Saturday, December 11, 2010

BWW function promotion lies and horrors

Winter conference/dream night is coming soon and I am sure there are promotions after every open meeting for the function. Ah, how many lies to promote the function!!!

First lie: the number of people who are expected to attend. They usually hype the numbers.

In BWW, they usually conduct the East coast function in Richmond, VA at the Richmond coliseum. Different IBOs say anywhere from 17,000 to 30,000 is the number of people expected to attend. If you read the wikipedia page on Richmond coliseum, the capacity is clearly mentioned as

Capacity
13,553 (concerts)
11,992 (basketball)
11,088 (hockey)

Even if there are chairs on the floor adding 2000 people, it still comes to only 15,000.

Same deal in California. The function usually happens in San Jose civic auditorium. The IBOs claim that 6,000 to 8,000 people are going to attend. The capacity of the auditorium is clearly mentioned as 3,000!

Second lie: they say about 15 to 20 multi-millionaires and "financially free" people are going to come and teach.

These are unqualified statements, especially in California, Texas and mid-West functions, because most speakers are only emeralds. Most of them have full-time jobs, so they are not financially free. Also many of them are fake emeralds - Amway itself accepts this on their blog here. Also many diamonds are not really even millionaires, forget "multi" millionaires. I accept that some guys qualify, maybe two or three speakers, in these smaller functions.

Third lie: Nobody makes money by a prospect attending function.

Lot of people make money. First of all, many of the coliseums are free to rent because the coliseum makes money via parking and food sales (I know at least this is true for Richmond coliseum). Second, they ask you who your upline emerald and diamond are before buying a ticket. Many of your uplines and mainly, the function speakers do get paid from the money you paid to purchase the function ticket.

Fourth lie: The event is already sold out.

The BWW guys will sell tickets, even if the coliseums are full. In my experience, only once there was an overflow situation in BWW in east coast for about 100 or 200 people (long time ago, when John & Jennie Bell Crowe and Jack & Magee Spencer were still in BWW)! There are usually hundreds or thousands of empty seats in all functions!

Fifth lie: The next major function is one year from now.

Major functions happen once every 3 months. The open meeting speakers simply say "when is the next winter? next year... so you need to wait one year to attend the next function." So what about the spring leadership? (Oh, am I forgetting that it is a different function?)

Sixth lie: The speakers at the function.

They usually show pictures of the top BWW diamonds and say they will all be there. Maybe this is true for East coast functions, but for California and Texas functions, not all diamonds speak!

Seventh lie: This is a lie told before the function to all new guys. The up line cautions the new IBO by telling "You need to use grocery store approach in the function. When you go to grocery store, you only pick up what you want. You don't care about rest of the stuff... like, if you are a vegetarian, you do not care about the meat section. Same way, take what you want from the function and do not worry about the rest..."

This is typical cult training, because initially many things told from stage will not make sense to you. Some points will make you mad, but your up line already prepared you, so you ignore it. Remember, whatever each speaker tells from stage is exactly what BWW is. There is no grocery store approach. While you may initially ignore them thinking grocery store approach, BWW will bombard you the same statements with CDs and more functions soon. The more you hear something, the more you believe it to be true. So if you don't like even one thing at the function, then be wise and walk away! Otherwise you will soon lose your identity with BWW training and will believe whatever they say!

So like Kumar sings on his CD, I want to sing the Hindi movie song "la la lai lai... la la lala lai.. lai... lie... lie..."

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Ok, next some of the horrors I experienced in BWW functions and conferences:

1. There are huge queues that people form roughly 7 to 8 hours before each session begins on Fridays and Saturdays. Many IBOs do not sleep in their hotel rooms on Friday nights; they simply wait outside the coliseum door, sometimes in open! (Usually new IBOs stay in hotel room and their uplines stand in queues and get the new IBOs some front seats.) While front row mentality is good, what I always saw was "front row hooliganism". Many IBOs will crush you, shove you aside, jump over you, cut lines mercilessly and run a 100-metre dash once the coliseum door opens! Then there are "security" IBOs to police these guys. Many IBOs reserve multiple seats, when the "BWW policy" is 2 seats per person - one for yourself and one for your spouse or down line. But many times, many IBOs fight and take multiple seats! This is prime example of how much BWW IBOs are brain washed! (I was no exception when I was in BWW, but I was always irritated by this.)

