Amway Australia - A Call for Transparency

Another extremely interesting blog post has been made by Orrin Woodward (ex-Quixtar Diamond) on his blog, see here:

http://orrinwoodward.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/6/19/3752893.html

Some very enlightening comments have been made, particularly those from current Australian IBO's. And in particluar this comment, which we've reposted below:

"Re: Amway Australia Leadership Challenge

by Anonymous on Fri 20 Jun 2008 09:27 PM EDT Permanent Link

Hi Orrin.

I am the person who wrote the original article "outing" Amway Australia. I am very curious to see what has been said by others in response.

I would like to comment on IBO Fightback's comment.

In my original post I requested that people contact Amway Australia Management. You can ring them on 02 9843 2000. Ask for Amway Legal or the acting CEO, Mr Coldwell. (The previous CEO, Peter Williams resigned in April 2008 - did someone see the writing on the wall - under his guidance Amway Australia is sliding backwards, fast)

Why believe the data on Amway Wiki? How does IBO Fightback verify the comments on Amway Wiki???

I am not interested in the comments by a website - that website is no more valid than me saying 78% of Amway Diamonds in Australia re-qualify every year & make an average income of $375,000.

Just as a side issue, Amway Australia will not pay you a Diamond bonus if you have international legs. The SIP (Sales Incentive Performance) bonuses are paid on Australian legs. How many people are Diamonds in the Australian market - IE: they have 6 qualified - in country legs?

So again I repeat my original post: "Get the transparent facts". (I have one additional question to ad to the list) Before you go on building the Amway Australia business find out the following:

1. How many Diamonds qualified between 1985-2007 have re-qualified more than once. How many Emeralds, How many Saphires, How many Rubies? - this goes to the heart of the issue - is the business model sustainable?

2. What is the turnover rate on average for a Diamond group?

3. What is the average income made by a Qualified Diamond in Australia? How many years did the average Diamond take to achieve this income.

4. What is the Amway Australia sales volume for each year 1985 - 2007? In real $.

Lets stop the internet chat in its tracks. I am not asking anyone to believe or verify my questions with "further fake data" - I want all current, former & intending IBO's with Amway Australia to become aware or the THE TRANSPARENT FACTS.

Email, ring or arrange a meeting with Amway Australia management. Go and get these very simple & worthwhile questions answered. Then post the answers on Amway Wiki - then post them here.

Post the names of all those who are currently qualified & all of the names for each year: 1985-2007 who qualified. Amway want IBO's to be transparent - well now we want them to be just as transparent. Their own website says "money, time & lifestyle" let them prove it.

I challenge someone else to do this investigative work & report back. That way someone cannot claim that I am faking the results , just to prove my version of reality.

I am so confident that the results of this investigation - that I will let an outsider investigate my claims & report back.

The claims will be catastrophic - as I said originally - once you have the THE TRANSPARENT FACTS FROM AMWAY AUSTRALIA - YOU WOULD HAVE TO BE AN IDIOT TO KEEP BUILDING IT.

If any commentator is confident that my questions will be answered with data that reflects Amway Australia as a positive, profitable & successful business experience - then I will issue a retraction.

My article is written out of deep concern for Amway IBO's & those intending to sign up in Amway. I am an insider - I know what has gone on behind the scenes, I know who is not re-qualified even at the Diamond, Emerald, Saphire & platinum levels. I have been on many, many, many Australian Leadership Seminars with Amway Australia.

I have sat around & chatted with key leaders in Amway Australia. I have deep concern that people are filled with a "fake" promise of long term success, by those who still hold out hop that they can make significant money. This is the only reason many people buy Amway product - PV.

I am looking forward to seeing THE TRANSPARENT FACTS. I challenge all commentators to contact Amway Australia report back to this website."

We are pleased that the spotlight has somewhat now been turned on to Australian Amway business and that IBO's are having their say. Our reply to the abovementioned comment pretty much sums it up.

"Thank you Anon for speaking out and revealing your truth as how you see Amway Australia. The Australian public and in particular, the Australian IBO's (current and potential) have been kept in the dark for far too long as to the state of the Amway business here.

We, at our blog have also been calling for true transparency in regards to Yearly Sales Numbers, Numbers of IBO's, Average Earnings, Retention/Attrition rates etc. We agree too, that how can anyone perform their due diligence as to whether the Amway "business opportunity" is a viable (and profitable) venture to commit to without such vital information.

For any current or potential Australian IBO's out there reading this, we also implore you to find out the cold hard facts from Amway Australia. We also invite you to submit your comments, stories, results of your research and any other information to our blog as well.

Thank you Orrin for taking an interest and concern in the goings on of Amway Australia and bringing it to attention via your blog. Silence, secrecy, deception, unaccountability and lack of transparency and information has reigned supreme here, we hope that with further dialogue and input from the public continues, so that the Truth can finally see the light of day".

About Sponsoring, Sales and Adverse Publicity

Some very interesting and revealing information can be found in Amway Asia Pacific's 1999 Annual Report (link as at the end of this post). We've posted two paragrapghs of particular interest and although 8 years old, it's still very relevant to the business today.

"Our results are impacted by the actions of a relatively small number of distributors. Under the Sales Plan, our distributor leaders grow their businesses by developing lines of sponsorship through bringing others into their organizations. While these distributor organizations are large and complex, there are relatively few lines of sponsorship and distributor leaders. The distributor leaders often form organizations independent of Amway Asia Pacific that motivate and train the members of their lines of sponsorship. These distributor leaders significantly influence their organizations through motivational rallies and seminars; these activities positively impact our sales. Although, one of Amway Asia Pacific's primary business goals is to maintain strong and effective relationships with the distributor leadership, there can be no assurance that such relationships will be maintained. Amway Asia Pacific's sales could also decline if we lose a significant distributor leader and would decline if a large number of other distributors in an organization left as well.



"Our sales are affected by sponsoring levels; many factors, adverse publicity in particular, impacts sponsoring. Adverse publicity may result from certain distributor activities. In particular, some distributor leaders, through their own independent organizations, distribute motivational audio and video tapes and written material without our prior review and approval. Negative publicity may arise from the sales of such materials. While our prior review and approval is required in certain instances under the Sales Plan, we cannot closely monitor our distributors as we would our employees. We do communicate with distributor leaders and attempt to enforce the Sales Plan and the Amway Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct to avoid circumstances leading to negative publicity. If necessary, we terminate distributors who violate our rules. It is possible that negative publicity will adversely affect our results."

So on one hand Amway says that there a few leaders and lines of sponsorship and then goes on to say that adverse publicity arises particularly from these distributor leaders. What a lame excuse them for them to then say that they cannot "closely monitor" the leaders....heck, they just said that there is only a few of them didn't they? This is a duplicatable business is it not? How hard could it be then to properly enforce it's own Sales Plan, Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct to these very few leaders of the AMO's? At which, the teachings will then naturally flow through their organisations.

The newbie IBO doesn't make up his own Amway selling spiel and techniques, he's learn't it from his sponsor, who learn't it from his sponsor and so on and so on.....all the way til it reaches the person at the top of the pyramid. If the leaders are sprouting crap then so is the newbie IBO. So Amway, stop the leaders of the AMO's sprouting crap and your problem is solved. Your adverse publicity which you say adversely affects your sales and sponsoring (so true) won't be such a big pain the ass for you.

But hang on a minute......the only problem is that you need the AMO's as much as they need you, quite a symbiotic relationship it's become. So should you enforce your rules and then terminate these leaders for any violations, then poof! there goes a mighty chunk of your sales revenue. And as evident by the TEAM resignations/terminations in the USA and more recently in the UK, a large percentage of distributors would follow their leaders and leave as well. With only a few AMO's in Australia, it's not hard to see what would happen to the Australian Amway business should any of the leaders here leave or be terminated is it?

So your very much stuck between a rock and a hard place......on the one hand, you can clamp down on any offending AMO leaders and organisations who are breaking your own rules and possibly the government's fair trading laws, but then the Australian Amway business gets smashed to a pulp. On the other hand, carry on, keep reaping in the profits and take no real action (like you have done for the last 25 years since the "Directly Speaking" tapes) against the AMO's who will churn IBO's in and out for you, and profiting from it regardless too. It's all about the money isn't it......at the expense of the average joe who does not know any better. And you need the average joe, trouble for you is that the great majority of Aussies has access to the internet and to wealth of information contained therein. And yes, as you said yourselves, "adverse publicity impacts sponsoring", but the AMO's who you have entrusted with the training, sponsoring and motivation for the Amway business, is the root cause why you have adverse publicity and such a bad reputation worldwide.

So Fix it!....before the ACCC does a DBERR in the UK and fixes it for you.

Source: http://www.secinfo.com/dsVS7.52fj.9.htm#8luz

The quote used for the previous post (Saturation a Risk) also came from this same document.