TEAM: Fixing Quixtar - Amway in North America

Original Source

Fixing Quixtar - Amway in North America

Critics often get criticized for being negative or not offering solutions so I thought I would take some time to offer a (partial) solution for Amway/Quixtar in North America.

Here are what I see as the biggest issues with Quixtar/Amway in North America (not in any order):

1. Outdated Compensation
2. Poor Reputation
3. Lack of Product Focus
4. High Prices

Now for my solution:

1. Break up Amway - Quixtar (North America) into four new Network Marketing companies:

XS Energy
Artistry
Nutrilite
Amway
This actually helps solve three of the four major issues, lack of product focus, reputation and compensation. Each product focused company could come out with an updated compensation plan with a focus on balance and the best reward strategy for the product line.

It is should be no secret that the fastest growing companies in Network Marketing over the last five years have been single product or narrow product line focused (such as weight loss). Narrowing the product focus strips away confusion and allows the unique products to shine.

The reputation will be helped by the renewed focus on products and less focus on the "2-5 year plan".

2. Reduce prices and get PV/BV back to a reasonable level ($3 to 1PV is not reasonable). The PV/BV situation overlaps with compensation but it is also needs to be mentioned with pricing. You can't drop the prices by 30% and then drop the PV/BV associates with the products by 50% and claim to now magically have competitive pricing.

Just get reasonable here. Mercedes has proven that you don't have to be the cheapest to be successful, but there is a line where the average consumer will say: "I don't care how good you say (the product) is, I'm not paying that much for (fill in the blank - Amway Product).

3. Update the compensation plan for the 21st century. Adding $60 million in new bonuses and then making them twice as hard to achieve is not updating the plan. Add some money for the newest growing associate. The IBOAI propaganda is suggesting that Quixtar/Amway now has the best compensation plan in the industry.

Uh, yeah. If I was driving a car from 1959 and claimed that it got better gas mileage than a 2008 hybrid, you would laugh at me. In the same manner, people that understand compensation plans within the industry are laughing at the IBOAI.

Lastly, this breakup would help address the core of the reputation problem by nullifying the power of the IBOAI, who haven't really represented the newest IBO in decades.

March 13, 2008

Comparing Traffic: Quixtar vs. Mona Vie™

Here is a live updating graph of Mona Vie™'s website versus Quixtar. The graph shows how much traffic has risen (or fallen) in the last 6 months. This will be an interesting graph to watch over the next few months.



Here is a static image at the time of the post:

TEAM: BEHIND THE WALLS OF QUIXTAR PART 6

Original Source

BEHIND THE WALLS OF QUIXTAR PART 6
Tuesday, February 26, 2008


Hey folks, I am just back from yet another blog filling lunch with two of my CWPF's (Close Warm Personal Friends) from Alticor / Amway / Quixtar. I must say I was very happy my friends wanted to eat for a change. The coffee routine was getting old. Even as good as the food was at filing my stomach it was nothing compared to the "MEATY" information my friends provided today.

There are two big stories to discuss in today's installment of Behind the Walls of Quixtar. The first story is straight out of Hawaii and the latest Diamond Club. The second is some big news on possible employee unrest within Alticor. Employees are keenly aware of the entire TEAM fallout and are starting to fear the ripple effect.

The biggest story is certainly out of Hawaii and Diamond Club. I am thinking they should really rename the entire event Diamond Cluster. It more appropriately describes it and the situation. In case you hadn't heard there was a mere 65 diamonds at this years Diamond Cluster. I am sure our friends in Ada will somehow find the silver lining in this. But really, is that all they could muster is 65 diamonds after 50 years of business? Quixtar reportedly went all out and hired the music group the Motels in recognition of their incredible shrinking company. Click here to hear the Motels performing at Diamond Cluster 2008.


With all that extra elbow room at the Grand Wailea I am sure it felt much more exclusive this year. How much extra elbow room you ask? Well in recent years there have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 260 diamonds or so. On the Alticor blog Ada-tudes there was a lot of conversation about the 160 or so diamonds for 2007. So as you can see Quixtar is now minus another hundred diamonds for 2008. At this rate of demise, well, you can do the math. Quixtar is involved in a complete free fall.

Another big story from Diamond Cluster 2008 was that Mike "MonaVie" Mohr addressed the diamonds in attendence. During his speech Mr. Mohr took the time to engage in MonaVie bashing from stage. Yes this is the same Mike Mohr who considers price comparisons to be disparagment. But somehow his conduct is just fine. Mr. Mohr, after trashing MonaVie, told the diamonds that if anyone approached their cattle with MonaVie, that they would have the full weight of the company behind them. This of course was code for, don't get any ideas or we will sue you! Mike Mohr is really Quixtar's version of Kathy Bates / Annie Wilkes from the movie Misery. Encouraging folks to succeed or, as in the movie get the book written, all the while waiting to break your legs so you can NEVER leave. In case you were wondering what it all looked like, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3.


Well enough of Diamond Cluster 08. The other big story from my CWPF's is quit alarming. Alticor has long been known as a great place to work with good pay. Well it seems that employees are trying to prepare for the worse. It was hinted to me that since the North American business continues to shrink that some employees are considering a union organizing effort in order to protect their jobs. I was almost shocked to hear such a thing. It wasn't clear in what part of the company these rumblings were coming from but I am sure it will be met with stern resistance.

Well that is it for this installment of Behind the Walls of Quixtar. Information continues to pour from inside the company so I will have more when the information merits your attention.

Posted by The IBO Rebellion at 1:51 PM

TEAM: Mona Vie Update

Original Source

Taken from: A History Lesson - Winston Churchill
by Orrin Woodward on Sat 16 Feb 2008 07:45 AM EST

Content omitted

Update: In just over three years MonaVie has nearly matched what Quixtar/Amway has accomplished in almost 50 years in North America. There is a reason for this and when I can share the benchmarking study you will know why. I am not a gambling man and prefer safer incremental improvements - with an eye to the future, than a "Swing for the Fences" gamble that puts the vision at risk. We ALL want to be the "Walmart of the Internet" except a dozen lawyers at a competing company. Michael Dell said, "The community is the key to the internet." Therefore; a leaders number one job is to keep his community alive so we can fight another day - this we have done! I have learned in leadership to play the hand you are dealt. Like the old saying goes, "If you knew what I knew, you would do what I do." I believe in the product and leadership team at MonaVie and know they play a part in our long-term vision. I have put all on the line for this vision: my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor. You choose what you will put on the line for this vision. Thanks, Orrin

TEAM: Historical Reminiscences & A Vision for the Future - Part IV

Original Source

Historical Reminiscences & A Vision for the Future - Part IV
by Orrin Woodward on Fri 15 Feb 2008 03:47 PM EST

The following post is my toughest to write. I am not a victim and do not wish the Team nor I to be portrayed as such. As an unofficial historian of these times, I am only attempting to state the truth as I saw it first hand. I did and still do respect all of the Quixtar representatives mentioned. I do not believe in disparagement and all of my statements are intended to be my opinion only when I am addressing my feelings.

The first time I sat down with Jim Payne was shortly after writing the letter to Doug Devos about my concerns about the business. A little background on the letter is necessary. I did not just out of the blue write a letter. Joe Markeiwicz group and the Team were the two fastest growing businesses since Quixtar formed. Steve VanAndel and Doug Devos requested a special meeting where Board members and non-Board members met to discuss a study performed on the state of the Quixtar business. I won’t go into details about the meeting, but at the end both Doug and Steve asked us for any additional input to help get the business moving again. I didn’t need a second invitation to move on this. I took me a couple of days to write that letter. I wanted to be firm in my convictions, but also encouraging and confident that we could make Quixtar work the way everyone dreamed it should. I asked Pastor Dickie to read and re-read it so that I would speak the truth in love. I hoped we could do a lunch together and share with Doug some ideas I had to improve the business. Much to my surprise, I received a curt reply that stated Jim Payne the new Quixtar managing director would handle the matter. In Doug’s defense, I know he is a very busy man with a global business, so I looked forward to my first meeting with Jim.

