Inside Quixtar

Beth,

I remember the old days of Amway when they put out the 'VA-xxxx' series of cassettes that we could purchase. They covered Building your Business, Motivation, Conference Speeches, and other training information. I would like to see more of that online, broken down by catagories.

This way, we would know that it was OK, and that it was approved for use by the company and met all the rules in the ROC.

I appreciate all you are doing to make this business better for us IBO's. I think it goes to show how you are concerned about us. Keep up the good work.

The new Achieve magazine that arrived prior to the 1st of the year was an improvement over what we were getting, just the thin info flyer. Sending important info like the fanista announcements, both investing and now not, through email to just the Platinums and higher is not a good idea to keep. This should also be at least in the website for whats new, and also in the magazine. Any changes to the Rules or Contract should be announced, not just buried in the hundreds of pages.

Both IBO's and customers want to know what is going to happen now and what is happening in places like the UK.

What about changes in the business, rules, plan, requirements for sponsoring, BSM regulations, etc.? We have at least a year before Quixtar is Amway, and what that means, other than the name change is not clear. That should have been release prior to the 1st of the year, when IBOs were trying to decide what to do.

re: Cadillacs. I like mine. It gets good gas miles, has leather heated seats and was less than many other cars (used of course). Some of the models run on 4 cylinders when they don't need all 8.

Beth,

You are dealing with a very diverse group of people who assimilates information differently from each other--

*some like electronic and some like printed.

*some love tons of info, while others love bare bones

*some prefer the info to come to them (printed mail, emails), while others want to go get the info (from the various websites).

I don't think the problem is that we are getting too much information in too many forms.

I think the problem is in the *organization* and *distribution* of the information.

It's not the amount of info that's frustrating. It's the disjointed, piecemeal, incomplete, non-intuitiveness, that can drive one batty.

There are Professional Organizers who individuals hire to organize their home and their life. Y'all need one for the Corp.

And I'd suggest that those Professional Organizers also help you internally, because I really think Quixtar needs help regarding communication between departments as well.

Utah, good to see you posting. I find that IBOFightback's site often fills in the blanks. For example, see his new post this morning (Fri. Jan. 4) under "What's New" on his home page on the plans to shift from the Quixtar name to Amway over the next 16 months or so... "Amway Global"

. http://www.thetruthaboutamway.com/index.php/

Rdknvyr,

Thanks for posting ibofightback's website, I saw something very interesting that caught my attention. Beth, one thing we talk about on Susan's blog site are the hurdles that we as IBOs go through to move product, but in that same token, it sometimes equates to the some of the same hurdles. The media advertising that should take place to put Amway in a more positive light is using the celebrity power we have in the business, especially those who come from the entertainment/sports world who have developed large businesses in the Amway/Quixtar business. One thing I hear all the time is one of the most well-known comedians, Steve Harvey, saying that he was in the Amway business and sold products when he was coming through the ranks. It's profiles like these that are powerful stories, even if it cost few dollars to pay folks. Anywho, here is the idea brought up by an blogger on ibofightback's website-I see this more of a commercial than a magazine ad or maybe both:

Zoom in to a nice property with a beautiful house. Zoom through the house to a bunch of folk watching a football match, Patriots vs whoever they're beating. Then focus on one of the guys who gets up to go to the kitchen to pick up a beer. As he's walking he talks to the camera (adjust for reality, I don't know the actual story!) ...

"The last time a team went through the season undefeated was the 1972 Miami Dolphins. I was a member of that team. After injuries cut short my football career, a friend showed me a business idea. I checked it out and gave it a shot. Now I have a business in 20 countries which generates a seven figure income each year. My name is Tim Foley, Miami Dolphins Centre Back, and an Amway Independent Business Owner".

Fade

Amway.

World Class Products ...

World Class People.

Do a series of spots with folks from 1000PVer through retail having a few extra dollars to pay for their kids piano lessons, through to Crown Ambassadors talking about whatever,

In addition you'd have spots with Asafa Powell talking about Double X, a housewife talking about SA8, some celeb talking about Artistry etc etc etc.

