Pourquoi la vente multiniveau (MLM) ne fonctionnera jamais!

Traduction libre et inspiré de l’article paru en version anglaise
https://mlmtruth.org/2018/02/01/why-mlm-will-never-work/

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MLM définition: La vente multiniveau ou, selon qui l’emploie, marketing relationnel, marketing à paliers multiples, vente en réseau par cooptation, vente par réseau coopté (V.R.C.), marketing de réseau, etc., en anglais multi level marketing ou MLM, est une structure du réseau de vente dans laquelle les revendeurs (ou distributeurs) peuvent parrainer de nouveaux vendeurs, et être alors en partie rémunérés par une commission évaluée en pourcentage sur les ventes des recrues. La vente multiniveau élimine les coûts liés au recrutement et à la formation, mais aussi les dépenses de publicité en lui substituant le bouche-à-oreille.

La vente multiniveau peut importe comment vous la nommer ne fonctionnera jamais. Ce que je veux dire par fonctionnera jamais, cela va toujours signifier une perte financière pour les gens qui joignent un MLM, va causer un isolement social et les membres vont perdre des amitiés. Ce ne sera jamais un modèle d’affaires d’en lequel les gens vont obtenir un réel salaire.

Les critiques des MLM sont souvent accusés de mettre tous les MLM dans le même panier.

Quelques personnes pensent qu’avec des améliorations les MLM peuvent être un bon modèle d’affaires. Il est tentant de penser qu’avec un peu d’effort, vous pouvez faire beaucoup d’argent avec l’équipe que vous avez recruté.

Voici pourquoi les MLM ne seront jamais une bonne opportunité d’affaires.

Ceci démontre que la grande majorité des produits MLM sont beaucoup plus dispendieux que les produits en magasin, ce qui amène une moins grande désirabilité du produit et réduit la base de clients. Ceci nous amène au problème #2

1. Les produits ont un prix majoré et sont dispendieux.

Les produits se doivent d’être majorés, afin que les gens en haut de la pyramide reçoivent leurs parts. Les compagnies de MLM, affirment que le prix premium est associé au marketing, annonces et vente du produit. Si cela était vrai, la même situation serait appliquée au produit qui est distribué par une méthode plus traditionnelle. Prenez exemple sur les bouteilles d’eau Forever Living, qui sont dispendieuses versus un produit acheté en magasin.

12 bouteilles pour 14,76 = 1,223 pour chacune des bouteilles d’eau Forever Living

24 bouteilles pour 12,72 = ,53 pour chacune des bouteilles en magasin

C’est la même eau, ceci démontre que le prix du produit est plus dispendieux, qu’un produit similaire en magasin

2. MLM dépend des amis et de la famille pour l’achat des produits
Parce que le prix des produits est plus dispendieux qu’en magasin, il est difficile d’avoir une réelle base de client. La majorité des produits sont invendables. Le modèle d’affaire des MLM dépend des ventes aux amis, familles et gens dans leur réseau. La majorité des gens qui achètent les produits, essaie malheureusement d’aider le distributeur MLM, souvent par pitié.

Ceci peut mener à quelques ventes au début, mais rapidement les acheteurs se rendent compte de la situation. Habituellement, le vendeur semble motivé, ressent l’accomplissement et donne la fausse impression que ce modèle d’affaires fonctionne.

Il y aussi, les MLMers professionnels. Leur réseau est rempli de gens qui joignent le MLM ce qui leur procure une downline . Les gens qui achètent ces produits n’achèteront pas le produit, car il le désire, ils achèteront afin d’atteindre les ventes minimales pour une commission. Le produit est toujours dispendieux et apporte aucune plus valu et est acheté seulement afin d’atteindre les quotas de vente.

Lorsque famille et amis n’achètent plus du produit, la personne impliquée dans le MLM, va acheter le produit, afin d’atteindre les quotas pour commission. Les MLM vont souvent dire qu’aucun minimum d’achat n’est nécessaire. Ceci est vrai, par contre, afin d’avoir les commissions des ventes, les vendeurs MLM doivent générer un minimum de revenu. Ce sont ces bonus qui génèrent le plus d’argent, pas la vente des produits.