Chris Brady and I met with Jim in his office a month later. We felt we would have a great discussion on how to improve the Quixtar business, but instead we spent almost three hours defending the very existence of Team Approach. We were told Quixtar had reviewed the data and had determined that Team Approach was a poor method to build the business. The showed reams of data that “proved” Team Approach produced less profitability. I was shocked as saddened that instead of addressing the issues admitted by the founders on the lack of growth, we spent all of our time trying to keep Quixtar from forbidding the use of Team Approach. Jim also said that our organization was the lowest PV/IBO. I tried to explain to him that I stopped promoting the products personally after I did my own cost comparison and realized I was teaching people to buy products they could buy much cheaper at the store in my opinion. I had told Ken McDonald that I could not in good conscience promote commodity products at a higher price than they can buy at the store. Ken said he was working on 15 to 20 products for us and I told him when that happened we would explode! Jim took my lack of promotion as a weakness of Team Approach. This is simply not true and building depth actually increases purchases because people that see progress tend to buy more. I told Jim and the rest of the Quixtar representatives that although profitability is less in the short term, people accomplish the levels twice as fast. For example, if it takes the width model 5 years to go platinum and someone with Team approach can do it in 2 to 3 years, and then comparing avg. platinum income is not an accurate test. In five years with Team Approach the platinum may be a Sapphire or an Emerald. Someone like Tim Marks went Diamond in 31 months. None of this seemed to have an impact and when I left that meeting in late 2005, I realized that the political environment had changed. I was impressed by Jim Payne personally though. He has a very quick mind and grasped concepts quickly. I assumed he had a job to do and was focused on making changes and reducing the Board’s influence.

Jim Payne had led changes in other countries with great success from what I hear. I believe the difference in North America was the Board. In no other country did Amway have a Board that had to be consulted in order to implement changes. I don’t think Jim was comfortable with this process and did not follow the protocol of Maxwell’s Law of Buy In the best. I knew in late 2005 that Team Approach was not looked upon favorably at Quixtar even thought the field began using Team Approach in increasing numbers. Results cannot be hidden and the Team had well over 80% of the (English Speaking as a first language) Founders Emeralds and above that had only been in Quixtar. Despite these results, the new QBI program that the company rolled out was heavily stacked against Team Approach. There were requirement on side volumes that had never been in place before. This would affect the income of thousand of people in and out of my organization. I felt a fiduciary responsibility to speak up on this matter and lost more ground with the Quixtar representatives. I never had a personal issue with any of the Quixtar managers and felt on a personal level there was respect on both sides. I did discuss openly and freely on my concerns on favoring width building methods (that were not working) over depth building methods (that were working). I was not asking for favoritism for the depth builders, but asking for an achievement based system that would let the best system win. I did not win this discussion and all organizations who built with Team Approach suffered the consequences.

The beginning of my second year on the board began with a major push by Greg Duncan and the company to sell more products. Greg traveled around the country teaching of the explosive growth of everyone doing the Incredible Edibles program. I heard about people going ruby all on retail sales. I love a good story as much as the next guy but still like the old saying, “In God we trust, and all others must have data.” So many people in our business are phenomenal story tellers and I love a good story too, but the story needs to be backed up with hard evidence. Otherwise, it turns into hype and is not conducive to long term results in this business or any other. I wrote my letter to all the Board members after being told that we would be an email based culture and if we had any questions or comments to share them. Again, I did not write this letter to attack anyone, but merely to bring out another vision of how to move more products. I am all for sales, but to ask six figure income producers on their job to learn all the details of a water treatment system or the air filtration units in order to sell them is simply not worth the effort. I feel if someone could sell those products and make money, then they could make a fortune selling products with higher commission margins and easier stories to tell. My letter was rebutted by Rob Davidson and never brought up again. In my opinion, I felt Quixtar had decided not to follow through with the 15 to 20 competitively priced products. Over two years of my life and no closer to our dream business than the day we started.

The next big debacle with Quixtar came after the Team’s major in Grand Rapids at the VanAndel arena. We had just launched the Team website operated and controlled internally. It had more content on the non-password protected side to be more open and transparent with visitors. A Quixtar lawyer in their rules department just happened to be walking downtown in Grand Rapids and asked one of the many white shirted guys what they were doing. Someone gave them a card with the Team website on it. I received an email from Gary Vanderven stating I had 72 hours (It might have been 48 hours) to password protect the whole site or my IBO number would be suspended for having a prospecting site. I ignored this for the first couple of days thinking that Gary was having a bad day. I remember the call I received from Gary the last day and told me if the Team site was not taken off the internet until it was fully password protected that I would be suspended. I was shocked and hurt. I told Gary that I was on the road and that everyone was gone from the office. I literally had to beg for another 24 hours to not be suspended. I knew Gary must have been given orders to do this, because he is one of the nicest Christians I know. I told Gary that I know there must be more to the story and that I would comply even though I was very disappointed that no one would call and talk to me about this outside of the rules department. Billy Florence and Rick Abraham both looked at the website and stated they saw no prospecting materials or even an email to be contacted. Plain and simple, it wasn’t a prospecting site.

Jim Payne, John Stecco and Gary Vanderven called me with one hour to go before the suspension started and asked me if I was taking down the site. I was glad that someone at least called before I was suspended. I asked them what suspended actually meant, thinking that maybe I should get suspended and appeal to the board. Jim Payne said I would lose all of the QBI bonus, all the trips and monthly incomes. I was thinking about refusing to take down the site and appealing until Jim said the next statement. Chris Brady will also be suspended. I told them that Chris knew nothing about this, but their reply was that it says he is the co-founder. Jim asked again what my answer was. This was the most frustrating time in my entire life. I no longer felt I owned my own business and felt worse than an at will employee in my opinion. I bowed down to their authority again, but vowed to fix this ultra controlling attitude! I began to think that maybe discussing openly about change in this culture might not be the best thing for a person’s longevity in the new Quixtar.

The next crisis in my relationship with Quixtar came over full disclosure of the tool incomes. One of the major criticisms online and in the Dateline documentary is the lack of full disclosure on the tool incomes. Chris Brady and I decided to place the four ways to make income directly in our first night book. Quixtar forbid us to state our average incomes per level of achievement, but Quixtar was driving for full transparency in the tools business. I felt this was one of Team’s competitive advantages. We are proud of our compensation plans and anyone can become the top money earner. Why not disclose this in the first night book and if someone does not like it then they don’t have to join? This allows for complete transparency and no one can say they were not told upfront of all the various ways to make income. Tools, Tickets, Speaking and Quixtar were the four ways. Instead of being elated by our willingness to be transparent, Chris and I were threatened with a loss of the Hawaii Diamond Club unless we took the entire chapter out of the book. No discussion, just do it or else. I prayed about this one long and hard, but in the end decided to go to Hawaii because we had just broken 3 new diamonds and one was a personal (George and Jill) to us. We did not want to ruin their first Diamond Club and still believed that the attitude of Quixtar would change when they saw all the new growth we were experiencing!