You could also have spots with someone from Dream Academy talking about what Amway oes, an environmentalist talking about what Amway does. etc etc etc.

Just 30 secs spots, nice and simple, with the tag line -

Amway ... World Class Products ... World Class People

Just to piggy back off of my last comment, using the celebrity power we have within the Quixtar/Amway business would be very beneficial. I watched the Celebrity Apprentice show last night and it shows a great parallel to the email I just sent. Last night's task was that the two groups of celebrity's had to make the most amount of money selling hotdogs in New York with all the proceeds going to charity. One group, due in part being led by Omarosa, decided not to focus on using their celebrity connections and their own celebrity but more on proper sales techniques. The other team led by Stephen Baldwin and with the big help of Gene Simmons (from KISS), used their celebrity power and connections. End result, the team that used celebrity power made the most selling hotdogs-outselling the other group by almost $40K. If Amway/Quixtar really wants to make a big dent in changing people's mindset, they need to focus on commericals and advertising on not just the nutrilte athelete's and Gabby, but also on the those entertainment giants who are now very successful IBOs in the business. Like I said, it may cost a little to get these folks who aren't IBOs to endorse us, it would reap big divedends for the corporations and the IBOs in the long run.

Bridgett is right. I just don't understand it. Some of the most important news regarding the business is never posted on "What's New." The name change has yet to be posted there. It's buried in the QBOB description, but it is all over the internet.  

Hi Jeffrey,

I was thinking about your continued requests to have sample-sized personal care products.

Did you ever think of calling the Amway Grand Hotel and talking to housekeeping? The products in the rooms--shampoo/conditioner, bar soap, liquid soap, lotion, are all "Amway" products. So some of the products you want ARE being manufactured in "sample" sizes.

All the telephone numbers and email addresses are on The Amway Grand Plaza Hotel website.

*Maybe figure out how they can be available to IBOs.

*Or go to the hotel the next time you are in Grand Rapids you could pillage one of those housekeeping carts. :)

*Maybe there's a third party who actually bottles the stuff. Maybe contact them.

Just some ideas, if you are really interested...

if i learn at quixtar university,i will get bacherlor degree or not.

Beth,

This may not be the right spot for this post, but you are talking about streamlining communications.  I think something that would be very beneficial are combining the personal websites.  Or at least have a front page that people could then click on the different categories.  Health&Beauty, Nutrition, Ribbon, etc.  That way we do not have to go around with 4 different types of business cards or four separate websites.  They can get to everything from one site.

Hi Beth,

If you look into the postings on other blogs especially Sales Speak and Code Review, you'll find many suggestions when it comes to corporate communications about our business and products for both IBOs and for our end users - the customer.

One suggestion that has had very slow progress is an update of the personal websites so that they reflect the changes on the corporate site. This includes having a more attractive, customizable personal website that allows us to create our own specials for our customers and access the rest of quixtar including partner stores. It also is apparent that different teams of people work on the various websites (e.g. Team Nutrilite, Artistry, Simply Nutrilite) and they don't seem to be talking to each other. I understand you want to increase brand recognition, but it means nothing for an IBO if they can't get the sale because the customer has yet to enter the IBOs ID# and KEY code to register as a client. So here's another suggestion that we keep hearing is going through the 'legal' phase that might alleviate this probelm -customized websites with our IBO#s already embedded so we can send customers directly to our site, not worrying about them registering or logging in with our IBO# and KEY code. This is happening with so many other network marketing companies -not sure why progress is so slow for Quixtar/Amway.

Also since this is an e-commerce world or the information age, electronic communications is so important - so an email marketing tool like Constant Contact that allows us to send out specials/newsletters or ads from the corporation with a direct link to our personalized websites embedded and a forwarding option ("tell a friend") would help to increase customer sales.

How about a tool that helps us to increase point-of-service sales for those who may not have a computer on hand. For example, how about expanding the eccelerate program so that we have a credit line that allows us to take credit/debit card orders directly on the spot through the phone or through a special machine that has been contracted for use by Quixtar IBOs.  What about payment plans for high-ticket items like eSpring and Atmosphere and icook?