2. Night owls: The function timings are already too late - they end around mid night. But they do not leave you after that. They take you to upline diamond night owl, which goes up to 1:30 AM. Then your up line emerald or platinum will hold another night owl till 3 AM. So forget your sleep. (XS and rhodiola never helped me stay up for anything :-).)

3. Noise inside the function: Amway business may not be for you, if you hate noisy environments. Pretty much all Amway meetings are purposely made very noisy - to show excitement and "attract" new people. Functions are especially extremely noisy.

4. IBOs rushing to cheer for diamonds: Before every speaker starts speaking, several IBOs rush to the front to cheer for them. IBOs run like crazy to create an "excited" environment. If you are not careful, you may be stepped on and crushed.

5. Food: You have to pretty much survive on nutrilite food bars for all 3 days. Your up line will load you with them, but by the time you eat your 3rd bar, you will be craving for some proper food. You dare not step out, especially if you are a new IBO. Your up line will come rushing after you to see where you are going. (You know, you may miss some important point the speaker is making.) If you brought any "ethnic" food inside the function and eat it, your upline will make some indirect comments about you in the night/day owl so you better not eat anything nice for those 3 days.

6. Your outputs: well, this is embarrassingly "cult"ish. They ask you not to go for #1 or #2 because, again, you may miss a golden statement. So empty your bladder and bowels before going in. You need to hold it for 4 hours minimum. (Tip to get good seat: Go inside without emptying your bowels. You can clear all the people around you pretty quickly :-)).

7. Veteran IBO: If you are a seasoned IBO without any new people the function pretty much "stinks" for you. But you dare not keep a sad face. You will be severely chastised by your up line.

8. Cheering: You need to rotate your hand above your head and say "uh......... uh... uh.. freedom" and punch your fist in the air - else you won't be "part of the team" ... and in some cases scream "flush that stinking job" after that... (don't flush it too soon!)

9. Photos: If you do not like to take too many pictures of yourself with others, let your up line know strictly. They will force you to take pix with several "top leaders".

10. Music: If you do not like to party and dance, skip the music sessions before the training sessions. They are extremely noisy! Your up line may not allow though, because you are not setting the right example for your down lines...

With that said, there are lot of good points covered in the conference... very good training on many things! Except most people in BWW do not follow them. What they teach from stage and what is actually practiced were totally different in my experience! What a pity that I believed and did whatever they taught from stage and put up with my horrible up lines, and still did not succeed after several years! (By the way, I am not sitting with just my underwear and blogging now like diamonds say about bloggers like me, in case you were wondering...)

13 comments:

  1. Who cares what you're wearing, your story is either true or false. In my experience with a non-Britt group, it is TRUE. For an explanation why all of the above is practiced, see http://texsquixtarblog.blogspot.com/

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  2. OMG! I was laughing my butt off after reading this post as I was in those shoes when I was a 21year old student attending my first BRITT GALA WORLD WIDE FUNCTION a decade ago! I cannot believe that you would do all those things that you were told to do(stock up products, CD's, books, fake IBO registrations, buy excess function tkts etc) and see absolutely no return on your "INVESTMENTS"!!!
    I just laugh at myself for having put myself and people i cared for in such a financially stupid situation, costed me almost 4 years of my life to get back to a ZERO DEBT situation. And the irony is my uplines wonder why I quit after becoming a silver!! They dont seem to have any self-analytical skills to realize that on their way to their "GOALS" and PIN Levels, they leave a MASSIVE TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION behind. And then say "Quitters are loosers"! Well, I'd rather be branded a Looser by a selfish, egoistic, deceptive crankhead in Amway than be called a WINNER by these morons.