The last major crisis while in the Quixtar business was the name change back to Amway. No discussion, no pros and cons, just do it. I feel no move on Quixtar’s part hurt the trust with the field as much as the unilateral name-change back to Amway. I built this business to have more control over my time and choices in life. The last two years had been a personal nightmare for me and my family. No one in our group outside of Chris and Tim knew anything. I did not and would not slander or libel someone. I do feel I have a right to share the truth from my perspective and this is the truth as I know it. I am sure I have made mistakes and am sure I could have addressed issues in a better way. All of us can get better. But as God as my witness, I never tried to belittle anyone personally and focused on the issues that I thought would improve the business for all of us. That is what I am called to do as a leader. I know people have bad days, but I was beginning to see a pattern in Quixtar’s behavior towards me and the Team. Even with all of this, I still had faith against all the facts that Quixtar/Amway leaders would come to their senses when they saw the backlash on the Amway name change. Every LOA/LOS leaders that I talked to was very disappointed by the recent move leading up to the name-change. There may have been some that were excited, but I didn’t talk to them and I tried to gather data from as many as possible to see if we could unite and convince Quixtar to change their minds. The beginning of the end of my Amway/Quixtar career was near.

QUIXTAR: Quixtar Announces Fifth Consecutive Year of Billion-Dollar Sales

Original Source

Quixtar Announces Fifth Consecutive Year of Billion-Dollar Sales

Independent Business Owners earned $363 million in bonuses and incentives

ADA, Mich., Feb. 15, 2008 - Quixtar Inc. today announced fiscal 2007 sales of $1.072 billion, the fifth consecutive year in which the company surpassed the billion-dollar mark. The results represented a slight decline from the previous year's sales of $1.12 billion, which were the best in Quixtar's nine-year history.

Results were affected minimally by actions the company took to terminate the business of a few Independent Business Owners in August of 2007 after they refused to change unacceptable practices.

Quixtar Independent Business Owners (IBOs) earned $363 million in bonuses and other incentives for their business efforts in 2007, which also included $70.1 million in sales at Quixtar's Partner Stores.

In 2007, Quixtar launched a new line of nutritional snacks, juices and supplements for busy families under the Simply Nutrilite™ brand, as well as the new Artistry® essentials line of skin care and cosmetics products. Quixtar.com was redesigned to improve usability and to better support IBO sales efforts, and Quixtar University was launched to provide online and aided sales and brand training to help IBOs build profitable businesses.

Since 1999, IBOs have earned nearly $2.6 billion based on total Quixtar sales of more than $7.86 billion and Partner Store sales of more than $577 million. Driven by its strong Health and Beauty brands, Quixtar again was ranked #1 in online Health and Beauty sales by Internet Retailer's "Top 500 Guide" in 2007, and 22nd overall in e-commerce.

"Our business is on the right path at the right time," said Jim Payne, Executive Vice President - Amway & Quixtar. "New leadership was brought in this year with Steve Lieberman, the new Managing Director for Quixtar who joined us in August. We also recently hired a new VP of Sales, Sandy Spielmaker, who will have a tremendous impact on our sales team."

Plans were announced in 2007 to change the business opportunity brand in North America to better leverage and align with Amway's $7 billion global business.

"We're working with IBOs to properly position our North American business within the context of the larger Amway global brand," said Lieberman. "To better support IBO efforts, we are focusing in particular on how consumers interact with our products and our brands."

"Our goal is to provide the best business opportunity in North America," said Lieberman. "From products and IBO compensation to sales training and marketing programs, everything we do in support of our IBOs is being examined to ensure we achieve that goal."

ABOUT QUIXTAR
Based in Ada, Mich., Quixtar Inc. is part of the Alticor group of companies, founded by the DeVos and Van Andel families. Alticor is led by Steve Van Andel, Chairman, and Doug DeVos, President. Global sales for the Alticor group of companies, which include Amway, Access Business Group, Alticor Corporate Enterprises (ACE), and Quixtar, exceeded $7.1 billion in fiscal 2007.

Quixtar currently supports independent businesses in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and various trust territories and independent island nations in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and Caribbean Sea. Quixtar Canada Corp. headquarters are located in London, Ont., Canada.

TEAM:RESPONDING TO "WHILE WE WERE OUT"

Original Source

RESPONDING TO "WHILE WE WERE OUT"
Thursday, February 7, 2008

The latest post on the Alticor Media Blog occurred on Jan. 25th 2008. Alticor has at least learned from its mistakes. After getting pounded in the courts for their troglodytical remarks in the post "Just Go TEAM," they have decided to zip it. I applaud them for their coming to grips with their complete lack of emotional intelligence. Acknowledging your problem is the first step.

There are several parts to their post but lets focus on remarks made in the section titled Nevada. Here is what Alticor posted:


NEVADA: One thing we can mention: As noted in an earlier post, we are pursuing a lawsuit against TEAM in Nevada, the state where the company is incorporated. We think they have a lot to answer for, including their violation of Quixtar’s rights to its LOS. What they are mostly doing in response is trying to wiggle out of answering questions about their plans to harm Quixtar business owners. They can’t wiggle forever.
So lets examine the latest dribble from Alticor. Once again Alticor sounds as arrogant as ever saying TEAM has much answer for. The issue of LOS has already been decided and on Alticor's home turf of Grand Rapids. TEAM has never deprived Quixtar of their rights to the LOS. Their LOS still exists just the people who use to be there have chose to leave. As Judge Bush in Texas stated, "You can't make people be slaves." That means people are free to resign or not renew. So go look at your LOS Quixtar, it is still there. There just aren't any active IBOs in it.

However, the most offensive part of Alticor's post was their suggestion that TEAM plans or planned to "harm Quixtar business owners." Quixtar is attempting to claim that the entire legal attack on TEAM is to somehow to protect remaining IBOs. That is the biggest load of balderdash anyone could muster. The interest Quixtar continues to clamor about, and that has been heard in courtrooms across the country, is Quixtar's belief that they own IBOs.

Let's examine who has harmed whom. TEAM, specifically Woodward and Brady, have been the main breath of fresh air Quixtar's pathetic corporation needed. People don't want stories of success from years gone by. They want recent success stories from people just like them. TEAM provided that to Quixtar and to the industry. The TEAM's growth and success is well documented. TEAM's profit sharing is second to none and was a stark contrast to the stingy payouts Woodward and Brady both endured as IBOs on the way to having their own system. Woodward has been a staunch advocate for lower pricing. How has TEAM and company hurt other IBOs? By reforming tool profits, fighting for lower pricing, or by creating an environment and formula for success? I can think of NOTHING that TEAM has done to harm IBOs.

In contrast lets examine Quixtar's sorry track record. First and foremost their delusional pricing strategy has fleeced all of us. Through the years, their refusal to address their corporate image only made building the business more difficult. Their inability to solve the "first circle" issue for a new IBO to make money creates incredible turnover. The 15-20 competitively priced products remains elusive to this day even after years of promises. The altering of the QBI program to discriminate against TEAM IBOs and other depth focused organizations was a classic "change the deal" maneuver. In addition, Alticor found it necessary to create new avenues for its products that circumvent IBOs and undermine what was an exclusive distributorship.

The two biggest hits IBOs took from Quixtar were the Amway name change and the termination of Woodward and Brady. The name change from Quixtar to Amway was recognized by Alticor as an act that would damage existing IBOs and their businesses. Alticor acknowledged as much but basically said that IBOs would have to cope with the fallout that they believed could last for years. In the case of TEAM, Woodward and Brady's termination damaged every IBO that were a part of TEAM. The welfare of existing IBOs was not on the minds of Quixtar on August 9th. Instead, it was all about the lack of emotional intelligence all over again. Under a scenario where TEAM departed peacefully from Quixtar, damage would have been mitigated. Quixtar made the decision to make it nasty that day and therefore hold the liability for the destruction they and others associated with them have incurred.

