Friday, March 28, 2008

Tex On Prague

Last week Tex was invited along with 4 other bloggers and blog commenters to Prague, Czech Republic to speak on a panel for Amway Global Communications.

At the new blog, Speaking of Amway, authored by Chuck Lia; Tex gave his "Take" on the conference and the participants.

TEX SAYS:

March 22nd, 2008 at 1:14 pm

Chuck,

As you know, the reason I am active on the blogs is to ensure the end of the tool scam, which creates much more profit for the lying cowardly “kingpins” (typically, those who wear the Emerald pin and above) and causes the typical IBO not be in a positive net profit situation until a relatively high level is reached. Several posters on qblog and other sites have indicated was their personal experience, the break even point is about Platinum, having reached the Platinum level themselves. So, for every 100 or so IBO’s in a Platinum group, 99 of them are operating at a net negative, and one (the Platinum) is breaking even or making a small profit. This is NOT a good business model (to state the obvious).

The tool scam was publicly identified by Rich DeVos in 1983, but he never followed up on his demands, so we have several decades of literally millions of former and current Distributors/IBO’s having lost somewhere in the neighborhood of billions to tens of billions of dollars to these scam artists.

rdknyvr,

I have to say my personal opinions or the opinions I have of the other 4 bloggers didn’t change much.

ibofb was in his usual form, from trying to correct me on everything from a discussion that started with the room Centigrade thermostat setting that is comfortable and led to the “crossover” point where degrees Centigrade and degrees Fahrenheit are identical (I was right, it is -40 degrees, he insisted it was slightly different than -40 degrees) to showing me a “secret” email printed on red paper (perhaps TOP SECRET, something I had actual access to in the real world when I was in the military), folded to show me only the critical information (lest I see who the email was from), showing the N21 tool profits to be reasonable. As I recall, it was 30% for Diamonds, but

1. The key question is 30% of what. I noticed the 30% compared the published Quixtar average Diamond income, which applies to QUALIFIED Diamonds only, and an N21 Diamond pin, most of whom probably don’t currently qualify at the Diamond level. Therefore, the 30% number is mixing apples and oranges, the usual upline/ibofb lies/spin. This makes former Diamond pin Bruce Anderson’s statement (was in the Yager/Wilson system, not N21) and a number of others, a more accurate estimate, as he made about twice as much from tools than A/Q.

2. There was no backup information, only a statement it was 30%.

He did say he agreed with me more on the tool scam issue being a problem, and less with my specific tactics. I think the time has long passed to be “nice” about this issue, as the tool scam has gone on far too long, negatively affected far too many Distributors/IBO’s, and made far too many billions of scam dollars for the lying cowardly “kingpins.” We agreed to disagree on my tactics. The bottom line for me is when you show someone the marketing plan, unless you tell them the upline makes most of their money on the tool scam, you shouldn’t expect to go net positive if you listen to the uplines’ advice until you get to Platinum, and most of the lying cowardly “kingpins” aren’t currently qualified for the pins they wear, you are lying through your teeth. As I told others prior to the conference and ibofb during the conference, I had no intent of shaking ibofb’s hand, as he had “dissed” me on 4 separate posts in the weeks leading up to the conference. However, I didn’t think through how much we would be around each other, so I shook his hand upon meeting him, when we split up, and treated him better than his behavior deserved. I let The Big Apple talk to ibofb much more regarding the tool scam, as I have found ibofb to be completely intellectually dishonest. As I’ve said several times before, ibofb and I agree on virtually every issue related to A/Q, except what to do about the tool scam. There’s only one thing worse than an uneducated fool, and that’s an educated one. That sums up ibofb pretty well.

Bridgett was I imagined her to be from the blogs: energetic, smart, and a great sense of humor.

The Big Apple agreed the tool scam is the biggest problem, and we only had one minor issue, which I will expand on. I believe there is a single primary issue, the tool scam. The Big Apple said there are 2 main issues, the tool scam and the fact there are too many tools promoted. Here’s why I think I am correct: if the tool prices were lowered, the emphasis for profit will be shifted to the A/Q business. When this happens, and too many tools are being promoted, there will be an incentive (maximizing A/Q profit) to reduce the number of tools, which will allow the IBO’s to have more time and money to devote towards retailing and/or sponsoring new IBO’s. Therefore, the reduction in tool prices causes the amount and content of tools to be adjusted closer to the ideal level consistent with the new balance in incentives, to maximize A/Q profit. In other words, the first issue (the tool scam) The Big Apple sees as being one of the two issues automatically optimizes the second (number/content of the tools). It’s really simple economic principles (supply/demand, maximizing profit) and incentives (away from the tool scam, towards A/Q profit) making the proper corrections to the out of balance situation we have now.

Dave was more focused on how we present our personalities as bloggers, social interaction via the blogs, etc., and in non-A/Q blogging interests, as his site reflects. How can I say anything negative about my "Blog Daddy?"

18 comments:

rocket said...

I must say that I really enjoyed this post.

Tex's thoughts on IBOFB as an educated fool is identical to what I thought.

Good post Tex/Dave, and it was nice to see that Tex made an effort to be civil in the spirit of implementing change.

LOVE the No Tools Scam picture beside the Big Texan sign!

Anonymous said...

As we began our forum discussion, I brought a printout of the "No Tool Scam" sign and taped it to the table directly in front of me. I also described the sign for those in the back of the room who may not have been able to read it.

Anonymous said...

Tex,

Great post and great Blog as well.

I think the No Tools Scam sign should be sold on a T shirt at cafepress...Worn proudly at every major function too...

Anonymous said...

Good job Tex!!!! Excellent work!!!!

Anonymous said...

Tex - more 'facts' on Qblog:

My Quixtar Story (it's a little long) by Matthew 7:15 page 2 - 2006 discussion of tool profits with emerald.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I saw it. It confirms what we already knew. Never hurts to have more basis, though.

Anonymous said...

Here's a great story regarding Dallin Larsen. I don't think Quixtar has much to be concerned about:

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2003/NEW00976.html

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Tex,

I think you misunderstood what I said about the tools (BSMs). My point wasn’t that there are too many tools promoted, it’s what they teach. Setting aside, for the moment, IBOFB’s statements about N21 in Europe, most Systems don’t teach the fundamentals of having a successful Amway business. Meaning, the BSMs teach leadership and personal development, which may be well and good, but they don’t teach about product, how to sell, how to get and keep a customer, etc.

In other words they don’t teach people how to make money in the Amway business.

The BSMs are mostly self-serving: meaning that a lot of what you hear is promoting the very training system you’re in. Speeches tell you how great it is, what’s coming up next, and that your pathway to success is to follow the system. And what does the System teach you? To follow the System.

I call the System leaders the “butts-in-seats” guys, because that’s what they’re selling.

You can lower the prices all you want, but if the materials don’t teach the right stuff, nothing’s improved. I don’t believe that lowering prices will result in the content being changed. Even today, with the tool income being much less than it was five years ago, content still hasn’t changed. Oh, maybe some has in order to be accredited by Quixtar, but the message the leadership delivers hasn’t changed.

Lowering prices will only mean that people are paying less for bad information. An improvement? Yes. Solving the problem? No.

Anonymous said...

I've seen prices go up, not down, so I'm not convinced the profit has decreased. If the upline isn't making as much of a profit when prices are lowered, they will have the PROFIT INCENTIVE to change the content. They currently don't have that incentive, so they don't care about the content.

Anonymous said...

What big apple said, is what I have been saying for a long time now. Good post!

Anonymous said...

It's one thing to say something, and something else to create the incentive to cause the change to occur. By lowering tool prices (and the resulting profit), the upline will have the incentive to produce tools that do create product based profit based on increased retailing.

My point is the upline is merely acting in such a way to maximize profit, in today's world this means tool profit.

Anonymous said...

I agree, the tools prices could be lower. I don't think Mr. Britt and Mr. Puryear got your memo yet Tex.

That being said, I don't think there would be a significant number of new platinums and diamonds as a result of lower tool prices, because the tools in general and motivational and not instructional.

Anonymous said...

They didn't have to get my memo, they are both in the Porkorny lawsuit.

You missed the point, again. The point is they currently don't have to worry about the tool content, because they have a monopoly. In a monopoly, there is no need to worry about high quality or low prices. When the prices come down, there will be more incentive to increase the PRODUCT profit, and the incentive will drive the tool content.

Anonymous said...

Should have stated "Pokorny" lawsuit.

Anonymous said...

If the tools price come down to where diamonds aren't raking in the dough, they will just up and move their groups to another MLM.

It's already happening. They're not going to change, they will change venues.

Anonymous said...

Update on that Pokorny lawsuit:

http://www.amwaywiki.com/images/3/34/PokornyBlenn_vs_Quixtar_-_Order_denying_dispute_resolution.pdf

Anonymous said...

jc,

They better be paying attention to Orrin, because he'll be the first one to agree it isn't easy to "just up and move their groups to another MLM."

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