MLM Blog – Network Marketing Blog

Just read this on former Quixtar Executive Diamond and founder of the TEAM, Orrin Woodward's blog:

My letter to Doug Devos clearly explains that over 600,000 people who speak English as a first language signed up into Quixtar in 1999 and 2000.  Out of these 600,000 IBO’s (misnomer?) only six achieved Founders Emerald or above by the end of 2004.  This is 4 to 5 years and only 1 out of 100,000 achieved $87,000 annual income from the plan with both the husband and wife working exhaustively.  Out of those six who achieved Founders Emerald by 2005, five were on the Team – Tim Marks (Founders Diamond), Doug Stroh, Mike Foos, Matt Abraham, Kirk Birtles were all founders emerald or above by the end of 2004. (I believe this is the five.)

If this is not true, Amway's legal team would be all over Woodward, leading me to believe that the statistics are true.

Your thoughts?

Google has a pretty cool tool that tracks the search trends across Google's network.  It is really useful if you want to see who is hot in Network Marketing.

Below is a chart showing the Google Search trends (Quixtar is in blue, Monavie in red):

So MonaVie wins the Google Trends portion of who's hotter.  Now let's look at the Alexa rankings which tracks the popularity of a particular web site.  For this we will look at Quixtar.com vs. Monavie.com

Quixtar's Alexa ranking is 17,056 and Monavie is 69,578 (lower is better).  This is an estimate of site traffic.  So Quixtar is the clear winner in site traffic.

So, more people seem to be searching for MonaVie information, while Quixtar has more site traffic.  We know that Quixtar historically has more associates in the U.S. than any other MLM company (outside of Avon and Mary Kay), so we can conclude that much of the traffic on the Quixtar site is associates, not prospective associates...leading me to believe that MonaVie is hotter than Quixtar in today's marketplace.

For additional Google Trends Fun, here are the hottest places in the U.S. to build Quixtar and MonaVie:

Quixtar:

MonaVie:

Critics often get criticized for being negative or not offering solutions so I thought I would take some time to offer a (partial) solution for Amway/Quixtar in North America.

Here are what I see as the biggest issues with Quixtar/Amway in North America (not in any order):

1. Outdated Compensation
2. Poor Reputation
3. Lack of Product Focus
4. High Prices

Now for my solution:

1. Break up Amway - Quixtar (North America) into four new Network Marketing companies:

• XS Energy
• Artistry
• Nutrilite
• Amway

This actually helps solve three of the four major issues, lack of product focus, reputation and compensation.  Each product focused company could come out with an updated compensation plan with a focus on balance and the best reward strategy for the product line.

It is should be no secret that the fastest growing companies in Network Marketing over the last five years have been single product or narrow product line focused (such as weight loss).  Narrowing the product focus strips away confusion and allows the unique products to shine.

The reputation will be helped by the renewed focus on products and less focus on the "2-5 year plan".

2. Reduce prices and get PV/BV back to a reasonable level ($3 to 1PV is not reasonable). The PV/BV situation overlaps with compensation but it is also needs to be mentioned with pricing.  You can't drop the prices by 30% and then drop the PV/BV associates with the products by 50% and claim to now magically have competitive pricing.

Just get reasonable here.  Mercedes has proven that you don't have to be the cheapest to be successful, but there is a line where the average consumer will say: "I don't care how good you say (the product) is, I'm not paying that much for (fill in the blank - Amway Product).

3. Update the compensation plan for the 21st century.  Adding $60 million in new bonuses and then making them twice as hard to achieve is not updating the plan.  Add some money for the newest growing associate.  The IBOAI propaganda is suggesting that Quixtar/Amway now has the best compensation plan in the industry. 

Uh, yeah.  If I was driving a car from 1959 and claimed that it got better gas mileage than a 2008 hybrid, you would laugh at me.  In the same manner, people that understand compensation plans within the industry are laughing at the IBOAI.

Lastly, this breakup would help address the core of the reputation problem by nullifying the power of the IBOAI, who haven't really represented the newest IBO in decades. 

Here is my question...

I see a lot of defense of the Quixtar business...if nothing else compares to it, then why hasn't it grown in North America over the last 5 years?

