Showing posts with label Amway Global. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amway Global. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Shivram Kumar - the greatest liar

Look at the FAQ section in Kumar Shivram's PROFILES DVD.

BWW stock code is PRD1. If you do not know, Kumar & Anjali are double diamonds in Amway Global/BWW business.

This fellow has lied, lied and lied in it through his teeth. Mr. honesty, Mr. integrity - that is what is portrayed, but here is how he dodges the truth, contradicts himself and tries to convince the gullible prospect into signing up:

(1) What are my chances of success?

His answer to this question is not direct. He uses the well-known "analogy" technique. All people seasoned in Amway/quixtar use this technique to dodge the facts and to divert peoples' focus on to something else.

He compares Amway/quixtar with exercise. It sounds perfectly logical when you hear it. He talks about 9 core steps - you need to do these - to succeed. He says many people do not do the 9 core steps and that is why they do not succeed. So the analogy is "people join a gym and they do not work out" similarly "people join Amway and don't do the work".

Why don't they do it? Because many people who join are not informed about the "whole deal" when they sign up. They are given partial information and get signed up. They think if they join, do a 100 PV every month and then recruit other people, then they can succeed. Many of them are not told about the 9 core steps when they sign up, so they join but then later on quit.

Alright, Kumar - why don't you just take the people who do the 9 core steps and then calculate the chance of success?

The point is one cannot really tell who are doing the 9 core steps, because some of them are not measurable. Here are the 9 core steps:

(1) Show 3 to 5 plans a week
(2) Do 300 PV personal volume (couple) or 150 PV personal volume (single) including customer volume
(3) Do 50 PV customer volume minimum
(4) Listen to CD daily (start with 1/day and then increase to 2/day)
(5) Read daily (start at 15 min/day and increase to 1 hour/day)
(6) Attend all associations - open (every Tue/Wed), PASE (every Fri), phone meeting (every Sun), weekend functions, BBS, upline promotions, etc.,
(7) Build your business with integrity and honesty
(8) Counsel monthly with counseling sheet
(9) Communikate

Steps (7) and (8) are not measurable. A guy who does not sell (i.e. does not do step (3) above) and reports 50 PV customer volume through CVR or CSAR is failing on step (7) as well. Many BWW IBOs do not sell products. Uplines encourage them to simply report CVR or CSAR.

Step (8) again has lots of caveats to it.

So what they conclude is that the people who are succeeding are only the people who do the 9 core steps, so they conclude the converse: "let us see who is succeeding. They are the only ones doing the 9 core steps."

The fact is many people do all the 9 core steps for several years and still do not succeed. That is where your upline will tell you things like "you are not using the power of spoken word", "you are not in submission to upline", "your husband-wife relationship is not good", "you are not caring about people", etc., to make you believe that if you set that right, then it will work for you. The point is they never accept the fact that it is very very tough to build and maintain your network, even after doing all of these steps.

Another thing to note is that to do the 9 core steps above it takes a LOT of time. They lie to you telling it takes 6 to 10 hours a week to build this business! Kumar says this below himself. LIAR.

For step (1) above, you need to do the 4 basics i.e. contact, invite, show the plan, follow up/sign up. You will run out of your A and B lists (friends and acquaintances) very fast and will have to do this with C list (strangers). The success rate of converting a contact to a plan/overview is 20% or less with C list. So you need to contact 15 to 25 people every week to show 3 to 5 plans per week. This is why people run around in malls, grocery stores, Costco, Wal-mart, literally everywhere to make these contacts. It takes a lot of time to contact those many people, usually 20 hours per week. This contradicts Kumar's answer to question (2) below.

(From those 12 to 20 plans/month, you usually 1 or 2 signed up. Amway guys tell you should read more or listen to more CDs or go with proper expectation to dodge the fact that the business simply does not work.)

Also people treat you like trash when they figure out that you are an Amway guy. So you usually dodge that by saying something like you own a company or you own a social-networking site or some other smart term like "private franchizing" so you are taught to LIE, LIE and LIE. Many of them trash you when you call them. Many do "no shows" i.e. they do not come for the plan when you set up an appointment. Many do "no shows" at the open meeting. Many do "no shows" at the follow up and run away with your CDs, literature pack, etc., So sign up is a distant dream, when you make one contact...


Kumar says "life is all about freedom to succeed and freedom to fail" - the success ratio in Amway is less than 1%. Why do 99% people fail, Kumar? Because you guys do not tell the whole deal when they sign up. You cheat them and get them signed up and then you put one thing after another on them. Yeah - you have an analogy telling "they do not tell you the whole deal when you join a company. they only tell you what to do next." - So you are just as cheap as my company, not any better, so stop claiming that Amway is the best. You are just like my company, which according to you, STINKS. So Amway STINKS according to your own statements.