3. La majorité des gens perdent de l’argent.

Un simple  regard aux déclarations de revenus de ces entreprises. Démontre que peut de gens génère des revenus décents. Ces déclarations ne tiennent pas en compte les dépenses des vendeurs MLM. Régulièrement les petits caractères indique-

227$ est le montant annuel de revenu en moyenne, les petits caractères indiquent qu’il peut en coûter des milliers de dollars en frais d’opération. Pour plus de détails, lisez ce blog (http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2017/04/mlm-income-disclosure-statements/).

Ces informations sont toutes fournies par les compagnies de MLM, par contre quelques compagnies ne donnent pas ces détails, malgré que ce soit la loi au Canada

Pour une analyse complète des potentiels de revenu des MLM (http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/multi-level-marketing-unmasked/). La conclusion de ses recherches est que 99,7% des participants perdent de l’argent.

4. Manque d’expérience et de compétence

N’importe qui peut joindre un MLM, les membres aiment recruter afin de gagner de l’argent des ventes des autres. Certains affirment trier leurs ‘’downline’’, mais je suspecte que n’importe qui fera l’affaire. Il y a plusieurs cas où des gens souffrant de dépression, anxiété, des femmes venant d’accoucher, des gens ayant des conditions médicales sont souvent la proie des recruteurs MLM. Ce blog de femme militaire traite de ce sujet(https://taskandpurpose.com/truth-multi-level-marketing-businesses-hurt-military-members), ces femmes sont souvent la cible, car elles sont plus vulnérables.

Parce que n’importe qui peut joindre un MLM, n’importe qui peut alors devenir un leader. Des gens vendent, recrutent, gèrent, donnent des avis, et ce sans aucune réelles expérience ou formation. Aucune qualification en ressource humaine n’est nécessaire et ne peut déterminer si vous êtes prêt pour ce type emploi. Les leaders croient que tout le monde peut réussir. Lorsque les gens ont des difficultés, les leaders sont incapables d’agir professionnellement et en regard aux lois. Plusieurs agissent dans l’illégalité. Les leaders disent quoi faire aux gens qu’ils recrutent, tels que les infos concernant les taxes, marketing, recrutement, des allégations santés et essaient de tous contrôler. L’industrie est remplie de gens qui ne savent pas ce qu’ils font et qui essaient de dire aux gens qu’ils recrutent quoi faire.

Lorsque quelqu’un sans formation ni expérience peut soudainement devenir un ‘’boss’’ et que les activités de recrutement influent sur ses commissions, vous êtes en situation où il y a beaucoup d’intimidation. Il n’y a aucune garantie de protection des employés, comme un département HR, de formations, de réunions, de syndicat, d’union d’employés. Il n’y a rarement du support pour les collègues, parce que les membres de votre équipe sont votre compétition.

Si un nouveau MLM décide d’améliorer le modèle et décide d’engager des employés qualifiés, avec formation adéquate, des ressources humaines, département comptabilité, département marketing, ce ne serait plus un MLM, mais bien une entreprise NORMALE.

Responsabilité
Étant donné que les gens impliqués dans ce type de stratagème sont identifiés comme entrepreneurs indépendants, la compagnie se distance d’eux. Lorsqu’un individu enfreint la loi sur la publicité, en affirmant que leurs produits peuvent guérir telle maladie ou affirment de fausseté, la responsabilité repose sur l’entrepreneur indépendant. Les gens font souvent les choses comme leurs leaders le font, car ils n’en savent pas plus.
Évidemment, si les gens opèrent leur propre entreprise, ces gens devraient connaître tous les lois et règlements.
Premièrement, ces gens ne sont pas des entrepreneurs indépendants. (https://botwatch.blog/2016/07/11/you-are-not-an-independent-business-owner/)
Deuxièmement, les gens sont encouragés de sauté sur l’occasion et commencés immédiatement, même s’ils n’y comprennent toujours pas tout. Les gens sont encouragés à copié ce que les gens au sommet fonts et de suivre leurs exemples. Après tout, ‘’c’est comme ça que les choses se font ’’, est une phrase convaincante. Quand nous commençons un nouvel emploi, nous avons toujours quelqu’un pour nous montrer quoi faire.

5. Responsabilité

Étant donné que les gens impliqués dans ce type de stratagème sont identifiés comme entrepreneurs indépendants, la compagnie se distance d’eux. Lorsqu’un individu enfreint la loi sur la publicité, en affirmant que leurs produits peuvent guérir telle maladie ou affirment de fausseté,  la responsabilité repose sur l’entrepreneur indépendant. Les gens font souvent les choses comme leurs leaders le font, car ils n’en savent pas plus.

Évidemment, si les gens opèrent leur propre entreprise, ces gens devraient connaître tous les lois et règlements. 

Premièrement, ces gens ne sont pas des entrepreneurs indépendants. (https://botwatch.blog/2016/07/11/you-are-not-an-independent-business-owner/)

Deuxièmement, les gens sont encouragés de sauté sur l’occasion et commencés immédiatement, même s’ils n’y comprennent toujours pas tout. Les gens sont encouragés à copié ce que les gens au sommet fonts et de suivre leurs exemples. Après tout, ‘’c’est comme ça que les choses se font’’, est une phrase convaincante. Quand nous commençons un nouvel emploi, nous avons toujours quelqu’un pour nous montrer quoi faire.

6. La loi de l’attraction
Cela peut sembler une théorie inoffensive et qui peut améliorer le moral, en réalité cela est sinistre. LA prémisse de base est que si vous voulez quelques choses, agissez comme si vous l’aviez déjà. Le sentiment peut sembler stimulant. C’est une stratégie utile, si vous êtes trop nerveux pour demander une augmentation de salaire. Tout ce que vous avez à faire est d’être confiant, d’agir comme si vous alliez obtenir l’augmentation de salaire et éventuellement vous allez la recevoir.

La loi de l’attraction assume que tout le monde attire vers eux les choses dépendamment, si la personne est positive ou négative. Donc, si quelqu’un est toujours positif, de grandes choses vont lui arriver. Si la personne est négative, de mauvaises choses lui arriveront.

Ce type de pensée est pratiqué par tous les MLM étudiés. Parfois la compagnie va elle-même enseigner la loi de l’attraction, mais souvent ce sont les leaders qui vont la mettre en pratique et l’enseigner aux nouvelles recrues, par des conférences ou de la formation. Le danger de cette manière de penser est d’empêcher les membres de douter sur la compagnie et de voir la vraie situation des choses. Les membres ont peur de questionner et de voir la situation comme elle est. Ce qui amène les gens à penser que s’ils échouent, ce n’est pas le MLM, mais leurs manières de penser.

7. Les MLM sont des sectes

De plus en plus les MLM sont vues comme des sectes commerciales. Les adhérents sont la cible de subtil technique de contrôle, afin d’éliminer le contrôle de soi et de les rendre obéissants, face à leur situation financière et sociale. La loi de l’attraction y joue pour beaucoup.

Voici des caractéristiques des sectes et des membres
a- Les sectes utilisent des techniques afin que vous ne voyiez pas la vraie situation. Les membres sont incapables de critiquer dans quoi ils se sont engagés et ne vont pas vouloir en discuter. Les membres vont toujours éviter de discuter de leurs situations.
b- Les membres de sectes vont s’isoler de leurs amis et familles. Dans les MLM on va souvent voir des gens s’éloigner de leurs amis ou familles, car ces gens essaient de les aider à se sortir de ces MLM.
c- Dans une secte, l’amour est conditionnel. Les membres reçoivent du support tant et aussi longtemps qu’ils seront loyaux et appliqueront les règles. Beaucoup d’attention et d’amour est dirigé vers les nouvelles recrues et ceci sera variable au niveau d’argent qui rapportera.
d- Les membres d’une secte croient en un idéal de futur utopique, pour les membres MLM cela est le futur. Le système actuel, temps à montrer que les gens avec un vrai emploi sont stupides.
e- Les membres de MLM croient que les gens qui ont quitté sont mauvais, que les détracteurs des MLM sont juste des gens ayant échoué dans leur tentative et frustrer. Les membres ne peuvent essuyer une critique et croient que nous voulons les détruire.
f- Les leaders sont vénérés comme des personnes spéciales, qui peuvent aider les autres à atteindre le succès. Plusieurs publications sur les MLM vénèrent les leaders.

Freedom of mind: https://freedomofmind.com/stereotypical-profile-of-cult-members/ offre de l’aide si vous croyez être sous l’emprise d’une secte.

Il y a des moyens de briser ces patterns et de créer votre propre identité.

Conclusion
Des gens ont tenté de m’expliquer que les MLM ne sont pas mauvais. Personne n’a réussi à me convaincre qu’il s’agissait d’une vraie opportunité d’affaires. Si quelqu’un peut me prouver le contraire , cela me ferait plaisir. Il serait bien d’avoir un système ou les gens pourraient travailler de la maison, quelques heures semaine et vendre des produits qui ont du sens et que les gens désirent réellement.

Ce serait vraiment bien, si les membres pourraient en tirer profit et monter une équipe qui pourrait faire la même chose. J’aimerais que les gens puissent faire de l’argent et non en perdre. La prémisse des MLM est semble bien, et c’est pourquoi beaucoup de gens se font prendre, Malheureusement le modèle actuel ne peut fonctionner. Ce qui est une honte. Les gens se font prendre et se font du mal à essayer que ces combines fonctionnent et cela est triste de voir que les gens se font prendre encore et encore.


The Anti-MLM Coalition thanks our lovely supporter who translated this page for us!

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Secrets Of The Multi-Level Millionaires: Ellie Undercover

BBC THREE will be releasing their documentary, Secrets Of The Multi-Level Millionaires: Ellie Undercover, on Saturday 27 April at 10 am (BST). It can be viewed on their website, and via the BBC iPlayer (UK only)*. This is not to be missed!

In this documentary, journalist Ellie Flynn dives into the murky waters of multi-level marketing (MLM) companies. As regular readers of our site will know, MLMs are a growing problem in many countries, including the UK, fuelled by social media. They can cause financial, emotional and social harms. Many groups are targeted by these companies — military wives, the chronically ill, the elderly, university students, migrants, but especially young women.

Ellie goes undercover as two different personas, Annie and Lily, and signs up to two MLMs — Nu Skin and Younique. She does the online training, takes the ‘Instagram perfect’ selfies, and even attends Younique’s annual ‘EmpowerYou!’ conference in Telford.

12. Ellie undercover as Lily

Ellie does her online sales training as ‘Lily’

10. Ellie undercover as Anniejpg

Ellie takes a selfie as ‘Annie’

Apart from meeting former MLM distributors from across the UK, the BBC team filmed in Utah, where many MLMs have their headquarters.

7. Ellie in Salt Lake City 2

As part of the investigation, Ellie went to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Ellie also speaks with Dr Alexandra Stein, to get her take on MLMs, and their cult-like aspects. Dr Stein is a UK-based cult expert and author of Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in cults and totalitarian systems. 

17. Dr Alex Stein

Dr Alex Stein, a UK-based cult expert

This film draws much-needed attention to the problems posed by the MLM industry — issues which are largely ignored by mainstream media and regulators. It will help to raise awareness about the risks of getting involved in MLMs.

It is really encouraging to see the BBC paying serious attention to this industry. The media seems to be starting to pay attention — see the investigative piece by The Feed (SBS VICELAND) that aired in Australia earlier this year. We hope that other mainstream media will follow their leads, and conduct their own investigations and exposés. And we hope that regulators will become aware of the serious problems inherent in MLMs, and take action.


*Region controls are in place for the BBC iPlay player.

My experience with Financial Education Services — Part 2

[Red Corvette]: Here is the second in a short series of articles by Ariel, who was embroiled in the MLM Financial Education Services (FES).  Read Part 1 to get a background about this group, and hear how Ariel got involved with them.


[Ariel]: Thank you Red.

So, my sales director Brian (second upline) was trying to set up this Private Business Reception (PBR) event at his home.

I managed to get people, but they just flaked and didn’t show up. Anyway, it wasn’t going to go through, because Brian didn’t really give me a specific time for when it would happen, just a date. Then my $89 monthly fee was due, and I hadn’t even had a single person buy into anything. The sales director told me it was because I wasn’t attending the trainings that were all the way up in Glendale (23 miles / 37 km away), and I wasn’t “being serious enough with it”.

