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January 15, 2008
Retailing in Quixtar Part 3 (10, 50, 100)
By Truth in Quixtar
For the final part of the Retailing in Quixtar series I am going to address the Quixtar rule that states an IBO must make at least one sale to 10 different people, sell 50PV worth of product, or sell $100 worth of product in order to get downline bonuses. This rule was referred to as the ten customer rule in the FTC v. Amway decision and here is what was written about it in the decision:
74. Amway's 'tencustomer' rule provides that distributors may not receive a performance bonus unless they prove a sale to each of ten different retail customers during each month. (RX 331, pp. 1B and 17B) The Direct Distributors have the primary responsibility for enforcing the tencustomer rule in their own group. (S. Bryant, Tr. 406162) The tencustomer rule was started by Amway about 1970. Prior to that, there was a 25 sales rule which required the distributor to make 25 retail sales a month without regard to the number of customers. (S. Bryant, Tr. 408586) The tencustomer rule is enforced by Amway and the Direct Distributors.
Rule Changes?
Now I will admit I don't know the whole history of this rule so I can only assume things have changed since the FTC v. Amway decision. One of the changes that I know of is that the website keeps track of these numbers when orders by customers are placed. This of course is a change that came with the new modern direct fulfillment as opposed to ordering and picking up from upline. But as far as the rule goes in addition to having one sale to ten different customers, an IBO can sell 50PV worth of products or $100 worth of product to get downline bonuses.
Can it be enforced?
As I pointed out in Part 2 of this series however there is a big difference between making a rule and enforcing it. I think what should matter here is not so much that a rule is in place but that it is actually being enforced, and works. The question should be does it truly encourage retailing as it says it does. Personally I remember many people talking about how they would simply purchase 50PV worth of product, check the option that they were buying it for a customer and they took care of it.
Sadly, in my opinion this is another rule that cannot be enforced and it is no wonder that there was only 3.4% of sales to actual customers. Personally I don't think there is really anyway Quixtar can make any rule that would "encourage" retail sales. If they wanted to encourage retail sales, they need to start making it more appealing to IBOs. The problem is that sponsoring new IBOs has been seen as the more appealing way to make money.
Thankfully Quixtar has at least started to look at ways to make retailing products more appealing and most important more profitable for IBOs. Also, there are signs of another step in the right direction with the new rule that allows sales at events. In the end however I don't think the concept of retailing products will be the most appealing to IBOs until Quixtar makes their prices more competitive, and I am talking about the retail price, not the wholesale. You can preach on quality until you are blue in the face and in the end that will only carry you so far.
Comments
This rule is not enforced at all by Quixtar. Almost everyone in our group simply went to the "Customer Volume Reporting" section on Quixtar.com and checked a box that said 50pv of your personal order was sold to a customer.
Here's something interesting to note. After I quit I still had multiple legs doing volume so I still had the chance to get a bonus check. However, I stopped doing personal volume and had no customer volume. Based on the 50pv rule, there is no way I should have been paid on downline volume. I still was able to go and "report" that I had 50pv of customer volume and get a bonus check. There is no way that this rule is being enforced when someone with no personal pv and no customers at all can "report" 50pv and still get paid.
This rule is simply a front so Quixtar isn't shut down as a "self consumption product pyramid."
Its comical from an an IBO standpoint to read these "articles" written by people claiming to be involved with Amway or Quixtar. Bothering to actually point out the rediculous nonsense would only give them pointers on how to better craft their deceitful pretenses against the system. They are either competitors or losers that have to point the finger after failing in the business rather than take responsibility for their own laziness (same as a drunkard blames his boss when he gets fired for drinking on the job). At this, someone will no doubt claim to know someone that knew someone that heard that someone spent 40,000 on a garage full of CDs. So I'll go ahead and give my response to that now: I know a person that for more than two years claimed a similar scenario, and finally admitted he was lying. Fact is, Amway and Quixtar (two completely different companies, by the way) buy back unused tools and merchandise. I'm a quixtar IBO and find it profitable and enjoyable. But, I'm not a lazy couch potato. For those that are, most (not all) find it easier to blame anyone but themselves when they fail at anything. Ask yourself, have they ever been successful at anything in their entire lives? Have they EVER blamed themselves for that? ;-) Get some new friends.
"Bothering to actually point out the rediculous nonsense would only give them pointers on how to better craft their deceitful pretenses against the system."
Or you just can't actually point out anything that is wrong, so you have to make up an excuse as to why you won't.
"Fact is, Amway and Quixtar (two completely different companies, by the way) buy back unused tools and merchandise."
Really, why is Quixtar changing it's name back to Amway then? Also, I don't believe Quixtar will buy your unused CDs, books, etc. Your upline is supposed to do that. Something tells me you need to do some extra homework before trying to state facts again.