(2) How much time will I need to invest?

Ok - the truth - if you see how Kumar worked to go diamond... he has said he attended 3 to 4 open meetings per week (in 2 locations in New Jersey, 1 in Long Island, 1 in Philadelphia) and then 1 PASE at his house and then showed 5 plans during the weekends. Along with that, you add the other 8 core steps. It takes anywhere from 40 to 60 hours a week to do that. He lies telling maximum he has seen done is 15 hours/wk. Kumar - I agree with you that people make money with Amway, but why do you lie like this to get gullible prospects in?

Kumar lies here telling people can build this in 4 hours/week. Even the open meeting itself takes more than 4 hours/week including the commute and night owl. KUMAR - you are a master liar, man! Come on! Tell the truth! Are those people really getting results???

You are lying that you do not know what to tell if people have more than 20 hours per week? When you went diamond, how many sleepless nights you had? You guys are good at dodging work in your office by writing poetry or sleeping in bathrooms, but how long could someone do that???


(3) I know all about this business.

He says "maybe you were in this business before. Ok. You have 2 options. Do you want to find out more? Do you want to know what has changed? Or do you want to say forget it...?"

What has changed? Maybe some products. Maybe stuff in double-X is new now... maybe some bad products were removed. Nothing has changed overall. It is still the same old raw deal.


(4) Does quixtar really pay those bonuses?

Easy question. Quixtar/Amway is black-and-white - no gray areas like the systems. So this is easy to answer. Nothing to hide here. They have products and prices and bonuses. You do the analysis and decide for yourself what to buy, what to sell, etc., They tell you, in writing, all the rules. You are supposed to read and sign it when you join. Many people do not read the Amway/quixtar documents, so they end up believing the lies told by the IBOs.

"System income" part is where the gray area is. New IBOs are not told about the 9 core steps above and how steps (4), (5) and (6) above contribute to system income for higher pins. This is hidden for all IBOs below platinum. Why don't you make it public and tell the new IBOs all the facts??? What is the secret behind the money collected for associations, CDs, books and leaderships?

Quixtar/amway pays you only on volume. If you do not requalify, they do not pay you. But BWW/WWDB/LTD, etc., pay fake diamonds and fake emeralds bcos once you qualify once, you are always that pin in the system, not in quixtar. Yes, Amway may still say you are that pin according to the official Amway blog post here, but they won't pay you that much! They will only pay you how much business you brought to them!


(5) Aren't the products expensive?

YES, YES and YES. To do 300 PV personal volume will take you close to $950. If you sell some of that, then still you spend more than $700 per month for products that you might have spent only less than $100 outside... products are of good quality, but you decide.

He says it is not a discount buying club. So Mr. Kumar, why do you say in all your open meetings people can save up to 30% of money that they are already spending? then why do you lie telling people can re-direct their "anyway" money?

He says "at the 15% level you are getting your products for free". A totally unqualified statement and a lie. He assumes ppl are doing 100 PV - which is supposed to cost $250. Even that is true only if you have good structure and you make some sales. You will be spending close to $1200 to $1500 per month to do the 9 core steps, so you will need to go at least 4000 PV, 21%, to break even! Kumar, the LIAR.


(6) How much can I really make?

After all the untold expenses, you will break even only when you make $1500 to $2000/month.

Kumar says "we are upfront and honest about income representations" - really? Why don't you say platinums actually make only $1000/month to $1500/month, bcos most of them have only less than 3 legs, not the 6 legs shown at the open meeting plan. You portray the first lie the very first time the plan is exposed to prospects telling platinums make $2600/month and you claim you are upfront and honest? You lie in the DVD too!

At the diamond level, he says there is $150,000 of "ongoing" income. The figure is OK, but "ongoing". So Kumar, how many of your diamonds requalified last year as diamonds and had their "ongoing" income and how many of them are still running around as fake diamonds making only $100K/yr from Amway and then probably raking up through BWW income? Ok - what is the status of Ramesh & Ramaa, Ajay & Alka, Nanda & Sangita? Did they EVER requalify as diamonds? Somehow only Sugeet seems to make it to diamond club and Peter Island every year, so WHAT is the mystery here with all your other diamonds?

And you guys still lie telling 100 PV = $250. How long has it been since that changed, but your plan has not?


(7) I am a student. How can I build this business?

