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December 21, 2003
Quixtar and Training
By QBlog in
What is training? Many Quixtar advocates defend the cost of their "tools and training" by comparing it to the similar expenses of educational materials and training in traditional business. Company A spends $X each year for employees to learn a new task or stay "in the loop" about some industry-related topic so why should Quixtar IBOs be excluded from this cost and the related benefits? This makes perfect sense and I believe that everyone should work to improve their skills and their business but is it really a fair comparison? Well, let's investigate shall we?
Before we continue I think it's important to understand the Quixtar definition of "tools and training." Most people in Quixtar seem to believe that "tools and training" consists of the following:
Now, I'm no expert on this subject so I'm just relating my general observations but it seems to me that within Quixtar, an extraordinary amount of focus is placed on the Motivational aspect of "tools and training" while the other two items are almost ignored by comparison. If this is true, if the motivational aspect is emphasized at the expense of the other two then we should use that aspect of "tools and training" for our comparison, and not the more general and broader definition. What I'm doing is breaking out the different types of "training" to more accurately compare the Quixtar expenses with those in traditional business.
Now, I don't have a percentage (and there's probably no way to get one since each BSM organization is different) but it appears that the normal Quixtar IBO motivational expense comprises at least 50% of all "tools and training" costs. I base this estimate on my observations.* I feel that I'm being VERY generous towards Quixtar BSM organizations with this estimate but I'm open to adjusting the figure if shown data that contradicts my guess. Assuming that at least half of all Quixtar IBO "tools and training" expenditures goes towards motivational material we should compare that figure with traditional business. Does Company A devote half of all training costs to motivating its employees? Or, does the owner of Company B devote half of training costs to motivating himself? That is a much better way to compare Quixtar training with that of traditional business.
My experience says that most companies do NOT use half of their training budget for motivation. In fact, it seems that a company which requires that much motivation may have some fundamental problems. I don't know, maybe that's just me.
* My observations of Quixtar Training: Timely industry-related information was almost non-existent. My wife was in QBiz, which seems similar to many other BSM organizations, but there may be other groups that publish trade magazines or require subscriptions to costly news services or clubs. I just never saw this. I also saw very little skills training or work to enhance existing skills. There was a lot of emphasis on showing the plan but very little practical instruction about how to do that beyond free tips from the upline. I work in an industry that regularly holds conferences with workshops, hands-on instruction sessions and practical instruction from industry leaders. This may exist in Quixtar BSM organizations, but I saw little evidence that it does.
Comments
I found the product use tips and selling tips lacking. For the retail cost of the products, I thought that there should be more company paid training for IBO's or even to the uplines to pass on to their groups. (But if upline gave you all the details then it might cut into stringing IBO's along to come to the next function or to keep buying tapes and books.)
I worked for a major cosmetics company about 10 years ago and they gave us company paid training and gratis so that we would have the products for our own personal use.
The best way for upline to "keep the upper hand" is to keep you wanting more while you are emptying your pockets, your bank account and killing your credit line. It appears to me as if they were trained that way and then downline follows suit.
In the Artistry cosmetics training seminars, I did not feel there was enough information given to confidentally go out and sell them, especially for the retail price of some of the skin care products. I heard quite a few women say they had great success at selling the line. I just didn't have enough interest to pursue any further anyway.
Gee, I'll bet the organization was sure glad they didn't invest in you, then.
Still lost.
What investment do these organizations give you? Do you get assistance at no cost to you? That would be an investment on their part. Does it cost you something to get the training/materials? That is not an investment on their part. That is a sale.
Do you get help at no cost to you from your upline? Isn't that part of what they are getting a cut of your business for? Still not an investment.
How about name recognition? The name that you are trying to hide until the last possible moment due to 'negative stereotypes'? That's no bargain, either.
Tell me again why this is good, and why people in it feel so superior?
- Jim
People don't feel superior, sir. Not all of them, at least. I'm not going to try and address all of the problems life seems to have delt you. That's not my job. That's yours, but you do seem to have some unresolved emotional conflicts that have very little to do with Quixtar.
An investment can go both ways. If I come to speak at a school and the school pays me, the school has invested their money and I have invested my time. I personally find my time more valueble than my money because money can always be remade whereas time is gone once its spent. Unlike the dollar, you'll never come across a single minute again.
So when I invest money to go to a function and listen to somone successful talk about how they got there, I appreciate and respect the fact that that person took time out of his life to leave his home and quite possibly his family to come talk to me.
"But I never learned a thing!"
Well maybe, just maybe, that's an inherent problem with your internal learning abilities or your lack of skill in finding the right people to listen to.
Funny you should mention "Never learned a thing."