Quixtar will put rules and incentives in place to try to encourage the sale of retail products but the bottom line is that it's the Diamonds, more specifically the BSM education systems that are the rudder that steers the ship. If they are teaching something then that is the focus. If they are not, then their won't be any noticeable change.
That being said: I have seen a major shift in the organization I'm a part of (LTD) over the last 6-12 months. They are going back to the "old" days of product demos and specific teaching on retailing. We have had multiple CD's available that are focused on retailing products. Because of this, I had a downline get interested in marketing ribbon catalogs (formally gift and incentive) to corporations. His third month after signing up he cleared a profit of right at $1,000 (700 retail profit & 300pv bonus) There's not alot of investment other than time in marketing ribbon so it was a profitable situation. (XS and Artistry definitely require larger up front investments depending on the scale of marketing you're doing) I'll explain that statement below:
my point is:
If he would have gotten started just 2 years ago he would have never even known about this product unless he stumbled on it while browsing quixtar. But now it's talked about alot more. I like the change!!!!
By scale of marketing I meant:
Artistry for example: You can spend 1,000 - 1,500 to get totally outfitted for large make-up parties or spend $80 on a skin care system and drop it off with someone and let them try it for a couple of days.
To answer your question of can the rule be enforced: Quixtar recently set up an invoice system to use to record cash sales. You fill out the customer information and product sku's for items sold. Quixtar says that these sales are randomly verified. Are they? I have no idea. But I feel like they are genuinely trying to enforce rules without placing more restrictions on IBO's. If Quixtar said that ALL customer orders must be placed via the web using an assigned customer number then we would have another topic to blog on: "I thought IBO's owned their own business?????"
THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TY TRIBBLE OF WWW.MLMBLOG.NET SINCE HE WON'T ALLOW ME TO POST ANYMORE. PLEASE SOMEBODY READING THIS COMMUNICATE TO HIM THIS POST.
Ty Tribble,
Business owners wanting WELFARE education? Free Tools? You mean you are trying to build a business with employee mentality? What a contradiction. How many MLMs have you been in Ty? Once the growth declines in your current MLM you move your entire organization to a new one along with Bo Short! The best marketing for your business is for you to say"It's not Quixtar. Quixtar is evil.". That's like being a new phone company in the 90s and saying"We're not ATT. ATT is evil". You're not better, you are just playing on people's frustrations. I find it funny that you can't build on your own name rather than who you are not. That says something about whatever MLM you are doing this week.
The 3ft rule is still the best way to build for LONG TERM stability because a long term business is relational. What better way to start a LOCAL relationship. You are a professional MLMer... not an average evryday guy trying to earn his freedom through a home-based business. You used to be, but have changed. You can't walk away from your business for good like a yaeger or britt if they wanted... IF they wanted... because people see through you AND 1 product Aloe Vera drink companies aren't long term, or whatever "miracle drink" MLM you are doing now.
Bill
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I believe Quixtar/Amway spent so much time and effort defending its name and heritage as the Premier Granddaddy of all MLMs, that as a result they have become PROUD of it again. It is the only way to rise above the fray and make the negative blog-bashers seem insignificant. They are basically coming out and saying "You dang right we're Amway Global and proud of it!!" Exotic 1 product berry-juice/aloe vera companies that build their business by saying that they "aren't Amway" won't last as they never have. Soon when you say "we're not like Amway", that will hurt your business because we will show so much pride that people will want to be apart of what we've got going on!! The AMERICAN WAY baby!!
Truth,
Good article, and I think you've hit the nail on the head. Amway's main problem stems from their lack of enforcement of their retail sales rule. In my opinion, I don't think Amway is unable from enforcing the retail sales rule. Since it's so easy now to refer a customer to a personalized website, Quixtar can now track all customer sales made through the websites. They need to eliminate the option to "self report." Outside of handing out product samples, I don't think many sales are made person to person anymore. If I'm wrong, I think the harms of allowing self-reporting outweigh the benefits. Quixtar should only pay a bonus to IBOs that have 50PV in customer sales from their personalized website. If a person to person, direct sale is made, then Quixtar should require the IBO to fax in a form. With technology today, it would be easy for Quixtar to receive the fax and allocate the volume appropriately. Of course, that could be fudged like self-reporting, but Quixtar should institute a random check for customer receipts. I know this might be a tough pill for people to swallow, but these measures are necessary, in my opinion, because so many people are being harmed. I've written about Amway's lack of retail sales in the past...http://barristerquixtarlawsuit.blogspot.com/2007/11/mike-mohrs-testimony-part-1.html
Amway knows that they have a responsibility to enforce their rules, yet over 1500 affidavits were submitted that state that Amway has never checked to see if the "self reports" were accurate. I think it's a case of "see no evil, hear no evil." They didn't want to enforce the rule because it would've cost too much money.
Posted by: Perry Barrister | January 16, 2008 1:41 AM