The truth is, if you are an F-1 student you should not legally do any work outside your school. But many students work illegally and never get caught, so you can work in Amway illegally too. Many students who work illegally do not have their incomes reported to the IRS. They get paid in cash. But Amway considers you as an independent contractor and reports your income to the IRS in form 1099-Misc. You cannot have a 1099-Misc if you are on F-1 visa. The IRS does not care what your visa status as long as you pay your taxes. But if the USCIS finds out, you may be in trouble. Your upline usually responds to this by telling "1099-Misc is fine" or "even foreigners can own Amway business in USA". But neither Amway nor your upline nor the system has any proof telling F-1 students can earn income through Amway. You do it at your own risk. To my knowledge, no one has been caught by USCIS, but even if they are caught, Amway diamonds will never disclose it in public, since many F-1 students will quit and the diamond income will drop.
And I have never seen a single student making substantial income through Amway when they were a student. The amounts are so pathetic that nobody cares! But your 100 PV counts for your upline.

You cannot do Amway if you are on H1-B visa or J1 visa too. "1099-INV" - investment income and stock market income are fine. Even real estate income is fine, but independent contractor income thru 1099-Misc is not fine. Make sure you check with an immigration attorney before you join Amway. The fee of $200 or so for the immigration attorney is a lot less than the pain of deportation.


OK, finally why do I care?

Because I believed in all these lies and wasted substantial amount of money, time and energy in this. I do not want anyone else to fall into the same trap. And I am not against the 0.001% of the people who make money honestly with Amway, but tell your prospects the whole deal and let them decide. Do not lie to them and keep changing the deal as people start believing you more.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Analogies always to the rescue!

Amway diamonds and emeralds are very good with analogies. The analogies are so convincing when you hear them that you think you are a fool to think otherwise. But they are very carefully crafted.

One striking example of this analogy trap I remember is with respect to the corporation name change. As you might know, quixtar was originally Amway business. Amway then changed to quixtar when it went online. Then they realized that quixtar brand name was not flying too good, so 10 years later they decided to go back to the old name Amway and put a global behind it and call it 'Amway global', to make it sound like a new business. So now the business is called Amway global.

One diamond, named Sanjiv & Shauna Sahay made 2 CDs at different times about handling objections.

The first one was made when the name was quixtar. One of the questions you used to face from a prospect those days was "Is quixtar not the same as Amway?" To handle this question, Sanjiv suggested the following analogy to be used by IBOs:

IBO: "Do you know who makes Lexus?"
Prospect: "Toyota"
IBO: "Why don't they call it as 'toyota plus'? Why do they call it a different name?"
Prospect: "But lexus is different..."

The prospect is now confused. (One of my uplines' favorite statement was 'If you cannot convince them, confuse them'.)

Then the IBO can really nail the prospect by telling

"See quixtar is a different brand, just like lexus is a different brand. It is as ridiculous to say quixtar is just amway, like it is telling lexus is same as toyota."

(Of course, many times the prospect does not get convinced with this and finds some other reason not to sign up. But you see, whether the prospect gets convinced or not, all the IBOs, who are already in and are themselves confused, are now convinced. Because once you sign up, you need to defend your decision to sign up - so you look for reasons to defend your decision. The main job of these analogies is to keep the confused IBOs in for longer, rather than use them on new prospects.)

Then the name changed from quixtar to amway global. Sanjiv Sahay made another CD about handling objections. In this one, he uses another analogy.

"What does microsoft name itself when it goes to India? you know... they name it Microsoft India, you know. They don't call it zebra.com, you know... is that correct, you know? Same thing here, you know. We are creating one global brand, you know... you know... One amway global brand you know..."

(Yes, Sanjiv Sahay uses those many 'you know' when he is talking. If it was irritating for you to read those many 'you know's here, then imagine listening to a CD made by him with half the talk being just 'you know's... and pay $7.50 plus tax for that CD!!!)

So who is the fool here? The guy who Amway IBOs calls as a LOSER, or the Amway IBO himself???

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Amway professional sales (lie) training

A wonderful book that my upline recommended me was "Confident conversations - easy answers to 38 tough questions" by Brad DeHaven. Cost: $12.95 and of course, I bought from upline, not from Amazon, so paid the full money!

I loved this book when I was in Amway/BWW. But now I am ashamed that I used all the manipulation techniques this book taught. (Of course, I did not succeed even with the tricks taught in this book.)

Some questions and answers this book has. The questions are the ones coming from prospects and answers are taught to IBOs.

The 1st technique is answer a question with a question. The second is easy answer, followed by a question. (I don't have the patience to type everything, but manipulation and dodging is professionally taught to IBOs.)

Qn 1: "What is it?"
Qn for qn: "It is private franchizing. Are you familiar with it?"
Easy answer: It is a brand new industry designed specifically for the internet. I am part of a group of entrepreneurs who are very successful. Are you familiar with internet-based businesses?
(Only the new untrained guys will say it is Amway out of fear and not knowing what to say.)

Qn 2: Can you tell me more about it?
Qn for qn: "Absolutely! I would like to meet you and share this info. I have Tue or Thu free. Which works better?"
The book says they key is to start your answer with "absolutely", so the prospect thinks you are agreeing with him. But actually the IBO want to meet with the prospect in person!
Amway trains you to always tell two YES options, never YES/NO. They ask "Tue or Thu?" and never "do you want to meet me?"


