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June 15, 2003
Quixtar and Market Saturation: Part II
By QBlog in
Meet Bill and Sue
Bill and Sue are a married couple with no children. They happily reside in a tiny rural town called Townsville. The population of Townsville is exactly 100. The demographics of this extremely small town are surprisingly representative of most American cities.
Bill and Sue visit their friend Frank in Chicago. He's in Quixtar. They've never heard of Quixtar. Frank shows them the plan. Excited about the opportunity Bill and Sue become IBOs. They return to Townsville and begin planning their strategy.
First, they make a list of everyone in Townsville. Since it's such a small town they know everyone and put them all on a list. Bill decides to categorize each person on the list based upon what he knows about each person.
The list looked something like this:
| Never Join Quixtar | Might Join Quixtar | Will Join Quixtar |
Excited, Bill and Sue begin contacting the 20 people on their "Will Join" list to set up a time to show the plan. They listen to the tapes, talk to Frank and use all the appropriate tactics when making the business proposition. However, to the surprise of both, of the first 10 people on their list, only 3 seem excited and want to see the plan. They contact the rest of the people on the list of 20 and 4 more agree. Now they have a group of 7 to show the plan to on Friday night. Frank is coming and everyone is very excited.
The plan goes wonderfully and 6 of the 7 become IBOs and all 6 seem really pumped. Bill and Sue suddenly have 6 legs and realize that they need to work on building these legs now so they encourage their downlines to begin recruiting too. They even give a nickname to their new downline calling them the "Special Six." The Special Six begins making lists of their own. However, their lists are made out of the remaining 73.
Special Six
Not a problem though. Each member of the Special Six IBOs contacts 12 friends. Of those 12 contacts, 7 agree to see the plan for each of the Special Six. The Special Six, with the help of Bill, Sue and Frank, show the plan 6 times over the following week. Each time they show the plan for one of the Special Six meetings, 3 people become IBOs. It's uncanny the way every person in that Special Six group got exactly three legs that week. Everyone was happy.
However, the brand new IBOs, the downlines of the Special Six, begin making their lists and realized that everyone on their lists have either seen the plan and turned it down or declined to see the plan at all. What to do?
Now the job becomes a little bit more difficult. Bill and Sue only showed the plan to those with personalities and attitudes that would seem most agreeable to Quixtar. The Special Six had to show the plan to people who were not quite so obviously Quixtar material but were pleased to find 3 new IBOs each. Yet these new IBOs are now looking around for new recruits of their own. They realize that they will have to travel to Metropolis, contact family in distant locales and call up old friends in other states. This is hard work.
The Issue
Now the issue I'm addressing should be obvious in this fictional illustration. It is, like all allegories, merely representative of the larger truth. Of course contrarians can find fault with a number of details in the story (some people may change their mind and join) but I can also point out an equal number of details left out (two members of the Special Six drop out).
My point is that this is a representation of how saturation works. Bill and Sue don't care about saturation because they have their money. However, the newest people have to work much harder to get the same level of success that Bill and Sue enjoy. Is this fair? Not really but who said business was fair right? Well, Quixtar does... in a way.
Quixtar is at fault because the dream they sell never addresses the fact that it will be much harder for you (the new guy) to achieve diamond than it was for Mr. Diamond to get there 3 years ago. Other factors work to slow the rise of this increasing complexity but the fact remains that for many IBOs, the business is much, much harder than it was for their uplines. The reason? Because as regional markets become saturated, the newest IBOs must move outside that region to achieve the same results as their predecessors. I don't like the fact that Quixtar refuses to even acknowledge this, much less address it as a problem.
Next Part coming soon...
Comments
The theory of oversaturation is one that i struggled with when i first got in the business. Although i am not an expert i feel i have at least a breif understanding of the big picture. There is only a certain demographic segment of the population that are looking for extra ways to make money. That segment changes all the time the first time i heard of it from a close freind. I was really busy at the time but the next year after i have graduated i was shown the plan and liked owning my own business so i joined. Of the people that join very few people have the required work ethic to really build it. Every year there are millions of people graduating high school and college who are young and fresh and never been exposed to the plan. oversaturation in well populated areas is not likely to happen why is it that there can be 100 different department stores and shopping centers and all of them are able to stay in business. The answer is that there is always a need for what they have to offer. Much like this business we offer convienance unique products and also access and buying power not to mention the possibility of lifestyle and freedom. Also its a great way to make some great freinds. Unlike corporate America where you see people bragging about the affairs they are having. Everyone i have met through this business has been principal oriented. This business has not only elevated my income but also my self esteem.
Your scenario works when you live in a small place of only 100 people and no surrounding cities. When you have people in extremely small communities like the one you used in your story. Those type of people prefer to be left alone they are basically loners outsiders take from there sense of freedom. What quixtar is designed to do is give freedom but not the freedom these people live in smalltown. If Bill and Sue would have never gone to a big place like Chicago they would have never even known about this business. Many of those 100 probably couldn't even afford to move if they wanted to. Let alone survive in a larger populated area. Not to mention what kind of skills would they possess? If there is only 100 people how many are children and don't work. How many of the adults actually work off of a farm or ranch. I couldn't even imagine an internet connection there let alone a phone. Now this business isn't for everyone. Not everybody has the faith in themselves to do something like this. You should read "Rich dad poor dad" you can find it at Amazon.com I'm just curious why you are so negative that you would go to the trouble of creating a website to blast it. While your blast could be much louder you must of really been rubbed the wrong way. I see one benefit this small town could gain even if it were just Bill and Sue. Now you can avoid going to the store for most of your shopping. If you don't like the milk you can always milk your cow. You probably have lousy tasting water so you could use e-spring for your purification needs. You are drinking 6 glasses a day right. Now if you were really serious then you would of made the sacrifice to go beyond your comfort zone. You didn't have a big enough dream. That was your biggest setback. You also have to realize that many Diamonds got there without the convienence of the internet. Now I am assuming that this ficticious town would have quite a bit of agriculture. Quixtars new agriculture products will help you obtain 15% more yield on your crops. Your crops will also be more healthy. Another reason your issue doesn't hold true is that just because you don't say yes to me doesn't mean you will say no to the next person. You might not like my personality, you might not be ready. I live in California so there is no shortage of people. I also have team members that live in other states. This is because I live outside my comfort zone. Why else would this be my third go around. My reasons for leaving the first two times had to do with not being ready and not big enough of a dream. Not because of saturation. Estimates state that there are only 17% of the population in this type of business. that leaves 83% for you to help. Even if they don't want to have there own business they might be interested in saving time and money on shopping. With over 1/2 million products its kind of hard to not have something someone wants. And even if you run out of people in your area. There are tons of products you can make a living off by selling. And your not stuck selling one type of item. I do hope you find something that is for you even if it means working for someone else.
Posted by: Rob | November 21, 2003 12:32 AM