Molly Mormon Meets Multi-Level Marketing
Carla from Reno, Nevada, writes:
Can we write openly about the misguided business ventures of those trying to work from home by selling products to, and recruiting from, those on the ward roster?
Kathy says:
I don't have much experience with LDS entrepreneurs trying to enlist me in multi-level ventures, but I have a number of friends and family members who have survived painful episodes of arm-twisting. I'd like to make two points, then open up the discussion to the other two columnists and invite our readers to share their insights.
- It's OK to do business with LDS friends and neighbors.
We have a natural inclination to trade with ward members. There's often a sister in the ward or the stake who styles our hair, teaches piano lessons, videotapes wedding receptions, caters, sews, runs a popular day care center and so forth. Many of us choose our dentist, auto mechanic, plumber, electrician, chiropractor, realtor and so forth according to ward membership. That has nothing much to do with the United Order; it's more often just an expected part of neighborhood commerce. I think of this phenomenon as the cross-pollination of word of mouth advertising among people whose paths intersect socially via visiting and home teaching and the other associations we form in our auxiliaries. There is also a friendly component of consecration. Most of us love to reciprocate a talent for a talent, helping out people who have won our lifelong friendship.
- It's not OK to use people, no matter how convincing the sales pitch.
- Multi-level marketing is neither a fee-for-service business nor an exchange of talents. Profitability depends upon splitting commissions with "downline" sales people. The product is secondary, and invariably overpriced. (It has to be, to support the cumbersome distribution channel and all the commissions in the downline.) This sort of selling is, by its nature, susceptible to dishonesty. The simple law of multiplication exposes the feeding frenzy for the false economy that it is. The wealth assumptions are, quite basically, unsustainable. The hype that is intrinsic to the business is noticeable and predictable. Any endeavor that requires as much extrinsic motivation as multi-level sales should automatically trigger our natural good sense. I think we all need to recognize our human corruptibility as we examine this dynamic. We are pumped so full of slogans, often by a person on a videotape with an unnaturally loud voice and dramatic style of delivery, that it takes a thoughtful viewer to discern the pitch and evaluate the leadership according to viable principles. The razzle-dazzle conventions, platform speakers, dramatic testimonials, prizes, and overall superficial value system that equates sales with personal worth can convince even the brightest trainees that a financially successful salesman is the most righteous individual in town. Actually, this is not necessarily so. In fact, the touted product is often not worth having, or is readily available elsewhere for far less money. Product parties that are actually multi-level marketing trade shows are pleasant social events, but anything that divides the "haves" from the "have nots" in the ward might become problematic. Leisure is an anachronism to most Latter Day Saints. Maybe this sort of marketing was more appropriate in the forties and fifties than in our era. "Spare time?" What is that? "Spare change?" Where?
- Even if the product is worth owning, participation in the sales person's marketing network is not part of the gospel. In other words, the hype is suspect to begin with. But when the pitch attempts to link the business with LDS values, it crosses the line of honesty and certainly of the purpose of church fellowship. Be careful of buying into this sort of thing. Be very careful of the false notion that the sacred organization of the Church, its records, its schedule of meetings or its commonality of lives, values and goodwill is a natural opportunity to market any product or service. Our ward members should never feel like a universe of prospects. Let's be careful to be incorruptible in this financial arena. I don't think sales or marketing are dishonorable professions, but let's keep financial gain out of the picture when we worship together. That doesn't mean that we don't market to members. But let's try not to disguise this tactic as anything other than that. Our ward members do not owe us their support as clientele or as participants in our downline.
Tracey says:
Many of these companies really don't care what they're selling. Selling isn't the IBO's (Independent Business Owner's) objective. It's getting more people "underneath" them. That is where the money is. All the "pep rallies,'' conventions and seminars these organizations have hardly speak anything about their products. It's all about getting Grandma, Mom, Dad, all your brothers and sisters, extended family member, neighbors and friends to join under you. These companies are counting on your family and friends' feelings of obligation to join in order to help you start your business. Then you're supposed to push and prod them to go out and do the same thing with their family and friends, because you are only going to make "the big money" if they establish a "downline" as well, and so it goes. It honestly has nothing to do with the "products" at all.