Then, to add insult to injury, he wanted me to attend an event called Millionaire Mindset, for about $200, which was coming up in November. When I told him no, he didn’t like that answer. I told him to sign someone up under me first before I attended. I didn’t want to put any more money into a gambling machine. Then I called my upline Stanley, and he wasn’t even attending, and he told me not to let Brian strong-arm me into attending it.

Well, lo and behold, that was exactly what Brian tries to do. At night I get a call from him with my upline Stanley also on the phone, and he goes gung ho into convincing me to go to the event. Brian leaves nothing off the table—he bullies, he manipulates, and lies. I try to tell him that I don’t want to because all those webinars we did bore no fruit. He gives me the spiel on how I have to have more faith yada yada.

Then I tell Brian two very logical things that he counters with bullshit. I tell him that since he’s going to be there, why doesn’t he just take really good notes or even record the event if that’s possible, so I get all the information on the strategy. He says that actually being there in person will “create the belief” — ie more cult brainwashing, and more putting my money into the MLM gambling machine. Then I ask him if he’s so eager to have me there with him at the event why doesn’t he pay for it? He gets extremely offended and threatens to cut me off (mind you I need his help for the webinars to get customers and close deals).

royal-anwar-366898-unsplashAfter a full hour of bullying and manipulating me into trying to get in my wallet to pay for the event, he gets tired. Then Stanley talks about how I have to be more professional by dressing more professionally, and how this is my business and my responsibility and nobody else’s. After that exchange I am more drained and depressed than I ever was before. I didn’t join this so called “financial education services” to be scolded, bullied, manipulated and become part of a dysfunctional family. I joined to help people who are struggling, and ironically they were making me struggle.

Before this episode, I knew a friend from a digital learning program, and he was always talking to me about ways we could find something to do to make money. We were in the program to get jobs, but after the program finished we were struggling to find work. I thought he was the perfect candidate for FES. So in the presentation I found out he had a disability and was on Social Security. Brian wanted to sign up the whole family — three people —this man, his sister, and his mom, all at the same time for $288 each ($864 in total for a family that’s struggling with bills). I thought to myself how I haven’t even achieved getting one customer, and he’s trying to coax these people into all signing up one under another. I justified it because I thought they’d easily know people in a bad financial situation who would want their credit scores fixed.

While Brian was at the event, there was a Facebook Live I could do with the regional vice president of FES, Fiona*. So I went to her Facebook Page at the particular date and time. She was talking about the Bible and I wasn’t even a Christian—I’m Jewish (these people assume a lot of things about a lot of people). None of it was actually a sales strategy, it was all hype. She was reading some verse about how a mentor will appear to the one that is most in need.

Then out of nowhere, like a cheerleader on ecstasy, Fiona told everyone to comment “Pink millionaire” in the comments below. She jumped around saying “Pink millionaire” 30 times in a row.T his isn’t training on sales — this is just insanity, and it’s not helpful at all. Not to mention how narcissistic it is but, that’s the thing with MLMs. It’s all this hype and insane behavior, and you feel that hit of dopamine and the events and trainings (even though I saw through that) then it’s back to the real world where you are shunned by most people.

In fact, before the event at the regular hotel meeting, I met Brian’s upline Dean*, who is a millionaire, and talked about how important it was to attend the event. That was the only thing on his mind because he was selling the tickets to it. He kept hammering away at the whole team about how they needed to go the event. I was thinking “If this man is a millionaire, couldn’t he pay for other people’s tickets? These people were struggling — give them some help. If the company was really about helping people out, then wouldn’t they start with people who couldn’t afford things?”

Dean also talked about how he attended the event when he hardly had any money to his name and he had to sleep on the hotel floor. In fact he said that people who didn’t attend quit within a month or so. I’m sure if I did go to the event, it would just be a hype fest with no strategies on what to do, which is what I’ve come to expect from all of this.

After Brian came back from the event, he started showing passive aggressive behavior towards me, as I hadn’t attended. I asked him what he learned at the event as an actual business strategy and not the usual warm market “friends and family pity sale” garbage I was so used to in Herbalife, and what MLMs are famous for. He gave me such a pathetic strategy (in my opinion): put a post on Facebook and tag ALL your friends in it.

