Standard Lies in MLM Recruiting
The lies that multi-level marketing recruiters use to con people into signing up for their scams change little from company to company. I bet all of us have heard most of these lies at one time or another in our Mary Kay experiences, either when we were being recruited or when others were being sucked into the pink vortex…
Presented as a great “income opportunity,” with huge incomes reported for many.
Recruiting MLM’s nearly always lead to certain loss for new recruits. A few are at the top of a pyramid of participants are enriched at the expense of a multitude of downline participants, about 99% of whom lose money.
“Everyone can do this” – and earn a good income.
Holding up top earners as examples of what others can do is deceptive. Almost no one earns a “good income” from MLM. And if they do, it’s only those already at the top of the pyramid.
Average earnings statements on official reports make MLMs appear highly profitable.
Reports of average incomes are full of deceptions. They leave out certain information, use funky math to calculate averages, and focus on the high incomes rather than the low ones. Many even leave out all the distributors who earn no commissions.
Products can be resold at retail prices for a handsome profit.
Products are high priced and are sold primarily to recruits to “do the business,” rather than to persons outside the network of participants. Even if third party consumers buy the products, it is rarely at full price and repeat purchases are not the norm.
Presented as a legitimate business – “not a pyramid scheme.”
Product-based pyramid schemes have been found to be the most extreme of all the types of pyramid schemes, with the highest loss rates (approximately 99 %) – far worse than for most games of chance in casinos.
Work for only an hour or two a day, and build up a “residual income” that will allow you the “time freedom” to quit your job and spend more time with your family or do whatever you want.
To profit at a recruiting MLM, one must work long hours and be willing to continue to recruit to replace dropouts. One must also be willing to deceive large numbers of recruits into believing it is a legitimate income opportunity. Recruits are only fattening their upline’s commissions. There is nothing immoral about hard work for honest rewards, but the rewards in MLM are far from honest.
The job market is not secure. The stock market is even shakier. MLM offers a much more secure and permanent (residual) income.”
MLM is far more risky than either the stock market or the job market. It even makes gambling look like a safe investment by comparison. Residual income for almost all MLM recruits is a myth.
Standard jobs are not rewarded fairly. In MLM, you can set your own standard for earnings.
Fair? Most MLM compensation plans are weighted heavily towards those who got in early or scrambled to get to the top of a pyramid of participants. And MLM is largely pay to play, meaning rather than receiving a paycheck, participants are busy putting money into the scheme.
If not legal, the program would have been shut down long ago.”MLM’s have survived legal challenges. The fact that they are still around tells you they are legitimate.
Consumer protection officials are reactive, not proactive. Since victims rarely file complaints, law enforcement seldom acts against even the worst schemes. Victims don’t complain because they blame themselves, and they fear self-incrimination or consequences from or to their upline or downline. Even when there is legal action, the consequences are rarely severe.
If you fail at this program, it is because you failed to properly “work the system.”
The system itself is inherently flawed – an endless chain recruitment of participants as primary customers. The vast majority will always lose money.
“In any business, one must invest time and money to be successful.” Like anything else, you can expect to get out of it what you put into it.
Independent research, supported by worldwide feedback, suggests that the more a person invests in an MLM in time, effort, and money, the more he/she loses – which is true of any scam. Committed MLM participants may continue investing thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars, over many years before running out of money or giving up.
In legitimate companies, sales persons are not expected to stock up on inventory or subscribe to monthly purchases. But in MLM, incentivized purchases (required to participate in commissions and/or advancement) are merely disguised or laundered investments in a pyramid scheme.
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This is fantastic. I would add that the biggest lie of all in MLM is the identity of the true customer. The MLM company gives the appearance of a retail business with a revenue stream powered by purchases made by outside customers. In reality, the overwhelming majority of purchases are made by the sales force, not outside customers.
Due to the high overhead cost of the highly inefficient MLM distribution model, there is no real market for these MLM products at these ridiculous prices. Take away the “opportunity”, and the “value” of the product drops to a fraction of the asking price.
Bottom line: MLM companies see the sales force as the true target customer. All the corporate incentives are to order and to recruit, with no corporate incentive to actually sell the product outside the downline.
I am amused by the ones that scream “we are not an MLM!” only to beg a few posts later for help “achieving the next level”.
It’s funny to me that they all deny being MLM when… you recruit into multiple levels. In it’s most basic sense, THAT IS WHAT “multi-level marketing” is!!!!
“Presented as a great “income opportunity,” with huge incomes reported for many.”
Would you accept any job where they only told you the CEO’s salary, and kept it a secret what you’d be making as an cashier or IT tech? Of course not. You’d want to know your salary from the get go because, get this, money is important.
“Average earnings statements on official reports make MLMs appear highly profitable.”
A primo example of how they lie in order to fudge the numbers. You could make any company look super lucrative if you only averaged the salaries of the C-suite and VPs.
“Products can be resold at retail prices for a handsome profit.”
Ask yourself why the consultants are constanty offering freebies, discounts, BOGOs, and why you can find the products on Ebay and such at a pittance. Ain’t nobody paying full retail, and only 0.6% of consultants are making a profit.
“Presented as a legitimate business – “not a pyramid scheme.””
Legit retailers have exactly two levels: company -> end user. The second you add in even one additional layer, it becomes a pyramid scheme.
“Work for only an hour or two a day, and build up a “residual income” that will allow you the “time freedom” to quit your job and spend more time with your family or do whatever you want.”
Ain’t no MLMer working only a couple of hours a day. There’s article after article on here about how it takes over your life. And think about it, even if you earned $100 an hour, could you support your family on $700-1400 a week? Remember, you owe taxes on that money, and replacement inventory, gas, section 2 items, packaging, hostess gifts, postage, etc. If we apply the recommended “reinvest 60%, keep 40%” those dollar amounts drop to $280-560 a week.
“The job market is not secure. The stock market is even shakier. MLM offers a much more secure and permanent (residual) income.””
The economy has been going through boom and bust cycles for as long as there has been an economy. There have always been wars, corrupt politicians, natural disasters, and shifts in industry. People have always lost jobs, lost money, lost property. They adapt. Wars end, broken houses are rebuilt, new growth industries arise.
Oh, and ask the former MK consultants in Australia/New Zealand who had their “permanent” jobs yanked right out from under them with no warning how secure it is.
“Standard jobs are not rewarded fairly. In MLM, you can set your own standard for earnings.”
If someone working a job doesn’t think their compensation is worth it, they’re totally free to look elsewhere at any time, for any reason. When you try to leave an MLM you’re shamed and shunned, and you’re already not making any money.
“If not legal, the program would have been shut down long ago.”MLM’s have survived legal challenges. The fact that they are still around tells you they are legitimate.”
Oh, for the love of Sweet Lou Piniella. People do illegal shit all day every day at every level of society, and the higher up you are the more loopholes and grey areas you can afford to exploit.
“If you fail at this program, it is because you failed to properly “work the system.”
Test time. Tell me which of these is false. “If you didn’t make me so angry, I wouldn’t hit you.” “You’re only upset because you can’t handle honesty.” “You deserve to have bad things happen to you because you don’t listen.” “No one would love you if I didn’t.” “If you fail at MLM, it’s because you did it wrong.” HInt: they’re all false. They’re all psychological abuse, and they do it for the same reason abusers do – to make the victim too afraid and ashamed to look for help or tell the truth.
“Job Market not secure”—women cut back spending if job market shaky. That includes Mary Kay! Clinique on sale, or Cetaphil products work just fine when the dollar is tight.