I wish I remembered the name of a book I have somewhere about scams (these were run in the 40's-50's...racetrack result delays, investment bait and switch...etc.). One of the recurring themes was that the people who were taken admitted as much, but were just as excited to get into it again and give it another try. Amazing.
Check around and you will find a bit more than a few folks out there that go from system to system, getting taken each time, but with no lack of enthusiasm for the next opportunity to get taken again the exact same way. That is one more of the great mysteries of life that I don't get. Who isn't learning anything? Who isn't going to get their time back?
For investing 'time,' I consider being paid to speak at a function the sale of a service. Time for money. No investment, just trade. I hope you also appreciate the garbage man who left his family to spend his time picking up your refuse. An investment on his part? Job? I agree with you and QBlog that my time is more important than my money...I would much rather pay a mechanic than spend the afternoon swearing at my truck and busting my knuckles.
Don't feel sorry for me because I 'don't get it.' I don't have to. I don't have to be a murderer to be a homicide detective, and I certainly don't have to have cancer to be an oncologist.
If it's not superiority, then why the offhand comments on emmotional problems? A little 'Broke Loser' being thrown my way? Okay-Dokay! Thanks for dispelling that misconception. Must just be another one of those false 'negative stereotypes' I heard about. Glad that's cleared up.
Proud to be inferior!
Did you know that if you aren't a loser you can make this business work. I don't know how much money or spare time you get from watching t.v.(or surfing for cults), but in my experience people who can do and people who can't complain that it can't be done. Hurry up I think FEAR FACTOR is back from COMMERCIAL, loser.
"Shame on those who are not depressed, those not detained by their own poor attitudes. Anyone who believes that this American free enterprise system will work is an idiot. Hail those who govern our every decision" said the Brittish in the 1700's. Ask yourself, what are you doing to make the American dream a reality? Your lack of answer may surprise you, prole.
Can I not see the light?
I happened to run across Amway while doing some surfing on cults 4-5 years ago. Strangely enough, a couple of monts later a neighbor asked me to look at a new 'opportunity' and tell him what I thought of it. He gave me a business card CD. The presentation was vague and sounded familiar. I made a list of what I thought this opportunity was, and number 3 was Amway. Sure enough, he was plugging Quixtar that was going to start in a month or so.
I felt sorry for the guy, as he was all excited. "I will own my own business!" What does it do? "Capitalizes on the wealth of the internet." Do you have any projections on the amount of that wealth you are trying to get? "It's $7 billion." What makes you think you can get any cut of that? "I will be a storeowner in a virtual mall." What will you sell? "Whatever I want." Any ideas? Have something in mind? "Computers and cars at discount prices." What do you have that says they are discount? "Well, nothing, but they will be." How does this work? "You use my IBO number to shop and buy things." I can do that now without an IBO number on the internet. What makes you special? ...I could see a little light go on, and then off again. I lost him to his upline, and don't know what happened to him.
I could only imagine what this beast would look like. Having seen the Quixtar 'virtual mall,' even a few days ago, it is even sadder than I feared. What a piece of junk.
Yup, small businesses take time to show a profit normally. But, small businesses have overhead: office space, equipment, supplies, staff. Also, lets not forget inventory for a product based business. But it is all about cutting out the middleman? A shipping company then...but they have trucks and such. OK, a service based business. You have a skill to offer at a price. Hopefully you have that skill before you start. I could easily hang a shingle out that says "DENTIST" as give it a shot...but probably not going to go well.
So, this business that has no inventory, requires no skill to start, provides a marginal service (help me shop? I am a guy, but I can still shop. Make me money? Selling soap to my mom?) I don't get it. And, so, why again does it take so long to show a profit? You have to 'build your business.' Not by adjusting inventory or skills, or moving location, but by getting other people to sign up just like you.
Even the dot coms that went out of business had things to liquidate...computers, inventory and skills that they brought with them. When you get out of Quixtar (etc.), what are you left with? A box of tapes, an empty wallet, perhaps a failed marriage and alienated friends, 'business' skills that amount to being able to cold solicit anyone. Telemarketing as a follow-on career? How does one list Quixstar on a resume anyway?
I have not been an IBO/rep/whatever. Never will. I must admit the hype of some of these pitches is really good. It has to be, because the unsellable is being sold all the time. Smart people go for this, too. "My upline is a doctor!" So what? "My financial manager says this lump on my side is nothing to worry about!"
Thanks for the great blog. I gave up on keeping an eye on Amway/Quixtar etc. once most of the sites were shut down. Glad to see it back again.
- Jim
Posted by: Porkchopjim | December 23, 2003 10:47 AM