Multi-Level Marketing
A Fast Way to Become a Pest
By Daniel Muniz

What is one quick way to lose all of your friends? And what will also make all of your immediate family members, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and mere acquaintances avoid you like the plague?

Just start selling Amway (or Quixtar), Primerica, Mary Kay, Avon, or any other Multi-level Marketing (MLM) junk.

Selling this stuff is a surefire way to become such a nuisance to practically everyone you know. And it won’t take long for people in your immediate and extended social circles to no longer have any desire whatsoever to ever be in your presence again; and that includes answering your phone calls or reading your email.

Call them what you like; franchise owners, consultants, independent agents, distributors, or associates. My personal preference is “pests” but a lot of people would rather use words that I am not going to print here.
 

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But what makes the people who hawk MLM products so annoying is who they sell to. The only way to make money off of these pyramid schemes is to be on the top of the pyramid. Of course hardly anyone ever does make it all the way to the top but that doesn’t stop these pests from trying. Unfortunately for nearly all of these sellers, the only customers that they can actually sell to are the people that they already know. And it is this barefaced persistence, even when they are told no, that what makes them such an unmitigated nuisance.

Before I continue with my diatribe, I must say that not all of these salespeople are pests. I have actually known a few of them who are polite and respectful and I have even bought a handful of one-time purchases from them. So yes, there are exceptions but the same cannot be said for everyone else.

The big problem with MLM is that they are blatant rip-offs.

The products and services that they are offering are not any different than from what can already be obtained from shopping at any retail store or going online. Granted, some of this stuff may be competitively priced but it is nowhere near being revolutionary in savings. But the bigger danger is being conned into thinking that MLM merchandising is the only way to get a good deal because it isn’t.

The competition of our free market economy is brutally fierce. Regardless of it is insurance from Primerica, toothpaste or dog food from Amway, or cosmetics from Avon and Mary Kay, it is still only one option from the multitudes of products and services already being offered in any shopping center or department store.

So what is the allure to multi-level marketing?

On the surface, it may sound like entrepreneurship and the MLMs sure try to make it look that way by employing such colorful but bogus terms as “home-based business franchising” or “affiliate marketing.” But the bottom line is that nearly everyone involved in any MLM scam is nothing more than a salesperson; and to steal a line from the movie Wall Street, “if you are asking strangers for money, then you’re a salesman.”

The only difference here is that the sellers are not asking strangers for money. The first people that they make their sales pitches to are the people they know. And after being indoctrinated with cult-like salesmanship techniques and false promises of striking it rich, too many of these sellers develop a fanaticism in their approach in which they then end up being far too relentless in their doggedness to bag a sale.

Perhaps this crude behavior is understandable. New recruits for the many different MLM networks have to shell out cash from their own wallet to pay for marketing materials and even for their own training. And for the ones who are hawking merchandise, they have to buy their own inventory. After a huge investment of time, effort, and their own money, it is of no wonder that so many of them are way too hungry for a sale.

And it is this hunger that makes them so rude and disrespectful. They see every occasion as an opportunity to sell and every friend and family member as a customer. Regrettably, purchases from their buddies or relatives who are too polite to say no and buy something end up encouraging this bad behavior.

As for me, I am actually not all that bothered by these pests and that is because whenever I say no, it is said and done in a manner that is definitive in its meaning and not open for discussion. And if I am hosting a party at my house and a guest sets up a display of candles or cosmetics to sell, I will make it very clear to get rid of this crap right now or you are going to get thrown out of my house.

However, it is often the people who are too polite to unequivocally say no who have to endure the incessant hounding.

I have personally known way too many people (mostly women) who were unable to squirm out of invitations that masqueraded as social events such as Tupperware, lingerie and sex novelty, and Pampered Chef parties.

And I too will admit that I once sat in for an Amway seminar. I couldn’t get out of it because the owner of the small business I worked for made every employee attend. But since it was held in the late afternoon, the moment the work day ended, I was out of there. Of course the next day I was reprimanded by the owner but everyone in that office refused to sign up.

Finally, there are a handful of sensible people who see MLM franchises only as a way to make a little bit of extra money on the side instead of it being a career or a way to become an instant millionaire. The harsh reality is that it is rare for anyone to make money outside of polite friends and family because of market saturation. The MLM model has always been destined to fail for anyone at the bottom of the pyramid because there are simply too many distributors who are competing for the very same miniscule customer base.

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