Ada-tudes | Amway

By:  Steve Lieberman

Most of the time, our efforts here at Amway are dedicated to creating the best business opportunity possible. However, we occasionally pause to reflect on another extremely important aspect – one we all do collectively – and that’s the Amway One By One Campaign for Children.

This important program, in which IBO’s take a very active role, takes us away from our offices, away from our day-to-day activities – and smack-dab into the hearts and minds of children who need our help.

In nearly every country where we do business around the world, Amway Independent Business Owners, employees and customers are creating positive change for children by establishing local partnerships to address kid-centric issues.

In short, we’re helping children live, learn, achieve and play.

In China we’ve helped kids get a better education.

In Japan we’ve supported sensory therapy programs to help blind and visually impaired children experience the wonders of life.

In Russia the Campaign has facilitated fully-equipped playrooms for kids during their hospital stays.

And here in North America we’ve built playgrounds, planted gardens with Boys and Girls Clubs, and volunteered our resources in many other ways to improve the lives of children.

So today, as is our tradition, we’re proud to share an update of our collective efforts.

Since 2003 the Amway One By One Campaign for Children has:

· Raised $168 million in contributions

· Volunteered 2.5 million hours

· Impacted 9.5 million children in 50 countries worldwide

Of course, numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. But we hope you agree:  it’s amazing what can happen when the common goal is simply making a difference – especially when it comes to children in need.

That’s when making a difference makes all the difference.

So on behalf of the employees at Amway North America, thanks for all you do to make this program such a success. Let’s strive to continue increasing our collective efforts in 2012 and beyond.

I'm happy to announce that all of the government's claims against Amway UK have been dismissed. This good news allows our business to continue operating in that market and sends a clear message about how we need to be operating in every market. The ruling emphasizes the importance of openness, honesty, and transparency in all we do. It reinforces how critical it is that we enforce our rules and demand high standards of ourselves and everyone who represents this business. And that's what our business transformation here is all about. We are focused on strengthening our product portfolio, brand awareness, compensation plan, and training to help IBOs excel in all aspects of their business. We are committed to making this the very best business opportunity possible and one that every IBO and employee will be proud to be associated with.

For more about the UK ruling, visit the Amway Media Blog.

Hollywood, Florida, is the location of this year’s Achievers celebration where over 5,000 Founders Platinums and above have been gathering for four sessions over 17 days as we discuss the transformation components which will shape our future. Oh yes, and we have some fun planned too.

Greetings from sunny Ada!

It probably goes without saying that Quixtar offers a business opportunity that allows people to have a business of their own based on product sales and sharing the opportunity with others who will do the same. As some have said that Quixtar's products can be difficult to sell, I want to talk a minute to talk about product sales, and what Quixtar is doing to make product sales easier than ever before. This is a good follow-up to previous discussions about the target audience (Not Wal-Mart And Never Want To Be, 8/31).

Quixtar IBOs are obviously adept at selling product, as Quixtar is one of the largest retailers on the web. Quixtar Independent Business Owners (IBOs) generated more than   $1.118 billion in product sales at www.quixtar.com  in 2006, the fourth consecutive year in which the company surpassed the billion-dollar mark. Quixtar also has been ranked for the past four years by Internet Retailer  magazine as the top online retailer in the Health & Beauty (H&B) category, placing 22 ^nd  overall based on web-generated sales.

While Quixtar has experienced great success in selling product, the premium pricing for some products can make it a challenge. Nutrilite® Double X® , for example, is a top-quality multivitamin. It requires some education to help a customer understand its benefits and why it's worth a higher price than a cheaper multivitamin they might be able to pick up at their corner drug store.

The Artistry® Time Defiance Skin Care System, for another example, is not intended to compete with other skin care brands on the basis of the lowest price. It's designed to appeal to those who are knowledgeable about skin care and looking to make an investment in their skin. It may take time and education to help a customer make the decision to purchase.

While we stand behind products that require a higher level of knowledge and commitment on the part of the customer, Quixtar is committed to making it easier than ever for IBOs to sell products. We are focusing efforts on Health, Skin Care, and Gift as areas of retail specialization. We're working to provide everything an IBO needs to sell these products. This starts with products consumers want to buy, includes merchandising resources and training that help IBOs attract customers, and is supported with integrated consumer programs, events, and advertising.