Alticor / Amway / Quixtar and their overzealous legal department has been, and continues to be, the epicenter of destruction for current and former IBOs. Alticor's shameful accusation that Woodward and Brady would harm fellow IBOs should be rejected in its entirety. Alticor will continue their spin laden remarks on their blog and in their press releases. They can say all kinds of nice things about how they are doing and where they are going. Bottom line it all reminds me of a line I once heard. "A little bit of powder, a little bit of paint, makes a girl's complexion seem what it ain't." In terms of Quixtar, despite all their flowery remarks about themselves,.... it's real ugly, real ugly indeed.
Posted by The IBO Rebellion at 1:42 AM

QUIXTAR: Rumor Re Confidential Competitive Analysis

Original Source

Rumor Re Confidential Competitive Analysis
February 06, 2008

There's a rumor out there that in April of 2000, the IBOAI conducted a “Confidential Competitive Analysis” of Quixtar products. FALSE.
There is no record of any such analysis in minutes of Board and Committee meetings. There were, at a couple of different points in time, INFORMAL comparisons of Quixtar products with other commercial products made by a handful of IBO leaders and members of their downline. One such comparison helped Board representatives, on behalf of all IBOS, negotiate favorable pricing for energy bars with Quixtar.
Posted at 11:19 PM

TEAM: California lawsuit, part 4

Original Post

California lawsuit, part 4
MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008

The plainitffs in the class action lawsuit alleged,

At a Diamond Meeting of the Company Internet Services in 1997 or 1998, a price
discussion ensued regarding the price of the Amway dog food. When asked
why the dog food was so expensive, an Amway representative stated that Amway
does not look at the marketplace to determine what a competitive retail price should be. Instead, the Amway representative stated that the products are priced at the IBO cost. Essentially, the Amway representative was suggesting that the IBO cost, considered the “wholesale” cost, is actually the retail price. Thus, IBOs attempting to resell the dog food would have to
sell it at cost, foregoing any profit, in order to be competitive.

In April of 2000, the IBOAI conducted a “Confidential Competitive Analysis” of the
Quixtar products. The IBOAI compared the Quixtar products with three
competitive market leaders in each type of product and a cost per unit of measurement was established to fairly compare the products. In almost every item, the Quixtar products were substantially overpriced in comparison to the three industry leaders. In response, Quixtar promised to “work on it.”

“Amway does not look at the market place to determine what a competitive retail price should be. Instead, the Amway representatives stated that the Amway products were priced at the IBO cost.” To me, this clearly demonstrates that Amway had very little desire to market the products to outside customers; instead they relied on purchases and consumption from their IBO’s. This arrangement worked out well for Amway because there were numerous IBO leaders who got good at recruiting massive amounts of people into the Amway business. Because the tool companies emphasized the opportunity portion of the business, IBO’s were willing to purchase the products for personal use. Although the IBO leaders were good at bringing in massive amounts of people into Quixtar, I’m willing to bet that only a small percentage of the people in the Quixtar/Amway business actually purchased products. In this regard, I would agree 100% with IBOFightback. IBOFightback has argued on this blog, and others as well, that a large percentage of IBO’s never purchase a single product. Why do you suppose that was the case?

So they can't lower their prices, huh

Amway UK has lowered their prices. I already knew that. I thought it was maybe a 10% drop in the price. The prices of the following items are now 22% to 45% (average of 31%) of their previous price in the UK. (source)

• BODY SERIES™ Concentrated Liquid Hand Soap 250 ml
  
• BODY SERIES™ Fresh Scent Deodorant and Anti-Perspirant Spray 200ml/130 g
  
• BODY SERIES™ 3-in-1 Bar Soap 6 bars - 150 g
  
• SA8 SOLUTIONS™ Pre-Wash Spray 400ml
  
• L.O.C. ™ Mini Wipes 4 travel packs each with 24 wipes
  
• GREEN MEADOWS™ Air Freshener 150 ml
  
• PURSUE™ Toilet Bowl Cleaner 750ml
  
• L.O.C. ™ Plus SEE SPRAY Glass Cleaner 500 ml
  
• L.O.C. ™ Plus Soft Cleanser 500 ml
  
• AMWAY™ Wax Furniture Polish 400 ml
  
• BODY SERIES™ Concentrated Liquid Hand Soap Refill 1 Litre
  

That is a significant drop in price. Why couldn't they have done that sometime in the last decade in the US?

TEAM: Who damaged whom? (Chuck Goetschel's perspective on Fanista)

Original Source

Who damaged whom?
by Admin on Tue 27 Nov 2007 08:40 AM PST

I was on the plane flying home Tuesday, November 20, 2007 from mediation meeting with Quixtar attorneys, the person sitting in front of me was reading the New York Times and I found myself in shock by what I was seeing on the front page of the business section.. “No way!” I kept thinking once I was able to read the entire article. “Developed in secrecy over the last two years” the article explained, the new web business was finally launching. “Think of it as part Amazon (online retail), part My-Space (social network) and part Amway (direct pitch from somebody you know).” The products: “DVDs and CDs…and in the coming months it plans to add video games, digital downloads and books.” “More consumers shop online for books, DVDs and music than any other product, according to iCrossing.” The bottom line: Alticor (parent company of Amway/Quixtar) has decided to launch a competing multilevel business named Fanista. They are even attempting to promote a new coin name to the industry, “common interest commerce” to replace multi-level marketing. The big question is why wasn’t Fanista added to Amway/Quixtar rather than launched as a competitor? Once you answer that question, you will understand why I, along with five other IBOAI board members, said without change we could no longer support the Company. In my opinion, and supported by the Fanista launch, they are not leading with the best intentions of the independent business owners (IBOs) in mind.

In my previous paper, “The truth they don’t want you to know”, I talked about how it appeared to me that the Company was going to sell around the IBOs. Several web sites have been set up where the general public can purchase directly. New rules were being passed allowing products to be sold to the public through certain venues. And, great success has occurred in China where products are sold in stores yielding rumors that the “China model” will be seen elsewhere starting in India. However, I honestly never believed that the Company would go so far as to launch a competing multi-level business to Amway/Quixtar. Given Fanista is a direct competitor, it makes one wonder if Amway/Quixtar IBOs register, refer people and earn a profit from Fanista, are they in violation of the non-compete clause of their contract.? If they refer people to their Fanista community from their own or other lines of sponsorship of the Amway/Quixtar business, are they in violation of the non-solicitation clause of their contract? If IBOs can do these things, how is it not in violation of their contract? Is that part of the contract void only if the competing business is also owned by Alticor? And, if IBOs cannot participate, how is it ethically acceptable for the rest of the world to profit with Fanista while the IBOs that created Alticor’s wealth are left out?

Currently, I, along with Randy Haugen, Don Wilson, Orrin Woodward, Chris Brady and Billy Florence, am being sued for damages by the IBOAI board for breaking their confidentiality agreement. In the oath we agreed to “keep all things confidential.” However, we also agreed to “serve and protect” the IBOs. When the IBOAI board UNANIMOUSLY agreed and informed the Company that the “Amway Transformation” was going to be harmful to the IBOs but no change occurred to the direction being taken, then the only way to serve and protect the IBOs was to tell them the truth. I took that responsibility seriously to the point of loosing my business, my income and everything I had worked years to create. Everyone also agreed that we believed in the promise of Rich DeVos that the board gave people security. That is, he “guaranteed” the business owners that the Company would never make a change without the support of the board—our security was that nobody would ever “change the deal.” We all bought into his promise, promoted it, and it was never discounted by any leader or Corporate representative.