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  3. This is a good post and has described what also went on in WWDB except there was no training just speakers saying the same thing about how wonderful their lives have become since joining the Amway cult. I used to leave my seat constantly to walk down the block to find eating places or go out to my car to read. I didn't like the noise and the music so it just wasn't a pleasant experience at all.

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  4. NOPVBV - yes, they play with your ego and make you stay in longer.

    I remember a CD by Dave Taylor, where he says "If your up line is a jerk, then just deal with him. Go platinum and you don't need to listen to your jerk upline." I think that statement applies to many IBOs in BWW, but unfortunately 99.9% IBOs do not go platinum, so if they have a bad up line, they need to put up with it forever.

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  5. Anna Banana - lucky you were not in my line of sponsorship.

    My sponsor was (is?) a micro manager. He would have chased you to the food line and brought you back asap. If you were a male taking a rest room break, he would chase you up to the rest room door and bring you right back, even before you washed your hands!

    My up line himself would not listen to what the speakers were telling from stage because he was constantly running after new people and mother henning them! He would justify that by telling that the function is for new people and how many times he needs to listen to same old teaching? :-)

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  6. Good post. I believe this is a common experience for many many IBOs.

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  7. I remember my first and last function in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. What a waste of time. Seriously pop on the over priced cd's and sit there for 4 hours listening to them. There you saved yourself $195 for the function. Knowledge is not gained at these functions what's said over and over is not to give up and blah blah. Well let me state I believe amway can make you rich but bww and having your own conference makes you the money. Not selling the products that makes you pennies on the dollar. I love when ibo's parade on stage and they still have to have a full time job and there allegedly 2 platinum legs making them rubies if I'm not mistaken. Living the dream there buddy. No such thing as freedom either your not going to enjoy this freedom run till at least 3 or 4 of your downlines have there own scam functions. I saw a lot in my 4 months and was told that I would buy stuff I need I brought over 200 pv worth of stuff that I still have laying around and believe me nobody wants to buy it. Really how many times within a month will you buy vitamins and supplements? Or how many cans of xs will you buy till your heart explodes because you had to much b12, lol. Though I must admit I love xs. But the point is your forced to buy products unlike when you first sign up your told you will buy what you need. Lies lies and more lies. Stay away but close if that makes sense if you like the idea of being independent and growing a business that will take time. Just dont allow yourself to be scanned by the bww lies and cult like politics.

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Hi Abhishek,

    First, sell products at retail price. I am sure you can find some people who will spend money to buy amway products.

    Second, never push downline for pv or for anything.

    Third, help your downlines genuinely.

    Fourth, don't unnecessarily spend money for way too many tools before you make good income from amway.

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  10. My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!


    Training on CSTM/CSQP/CISQA in Chennai

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  11. I have to say that I just read this entire post and a few others on this blog, and it seems as if your bad experience comes directly from a bad upline. I understand that you were on the Kumar/Gala team if I'm not mistaken. I have to say that I have heard stories about them too and none of them good. As a matter of fact, my own upline has complained about how pushy and sometimes rude many of the IBO's on that team are. I am on the Nafte-Pappalardo team and I never experienced anything like what you experienced. My upline is extremely patient and I've been in the business over 2 years already and have went to 9 functions already and I don't see myself quitting anytime soon. Also, the Gala team will no longer be joining us for the Richmond conferences (FED or spring leadership) and by next year, the Pappalardo team should be bid enough to have its own winter and summer conferences so as far as functions go, I will have zero complaints. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience but I guess I'm proof that not all teams in Amway are equal and not every team in BWW is the same.