To support these retailing initiatives, in 2007 we are launching a number of new products and newly packaged and priced versions of existing products, such as:

·         The new Nutrilite Daily Multivitamin 90-day supply (as opposed to the 180-day supply). At just 12.5 cents a day, customers can easily compare Daily to popular competitors, while still getting the natural plant benefits that set Nutrilite apart.

·         The new Nutrilite ClearGuard™. Helps balance histamine production, and a clinical study found it helped to support clear noses in three days or less. Rhodiola and Carb Blocker in new Blister Pack packaging to make it easier to start a selling conversation.

·         Sampler packs for ClearGuard and Protein Bars to help IBOs attract potential customers with attention-grabbing products that are highly experiential.

·         Inexpensive Artistry lip and hand products that support "Purse-to-Purse" selling.  

·         Simply Nutrilite, an integrated line of natural, nutrient-rich snacks and drinks, launched on September 1, 2007.

·         Artistry Essentials, a new simplified line of skin care and cosmetics launching in November 2007. The products are specifically designed to meet the needs of today's woman who wants to care for her skin and enhance her natural beauty, yet doesn't have the time, expertise or patience for overly complex products and routines.

In addition to supporting IBO retailing efforts with product initiatives and merchandising support, we are also rewarding and encourage retail sales like never before. New IBOs can receive free shipping on orders of selected products over $75 and the opportunity to earn $50 each month for their
first full three months in the business. The $50 is earned by generating 150 PV each month, including at least 50 PV from retail sales to non-IBOs. Additionally, to reinforce the value of customer sales Quixtar is offering a PV uplift and free shipping for non-IBO customer orders of selected products over $75.

I think it is obvious … there is a lot happening within Quixtar, and selling product is getting easier every day.

As Director of Business Conduct & Rules for Quixtar, I’m obviously familiar with all the debate that surrounds our rules, the questions often asked about them, and the ways in which they sometimes violated.

But let me say that the vast majority of Quixtar Independent Business Owners operate their businesses ethically and within the bounds of our Rules of Conduct. And the vast majority of those in violation of our Rules often find themselves there unwittingly – they simply didn’t know that they were even breaking a rule. With training and education, we usually easily bring IBOs back into compliance and see them go on to build their businesses stronger than before.

But when Quixtar and an IBO cannot agree on a Rules action, we have a process in place to bring resolution to the situation. We use a comprehensive dispute resolution process that’s shared with all IBOs. In fact, all IBOs must agree to participate in this process to resolve any disputes that may arise relating to their businesses. The process includes comprehensive conciliation and binding arbitration to seek resolution of issues. These provide an effective, timely way for those who feel they have been wronged to have their arguments heard and addressed.

All companies face the potential for disputes – from employees, suppliers, customers, and, in Quixtar's case, the hundreds of thousands of IBOs it supports. Increasingly, companies recognize that arbitration provides an alternative to the time, expense, and adverse business consequences of traditional litigation.

Essentially, arbitration is a contract between two or more parties to settle disagreements in a certain way. Most arbitration agreements are administered by an impartial third party, such as the American Arbitration Association or Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS). The arbitrator reads briefs and documentary evidence, hears testimony, examines evidence, and renders an opinion on liability and damages in the form of an "award of the arbitrator" after the hearing. Once confirmed by a court of appropriate jurisdiction, the award can be subsequently entered as a judgment.

The Quixtar ADR process allows the parties to use a JAMS arbitrator who has received training, and therefore has some familiarity with Quixtar’s MLM business. This allows the parties to save time and money educating the arbitrator on basic elements of an MLM business. However, either party to the dispute can elect to have an arbitrator who has no prior experience with the Quixtar business.

Quixtar's dispute resolution process was created many years ago in cooperation with the Independent Business Owners Association International trade organization representing all Quixtar IBOs.

Happy Labor Day to everyone out there in the field. Today is not like the Fourth of July where we celebrate the freedoms earned for us more than 200 years ago, but it is a day we can celebrate labor and the freedoms we have to work hard to achieve our goals. 

You know, we live in a great country that provides all of us many freedoms. America has become the destination of choice for immigrants from around the world because you are free to worship, free to own land, and free to pursue your passions.  The United States and Canada also have laws that their citizens must respect, so we're not completely free, are we? I mean, we're free to live the way we want so long as we obey the laws of our land.

The same is true for the Quixtar business. You are independent and free to build your business your way, provided you do so within the parameters set by your contract with Quixtar including the Quixtar Rules of Conduct. These are not onerous rules, by the way. Really, it's just common sense.  If you're doing something that hurts the reputation of our business, it's probably against our rules.  If you're doing something that gives you an unfair advantage over other IBOs, it's probably against the rules.

Your independence does allow for you to bring your creativity to your business. It does allow for you to focus on one Quixtar product area over another. It does allow for you to set your own hours. There are no quotas to meet. There is no "boss" to report to daily or weekly.  You are in business for yourself, supported by Quixtar.  AND, if you choose, supported by other IBOs and their authorized training methodologies. You are not merely a sales representative, because you can focus on sponsoring as much as you want — provided you do it correctly and that retail selling remains the primary part of your overall balanced business.

You are independent in our business, but there are rules in your contract that are intended to protect everyone and help ensure that the confidence in and integrity of the business continues for generations to come.

I’m Quixtar’s Director of Business Conduct and Rules and, while I’ve followed the spirited dialog on the Opportunity Zone and other Quixtar-related blogs for some time, I haven’t yet been compelled to jump into the conversation.

Until now.

There has been, of course, a tremendous amount of talk about Quixtar lately, both online and offline. Some have questioned the very legality of the Quixtar business opportunity and have even accused us of being a pyramid scheme.

While no one associated with Quixtar – especially me – likes to hear such allegations, there is value in discussing them because it gives us the opportunity to point out why they’re patently false.

Pyramid schemes are illegal – let’s get that straight right off the bat. There is no such thing as a legal pyramid scheme. So anytime you refer to Quixtar or any other business as a pyramid scheme or as “like a pyramid,” you’re implying that it’s illegal.

Neither Quixtar nor any other legal and legitimate business opportunity should be confused with pyramid schemes. Quixtar Independent Business Owners (IBOs) earn income based on the same sales and marketing plan that has been legally and successfully used by its sister company, Amway Corp., for the past 45 years.

Using Quixtar’s Independent Business Owner Compensation Plan, each IBO sets his own goals and decides how much time and effort to invest. In fact, a key advantage of the Quixtar Plan is that every IBO has the opportunity to reach levels equal to or greater than his sponsoring IBO.  Success is as individual as each Independent Business Owner.
 
There are four key elements that make the Quixtar Plan legal and a model of integrity:

1. Sales-based compensation.  Compensation in the Quixtar Plan is based on sales of products and services to consumers. An IBO who sponsors other IBOs earns income based on his own sales and on sales made by the IBOs he sponsors. Quixtar has various rules to assure that compensation is based on product sales. 

2. No “headhunting fee.”  An IBO is never compensated for merely sponsoring another IBO.

3. No purchase requirements.  There are absolutely no minimum product purchases that an IBO must make. 

4. Buyback rights.  If an IBO wishes to discontinue his business, any currently marketable and unused inventory will be bought back, upon request, by either the sponsoring IBO or Quixtar.

This plan has been cited in many Federal and State courts and agencies as the legal and viable way to operate a business with a tiered compensation plan. With Quixtar, entrepreneurs can feel confident they’re partnering with a credible, successful business organization.

Many questions have been raised recently about the price of Quixtar’s products. Specifically, some have wondered how Quixtar Independent Business Owners can possibly compete with the Wal-Marts and Costcos of the world, given the premium price of many of our exclusive products.

I think it’s important to understand that many of our brands, especially ARTISTRY® skin care and cosmetics and NUTRILITE® vitamins and supplements, are high-quality products intended to compete in the marketplace on the value and performance they provide – not on the basis of being the cheapest moisturizer or multivitamin you can find. In other words. People pay more for a Volvo than a Volkswagen because they view Volvo as providing more value. The same applies to our exclusive brands like ARTISTRY and NUTRILITE.  These and other Quixtar brands are premium priced and designed for a specific target market seeking prestige, quality and performance.