Qn 3: Is this Amway?
Qn for qn: No, this is not Amway, but what is your understanding of companies like Amway?
All IBOs are trained to answer this question with a NO.
In my experience for about 5 years with Amway, all the people who asked this question were negative and never sat for plan. So no matter what you say after this really does not matter. (They have smelt the Amway in you!)


Qn 4: Is this an MLM deal/pyramid?
Qn for qn: What is your experience with MLM/pyramid?
(Again, they r taught never to say YES/NO. The IBOs are taught to ask questions to prospects, so they never answer prospect's questions.)
My experience - they have smelt you!



Qn: What are my odds of making it with this biz?
Qn for qn: What are your odds of making it without it?

I love this one -
Statement from prospect: I am not interested.
Qn from IBO: thank you for being honest. Which part are you not interested in?


qn: How much money are you making?
Qn for qn: How much money would you like to make?
(Truth is the IBO is not making much... hehe.)


Prospect: I have seen this before.
Qn: What exactly did you see before?


This is nice:
Prospect: Do I have to sell?
IBO: Do you like to sell?
Prospect: Yes/No.
IBO: Great! You will love this business. You need to meet this person at the business presentation who made it in this business and he is exactly like you.


Prospect: Do I have to buy 100 PV every month?
IBO: Do you want to make a PV check every month?
(100 PV costs about $300. PV check for that will be about $7. So the IBO is asking you, essentially, do you want to spend $300 to make $7.)


Prospect: I have always shopped at Costco/Walmart. How does this compare?
IBO: Does Costco/walmrt offer an opportunity to make money?
(Truth - Amway products are very expensive compared to Costco/walmart.)


Tip in the book: What you promote is what your prospect will investigate.
(These days there is so much crap about all the big pins that most IBOs cannot promote the open meeting speakers! :-).)

Another technique in the book to handle any question: I know how you feel. I felt the same way. Let me tell you what I found out. (and then fart whatever you want :-).)

The IBOs will always try to leave some information behind with you, so that they can force their way into your house one more time for a follow up. If you say you are not interested in the biz, they will try to sell you some products or get some of your friends' names and numbers. So if you do not take the information packet, they really have no chance with you.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

PMA lies

Amway guys very conveniently use PMA techniques to lie and cheat nicely.

When I was in Amway/BWW/Quixtar, my upline would always ask me which speaker I liked the most, which CD I liked the most, which product I loved to use. The basic idea is to manipulate gullible new IBOs into thinking what they like, rather than what they do not like. The usual question after functions is "Which speaker did you like the most?" If you start saying whom you did not like, they will immediately cut you off and restate the question "Tell me whom you liked." Uplines already get a lot of training to manipulate, whereas most new prospects/IBOs do not have any sales and manipulation training.

You dare not speak negative in any meeting. Slowly you are programmed to tell lots of lies, because by not telling what you do not like, you are forced to tell something positive about everything.

Just attempt a statement like "I did not like double-x because I threw up after taking it" and watch the reaction in your upline's face. They will look at you as though you are an ALIEN. When it actually happened to me and I complained to my upline, they cajoled me and told I should consume it in between meals, not after meals. I still threw up. Then you know what my upline did? In one of the leadership events, my upline lady (read bitch) told

"Some of you have put so much junk in your body that you cannot consume good natural products like double-x. Stop eating junk food and program your body and mind to eat double-x."

The funniest thing is my uplines themselves were always having trouble eating double-x. They usually need a carbonated XS immediately after eating double-x to burp the gas and indigestion out. They do not touch double-x or food bars in functions because they cause indigestion and/or constipation! And these guys tell me that I have a junk body! Hypocrites!

By the way, Amway IBOs claim double-x does wonders. If you tell it is expensive, they say "Chemotherapy and radiation are more expensive than double-x." So that means double-x cures cancer? If you ask them this question, they will not answer directly, but they make this statement to scare people. This is the "scare and sell" approach.

A simple question I want to ask is "If Amway does not give so much PV/BV to double-x, would any upline promote its wonderful benefits?"

The answer is NO. So your health is not really the primary motivation. At the end of the day, the PV/BV is what matters, no matter how much your upline claims they have the BEST interest in their minds and hearts.

The master liar Kumar says "Buy the PV and bury it in your backyard. I don't care. Just do 300 PV!"

There is a simple product called Nutrilite Daily. It costs very little and is good enough for a daily vitamin. Not much emphasis is given to this product because it does not have much PV/BV and it usually lasts 3 or 6 months. If you talk too much about Daily, your upline won't give you any chance to talk :-).