As for business tools - why not provide PV on tools like biz cards and stationary (like XSgear.com does). IBOs can use other cheaper sources for print materials if they're not getting PV from quixtar anyway (e.g. vistaprint).

what about more specials/discounts for IBOs so that we can provide these specials to our customers without cutting into our retail profit. After all the goal is the help more IBOs make money sooner.

IBOs need to know more about their products than their customers. I've seen the information that has been cut out from generations of the Artistry learning manual - why have all the scientific facts for products (particularly the new essentials line) been cut out? This is what distinguised us from other brands. The generic descriptions found in the beauty book are good for customers, but Artistry consultants need a little bit more than what is found in the online training and catalog so that they can be fully educated on the product benefits and sell them. If this is too much - why not give us access to an Artistry point person to answer all of our questions. The Beauty Blog was supposed to serve this purpose (so I thought) but Tanya never mentioned anything about product nevermind the biz and it really didn't help at all. So a "go to" person can also be a valuable tool for IBOs seeking more information rather than just calling the general customer care line. While I think they've answered some of my questions about product, their answers don't substitute advice from an expert in each product line when we have questions not answered in the print/online materials (especially for IBOs who have not yet reached the Platinum level and have not had the benefit of going to a product expo at Achievers for example). Not sure if your regional sales managers will serve this purpose.

User/pocket-book friendly catalogs on specific lines like Simply Nutrilite and Artistry with order forms already embedded may be a good idea for purse-to-purse marketing. (Beauty books don't fit into many ladies' purses nowadays). Are there plans to put celebrities in the booklets as well? Has anyone said anything good about our products that is a 3rd party (e.g. "Allure best buy" or "as advertised/seen on Oprah"). Perhaps highlighting products in the catalogs that have received any accolades or third party press.

Not sure what the new TV ads are going to look like but I agree with people above about really highlighting success stories, especially celebrity status/endorsements, and also indicating these on the website and catalogs.

What's New section has improved somewhat. A few months ago, I found more about what was new with the company by reading OZ because many things were not posted on the quixtar website.

When products are "Coming soon" or going to be discontinued - a least a few months of notice with exact dates would be appreciated (e.g. it was a very short turnaround to phase out the last generation of Artistry skincare).

Well, sorry to take up so much space on this blog, just thought I'd let everything out since it is a new year, and you had requested some suggestions. Most of the above and more has been already mentioned so i'd recommend checking out what's going on in the other blogs so that silos can be broken down and perhaps some collaboration can go on at corporate (e.g. print folks talking with e-biz folks) so that communications aren't only streamlined but also in sync, and unified (e.g. when the new quixtar site launched, many products in the catalogs were missing-not sure of any other bugs that still exist).

Thanks for listening. I look forward to the improvements that will take place this year to help IBOs sell easier and faster. One more word though on transformation - I hope that the changes suggested above (e.g. revised personalized websites with IBO# embedded) do not get put on hold during the Transformation period. In spite of the name change, we still have to go out there and make money, so the sooner that these tools can become available, the faster we can grow our businesses. Changing the image of Amway is a very ambitious project as the tagline for other network marketing companies currently is "We're not like Amway." I just saw the video from Achievers and am glad you shared that with us. But more specifics on the strategy so that new IBOs are prepared to deal with a potential backlash would be another great tool to have. Very apparant "then" and "now" comparisons on why the opp is not as what all the negative folks on the internet say about the biz will be crucial. Third party endorsements are critical since anyone can just toot their own horn and say that they're the best. Anything you can provide to increase the transparency of Quixtar/Amway's transformation strategy besides the timeline and a couple of videos would be greatly appreciated (e.g. perhaps a downloadable presentation on "why" the transformation in the first place so that we can all see the rationale to the corporation's decisions, and at least understand why it's being done, whether some folks like it or not.)

Look forward to any of your comments.