Everyday, I see more and more friends joining multi-level marketing companies without getting a full picture of what these "opportunities" usually entail. I don't claim to be more knowledgeable about this than others, but having actually joined a MLM (that's where my $200 went, as mentioned in the other post), I got a first-hand insight into their tactics.
When you first join the company, the pressure would be upon you to purchase a set. They don't physically pressurise you, but through the talk (complete with plain A4 paper and pen), they would imply the disadvantages of not investing in at least one piece of the product, and using it for yourself.
They seemed to adjust their marketing pitch to your personality. I cannot vouch for this observation, since I did not stay there for long enough to see everything but the recruitment/marketing process. In my case, they told me that all the uplines in the company did purchase a set of the products themselves, regardless of whether they could afford it. It was brutally effective that I forgot about my mother's (and universal law of money) advice: Never spend more than you can afford to, even if it were for investment, never ever go into debt because of it!
Later, one of the uplines sat down with me, and explained to me the different markets for products. There are the hot, warm and cold markets. Cold markets are people that you don't already know yet, warm markets are people who you have gotten into contact with before. And finally, we have the hot market, which as you smart readers would already have realised, are your close friends and relatives.
(Right now, as I am writing this, I have absolutely no idea whether this should be a comfort, or something for me to worry about. Is this a popularity contest here?)
For first timers, you are expected to write down a list of all your contacts, along with their phone numbers, details about their family members, whether they are susceptible to marketing, their personality, salary, and address. From there, your upline would analyse together with you the first targets. From there, you would do either direct marketing (selling to your relatives/friends who can directly afford the product), or recruitment (getting people to join the company under you).
Recruitment is basically initiated from the phone. You pick up the phone, dial your friend/relative's number, and ask them out for lunch. (Hmm... How did that sound so familiar?) During this phone call, you are not allowed to mentioned "MLM, network marketing, opportunity, or anything related." For now, all you are supposed to do is to get the target out for lunch "whether you have to lie to him, or something", one of the senior uplines told me. Surprisingly, right on my first call, my friend called my bluff.
"Eh, you asking me out for lunch. Does it have anything to do with MLM or something?"
"(after a few seconds pause)... NO! Absolutely not! What makes you think that I am involved in MLM?"
"Hmm... Please don't blame me, I have a few friends who I haven't talked to for a long time, and when they all asked me out for lunch, it turned out to be a MLM. I have no interest in it, and I really hope that you are not lying to me."
That set off a trigger. I was about to lie to my friend just so that I could get him down to have lunch with me? I was at the risk of ignoring my conscience! In addition to that, I had not really thought through my feelings: was I interested in doing this in the first place? I remember being bombarded by images and stories of success, money, and cars; so much so that I had not really thought of my interest: Did I really want this to be my vehicle to success? My interest is in an online business, and not this! That tortured me, and I finished the call, extremely shaky.
At this point, I want to point out that MLM is a viable venture. You believe that you can earn money/get rich, but what is important is that you go in with your eyes wide open, especially to the many risks and pitfalls. I realised that my personal values do not align with those of MLM, (perhaps even marketing itself) and that this is probably a mistake making my decision to join purely based on their pitch alone. I don't like having to lie to friends, nor do I like earning money from my friends/relatives through using such tactics.
In short? I don't like the sound of this.
In the end, I bailed out of their program, without giving them any prior notice. After all, they cannot blame me for dodging them, after all the dodgy tactics they have used on me. I stopped answering their calls, promised myself to not join a MLM program again.
Therefore, to all my dear friends out there, if you ever have me in your mind the moment you are asked to do recruitment, I really thank you for remembering me. I understand your sincerity in wanting to show me your opportunity, but after my own personal analysis, I have realised that MLM is not for me, no matter how much it is "the next big thing". I know that your uplines/mentors would ask you to invite me out anyway (that's what mine told me, just before calling a friend who was openly against MLM), but no thanks. Between money and friends, I would choose the latter.
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