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July 15, 2004
Revenge of the "Mysterious Meeting"
By QBlog in
Earlier this month I posted about the ineffectiveness of the "Mysterious Meeting." I pointed out comments from four different bloggers who all were essentially unimpressed with the now infamous "Mysterious Meeting" tactic used by many Quixtar IBOs.
Well, I just happened to be reading my copy of the Quixtar Compendium (pdf) and rule eight (page 70) just sort of jumped out and grabbed me (metaphorically of course). See how it grabs you, especially in relation to those "Mysterious Meetings" and specifically, rule 8.1.6. -
8. Presentation of the IBO PlanThe spirit of this rule appears to be trying to eliminate the "Mysterious Meeting." Have you ever heard IBOs say, "No, this isn't Quixtar. Quixtar is only who we partner with as a Web portal to get products. This business is XYZ Group." Well, apparently this is a violation of Quixtar rules (unless I'm reading this wrong).8.1. Must Not Give False Impression:
When inviting a prospect to hear a presentation of the IBO Plan, an IBO shall neither directly nor indirectly through another IBO:
- 8.1.1. give the impression that the IBO Plan relates to an employment opportunity,
- 8.1.2. imply that the invitation is a social event,
- 8.1.3. disguise the invitation as a "market survey,"
- 8.1.4. promote the event as a "tax seminar,"
- 8.1.5. misrepresent the relationship between the IBO/IB and the Corporation,
- 8.1.6. directly or indirectly indicate that such products are merely one line of products distributed through or as a part of a brokerage operated by a person, company, or organization other than the Corporation.
- 8.1.7. directly or indirectly indicate that the Corporation's business, IBOs, or products and services merchandised through the Corporation are part of any business other than the Corporation, as defined by the Rules of Conduct.
So props to Quixtar for writing a rule that seems to eliminate the "Mysterious Meeting" but boos to Quixtar for not enforcing this rule more rigorously.
Just remember, next time you're asked to learn more about a "business opportunity" just print out Rule 8 and ask them if they're in compliance. It's easy and fun.
Comments
The short answer is "yes, it probably was a violation of Quixtar's rule".
However, IBOs are usually VERY careful in their wording, at least the smarter ones are. They say things like "we're expanding in your area and we need some sharp people", never actually using the words "hire" or "job" or "employment".
And of course, they never use the words Quixtar or Amway, for exactly the reason you cited - you would have simply said "No". The justification for this deception is that "people have preconceived ideas about Amway/Quixtar/MLM, and they'll miss out on this fantastic, once in a lifetime opportunity, so we want to give them all the 'facts' before they make a decision." See, they're HELPING you, saving you from your own ignorance, by not using the dreaded A/Q words.
Their hubris knows no bounds.
The lady definitely said employment. What she did leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth because she shops where I work and now I have to see her. These people have some nerve. To all you Quixtar recruiters, do not harrass people while they are working or in their place of employment. Just because you have a ton of time on your hands because it only takes you 15 hours a week to make millions a year (hehe), does not give you the right to bother people at their job.
I just found your site and find it interesting and a big help actually in my business. I am a quixtar IBO and I have been pushing locally what most of you are saying. I have seen many examples of violation of rule 8 as well as others. I always invite people to see the opportunity and I ALWAYS tell them it is a network marketing opportunity through quixtar, a division of Alticor. and I am growing a good business. if fact I have IBO's who have turned down other groups because they like my honesty. in short, it is unfortunate that many people do not feel as compelled to be honest but I believe the majority of IBO's do. the company is exemplairy, it is only decietful business owners to make it hard for the rest of us. if you think about it, it is no different that any other business model, just look at Enron! when you evaluate a business opportunity you must not only investigate the business but also the people who you intend to do business with, that is good business practice.
People are tired of the hype!They want you to be honest and truthfull.If you are not telling the truth you will be found out anyway.Why not tell the truth and if your deal ain't good enough get out!