I got one person who was into science interested, but he quickly put a wall up when it came to buying the program. I tried to convince him saying that there is a mayor, a bank fraud investigator, and this company goes into schools, but he still didn’t buy it. This last person was the final straw for me. On the phone, Brian thought it was a sure fire sale, and even told me after we sign him up we could sign my mom up, because she was thinking of joining to help me after I got my first sign up.

Lo and behold Mr. Millionaire Mindset was WRONG! This guy said he had some customers to attend to and left the webinar then Brian messages me, saying that guy was a joke and tells me to move on to the next person. At this point I can’t stand it anymore. I am so conflicted on what to do next. If I quit I throw about $400 of my hard earned money in the garbage, and that’s what makes it so difficult. Not to mention having to tell my upline that I’m quitting. I think to myself, “OK, they’re going to have a webinar on how to deal with real estate agents soon, so I’m going to go on that webinar to get some business strategies”. But the webinar is cancelled, and this is about the third or fourth one that’s cancelled.

That’s when I say enough is enough.

I muster up the courage. I block Brian on Facebook and on my phone. I don’t block my upline Stanley, because I think I can trust him with my feelings, but not Brian the manipulative sales director. The minute I did that, I could breathe a sigh of relief. No more manipulative sales director to worry about, no more putting myself through emotional hell, and no more having to strong-arm people. I felt so free after that.I complained to the BBB, but the problem was they said it was an employee-employer dispute, and wouldn’t handle it. That’s how these MLMs muddy the waters, by saying their customers are their employees. Well, I’m writing this to un-muddy the waters.


[Red]: Thank you Ariel. Stay tuned for Part 3, for Ariel’s thoughts on his experience.


Ariel can be found online at his blog, and on YouTube.


Photo credits: Wallet photo by rawpixel on Unsplash; Man in suit photo by Royal Anwar on Unsplash

*Names have been changed

My experience with Financial Education Services — Part 1

[Red Corvette]: Today we’re starting a series of articles by Ariel, who was embroiled in the MLM Financial Education Services (FES). Here’s a little background about this group.

FES is a privately held company, started by Parimal Nail and Mike Toloff. It launched at first as VR-Tech in 2004. They sell insurance and wealth programs. Their headquarters is in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

While they offer many financial services, from life insurance and financial literacy training to wills and living trusts, their main offering is credit repair. FES charges a one time fee of $188 and then $89 per month for the Protection plan. Since April 2018, this has increased to $499. The MLM is often touted as a cross between Primerica, Motor Club of America, and World Financial Group.

Their consultants are called ‘independent agents’, and there are nine different ranks to aspire to, starting with Field Trainer, and moving up to Sales Director, Senior Field Trainer, Regional Sales Director with Senior Executive Vice President at the very top.

Over to you, Ariel!


[Ariel]: Thank you Red.

Hi, all you anti-MLMers. I’ve recently came out of a cult called Financial Education Services, and wanted to share my experience with you.

How I came to find out about them is innocent enough, since I wanted to learn about finances. I stumbled upon a Meetup group that talked about financial education, and I put my name in the RSVP.

So then I get a call from some guy who is from Haiti, let’s call him Stanley*. He seems like a really nice guy and he talks about how in the United States there is no education about money, how it works etc. I tend to agree with him, and he says asks if it’s OK if I could attend a webinar with him. I say fine, and then he gets on the webinar with his upline, Brian*. Brian is a man from New York who lives in Los Angeles, like I do. He goes through what it means to have good credit and everything that a credit score affects. He talks about things like identity protection etc.

I’m impressed with Brian’s knowledge. The company sells financial protection plans to people with a $99 activation fee and a monthly payment of $89 (total $188 to get started). I really don’t need the services as my credit score is already in the excellent category, yet he told me that credit karma is not an accurate representation of my credit score.

Now here’s where the MLM part comes in. Brian tells me that if I get started as an agent I could give people these services and help them with their finances for just $100 (so $288 to become an agent). I tell him that I was had been involved in Herbalife a long time ago, like eight years ago, and it went very badly. He assures me that this isn’t about selling lotions and potions and such things, because people need good credit and everyone wants financial stability. He himself used to work for the Bank of America.

