I am a big fan of posts under 100 words in length, but I feel that it is important to get all of this in one post. So here we go.

Based on some information that I have gathered over the last couple of weeks, I believe that the Quixtar Tools Garden is about to be weeded.

I’ll walk you through what I mean…

First I found a blog titled "Jody Victor Email" – jodyvictor.blogspot.com and apparently there are letters on that blog from Jody Victor to Jim Payne and then from Jim Payne to Jody Victor. The letters are about the thisbiznow.com website.

Jim Payne is Quixtar’s managing director and Jody Victor belongs to Quixtar IBOIA Board.

Reeling Us In

Here is a quote from the site, apparently written by Jody Victor:

Many in the field when they read this site (ThisBizNow.com) will feel this is an attempt to "reel us in" and get everyone identified with the term Quixtar that unravels all of our hard work.

The nay-Sayers will point out this to be an "intentional re-positioning of the business."

How can we support a launch of this web site that will create more damage
from the negative web site folks?

Jim Payne responds:

I recognize that the positioning of Quixtar is indeed different than
that which you previously requested of my staff. But, quite frankly,
we’ve decided we are not going to hide from the Quixtar name. We find
that many IBOs and the public comfortably interchange the terms, moving
easily from "a Quixtar business" to "an independent business powered by
Quixtar." We opted to do the same.

When someone says "quite frankly" they are usually about to bring the heat and Jim Payne certainly did. Jody Victor seems unhappy with the language used on thisbiznow but more importantly, he feels as though the field is being reeled in by the company.

Bring in the Anonymous Coward

I think that the Anonymous Coward not only works at Quixtar, but I also suspect that he is saying things that his superiors want him to say. (An approved annonymous poster, if you will.)

Here is an excerpt from a recent post on the Quixtar Blog Forum by Anonymous Coward:


Quixtar is in the midst of a "Reputation" campaign and one of the major
complaints by former IBOs is that they were unable to either A) make
money fast enough or B) not at all due to the costs associated with the
various systems and their fees for education, motivation, etc. They are
calling this phase of the campaign the "First circle initiative" and
it’s goal is to help broadcast the idea to the little guy that they
need to sell product and retain retail profit in the beginning because
admittedly the bonus checks are quite small to begin with.

Anonymous Coward continues:


Enter Jim Payne. The new Sherriff in town. I like this guy… he’s got
spunk. Quixtar develops (in cooperation with get this… the IBOA
board) this long list of what they believe are impossible to attain
goals for the Kingpins to accomplish including contracts spelling out
compensation guidelines, submission of all materials created to Quixtar
legal department for approval or denial, random phone interviews asking
questions like: Are you aware that you are not required to participate
in any paid education program? and Has it been made known to you that
your leadership will make money from the support materials you buy from
them? You know fun stuff the Kingpins absolutely hate with every fiber
of their being. And something like 80% of the interviewees have to
answer correctly or no dice. (I forget the actual % but it’s something
ridiculously high like that.) If and only if an organization is able to
pass these few I’ve mentioned and many more exciting things… they
receive, drum roll… an official seal of approval from Quixtar as a
fully accredited business support company.

and then…


Ok, so Act 2. Remember now, Quixtar doesn’t think anyone is actually
going to achieve accreditation it’s just out there like a carrot for
the FTC so they can say “see we’re trying but those rotten Kingpins
just won’t listen to us.” See they figure they can save face if the FTC
forces them to close down the Kingpins by telling them they have to
take over the education systems just like every other DSA member. Enter
the young punks from eFinity. Somehow this company ran by a trio of 30
somethings, convinces several groups of different LOAs to band together
and be supported by their “new philosophy” which is essentially all
about selling products… duh. eFinity meets with Quixtar, gathers the
criteria for accreditation, develops their entire infrastructure around
them, produces a whole tool set 100% compliant, pushes their agenda at
meetings and seminars for a year and then submits to Quixtar for
approval on Accreditation. They passed. Quixtar flips. The IBOA board
members freak because only one of their members can say he is
affiliated with eFinity. Unconfirmed rumors of Kingpins rolling over in
their graves occur… it’s mass chaos.

Finally, Anonymous Coward and suspected Quixtar Employee concludes:


So here we are Act 3. Quixtar decides to use this new development to
their advantage. Now they have a little worm they can dangle out for
the sharks to ponder if it’s worth the risk of getting snagged by a
hook. Quixtar meets again with eFinity and decides to reward them and
the little guys associated with them with things like free shipping for
their clients, free regional product and sales training seminars put on
by Quixtar, co-funded conventions at Quixtar headquarters with all out
product expos and guest appearances, etc. So far so good. Quixtar has
had massive inquiries as to: Is my Diamond accredited? Why aren’t they
accredited? Who is this eFinity? And the trickle up pressure is being
felt by all the Kingpins who are now demanding to know all of those
same things. Quixtar is tickled pink. They’re hoping that this “poopy
storm” they’ve stirred up will force the Kingpins hands and make them
submit to the Accreditation process, thus giving Quixtar the reigns
they’ve felt they needed to help get a handle on this reputation
problem.

Did you notice the similar language between the two sources?

Jody Victor appears to be afraid of being "reeled in" by Jim Payne and the Anonymous Coward thinks that these latest developments regarding the accreditation give the "reigns" to Quixtar, allowing them to get a handle on the reputation problem.

Now it appears as though Quixtar has the tools in place to weed the kingpin garden.

I have heard rumblings out of WWDB that they are working on being accredited as well, but currently only one "team" appears to be accredited and that is efinity.

I did some digging around the eFinity site  and if I am not mistaken, anyone can join from any line of sponsorship. We will look closer at efinity in the near future.

There is a lot more in Anonymous Coward’s post that we should probably (and will) cover in more detail.