Deceptive Practices in MLM's

I was on FB this morning and I saw something that REALLY irks me.  I have a few pet peeves and this one is one of them.

I get so many direct sales pushes on my news feed.  I’m not against those, everybody needs to make a living.  You can even push your “perfect business opportunity” to everyone that you pay to have see your site.  Go for it, girl.

BUT when you are deceptive about it, that is where it gets to me.  I have seen people post about how they’re now staying at home and being mom ALL because of their XYZ business.  NOPE!  You are staying at home because husband makes great money and you were going to stay at home anyway when you had kids. 

Wouldn’t it be so much more powerful to say “I was a stay at home mom and loved it, but I needed something for ME that I could build and be proud of” instead of LYING and saying it is ALL because of your business? 

It’s not because of your business, your spouse makes a great income and you were already staying at home.  How do you think your spouse would feel if they saw that?  Would they think that their efforts are for nothing and that YOU did everything, including ‘bringing home the bacon?’ 

It’s like them saying that they support you and you do nothing all day.  Which is not true because you cook, clean, watch kids, etc. 

Granted, some people stay at home but the budget is tight and do something on the side to make extra $$. GREAT!!  I'm not knocking that.  

I'm talking about hte people who say they stay at home BECAUSE of their business when they really do not.

Hopefully you make “great money” (What is great money?  Why don’t they share the amount?) and you are successful, but to say it is ALL because of your business, that is not right. 

Just own it and say at first it was just extra spending money but it grew over itme and now you can pay a mortgage or a vacation or something.  I don’t know how much you make.

I sell Mary Kay (and I have seen deceptive practices for them too) myself  but I would hope that I do not do something that is deceptive to get someone on my team. 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE (this is the one that originally prompted this post). 

To be clear, I am not knocking the industry, BeachBody or any specfiic company, I am expressing my opinion that this girl is deceiving people with her wording in her marketing attempts. I do not think that BeachBody themselves had anything to do with telling this coach how to market her business.

This post is from a Coach for BeachBody that is offering a job opportunity that is really paying your way into a direct selling organization.  BUT she mentions it is NOT sales.  How is selling a product  not sales? 

Of course you are helping people lose weight and gain fitness, but you do have to SELL your products.

If your main goal is to help people, then give your services away for free.  Not wanting to do that?  Then it is sales.

This is from Kaileigh Hennessey, a BeachBody Coach, that has a team called Devoted to Health. 

In the SPONSORED (PAID) post on Facebook she has a picture of herself that says “New PAID Interns Wanted” and “APPLY NOW”.

Interesting because are they really paid internships?  Doesn’t “Apply Now” equal a job?  Why would someone need to apply to pay money to join a company?  That is NOT a job, it is an ‘opportunity” and should not be promoted as a Job or “Internship”.  That is deceptive.

Who is paying this internship?  BeachBody the company themselves?  I don't think so.  This girl isn't either.

At least 15 people responded that they were interested.  She responded by saying 'I just messaged you' to all of them.  

If it was so great, why couldn’t she just tell them what it job is right there in the comments instead of messaging them? 

I know, because her upline told her not too or they wouldn't think it was a job.  

It’s not a JOB or an INTERNSHIP.  See the definition below of a Job.  You might call it a job in your industry, but a job is regular employment, not an “opportunity” for money if you work hard enough.

Again, to be clear, I am not knocking the industry, I am knocking this girl and ALL MLM’s that do this type of deceptive marketing. I truly feel that you can make money in MLM if you work hard enough.

Then you have to “Apply” to be on her team.  Girl, we all know that you will accept any warm body that wants to join you.  You aren’t picky. 

Nowhere in the Facebook post does she talk about BeachBody.  Nowhere.  It might be OK if they stumble upon her page but this is a SPONSORED post that she paid for people that she doesn't know or have any connection with to see. 

She makes it sound like a job and that is deceptive.  It is an OPPORTUNITY, not a job or an internship.  It is not right to take advantage of people who need a job.  Yes, offer an opportunity, but do not make it seem like a job (by applying) in a paid post.

I commented on her post and she deleted it.  It is her post and she can delete whatever she likes BUT if she does not agree with me, then why couldn’t she just respond with a comment with her side? I am all open for discussion.

Because she knows it is deceptive and it doesn’t go along with her “Just a small town girl doing God’s work with her hands” message that is her cover photo. 

Does God promote being deceptive?  Nope!

Please, if you ever read this and you are in direct sales, MLM, dual marketing, etc do not be deceptive in recruiting team members. This type of stuff is how the industry gets a bad name.  Be truthful and share YOUR STORY.  It is the best story you have, don’t twist it. 

People are always attracted to truth tellers and God will reward you for that.