I still show skepticism, and Brian uses my insecurities against me, like how I spoke about my dad always doing the same thing and complaining about his job, and how I wanted out from my current situation. He tells me that I’m going to see everyone becoming a success except me, and I’m going to be depressed after that. He also tells me that so many things you spend money on like food, clothing and a car will always depreciate in value, yet this opportunity has the power to pay me back. So while he was talking to me I googled the company, and I found pretty good reviews, actually. It’s funny, one of the first videos that popped up said it was a scam, but most videos that said it was a scam actually then went into how it wasn’t a scam, but was a legitimate business opportunity.

I told Brian if I joined I’d probably be bothering them all the time and not stop until I made my money back and more, so this made him excited. Then he gave me the sign up sheet page to sign up under Stanley. I signed up to be an agent and I got the Protection Plan. Brian sent me an email, and I looked at the materials I was supposed to be using. In those materials it said don’t use words like uplinedownline, and opportunity, so right off the bat I felt like I was deceiving people. Then I said to myself it’s probably because MLMs are associated with health supplements and products, not with finances, so we don’t want to give people the wrong impression. I believed that helping people get ahead in life with control over their finances and a good credit score was the righteous thing to do.

rawpixel-761474-unsplashThe next day my field trainer Stanley took me to a hotel near the airport so I could see what they were talking about. At the hotel, I got your typical MLM cult spiel, yet this one had former Bank of America employees, an active mayor, and an actor. In the spiel they talked about how they had something called the YFL Mint that went into schools to teach kids about financial education. Mind you, just because you rob a bank and give a percentage of it to charity doesn’t mean you’re a saint.

So, after all the razzle dazzle,at the end of the “presentation” I went to the lady who said she made a ton of money doing it and told her “Wow you only have a GED [high school education] yet there are people with masters degrees, and they are stuck in debt and you have all this money” and she said “Ya I know, all thanks to FES.”

I wanted to know what she did to get people to sign up etc. She said “I’m sure you’ll have a few of these seats filled the next time you come in”. Well, that wasn’t exactly a strategy. The sales director Brian was there, and he said I’d succeed if I’m committed and coachable. I asked him for a strategy, but only got some vague unhelpful answer.

When I asked my direct upline Stanley for a strategy, he talked about an online funnel through an ebook which I had no idea how to go about getting. Back when I got home I thought about talking to my Facebook friends, and I went into Messenger asking people if they even know what their credit score is.

Some did, some didn’t, and some wanted to improve it. So I must’ve orchestrated about 15 or so people agreeing to attend a webinar with the same person who got me in, by doing a webinar with him. Some people were no shows, some had technical difficulties, some stayed till the end of the presentation, but none of them signed up either as a customer or an agent, so this really got me in low spirits.

I even got this guy who was a millionaire friend of mine to sign up, and he even said after he got all the details he would sign up but, then he found a better deal with other credit repair people who would give him half the profits, and they weren’t MLM — so in the end it didn’t go through.

I was feeling so down and so defeated,and it didn’t seem like this was the opportunity I signed up for. All the while I was still going to the hotel meetings hearing the same old business model story, and getting sick and tired of it because they gave me ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in terms of strategy. So once my warm leads were depleted, and I was feeling defeated, Brian calls me and tells me to get all the people I know, including friends and family, and line them up for a PBR (Private Business Reception) which he wants me to have at his house. I told him that I couldn’t just conjure people up out of the blue.


[Red]: Thank you Ariel! Stay tuned for Part 2, where we will find out what happens at Brian’s Private Business Reception, and whether Ariel was able to find anyone to attend!


Ariel can be found online at his blog, and on YouTube.


Photo credits: Dollar bills photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash; Coins photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

An aromatherapist speaks out — Part 3

Red-tiny[Red]: We’re back with Gilbert, as he still has a lot to say about essential oil MLMs, like dōTERRA and Young Living. What sort of unethical marketing ploys do you see in this field? (Catch up here with Part 1 and Part 2 if you’ve not read them yet.)

[Gilbert]: Oh gosh … where do I start?

A concerned consumer called me recently, for a chat about safety. An MLM in her area told her that her goal is to earn $200K next year — do you think that MLM reseller has safety and ethics top of mind? No, it’s money, money, money — that is her goal. Ask a qualified practitioner, they would answer they want to continue high standards of best practice methods, so as to provide relief for non-life-threatening conditions, in the safest manner possible, while continuing their own professional development.

Spot the difference?

One of the most concerning marketing tactics I see is when a reseller already has a trusted ‘brand’. A food blogger, for instance, might have a following on Facebook of around 100,000 people — people who have bought their recipe books, followed their blog on healthy eating for themselves, family and friends, making the most of the free advice and recipes available to them from their beautifully crafted Instagram photos and Facebook posts. But then, with that wonderful exisiting pool of potential customers, who trust them, they start selling essential oils, they start telling people how they should use them, every day, several times a day …

And then they then start adding essential oils to their recipes for drinks, smoothies, raw food, in salad dressings, in soups (you name it, they add them), they start telling you how you should rub them undiluted on your skin, and in quite a manipulative way, do this with these essential oils to prevent your babies and children from getting sick, creating fear and and using scare tactics, saying what your child might catch if you don’t!

These people target the vulnerable, the tired mums with new babies, mums who want to give their children the best diet — but feeding your child a homemade ice block containing lemon essential oil is hardly giving a nutritious alternative to the sugary lemonade ice block — it is, in fact, enabling an adverse effect in that poor child’s body (and their friends, if they are being shared)!!

One of the more recent shockers seen online was a reseller sharing her ’tips’ on maximising milk production “… use basil, fennel & clary sage essential oils, topically on the breast after feeding and & internally basil & fennel in water/tea/hummus…” There is no dilution advice so I assume this to be undiluted (which is one of the worst paths to sensitisation). This blogger is particularly clever as she ropes them in with a first paragraph on the importance of breast feeding, appealing to a mother’s guilt that she may not be doing as well as she could, then WHAMMO, the sales pitch comes next.

These particular essential oils shouldn’t be anywhere near a baby — not even the essential oil bottles!  Babies, toddlers and children’s sense of smell is incredibly acute. These are essential oils contraindicated to children till age 13+ (in my professional opinion), and ingesting these for the mum is potentially very dangerous! Seriously, PLEASE do NOT do this!

And it’s all in the name of money …

These MLM companies often have exquisite marketing material, very high end designs, beautiful photos, amazing copywriting which makes them look like a trusted brand — they have the money to do this! In my opinion it’s a ploy to suck you, the consumer, into a false sense of security, and the resellers are guided to use it in the best way, to ‘maximise sales’.

They create excitement around events — events you are expected to pay to attend, and then be sold to, but in a clever way, again using emotional touch points like “There is nothing more loving that handmade gifts for Christmas, come and learn to make homemade chocolate using essential oils.” Actually no, DON’T, as you could potentially poison those loved ones! And this is NOT an exaggeration, as you have no idea who could be potentially eat this chocolate — a child, a pregnant woman, someone with an ulcerated gut, someone on medication that is contraindicated for the peppermint you put in your homemade chocolate, and other health conditions or if someone has had recent surgery — there is SO much to consider!

I have had a personal experience where I have written a warning about a new potentially dangerous trend emerging, and before I know it, a MLM reseller (who is obviously watching what I’m publishing) is writing a post contraindicating everything I have said. Reminding her ‘oily followers’ that her company’s essential oils are so pure, they are safe to ingest — and of course, this is an absolutely untrue statement (as mentioned before, the MLM companies do not have exclusive rights to pure essential oils, and purity is not the issue here — no-one should be ingesting essential oils at all.). They will even go to the extent, very cleverly, of advising their followers on how to deal with ‘people like GilbertP’ and other qualified practitioners — apparently we are opposed to their methods of use because we want control of the industry or feel threatened by them.

Actually no, we simply don’t wish to injure our valued clients and customers, their families and their children. That’s it.


Red-tiny[Red]: The Coalition would like to thank Gilbert for sharing his knowledge with us. Do you agree or disagree with him, or have you come across essential oil resellers who behave in similar ways? Let us know in the comments below, or check out our guidelines for guest submissions if you’d like to share your own story.


Disclaimer: This article provides information on dangerous practices in essential oil use as seen from multi-level marketing representatives who sell essential oils. The Coalition cannot comment upon essential oil training or the evidence for their use, and suggests readers interested in aromatherapy to conduct their own research into any evidence for the use of essential oils that may exist. Please consult your doctor before starting any complementary therapy.


Further reading


Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash