level marketing Gimmicks

[Palooka]

The similarities are staggering.

-Meet a friend at a place, and they don't even offer a drink/bite to eat, even though they are making tons of dough.

-Posts motivational shit on FB

-Wont take no for an answer

etc etc


I guess the better question to ask at this point is...who HASN'T been approached(alienated) by this bullshit?

 

[taurus]

MLM's aren't necessarily gimmicks. They do make a lot of people a lot of money. Problem is, you have to be the personality which is totally fine with feeding bullshit to people below you and totally fine on brain washing the weak minded who are looking to get rich, quick.

No offense, but that's like saying a bank robbery isn't a gimmick or a scam, because there are a few people that do make a lot of money from it, you just have to be the personality which is totally fine pointing a gun at someone's face

jokes aside, this is what i said to my wife after the said presentation, even if they get filthy rich, it's dirty money, and i don't want to make money that way... I just couldn't live with myself, putting people deeper and deeper in the hole.

-Posts motivational shit on FB

-Wont take no for an answer

etc etc

Oh so much this.

The "you can do it, be free, little bird" BS on FB was the most tiring aspect of that Herbalife girl...

 

[casualfan]

I did Amway a long time ago; if you're a certain personality type, the system works very well. I was in for a relatively short period of time and was already a "direct" (six or more wide) and I was several deep. I was making money and getting quality merchandise at great rates; I still miss their laundry detergent.

I left Amway because aspects of their business model made my skin crawl. They sell the dream, but leave out the fact that less than 1% of people have the strength of will to work the system as hard as it takes. Hearing "no" fifty times for every "yes" is very difficult and very few people have the tenacity to stick with it.

I went to a big conference where a speaker spent an hour telling a room full of new people about how great a time it was to get in because they were starting on the internet, and how it would represent exponential growth. It was going to be a golden age. After the conference, I was invited to a meeting with the speaker, and it was only for directs and above. In that meeting he told us that growth was basically going to be the same as always and we shouldn't get discouraged, but use the "internet is instant growth" angle on new people. On the drive home after that meeting I told my supplier I was done and he could have my people.

Although I was pretty successful, I never, ever told people it was easy. I told them that it was hard work but it could be very profitable if they stuck with it, and even if they couldn't put that much time into it, they could still get the product at good rates. It went well for me because people trusted me, and they trusted me because I never lied to them. I was also very relaxed in my approach to people. I was never nervous, I never worried about getting the recruit, and always left it to them to ask questions, so there was absolutely no pressure.

I imagine I could have done quite well if I'd stuck with it, but the lies my suppliers were telling on a regular basis were too much for me. The idea of selling someone a dream they almost certainly were not going to achieve made me physically ill.

I basically had the same experience as you with Amway, albeit with a smaller network. I also wanted to focus on the retail but it didn't work.

One more thing that made it hard for me to recruit is that I love to include every detail when I make a presentation and it somewhat turns people off when they realize that it isn't really the instant rich scheme that they hoped for.

 

[BPA00]

So I guess the whole point of this story is, if you are someone who likes to constantly be fake all the time and likes to meet with random people all through out the day and are good at luring dumb people into being your downline, then MLM's are for you!

From the sounds of it, the "mentor" you describe in your story probably does make "ok" money at it... but it sounds like he works REALLY hard at it and is REALLY good an convincing people that they need to sign up to sell whatever the f*ck with him as their upstream... and has little to no conscious about deceiving others. I think he would probably be successful in any sales related job, not just MLM crap.

I'm guessing that 99% of people who fall for MLM schemes are just regular people who get fooled into thinking they can "get rich quick", despite not having any solid sales skills nor wanting to put forth a ton of effort... and most people who do have the skills and work ethic realize they can usually make much better commission rates working a more traditional sales job... or starting their own "real business".

 

[sodomanaz]

When I was 20 I transferred colleges and was looking for work. I was going to school for business/marketing and found something in the paper called MGM Marketing. Gave them a call, and they asked me to come in the next day at 9AM but wear a suit and tie. Figured it was a bit weird to be told how to dress for an interview, but I still showed up the next day.

I met with the boss type who told me I would most likely be set up to be management and that he'd like me to follow one of his associates for the day. He had some guy come get me and we drove off. Once the drive turned into 45 minutes and I saw his backseat was crammed with cheap dollar store garbage, I started piecing shit together.

We went store to store trying to hock stupid shit like mini rc cars, childrens' books, shampoo/conditioner, umbrellas and other garbage. We were being met by hostile people the entire day and only the drunks seemed interested in the rc cars.

After a few hours of this we stop for lunch and he starts the sales process. In their defense, they do get a proper license to go store to store and try to hock shit, but that is completely on the seller. You buy all of the materials from the boss at "$X" and you try to sell it for whatever you can above that. I ask if he was on track to be a manager. "Maybe in a few more years... been doing this for 3 and will be close." I ask to be returned to my car but he says he can't until the workday is over at 5pm. I'm fucking livid at this point.

To make sure he got his bonus for trying to recruit he asked me to memorize the test answers as I was to be quizzed when he returned. I took the stupid test and everyone was chanting and having a swell old time screaming out their sales for the day. I ducked out and went to my car where the boss tried to manipulate me one last time. "Look, we got 4 new recruits but only 3 slots open. I think you'd be a great addition. Just tell me why I should choose you over the others."

I got in my car and told him to kiss my ass. After I graduated I got a call from a "marketing firm" wanting me to meet them about an hour away from where I lived. They told me to show up at 9AM and to wear a suit and tie. I didn't fall for it that time. Assholes. Fucking things are popping up all over the midwest.