Specifically, Rich DeVos said, “…There is no other company in the world that ever set up an association like this one… Everything we do is done in consultation with your representatives who meet with us four times per year…We did that so you would feel secure when somebody like Jay or myself got fat and happy or something and tried to change the deal. And so we said before we even got it going, we set up a guarantee that we can’t change the deal. Because if we know we can’t, we won’t even think about trying…You have that assurance and that protection for your plan because a lot of you have been without it and they changed the deal just about the time you were to make it live for you! We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen to you.” (For the actual recording of Rich DeVos, either click on the following link or copy and paste it into your browser: http://www.musicwebtown.com/theiborebellion/playlists/114468/884361.mp3).

I know we on the board all believed in this promise. From my understanding, the June 2007 board meeting was the first time in board history that a unanimous vote was taken against the direction of the Company. I also believe that the August 2007 emergency board meeting was the first time in board history such a meeting was called. However, in the end, no promise was upheld as the Company marched forward unaffected. At the August board meeting, I believe when the pressure was put on each of us to individually state to Doug DeVos, Steve VanAndel and Jim Payne where we stood with everything, had we all maintained a firm posture that was in alignment with our unanimous negative vote against their agenda, we may have had a chance to stop it. It was sad to me to see the flip-flop personas of the remaining board members. I truly don’t mean to be critical of those remaining board members but our only chance was to stay strong and unified. How can they sign a document to the Company vehemently opposed to an Amway transformation one day and sign a document to IBOs thoroughly excited about it the next day? I am not one to say anything of negative nature of others, particularly people I would consider friends and business leaders, however, now that they chose to sue me and the other five for damages, it motivates me to open up. Whose business is damaged by whom? In my opinion, hundreds of thousands of IBOs will have a significantly worse business opportunity than they could have had because the remaining board members didn’t stand firm.

This situation reminds me of the story of when Henry David Thoreau was put in jail for not paying his taxes. He refused to pay his poll tax to a government that supported slavery. He said, "I cannot for an instant recognize . . . as my government [that] which is the slave's government also." While in jail (the non-documented story says), he was paid a visit by Ralph Waldo Emerson who asked Thoreau, “Why are you on that side of these bars?” To which Thoreau responded, “Why are you on THAT side?” The other board members want to sue us and silence us in jail and I question them why they are on that side?

As a final note for thought, if one isn’t convinced that firm pressure from the right source can’t evoke change, then take a look at some of the price reductions Amway of UK has made due to the pressure from the DTI. Although Alticor has expressed the DTI investigation as a training systems--business support materials (BSM) problem, the main root issue all along has been the lack of income people can make due to the pricing of products being too high (See London Times article regarding the current court case). Do you think this couldn’t happen in North America and elsewhere too?

BODY SERIES™ Concentrated Liquid Hand Soap 250 ml
UK price: £1.75 was Retail £7.95

BODY SERIES™ Fresh Scent Deodorant and Anti-Perspirant Spray 200ml/130 g
UK price: £2.95 was Retail £6.50

BODY SERIES™ 3-in-1 Bar Soap 6 bars - 150 g
UK price: £4.50 was Retail £12.25

SA8 SOLUTIONS™ Pre-Wash Spray 400ml
UK price: £1.65 was Retail £5.90

L.O.C. ™ Mini Wipes 4 travel packs each with 24 wipes
UK price: £4.25 was Retail £10.90

GREEN MEADOWS™ Air Freshener 150 ml
UK price: £1.25 was Retail £4.30

PURSUE™ Toilet Bowl Cleaner 750ml
UK price: £2.45 was Retail £5.50

L.O.C. ™ Plus SEE SPRAY Glass Cleaner 500 ml
UK price: £1.45 was Retail £5.85

L.O.C. ™ Plus Soft Cleanser 500 ml
UK price: £1.35 was Retail £5.80

AMWAY™ Wax Furniture Polish 400 ml
UK price: £1.45 was Retail £6.65

BODY SERIES™ Concentrated Liquid Hand Soap Refill 1 Litre
UK price: £5.95 was Retail £26.40

We stood up to the Company to evoke change in the interest of all IBOs. We felt it was essential that the Company lower the prices as now has happened in the UK. We were concerned about the concept of the Company selling around the IBOs as it would be devastating to the individual business owner. Fanista is beyond what anyone ever imagined. We felt the Amway Transformation was going to take a very difficult business and make it a next to impossible business. That transformation is underway. The board, according to Rich DeVos, was the people’s security. It was designed such that the elected representatives would stand firm in their beliefs to the Company and the Company would listen. The board had a united opinion. After an emergency board meeting no change was happening. It was the final hour. We stayed firm with our convictions while the others claimed, “There is nothing we can do” and flipped over. I so wish they would have stood with us. Instead, their current lawsuit for damages against us is now in process. Who damaged whom? I hope all can be resolved soon.

TEAM: Fanista Analysis

Original Source

TRAITOROUS ACTIONS ACCUMULATE @ ALTICOR
Sunday, November 25, 2007

As many of you already know Alticor unveiled its latest business, www.Fanista.com, last Tuesday. Certainly Alticor is free to start and invest their money where they chose. However, I would purpose that Fanista is yet the latest assault on IBOs across the globe. Despite Alticor's company line of how they are making Amway / Quixtar the best opportunity ever for IBOs, evidence suggests otherwise. In my view Quixtar is leaving IBO's in the dust, but intend on milking them for all they are worth on the way out.


The last year Alticor has clearly undermined the IBO distributor and his / her exclusive product pipeline. Nutrilite and Artistry products can now be had at various sites on the web. A company so concerned about contracts appear to breach the IBO agreement of exclusivity. Alticor defends this by passing on volume to an IBO near to the purchaser. How do you know this is happening? How long will this continue? This practice appears to be at the discretion of the purchaser. I say this is about as solid as the whole Quixtar isn't Amway story. That is this is what we do until it isn't convenient anymore. The resurrection of the Amway name in North America is certainly the largest kick in the teeth to IBOs and needs no further explanation as to the damages it will cause.

So what is Fanista? Fanista is an online business that sells CDs, DVDs, and books. Fanista is free to join and relies on it's members to rate various media and refer their friends. Members are paid when their referrals purchase items. Fanista calls this CIC or Common Interest Commerce. Whatever they want to call it, there is not really any money to be made. By all accounts Daniel Adler, the lead person at Fanista, is a talented and well connected Hollywood insider. Does he know that he has possibly committed career suicide by aligning himself with Amway? This guy may have went from the hippest guy at the party to the pariah. Let's think about it.... if Amway ain't cool in Grand Rapids it certainly ain't cool in Hollywood.

Fanista's sole financial backer is Alticor. Alticor calls Fanista an investment I say they own it. Here are the things I find most interesting about Fanista. First of all this Fanista idea was planned in secret for at least the last two years. According the article link below, authored by Chris Knape of the Grand Rapids Press, Alticor's vice president of corporate enterprises Jim Weaver said they first invested in Fanista in April 2006. It would seem rather unethical to plan an entirely new enterprise which directly competes with existing Quixtar partners stores and IBOs. The article also stated the following:

A spokeswoman for Quixtar said the company's distributors have been notified about Fanista and are free to join, but the company is not doing anything special to get Amway distributors involved in Fanista yet.

If there was any bombshell to the Fanista reveal it was Alticor's allowance of simultaneous duel membership at Fanista and Amway / Quixtar. Fanista is without question a multi-level marketing plan with what they call uplinks and downlinks. Fansita is also clearly in direct competition with Quixtar by selling exact and overlapping merchandise. So why would it be acceptable for distributors to be a part of Fanista? Wasn't Alticor / Amway / Quixtar just doing their best to put a halt to the TEAM's information and events under the premise that TEAM was a competing business? Alticor's hypocrisy and apparent selective enforcement of non-competition elements will come back to bite them. Is this yet the latest blunder committed by the arrogant Alticor?