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  12. I was approached on LinkedIN with the opportunity to make money working 10-15 hours a week “from home”. I was automatically reluctant, as any experienced individual would be. I agreed to a phone call and was then invited to a lunch interview at a restaurant franchise just 5 minutes from my home. Why wouldn’t I say ‘yes’, right? I met at this franchise and we sat down during a busy lunch hour. It was awkward, but they leant me a book to read and set up time for a ‘2nd’ interview. I enjoyed the book and took information from it that I found valuable, which was about 40% of it? It was informative and reassuring, in some ways. Not that I didn’t realize they leant the book only to ensure that I had to meet them again to return it. (A classic sales tactic)
    I then had to meet these individuals at a second lunch meeting – same place just 5 minutes from my home. I told them what I thought of the book and again was provided with very vague information on what they do. They encouraged me to attend a ‘workshop’ in downtown Milwaukee if I wanted to learn more. Again, I reluctantly agreed figuring that with my positive nature, that I could at least learn something from the experience! On top of that, they encouraged that I bring my fiancĂ© to better understand ‘what I would be doing’ for the next few years. I did… and we went and have never felt a more ‘cult-like’ atmosphere in our lives. We had a good night regardless and made a date night out of it – another difference between positive and negative individuals.
    In short, Amway/BWW discourages sales from businesses in your community, and encourages you to buy products that THEY sponsor - online from other countries, regardless of how it affects your local economy. If Amway/BWW truly cared about the well-being of our country like they claim, don’t you think they’d make a point to only support companies who manufacture in the US? Another thing that just p*ssed me the f*ck off… is how they undermined every single thing that 95% of Americans do – work for a living. 50% of their ‘workshop’ was based on making you feel guilty for working for a paycheck… literally preying on your misplaced guilt and shame as a persuasion tactic. Amway/BWW supporters give excuses on how business owners enjoy many tax write-offs and incentives. It is true...to the very few who are selfish enough to get there.
    I have been quite knowledgeable in business for years, though I focus my energy on locally-based businesses rather than those who become too selfish and outsource to other countries (Amway/BWW being one of those organizations). To those 5% I say: How are you enjoying your lifestyle while the other 95% of us GENUINELY work hard and pay more in taxes to support your selfish write-offs? None of those individuals will even care enough to read or respond to this, however. I’m betting they didn’t expect such a free-thinker from someone with only a GED! (One I received while being away for medical treatments 20 DAYTIME hours a week for 2 years)

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  13. In short, I respectfully tried to cut ties with the couple that reached out to me through an email, offering to mail their packet back. (An information packet that, with claiming how successful they are, shouldn’t even be bothered with recollecting) Now, these people push the ‘information age’ as our country’s future. Why would an email suddenly be ‘out-of-line’? I sent my respectful email, applauding their success but simply turning down the opportunity explaining it wasn’t where my passion lay. I was hit with a phone call not 3 minutes later. A phone call I did not hear because I HAVE A LIFE and I WORK for a living, so SOMETIMES I may become busy. The entire tone of the message was ‘it was super unprofessional to turn us down over email – call me back’. I called back immediately and explained, AGAIN why I wasn’t interested in this ‘opportunity’. I then quietly listened to her undermining my job, my fiance’s job, and essentially my children’s wellbeing. “How dare she?” I thought. I held my tongue and kept reminding myself “Grace Kelly” and kept my decorum. Honestly, it turned into a ‘I respectfully quit…OH NO YOU DON’T, I FIRED YOU” conversation. She was insulted that I wouldn’t lay down my life to make money for them. Like there is only one way to successfully make a living. Again I question, if we all were as ‘successful’ as them in this business, who would be responsible for the remainder of taxes that they get to weasel away from?
    In short: if you genuinely care about people and the well-being of your country, Amway/BWW is a joke. They are NOT pro-community. They are pro-themselves and anyone who doesn’t believe is rendered useless in their eyes. Again, a cult mentality. The very definition of one! It is a glorified pyramid scheme and, as always, pyramid schemes will redesign/disguise themselves based on the economy and society. Despite just how encouraging their background music might be! Stay away from Amway/BWW. If you want to excel as a businessperson, do so without these monkeys hanging on your back!

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