Price comparisons on our products should take into consideration that Quixtar's exclusive brands are:
• supported by world-class research and development
• contain the highest- quality ingredients, and often feature attributes not available in other products
• backed by the latest technology, a state-of-the-art distribution system, and more than 600 worldwide patents
• sustained by seven manufacturing facilities and five distribution centers

You won’t find value propositions like these on the shelves of your corner discount store:

• NUTRILITE products are the world's leading brand of vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements.* With total quality control of its plant concentrates from seed to tablet, NUTRILITE is the only global vitamin and mineral brand to grow, harvest, and process plants on its own certified organic farms.** NUTRILITE supplements often deliver more key phytonutrients per serving than the competition.

• The ARTISTRY brand's high-quality formulas, elegant packaging, and technologically advanced product innovation have placed ARTISTRY among the world's top five largest-selling prestige brands of facial skin care and colour cosmetics.*** It's priced competitively with others in this distinguished group, which includes well-known brands like Clinique®, Lancôme®, Estée Lauder®, and Chanel®.

• Home brands like L.O.C.® Multi-Purpose Cleaner and the SA8® laundry system are often priced lower than the competition on a cost-per-use basis. When comparing apples to apples, home products meet or beat the competition on product performance, cost, or both.

• XS™ Power Nutrition products include sports drinks, protein shakes, energy bars and energy drinks that have all of the “energy,” and none of the sugar of other energy drinks. XS products are priced very competitively with many other sports nutrition brands.

• The ATMOSPHERE™ Air Purifier, as seen by the 44 million viewers of ABC’s hit TV Show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition,” purifies with advanced technology that automatically monitors the quality of the air in your home – effectively removing up to 99.99% of the contaminant and pollutant particles that are drawn through the system, down to sizes as small as .01 microns.

• The eSpring® Water Purifier effectively removes greater than 140 health-effect contaminants and destroys more than 99.95% of bacteria, viruses and cysts with a patented dual technology filter cartridge. It is more cost effective over time and consistently outperforms bottled water, pitcher filters and faucet filters.

These products not only deliver unsurpassed performance and value, they come with the personalized attention, product knowledge, and customer service provided by Quixtar IBOs. Those who argue that we must compete on product price alone are completely ignoring the value that IBOs bring to the sale. IBOs are knowledgeable product experts who work by a customer’s side to make recommendations based on needs, explain features and benefits, answer questions, or help check out. This level of service is not to be found at the big box discount store, but is part of what Quixtar customers pay for when they choose one of our products over one that they could buy cheaper from a store shelf.

Thanks to the value provided by our products and by the IBOs who sell them, Quixtar is the leading online retailer of health and beauty products, according to Internet Retailer magazine* for the fourth consecutive year. That means we sell more health and beauty products online than Avon, Sephora, Clinique and anyone else.

We stand behind the quality of all our products and guarantee customer satisfaction. If for any reason a customer tries a product and is not completely satisfied, they can return it within 180 days of purchase for an exchange or refund of the product price and applicable tax.

Ultimately, the market decides the value of the products sold by any given company. Quixtar's product pricing reflects the high esteem with which our products are held.

*Based on 2006 sales. **Based on a survey of global vitamin and dietary supplement brands conducted by Euromonitor International. ***Based on a 2006 Euromonitor Consultancy study of global retail sales.

Editor's Note: Many commentators appear to be focused on Wal-Mart in their comments to this post but please understand that it is not Quixtar's intention to disparage Wal-Mart. In fact, we respect their obviously successful business model. It's just not our business and it never will be. That is the point of this post.

Doug DeVos, Steve Van Andel, and myself just finished a six city tour around North America. We met with hundreds of Emerald pins and above. We want to say thank you for giving up your time to come and meet with us. The purpose of the tour was to talk to leaders about the transformation of our business going forward, to answer as many questions as possible, and to let you all know how much we appreciate all that you are doing for the business.