Many of you were wondering if Alticor had learned its lesson on pricing and fixed things with Fanista. The short answer to this question is no. However, even though pricing isn't optimal at Fanista it is nothing like the outright swindling at Quixtar. Here are three additional excerpts from the Grand Rapids Press article.

A scan Tuesday of the site, which is still in a beta-testing phase, showed prices of seven of eight featured CDs on Fanista ranged from 1 cent to $4 higher than the same items on Amazon.com.
Five of eight Fanista featured DVDs were less expensive at Amazon. two were cheaper by a penny at Fanista. One featured DVD,
The Rocketeer," was 51 cents cheaper at Fanista.
Adler said Fanista will constantly assess pricing, but it believes the price issue will become less important if Fanista provides a compelling place for people to connect.

The last bullet point would indicate Adler is spending a little too much time with the Ada brain trust if he believes price doesn't matter.

Alticor's actions toward IBOs is undermining and traitorous. I find it impossible to believe Alticor is conducting business in the interest of IBOs. Every new idea, and step they have taken has resulted in a less stable and less sustainable business for IBOs. Whether it is the Amway name change, the fierce refusal to have competitive prices, undermining the exclusive product pipelines, or creating whole new companies, make no mistake these are all attacks on the IBOs existence. Fanista members will never create any sort of wealth nor will there be any of those expensive bonus payments, or Peter Island, Diamond Club and Achiever trips. There also won't be IBOs asking for competitive pricing. Let's face it, life for Alticor will be much simpler without all of you IBOs. If that is their business decision it is too bad they aren't men enough to come clean and negotiate a payout. Instead they will milk you for all your worth, methodically destroy your businesses, and then without warning pull the plug. If you think this sounds crazy, just say these two words to yourself a few times.... Woodward..... Brady...... Woodward..... Brady..... If these guys were disposable you all are.
Article by Chris Knape cited above


Posted by The IBO Rebellion at 3:43 AM

TEAM: QUIXTAR, THE GRINCH THAT STOLE BLACK FRIDAY

Original Source

QUIXTAR, THE GRINCH THAT STOLE BLACK FRIDAY
Thursday, November 22, 2007

Yet another example of the pathetic quagmire Alticor / Amway / Quixtar finds itself in. What am I talking about? Tomorrow, November 23rd 2007, marks the day commonly referred to as "Black Friday" or the biggest day in retail. In 2006 retail sales for "Black Friday" exceeded 8.9 billion dollars. A simple Google search for "Black Friday" will reveal websites dedicated to this retailing phenomenon. Sites such as www.blackfriday.info, compile sale papers from major players in retail including those exclusive to the internet marketplace. There are certainly bargains to be had not only on Friday but the remainder of the weekend. So big is this event that many analysts are examining how the "Black Friday" effect is creeping into Thanksgiving Day itself. Last year over 8 billion retailing website hits were totaled not on Friday but actually on Thanksgiving.

Next Monday, folks will head back to work to catch up on what they weren't able to do on Thursday and Friday right? Actually no. Monday is when people go back to work to SHOP! Next Monday is referred to as "Cyber Monday." Monday is another huge day in retailing, specifically internet retailing. Last year "Cyber Monday" sales were estimated at a record setting 608 million dollars.

So what am I fussing about? What did Quixtar ever do to take advantage of these repeated and predictable explosions in the marketplace? It is just another example of their detachment from reality and their disregard for the Walmartization of the North American marketplace. I mean really how much smarts does it take? Is the answer that they really don't care? Quixtar sitting the bench on these dates is another example of Quixtar not holding up their end of the deal. This goes hand in hand with products being over priced. They don't play on these dates because they refuse to compete. How much does this cost IBO's year after year? I have never seen a company so afraid of common four letter words. You know like the words "sale" or "good" or "deal." If Q ever does lower the price on something the pv/bv always drops much faster than the price. This being true goes to prove what TEAM is saying. It is about internal consumption not customer sales. If there is no volume what is the point in promoting something if your cut is .7 pv?

So while the rest of the retail marketplace is setting sales records this weekend, Quixtar and their lonely website will be just that.... lonely. I picture Quixtar as the online version of a shuttered auto factory. They don't get it and they didn't change until it was too late. Over the years Quixtar has heralded some of their sales records and I am sure I repeated them myself. Maybe that is what ticks me off. I remember their first 1 million dollar day and then their first 12 million dollar day. When was Quixtar setting these records? Not on "Black Friday," or "Cyber Monday," or the day after Christmas. This should have been and should be a red flag! No their records were set on March 31st and August 31st, you know when people stretched and reached for goals. In other words it was fake volume. Fake volume inspired by a fake company with fake retail sales and fake principles. IBO's were forced to play the game to meet Quixtar's criteria. This is why Quixtar is the Grinch that stole "Black Friday."

In closing I would like to thank all you for making this blog the success it has been. I would also like to wish you all an incredible Thanksgiving Day. We all have so much to be thankful for. Thanksgiving Day 2007 will forever have significance as the first Thanksgiving that we can thank God for our opportunity to move on with TEAM and for our permanent separation from the world according to Quixtar. God Bless you all and enjoy all those high quality products on sale this weekend.

Posted by The IBO Rebellion at 4:07 AM

NEWS: Amway tunes in, invests in media sales site

Original Source

Amway tunes in, invests in media sales site
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
By Chris Knape
The Grand Rapids Press

ADA TOWNSHIP -- Alticor is going to the movies.

The Amway parent company is the lead investor in Fanista.com, a new social networking and media sales company that launched Tuesday.

Fanista uses an incentive system to reward buyers of music, DVDs and, soon, books and videogames, that will be familiar to those involved with Amway and its Quixtar online store.



While using the site is free, users can sign up for a free membership that provides them a 5 percent cash or store credit bonus from purchases made by friends they signed up.

The Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company is led by Dan Adler, whose career includes stints with Walt Disney Imagineering and the Creative Artists Agency.

"The more we built the business model, the more and more I saw Alticor as the perfect business partner," he said. "We welcome who they are and what they are and what they can add in terms of value."

Jim Weaver, vice president of corporate enterprises at Alticor, said the company first invested in Fanista in April 2006.

"We got into the business because it was a natural fit," he said. "For us, if you think of Amway and what Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel started, it was a social network of friends selling products to people they knew."

Fanista takes that idea into the 21st century and focuses on a younger demographic with its entertainment-focused product line.

Alticor has no day-to-day role in Fanista's operations, nor does Fanista have any West Michigan presence. Fanista's distribution system for media it sells is handled by a third party.

Members who sign up friends become "uplinks" while those friends they sign up are "downlinks," a hierarchical system similar to Amway's "upline" and "downline" distributors.

Uplinks also get a 5 percent discount on merchandise and a chance to earn a 5 percent commission on purchases made by friends their downlinks sign up if their downlinks buy at least $100 in merchandise each year.

Fanista omits the use of the term "multilevel marketing" in explaining its system. The site calls its system "common interest commerce," or CIC.



A spokeswoman for Quixtar said the company's distributors have been notified about Fanista and are free to join, but the company is not doing anything special to get Amway distributors involved in Fanista yet.

The site addresses concerns commonly associated with Amway in direct, sometimes humorous ways.

A list of frequently asked questions includes: "So if I sign up for CIC, does that mean I'll be able to afford a diamond-encrusted iPhone?"

The answer: "In a word, no. Don't quit your day job. You'll make some decent change on CIC, but it's not going to pay the rent."

There's also: "This isn't one of those illegal pyramid schemes, is it?"

The answer: "Not even close. A pyramid scheme promises to pay for the act of recruiting others, who in turn recruit others, and so on, like a chain letter. While we would be delighted if you personally sign up thousands of people, just signing them up won't earn you a penny. It won't earn us much either, since no one pays to register."