Direct Sales in the U.S. has doubled from 1996 to 2006.

Quixtar has stagnated around $1 Billion, no argument here about the magnitude of $1 Billion in sales, but there is ZERO growth. Why?

Post your answers at: Amway Uncensored

Just launched: Amway Uncensored

These sites are getting some great search engine rankings and you are free to advertise your business in the comments (outright spam and abusive comments are deleted).

Here is some info. from a previous post about the MLM Uncensored concept...

You are free to post your links and promote your business in any way you see fit.  Others are free to comment about the posts and about the company in general, including their opinions and their experience with the product and opportunity.  It's an uncensored free flowing discussion. 

Amway Quixtar Uncensored is the latest edition to the MLM Uncensored line up...

Body Alive Uncensored

MonaVie Uncensored

Zrii Uncensored

Arbonne Uncensored

Coming next: Isagenix and Xango

Nuskin needs to look up a guy by the name of Orrin Woodward who reportedly brought in $3 Million from a 10,000 person for his former Quixtar TEAM.

High level Quixtar distributors have made handsome profits over the years by staging conventions and seminars. These conventions along with sales of CDs, Books, Voicemail and Web Sites have long supplemented the below average Quixtar/Amway compensation plan, allowing the high level distributors to new distributors because of the perception of wealth.

Salt Lake Tribune:

Nu Skin Enterprises Inc.'s third-quarter earnings were hindered by the cost of staging a convention that drew more than 10,000 of its distributors to Salt Lake City in September.
 
The Provo-based manufacturer and distributor of nutritional and personal-care products said today it earned $13.5 million, or 21 cents per share in the quarter. A year earlier, it earned $13.2 million, or 19 cents per share.

"Earnings per share include approximately 5 cents of net costs associated with the global distributor convention" staged to energize its commission-only sales force and to try to build investor confidence after a disappointing 2006, a company statement said.

The folks over at the Alticor Media Blog have given me permission in the past to fully post information from their blog, so I am going to post the latest Quixtar - Orrin Woodward - TEAM lawsuit update in full as opposed to posting a fair sue portion of the post. 

I said it before and I'll say it again.  Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady and the TEAM is in over their heads in this deal and because of that these so called leaders are placing the financial future of thousands of TEAM IBO's at risk. The TEAM IBO's will blindly follow and listen to the Woodward/Brady spin, but frankly they would be far better off either staying with Quixtar or quietly leaving to find a better company in the industry.

The post serves as an interesting update from the Quixtar/Amway perspective:

We respect perspectives. But they can’t hide facts.

First, the “new” Texas case mentioned in “Spaghetti.” This was a brand new case, with TEAM as the plaintiffs, attacking from a whole different angle than they did in California case. Dismissed.

The “other” Texas case.  Simmons et al v. Quixtar will be heard de novo – “from the start” – by a new judge, though the previous judge recommended a preliminary injunction.

The California case. Still waiting.

The Michigan case:  Our preliminary injunction remains in effect, as does the preliminary injunction won by the IBOAI.

The TROs: By our count, TEAM’s class-action spammers filed for 18 restraining orders in nine different states:

• One, the Simmons case, only has the recommendation for a preliminary injunction. But we’ll give them that one for now.
• Seven were denied, withdrawn or have expired.
• Ten have yet to be decided.

We would count that as one win for the spammers, seven losses, and 10 games still being played.

Orrin Woodward’s class-action ace D.J. Poyfair has been seen in courtrooms in Michigan, California and Texas. He has yet to attend a win.

TEAM trends:

1. Fewer leaders. We’ve already commented enough on the dwindling number of plaintiffs in the California case. But you may want to read what Fred Harteis has to add to the discussion.
2. Less transparency. When we were in Texas this week, in the course of one day we heard about TEAM; Signature Team Management LLC; Woodward International Networking Systems; and – our favorite – Signature Management Team, LLC, D/B/A TEAM, A Nevada Limited Liability Company.

   Now, every corporation can get confusing if you sift through enough paperwork, ours certainly included. But in this instance, we don’t like the way Mr. Woodward’s name jumps in and out of the stack, depending on legal and PR needs. Does Orrin Woodward own these companies? Does he run them? Is he a part of them? Yes. No. Maybe so.