I rember being at one of our regular tuesday night meetings and during the night owl the guy speaking a platnum i believe but im not possitive, explained to us our contacting script we use to contact over the phone. During this he made the comment about one part of the script was to imply that there was an employment oportunity to get them more interested to sit down and show the plan to them. Also when we contact the people over the phone we are not supposed to tell them anything about what this really is.
Before we show any of our plans, we get them approved through Quixtar. One of the things we do say is that our business runs through Quixtar, using it as the shopping portal and blah blah blah.
I'm not saying it's mysterious, because it's not. We're pretty up front about who we are and what we do, and apparantly Quixtar has no problem with what we say or how we say it, so in that circumstance, I think you're shooting for too much out of the rule.
Either that or our (your and my) deffinitions of "Mysterious" our different.
hmm... I guess different IBOs do things differently. the one who showed me the plan, didn't mention Quixtar until the end of his presentation (I still have the papers that the IBO scribbled on when he showed me the plan). and he violates some of the Rules of Conduct (the IBO actually denied the existence of the Rules. don't know if he was really clueless or just a big liar); he mentioned that I don't have to sell and still earn money, which is a lie because I don't think anyone can succeed in this business without selling. I don't want to buy things I do not need, for a mere $7.50 paycheck at the end of each month. it is more convenient to shop at walmart. It hurts Quixtar's image when the IBOs are not being ethical. Also, I almost got fooled into paying $300 to join Quixtar. Luckily, I found the registration form online and saw that one only needs to pay $40 to become an IBO!
I can't believe you guys are complaining about this opportunity. There is not a better one out there. This thing is awesome. I've already made money and it gets better ever month. Just through the skin care, my girlfriend made 1600 dollars in one day.
I think you guys are just computer geeks and can only type, not relate.
I don't think the Quixbots mention the company name whens they are soliciting at the mall, BestBuy, Borders, etc.
Then again, soliciting at these places of business is against store policy, so they probably don't want to broadcast it.
The next time I get approached in a store, I am going to rat them out to the store's management. I don't need to be harassed while I am shopping.
$1600 in one day? Is this guy kidding??? What did she do, sell the warehouse? Let's see, at 25% markup, she would have had to sell over $6000 to make the $1600 profit. That's alot of makeup and skincare!
I was wondering if what happened to me is a violation of rule 8.1.1?
I was at work one day and the store was very busy. This woman and her husband came up to me in my line and the lady began to complement me for being so fast and friendly. I thanked her for her kind words and then the next thing I knew she started talking about how her business is expanding because some company from Florida is expanding into the state we live in. So she says she needs to hire people for the anticipated spike in business that the Florida company will bring. She wanted to know if I would be interested in an employment opportunity because she likes friendly people working for her. She asked for my number and I gave it to her because she shops at my store frequently. About a week later, she gave me a call and talked about how her company would be expanding and that she needed to hire. Then she told me she couldn't make any promises as to whether or not I would like the job. So she sets up a meeting at her house. I go to the first meeting and she is very vague. She talks about Robert Kiyosaki and his book Rich Dad Poor Dad and then draws out his cash flow quadrant. So I'm thinking to myself, what kind of job does she want me to do for her company.... By the end of the first meeting I still had no idea what the job was, but she had given me a copy of one of Kiyosaki's cds to listen to. She asked me to come back for another meeting to discuss numbers and of course I said yes because at this point I still believed a real job opportunity existed. She wanted me to bring along my boyfriend for the second meeting. So the second meeting comes and this time her husband is there too. My BF and I finally find out that they are involved with Quixtar. There was no employment opportunity. I felt very misled and annoyed because this lady came up to me at my place of employment while I was on duty and told me she was hiring people for her company because it was expanding. She said nothing about what type of business it was. Had she mentioned Quixtar I would have said no.
Posted by: Manju | July 16, 2004 4:02 AM