There is no mention of Amway or Alticor's involvement in funding the site, although a New York Times story Tuesday heavily played up the Amway tie.

A scan Tuesday of the site, which is still in a beta-testing phase, showed prices of seven of eight featured CDs on Fanista ranged from 1 cent to $4 higher than the same items on Amazon.com.

"Curtis," by the artist 50 Cent, was $9.98 on Fanista and $13.98 on Amazon.

Five of eight Fanista-featured DVDs were less expensive at Amazon. Two were cheaper by a penny at Fanista. One featured DVD, "The Rocketeer," was 51 cents cheaper at Fanista.



Adler said Fanista will constantly assess pricing, but it believes the price issue will become less important if Fanista provides a compelling place for people to connect.

The company also hopes to attract users by offering exclusive content. The first such product is a videogame for PCs and Macs slated to be released next week.

Fanista is working on partnerships with artists, who could create downlinks filled with fans. Fan purchases could generate bonuses to support a celebrity's favorite charity, Weaver said.

Digital downloads also are in the works with music downloads slated to be added by the end of the year.

Fanista is independent of Spout.com, a movie-based social networking and DVD sales site launched in 2006 by Rick DeVos.

Rick DeVos is the eldest grandson of Amway co-founder Rich DeVos.

Spout does not offer a sales incentive program like Amway's.

Rick DeVos and other Spout executives were not available for comment.

Adler said he has spoken to DeVos about the Fanista and sees some overlap in the concepts, but there is no relationship between the two companies.

Fanista is one of several efforts Alticor, which said it had sales of $6 billion last year, has undertaken to diversify its international multilevel sales business.

Alticor also owns Fulton Innovation, which is developing wireless electric charging systems for phones and other gadgets.

In 2006, the firm paid $40.8 million for Gurwitch Products, a luxury cosmetics company marketing the Laura Mercier line.

Send e-mail to the author: cknape@grpress.com

Thoughts on Wealth

In the book The Millionaire Next Door it states that most millionaires are first generation. It talks about how the second generation has the wealth given to them too easily, and they do not learn the principles that generated the wealth, thus with each generation more principles of wealth are lost. I think we are in a similar situation here.

Rich DeVos, Jay VanAndel, Helyne and Joe Victor were all there when the American Way Association was formed (the predecessor to Amway and Quixtar). Jody, Helyne and Joe's son, is very proud of the fact that he was there when it all started. Rich, Jay, Helyne, Joe and a handful of others started the American Way Association because Nutrilite was not treating them fairly, in their estimation. Because of the injustices they suffered, they built, almost from scratch, an extremely successful business. Each has passed their legacy on to the next generation. Wealth was not a problem (or at least up until this point). However, it appears that the principles that founded the American Way Association have been lost by the second generation.

I respect Jody a lot. Looking at it from his viewpoint, I can understand why he stays. It is his family legacy. If he even entertains leaving, it would literally destroy his family legacy. So he stays, hoping, as the IBOAI (and the ADA board before it) will be able to guide Amway to a successful future. According to Randy Haugen's statement, the board had been asking for certain changes since the mid 90's. I think Quixtar ended up being a distraction, a stall. A lot changed with Quixtar. A lot didn't change.

Originally, Amway appears to have been a great value at any income level. If you washed your clothes, or cleaned your own house, you wold be financially better off buying Amway products. But then the internet came and brought immense price pressures to the market. From what I can figure, before the mid 90's just about anyone could make it to 25% (Platinum, Direct), but you needed the system (books, tapes, seminars) to stay focused enough to make it much further. Now the money at 25% is bigger (with system income included), but the trek appears to have become more difficult.

I am amazed at how Orrin and Chris engineered a system to turn it around. The took the lemons and made lemonade, and not just for the "kingpins" as they are called. They were truly focused on the first circle, the new guy. When August 9th came this year, I heard that Quixtar was going to be upping the amount they give out. They did, but only for certain levels, and it was not the first circle that benefitted. It appears their strategy is, if we given enough of an incentive to the "kingpins" and even mini-"kingpins", they will figure out how to replace the people who have quit, and maybe add a few more.

I heard a guy by the name of Dexter Yager once say, "Sell to the classes, live with the masses. Sell to the masses, live with the classes." In other words, if you try to sell high priced products to a few people, you will never do as well as trying to sell a lot of low priced goods to the lower incomes. The Walton family (of Walmart fame) became the richest family in the world based on that principle, and Walmart became the first "largest company" that didn't actually make anything. Quixtar seems to be targeting middle-middle class (maybe upper-middle class) and higher. While I am somewhere in the middle class with my "95% income" I live in a lower-middle class (or maybe lower) side of town. Understanding that the difference between 95% and 5% is thinking has made me reconsider where I live, but when I first got started, it was frustrating to me and my group when they would start looking the prices.

I stated in an earlier posting the we do want to compete with Walmart. Here is why I think we do. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But the percentage of people who are rich is shrinking quickly and the percentage of people who are poor is swelling quickly. Then there is the middle class, which is slipping more towards the poor than towards the rich. There was a study done in which they noted that when the government reported its inflation numbers at 3%, the real inflation felt by the average American was around 8%. The government did not include things like medical costs, insurance costs, etc. in their numbers, and this was before the double digit growth in medical costs we've seen lately. At 8%, the cost of living doubles every 10 years. I know my salary has not doubled in the last 10 years.

I think that is why our society has gone from single-income households to two-income households. As more people shift down in the income levels, they become more desperate. If a majority of the people are having a hard time getting by, history teaches us that they will be more easily swayed, with their votes, to vote for principles they would not have voted for two decades earlier. Universal Health Care, Guaranteed Housing, No Child Left Behind. You've probably heard of these things. They are nothing knew. Communist Russia promised all this to their people. A guarantee that you would not fall below a fairly high minimum standard of living, but where there is a floor, there is also a ceiling. The higher the floor, the lower the ceiling. If people from fifty years ago would look at the political agenda items today, they would claim the communist party is taking over.

There are two issues at heart here. The first is a shrinking market demographic, the one Quixtar is targeting. The percentage of people who fall into the market segment they are targeting is shrinking. The percentage of people who fall into the market segment that Walmart is targeting is growing. I would rather be in a growing market than a shrinking market. The growing market also has more incentive to build a business to get out. Not only are you statistically more likely to find a "hungry" guy in this larger market, but he is less likely to be "doin' good." I think that is why Quixtar is a revolving door of about 3 years. The really hungry get in but can't afford to stick to it much longer than that if they don't happen to register enough people who can afford to move volume.

The second issue is one of "make a difference." I am very concerned where this country is headed. I think it is the freest, greatest country in the world, but I think if we do not help rebalance the rich and poor in this country, it will be rebalanced by the government by popular vote, and the only way we can rebalance it is to teach the principles of wealth. Isn't that what Team has transformed itself into? (No, really, that is a serious question. I'm still trying to figure out what Team is transforming into, but it is looking much better than the Amway route at this point).

I believe in the free enterprise system. I believe in compensation relative to how much you excel beyond average. I don't want to see either eroded away any more than it has. I think that will only come with those who know educating the masses (not just the middle class) and giving them a reason (they own a successful business) to fight for those values.

I have no problem with Access Business Group (Amway) products as far as quality. Price is an issue for me, but I was buying 300 points per month for at least half a decade. I was buying hope because people I knew had become successful (before 1995). Since reading Randy Haugen's description of what happened in the mid 90's, I regret spending so much money when even the "kingpins" knew it wasn't working. I don't blame them, they were trying to course correct Amway/Quixtar. I don't blame Jody Victor for standing behind the IBOAI and Quixtar. They say the captain goes down with the ship. I just hope they don't take too many passengers with them. MLM has a bad enough name is as.