3. More business. Or maybe less. There’s that line about “we’re going to a million.” And then there’s what TEAM CEO Robert Dickie and COO Thomas Maguire stated in their Texas affidavits about how business is going: “a deluge of product returns;” customers “calling wanting their money back;” “a significant decrease in tool sales;” attendance “has fallen and events have even been canceled.” Dickie and Maguire claim it is because of our actions; we can’t help but wonder whether attacking us as a pyramid and alienating countless former customers has anything to do with it.

Those are the facts, as best as we can gather them. We welcome your perspectives.

Based on the following statement from Fred Harteis, it appears as though Orrin Woodward and the TEAM are not the leaders they suggest they are.  How can you be a great leader when you don't have a clue who is standing beside you?

This statement comes from the IBOAI Blog and is attributed to Fred Harteis (you can read the whole statement and a little more background here):

At no time did I authorize Mr. Poyfair or any other attorney to include me as a Plaintiff in the lawsuit.  Again, I've never spoken with Mr. Poyfair or any other member of his law firm.  At no time did I authorize any other person, including any Plaintiff named in the lawsuit, to include me as a Plaintiff in the lawsuit.  Moreover, neither Mr. Poyfair nor any other attorney for Plaintiffs contacted my attorney, Rick Abraham, to seek his authorization to include me in the lawsuit.  Mr. Poyfair had met Mr. Abraham one or two months prior to filing the lawsuit and knew without any doubt that Mr. Abraham was my attorney.

Once I discovered my name was included in the lawsuit my attorney immediately contacted Mr. Poyfair and his co-counsel and demanded that I be dismissed from the action.  Mr. Poyfair contacted Mr. Abraham and admitted that he had never spoken with me at any time.   

I understand Mr. Poyfair has on more than one occasion brazenly suggested that he has me in his "hip pocket."  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The foregoing facts should dispel any such notion.

I got a call a few days ago from Bo Short about a new tele-seminar that he is producing aimed at Network Marketers.  Bo is busy lining up some excellent speakers for the 8 hour tele-seminar and I am honored to say that he asked me to come on and speak about my Internet Success.

Because of my association with Bo, I have had hundreds of people email me and come up to me at events and tell me that Bo Short is their favorite speaker of all time. Bo Short is a sought after speaker who commands up to $15,000 for a one hour keynote address.

Well, now we have a chance to get 8 hours of training and coaching from Bo and his hand picked Network Marketing all stars from the comfort of home via this tele-seminar.

Here is a quote from Bo:

Very few trainers in this Industry give people everything they need to become a Network Marketing Leader. Some are great with content centered on technique and others offer leadership mentoring and inspiration, but few bring it all.

Here are some of the topics that Bo and his team of six-figure Network Marketing earners (plus an additional surprise special) will cover:

• Dialing leads for success with posture and attitude
• How to create a template for success on and off the net.
• A step-by-step breakdown of the building process
• Warm market prospects-who to call, when to call, what to say
• How to create your own leads for free utilizing the Internet
• How to find the right lead company
• How to create effective leads via Pay Per Click
• How to turn a stranger into a teammate
• Learn how to talk to people and be rejection-proof
• Master the skills of building a balanced-business
• How to eliminate the statement, "I am not a sales person"
• Learn the nuances of "Organic Search"
• Learn Web 2.0, Video, Blogging and funded proposals
• Master the art  and skills of overcoming objections
• And lots more.

Then as a special bonus, Bo has promised to do a 1 hour conference call on "Leading With Impact" for those that register for his "It's Called Success" tele-seminar.

Bo is limiting the tele-seminar to the first 100 people who register so that he can have a successful question and answer period on each call.

If you would like more information or to register now, visit: www.ItsCalledSuccess.com

What do you do when you learn that what you have been promoting isn’t working? Do you simply complain about it? Do you keep telling everyone that the good times are coming? Or, do you do something about it?

Let me complicate it: What if you learn the supporting facts of this business failure after you’ve invested 17 years of your personal life, and your parents have invested over 35 years? What if you find yourself financially dependent upon the business income; the basis of which was built years ago? What do you do? This is the story of where I found myself and why I chose to do what I have done.