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July 13th, 2006 @ 9:29 am ET…

The P-word

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Every workplace has a word that makes the entire organization crazy. Don’t know where you work, but you have one.

Our word is “pyramid.�

Did we mention it makes us crazy?

So let us get this off our chest. (And take you on a trip to Malaysia while we’re at it — see below.)

Maybe you’ll read this post and think, “What are they whining about?� Or maybe instead you’ll rewrite your little internal dictionary and remove the term from your mental definition of our company. Either way, we’ll feel better for having said it.

In the foulest sense of the word, a pyramid is a scam – a get-rich-quick scheme connived by greedy criminals to fleece gullible investors. Pay this much to get in, you are told, get some others to invest their money, and like magic, you will walk out X weeks later with double your money. (Or more!) No sales required! No products! Just suckers. These scams are as old as the hills, and as long as greed and gullibility are among us, they will continue to crop up.

So you can see how any use of the term in association with our company makes us nuts.

We won’t bore you with the endless legal reasons the term does not apply here – we’d like to think they’re obvious. (For you every-detail types, though, check out this document from the Direct Selling Association.)

And –- since we’re venting –- it’s not just the noun that kills us. It’s the adjective – “pyramid-style.” Sorry, that doesn’t soften the blow. That’s like saying “moronicâ€? is kinder than “moron.â€? Gee, thanks.

Legitimate multi-level marketing companies use individuals to recruit others into the business, and to then support those newcomers as they learn to sell. We then pay bonuses based on product sales. We pay for a service provided to us that has clear value to us. It is called “marketing,” and it is why the contract with Amway or Quixtar distributors is called the “Sales and Marketing Plan.”

Or: I sell stuff and get a commission. I bring a friend into the business; train her and keep her motivated; she sells stuff and gets a commission, too; and if we both sell enough stuff, I earn a commission off her sales. But here is the key: if we sell zip, we earn zip. That’s a sales organization. Not a pyramid.

What does that say about us? That people who stay at it longer and put more into it are likely to make extra money. BIG DEAL. Show us a sales department that doesn’t work that way.

So the structure of our business shouldn’t make anyone flap their arms –- but still, almost 50 years after we were founded, some people do.

The heart of the flapping –- and the root of what makes us crazy –- is the notion that we endorse the idea of getting rich quick.

We wish you had been with us a couple weeks ago at the 30th anniversary celebration for Amway Malysia. 40,000 people in an outdoor soccer stadium in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, cheering musical acts, speakers and one seriously large beach ball. (Another word that makes us crazy? “Cult-like.� No. Enthusiastic, amped-up, in-the-moment? Yes.)

Anyway. Who do you think got some of the biggest, rowdiest cheers? Some of our top distributors – people who had recruited many of the people in the crowd that night. Some of the people, in other words, who were earning commissions from the sales of others in that crowd.

And do you know how those distributors began the speeches that got all those cheers?

“When I started with Amway 28 years ago…”

“What my 26 years in the business have taught me…”

“If I can do it, you can do it…”

Does that sound like we endorse “get-rich-quick?”

We don’t. Because you can’t. Anything worth achieving takes talent, takes hard work and it takes time.

And that includes changing perceptions.

Thanks.

Filed by: Corporate Communications

Posted in: Alticor, Amway, Michigan Governor's Race

One Response to “The P-word”

  1. IBOFightback Says:
    August 16th, 2006 at 8:02 am

    Scott Larsen has posted an article about this post on his Amquix website, again demonstrating his complete ignorance about how the Amway/Quixtar business works. I’ve addressed it with references to all the legal issues at http://www.thetruthaboutquixtar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=710&Itemid=37

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