What do we use now?

Those who have resigned their IBO # (or are about to) what do we get now?

I've been using Amway/Quixtar products since 1996. What are the comparable items out there? What will you be replacing, and what will you be replacing it with?

TEAM: The paper trail continues.....

Original Source

The paper trail continues.....
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

On to day 2 of my price comparison journey! I am sticking with paper products. It seems this is a category of great interest to new IBO's. I think it is for a few reasons. First, having paper products delivered to your door saves a lot of hassle. It is usually one of the first questions you hear....what about your paper products? Second, I think it is so important because I have found paper products draw a lot of people to shop at stores such as Costco and Sam's Club. This a market that could be picked up with competitive pricing. No mom likes to buy paper products. They are bulky and they take up your entire cart! Where do you put your kids???? With 4 of them I already have 2 carts, and I hate having my carts overloaded with toilet paper and paper towels and paper plates. Moms, and everyone else for that matter, are happy to have that stuff delivered to their door.
However, I have found that paper products are one of the most overpriced categories in all of Quixtar! And they all seem to be slammed with that pre-set extra delivery charge. Well, here's what I found.

Product #2
Paper Plates

Quixtar
9" coated, microwave safe paper plates
288 plates
$19.32
$5.00 (pre-set deliver charge)
*really, how hard can it be to ship 288 plates? do we need this extra $5.00 charge?
_______
$24.32 total

Wal-Mart
9" coated, microwave safe paper plates by Dixie
288 plates
$9.79
_________
$9.79 total

Difference of $14.53!

findings: WOW! Can you say overpriced! That is a big difference. It's one thing to raise prices, but when you can buy double the product and have money left over... I don't know why anyone would want to buy those plates at those inflated prices.
Shop at Wal-Mart and get 596 plates and take home the extra $4.74.

Posted by Quixtar Lost My Cents at 8:42 PM

QUIXTAR: Is low price the only reason a customer buys?

Original Source

Is low price the only reason a customer buys?
Tuesday, September 11, 2007 by Susan Julien-Willson
Category: sales, selling, guarantee, risk, buying

When it comes to selling, I use to think people bought strictly on price - whether it was low enough or more importantly, whether a prospect thought it was low enough. A sweater for $39.99 rather than $59.99 has to be a better deal, right? Not always.

I mean, if the sweater at the lower price is not preshrunk, or is not returnable, or is not guaranteed to keep its color wash after wash-but the $59.99 sweater is guaranteed not to shrink or face and is returnable, then maybe lower price isn't what the customer wants at all. Maybe what they want is less risk. What do I mean by less risk? Well, consider this: what's the potential cost if the customer makes a purchase mistake? If the sweater shrinks or fades and cannot be returned, well, they wasted $39.99. If the sweater doesn't fit, then they have a sweater they can't wear. (I suppose they could re-gift it!) If the sweater is indeed a gift and the person they give it to doesn't like it or already has one, they cannot return it. (not very impressive!) Seems there is some risk involved in purchasing the lower-cost sweater. Think about it. If you had a choice, which sweater would you buy? The non-returnable cheapie or the returnable, guaranteed-to-keep its-color, -shape and -size sweater for slightly more? What's the better value? What's the lower risk?

A sweater isn't as critical of a purchase, so the risk isn't quite as much as if you make a decision about a house or a car or a major appliance ... so it's probably safe to assume that different decisions carry different degrees of importance and risk ... to you and to your prospects and customers.

So, if you're selling products that seem to be priced high and you think the price will immediately prevent you from making a sale ... consider worrying less about the price and focus on easing the risk. So how can you lower risk and encourage someone to purchase a product you're selling? I have a few ideas, but I hope a few readers will comment with some of their own.

To sell more, build relationships with prospective customers and current customers. The greater the relationship you have, the more chance you'll have of selling products to a person . .. they'll trust you and the perceived risk will be next to none. I know when I sold clothing, my regular customers trusted me to find and sell them quality clothing that would fit and flatter ... and last through frequent wear. Perhaps, you've had similar experiences with your loyal customers.

Use testimonials, spokespeople, and research/competitive comparisons in your sales conversation. Think about it. If lots of people use a product or service, there must be some merit to the product or service. (I love reading IBO success stories at Quixtar.com--you can find 'em in most every category, but the ones that come to mind are those about Ribbon ... you'll find them in Step 8 of the Steps to Success as a PDF Other testimonials online are for clear.now, Time Defiance, and Tolsom. Check 'em out. I love reading testimonials and tips in fashion and beauty mags, too. In many cases, it has motivated me to try a product. Have you had this happen too?

Let prospects try out a product. If I can touch, feel, see, or try on something, I get more interested ... I ask questions. I experience what a product is like and what it can do for me. Bet that others may feel this way, too. For clothing in a store, it's easy. You can have them see it, touch it and try it on. For products you sell from catalogs and a website, you need samples. It can be as simple as a food bar or energy drink. If I visit a grocery store when they're giving out food samples, I inevitably end up buying something that I hadn't planned on or was definitely not on my list. Can you relate?

Here's something else you might forget to mention that definitely lowers risk ... it's the 180-day satisfaction guarantee at Quixtar. Do you tell customers about that? It might be worth mentioning if they seem to wince at the price or the quantity.

So, what else could we do to lower risk when it comes to buying? Hmmmmm. I can't seem to come up with any more ideas right now. How bout you? Got some ideas to share? Please do!

TEAM: Financial common sense causes me to wonder

Original Source

Financial common sense causes me to wonder
Monday, September 10, 2007

It all started with a dream. I wanted a better lifestyle for my family. I wanted more options. I wanted to own a business. I wanted a business that I could build to create an extra income for my family. I thought a Quixtar business would be a great one to start. I liked the idea of a business that capitalized on the hottest trends out there: the Internet and distribution. It seemed like a logical business decision at the time. What I didn't factor in was how difficult it was going to be to utilize my own business. I needed a second job just to buy the products from my business that was supposed to be making me money.
That confused me. Why such high prices? In a Wal-Mart world of low prices, why is Quixtar charging such high prices. My confusion led me right to my local Super Wal-Mart for some comparison shopping. I chose Wal-Mart for a few reasons. 1. It's where I shop because common sense says go where the best price is. 2. The Wal-Mart corporation has generated billions of dollars offering low prices every day. (In fact, not too long ago they were the largest corporation in the WORLD!)
Wal-Mart's success makes it very clear that low prices do NOT mean low profit. So what do high prices mean? Products that are so overpriced that no one wants to buy them.

So, let's compare prices. Wal-Mart VS. Quixtar. Apples to Apples......I think you will be shocked at what I found.

PRODUCT #1
PAPER TOWELS


Quixtar
Meadowbrook Gold (heavy duty)
$31.28
$5.00 (pre-set charge)
$6.75 (delivery charge)
_______ _______
$43.03 total ibo cost

Wal-Mart
Kleenex Viva (winner 2007 Chef's Best Award)
930 sheets
$17.80
________
$17.80 total

DIFFERENCE OF: $25.23!

FINDINGS:
Shop at Wal-Mart and buy 2 cases of Kleenex Viva for the price of 1 case of Meadowbrook at Quixtar!!!!!!
REWARD FOR SMART SHOPPING:
10 extra rolls of paper towel and Take the kids for ice cream on your way home with the extra $7.43!

TEAM: What the Amway Plan Might Look Like (Video)

UPDATE: I posted the video because I thought it was a humorous look at what the plan *might* look like after all the proposed changes (I particularly like the quote about the "Choices" catalog). Several people have complained that it was objectionable. So I have removed the video and provided a link to it.

Video on YouTube