Unfortunately, the push to get people to sign up underneath you often leads to disingenuous assurances and behavior on the part of many IBO's. Without naming names or companies, I've known people who are IBO's with a certain "shop online for cleaning agents" company, who've convinced people who really don't have the mental capacity to run a business to sign up under them. (I'm talking about serious mental deficiencies; people with severe enough challenges to require that all housing, food, clothing and transportation are provided either by the government, the church or family.) Some of them don't even have a computer, but they're supposed to run an "online" store. Well, they pay the $100 fee to join, and their "upline" gets perks.
The part that really disturbs me though is that many members "tie" their home business to the gospel, and use it as a ploy or tool to convince people to invest or join.
"Do you want to spend more time with your family like the Prophet counsels?"
"The Lord doesn't want us to be in debt. With this business, you could be debt-free with the 2-5 year plan." They even have cassette tapes with pep speeches with titles like "God Wants You to Be Rich." They quote scripture and everything!
When an acquaintance from church asked me to listen to her presentation, I was rather upfront and told her my uneasiness and moral objection about trying to get all my friends and family to sign up underneath me. She actually brought up the missionaries! She said something to the effect of, "Well, it's just like the gospel! When you have something that's wonderful you want to share it with your family, right? Do you think it's wrong to share the gospel?" That really disturbed me.
She was equating getting people to sign up under me so I could make money off of them, with a "pushing the envelope of illegal" MLM, to missionaries encouraging others to come to Christ. That's to save the investigators' souls, not theirs!! One is selfish, one is selfless.
Over the years I've also had home teachers who show up and spend the entire visit trying to get us buy their product and sign up with their MLM. In one ward, we had a home teacher who hadn't come once in the entire year and half he'd been assigned to us. One day he called and specifically said he wanted to come by to home teach. Well, he came with his adult son (who was in his "downline") and tried to get us to sign up with this glorified soap distributor. I was really upset. This man hadn't called us or stopped by once for a home teaching visit in over a year. But when he was trying to establish that downline...
Readers, I encourage you to study the scriptures. The Bible Dictionary and writings of the prophets concerning the definition of "priestcrafts." It's disingenuously using religion, scripture, the gospel, and people's spiritual beliefs to make money. Now if you REALLY do like a product or service and have the money to buy it, that's one thing. But my basic advice is this: Any time someone is "selling something" and ties it to the gospel, just beware.
And for reader information, the only multi-level marketing company that I'm aware of that's really getting great reviews from professional consumer watch organizations for the training and treatment of their IBO's, for actually focusing on selling a product, not making their agents spend money on training books, cassettes, videos, seminars and a stash of the product as well, is none other than Avon.
Alison says:
So what's up with multi-levels anyway???
Hoooo boy...
I was planning to take the fifth on this column as even coding the HTML is nearly making my head explode. But I've decided to share a tiny, little, true story.
When I was a sophmore in high school in 1979, I was asked to my first dance by a boy I'll call S. Morgan (since that is his real name). I was rehearsing for a play at Valley Center Theatre, while he was performing in one in the same venue. He went to Springville High School (boo!) and I went to Orem High School (yea!).
Anyway, after Homecoming and Sadie Hawkins the budding "relationship" floundered and we didn't see each other for years.
Flash forward to the summer after my freshman year in college. I'm in the Miss Orem royalty which requires me, in my official city duties, to ride upon numerous floats—clad in a frilly, hooped skirt gown and sparkling tiara—in myriad parades throughout the year. His family attended Provo's Freedom Festival parade and saw me float by. After the parade S.—who is now a returned missionary (read that "should have been more mature")—approached me to apolgize for being a jerk when he "was young." OK, whatever, but apparently the rhinestones on my head got the better of my judgment and we ended up doing a short stint of dating again. (Is redating a word?)
Apparently his family was now involved in the deal of the century with their own business called Winner's Circle International! Wow! Obviously only for, well, winners. And I had the great privilege of being invited to a "business meeting." He must have big plans for "us" when he's introducing me to the family business!
So there I am, waiting to hear about my future with the Morgan family. Then, somewhere near the 75 minute mark, I hear it. Faint, almost an afterthought, nearly murmured. I have to do a mental rewind. No. There it is. Clear as day. "Amway!"
My head starts spinning, my palms start sweating. I begin glancing around looking for an exit sign. Oh, I'm in a living room. No exit signs, but there is a door. I wonder if anyone will notice...
OK. So I don't actually run out. I keep thinking that maybe it's not as bad as I've heard. Maybe all the investigative reports were biased. Maybe...I know, I'll try something.
"I was reading in Consumer Reports about some of the Amway products. [Insert name of a top-selling Amway product here] was rated fifth among the tested products. They thought it was good, but it cost about three times what the top ranked ones cost."
I waited for a response from S.'s parents. After a moment they made a negative comment about Consumer Reports. I pointed out that an honest selling point would be that a customer is also paying for service to have things stocked and delivered to them (assuming they did so). Again I was met with the objection that Consumer Reports was biased because Amway products were the best on earth.
I am ashamed to say that I didn't run for cover right there. I wasn't really sure how to keep dating the guy (if, indeed, that was what we were doing...although other less than flattering terms come to mind) without being assimilated. But I'm hoping the fact that I was barely 19 and had never before been accosted by the evil empire will in some way exonerate me. The family gave me the distributor start-up kit. I told them I didn't have the $65.00 (don't hold me to that number, but that's what sticks in my mind) to pay for it. They told me I could pay later and that I needed it because I could really get a great downline going in England, where I was moving the next month. (I suppose I was going to single-handedly make Winner's Circle International become...international?)
Anyway, due to my semester across the sea, I only had the privilege of attending two more Amway events. One was some kind of Rah Rah Sign 'em Up Dealy Job at an airport hotel in Salt Lake. The other was the event that prompted me to write.
All the Amway (whoops! Winner's Circle International) distributors from far and wide, who were in the downline of some totally big money Amway dude somewhere in Utah, were meeting at his vacation home or summer home or log cabin home for a big dinner and Rah Rah We Will Be Rich Like You potluck dinner and event. (Do you wonder why Rich Dude didn't just cater?)
So, we eat and then we convene to the Amway Room in the Sky. OK, we went to a big, empty, upstairs room. The room is lined with photos of really expensive stuff that most people don't have. The only three things I remember are: a big house; a red Lamborghini, and a rock-star type, customized tour bus.
Then, after a little pep talk by somebody really important and, obviously, very rich and succesful selling Amway/WCI products and/or downline memberships, one by one, around the circle, each person proceeded to bear their testimony...of Amway. I wish I were making this up. But it was just as Tracey said, only worse. It was all about following the prophet and having more family time and genealogy time and church service time and getting out of debt and buying food storage...and I say these things in the name of...
I didn't see or talk to S. after that. But the night before I left for England I drove to Springville with my big brother and dropped the distributor kit off by their back door...and ran. I figured they wouldn't fly across the Atlantic to get me in the downline.
Let's just say it left a rather sour taste in my mouth for multi-levels—not to mention the "new and improved" S. Morgan. So I'm definitely a hard sell. Just ask my late father-in-law who tried to get my husband and me to join every single multi-level on planet earth and beyond. (Um, yea, so it's likely going to be hard for you to confirm with him in the next little bit on this issue. What if I do a pinky swear?)
I won't even get into Tahitian Noni's co-opting of Johnny Lingo. Can we all just yell a collective, "Blech!"
I've been attending BYU football games since I was a kid and Gary Sheide was the quarterback. But now I have to endure the NuSkin scoreboard at every game and it makes my stomach churn just a bit. The fact that my husband's Aunt Clara and all her kids are multi-gazillionaires because of that company notwithstanding (let's just say they are in the "upper tier" [read that "the place where you can't get"] of the organization).
Now that I've unburdened myself on all our readers and made a couple or three enemies in Springville, I want to point out something what should be obvious to all those with common sense. There is nothing inherently evil in multi-levels. There are three things that make them problematic for the LDS crowd, the first being determined by the company, the other three determined by the IBO:
- Product isn't worth the price, but is purchased only to sustain the business model.
- Product value is misrepresented.
- Products are pushed on (soon-to-be former-) friends and loved ones.
- Pushers make misleading gospel claims to increase convince prospects.
Should I find a multi-level company that did not have these built-in problems, I would consider them as a viable business opportunity. But please take the time to look carefully at what is being offered before jumping on the billion-dollar bandwagon.
All That Glitters Is Not God : Breaking Free from the Sweet Deceit of Multi-Level Marketing
Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors
Are Mormons Gullible Investors?
Consumed by Success: Reaching the Top and Finding God Wasn't There
How to Build a Large Successful Multi-Level Marketing Organization
How to Build a Multi-Level Money Machine: The Science of Network Marketing