My BIL is involved in something like this. He came over with his “lead” or whoever the hell it is to talk to Ivylad…I refused to sit for the pitch and took a nap.
Some time later, my BIL came back by to say they had finally kicked the business off, and he told me that Ivylad had had a dream and he was proud to tell me he already had four people in his downline! I gave Ivylad a glare, said, “I’m done” and left the room.
It turned out that BIL had misunderstood something my husband had said…Ivylad had given him the $25 to buy some books or something to make him look good in front of the lead, but had no intention of doing anything with this (they sell Mona Vie.) I should have realized Ivylad would never do anything like this without discussing it with me first, and all I know is that it’s been about a year and my BIL still is working his day job and doesn’t have his new BMW yet.
Say no firmly and, if necessary, repeatedly. They were impolite first. Pressuring your friends and relatives to buy something is impolite. So the bar has already been dropped below 100% consideration for the other person’s feelings.
IMHO you should decline just as readily as if you were being asked to join them in a drug addiction. The mentality and consequences are not so different.
My SIL’s DIL is involved in Quickstar. She asked me to check it out. I looked at the website and didn’t even respond to her. And she never followed up!
I find it astonishing that so many people get involved in it. The DIL isn’t making any money, they’re always off to a cult meeting, and she has no salesmanship in her. I guess some people are just born stupid.
It’s almost impossible (in my experience) to have a normal relationship with someone who does Amway - it goes one of two ways:
–they just never seem content to accept that you really don’t want to join, and keep bugging you.
–they accept that you really don’t want to join, and waste no more time associating with you.
Because the whole thing is built upon the notion that you can exploit your existing network of friends to make fat stacks of ca$h, but because this is very different from the original purpose of your existing network of friends, it risks destroying it.
Just to be clear: the outfit in question is not Amway, but I’m assuming it’s the same kind of deal. I was actually curious whether or not anyone on the board might guess the company. I’m interested if anyone has any horror stories specific to it. I’ll keep the company name a secret for now (for various reasons) but I’ll let you know if anyone guesses what it is!
How about this? “The only way to succeed with these types of business is to be an asshole to all your family and friends, and I don’t want to do that to my loved ones.”
Agree. This is really a much better idea, and far more likely to work, than saying you think it’s a scam or a pyramid scheme - because these organisations tend to have scripted answers for arguments about it being a scam, so all you’ll get is a smug “no, it isn’t” spiel.
A friend of ours hosts a night at the tennis club every 6 months or so. He pays to rent out the club as well as all the beer/soda we can drink, and we all get to play tennis, racquetball, wallyball and/or just socialize for free all night. The only thing he asks is that you bring an appetizer to share. It’s a great time.
The last time we went, a guy Mike, who I know only from this event, came to a group of us sitting around and drinking, and asked if he could introduce us to his wife. Puzzled, we said, “Sure.” We soon found out why he was acting so goofy. She was a Monavie salesman. They no longer suffered from knee issues or tennis elbow. And the energy they had every day was miraculous!! Being all liquored up we could barely contain our disgust and stopped just short of ridiculing them. But we were all aghast that Mike used our mutual friend’s generosity as a vehicle for his wife to peddle her shit.
Another friend of mine, Linda and her husband Mark, got suckered into Amway about 20 years ago. They routinely bounced checks and had their utilities shut off for non-payment, but never missed a quarterly cult rah-rah session down in Atlanta. Anywho, one night at a friend’s engagement party, Mark took my husband aside and asked him if he felt “professionally fulfilled.” My husband, who doesn’t suffer from shyness, said, “Mark, I can’t say I’m all that fulfilled. But I’d dig ditches before I’d exploit my friends in order to make a buck.” And that was the end of that conversation.
To the OP: you must be firm and clear. "I am not interested. And I wouldn’t appreciate my friends giving out my name and number without my permission, so I’m going to pass on your offer. "
“I love you, but I don’t want to discuss this with you/don’t want to get into business matters with family.” I suspect there will be lots of “Bye Mom/Dad, love you, gotta go.” and “I’m sorry, you know how I feel about this.”
I can’t discuss religion or politics with my parents. It’s perfectly normal to have verboten subjects wtih friends and family. You just stick to common ground.
It’s the only way they will leave you alone. Leads are worth something. Then go google free sales leads and charge them for each one. It’s a business. You are supposed to get paid for business.
