What's your take on MLM or network marketing?

[Torsten]

Hi,

Have you ever been exposed to MLM or network marketing? I'm sure you have heard of Amway, Herbalife, Kirby, Agel, NuSkin, Tupperware or AVON? What do you think of this business-distribution model?

Thanks,
Torsten
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[Jamie (K)]

People lose a lot of friends once they get into an MLM scheme. And very, very few people make any money at it. As a percentage of the people who try it, it amounts to almost no one.

I once had the passport officer on a train crossing from Hungary to Slovakia come into my compartment after he was done checking the passports, and he started an Amway rap on me. It was weird to hear the same questions I've heard a million times, but being asked in Slovak by a man in a government uniform.

[Torsten]

The first time I got involved in MLM was in the mid 90ies when I came across a company called Destiny Telecom. They offered so called long distance calling cards that you could use to make cheap phone calls to the US -- a concept that was pretty revolutionary in Germany back then. Somewhere on the Internet I came across a German group of Destiny Telecom distributors and they used a number of interesting recruiting techniques such as "tagging". When I looked at the business model, I was quite enthusiastic about it because I thought the company was selling a useful product through an innovative distribution system.

I'm not 100% sure but I think I had to pay to by a "BC" (business center) which entitled me to earn commissions on the sales my "downline" would generate. Destiny Telecom used the so called "binary marketing system" which simply meant you had two "legs" through which you could build your downline. In retrospect it's so funny to look the entire scheme and especially the name of the company -- Destiny Telecom -- sounds a bit like a bit joke. Anyway, it was a very important experience for me and through Destiny Telecom I met a couple of interesting Americans and gained quite some experience.
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary