Question by oddfish: Sleepees/Skinees – Marketing scam?
A friend of mine is trying to convince me to get involved what I can see as a network marketing scheme selling two health products, Sleepees and Skinees.
In my cursory due dilegence, I evaluated the company’s website (http://ourworldnetwork.com). Finding 99% of the site’s content refers to its marketing program and 1% (if even that) is on the product is a bit disconcerning consider this is a health product.
The product description is a mere mention of its “natural, harmless” non-addictive ingredients. That’s all. No independent medical reports, no testing, no government approvals.
So I like to hear back from people and especially medical folks that have heard about this product. Is this a marketing scam or does this stuff work?
Best answer:
Answer by Marcello
I am not in the medical profession so I won’t attempt to comment on their product, but I am in the business profession and analyze business ventures for a living. I have analyzed the MLM industry and have made up my mind that MLM is a poor choice. There are other business ventures I also do not endorse, so it has nothing to do with any bias, although defensive MLMers will call my reasoning just that because they cannot refute the logic.
The fact is that MLM/Network Marketing ventures are typically filled with an over abundance of hype that you must sort through to get to the meat of the deal, and the reason is because that hype is needed in order to have everyone recruit people which is typically where money is made in MLM (and its fundamental flaw).
A couple questions you should consider:
-would you or your upline/sponsor/friend have any interest in selling this product if you could only make money selling the product and not signing up other people. Most people in MLM are not salespeople and if you can’t sell the product for a living, how do you propose to bring other people into your downline on the basis of the product and not the pyramid.
-could you actually make an acceptable income only selling the product. Again, similar to above, most MLM companies are set up where the only real chance for an individual to make money is in sponsoring other people, not selling the products. The fact that you think 99% of the focus is on sponsoring rather than sales is a tell tale sign that this is merely a pyramid scheme (whether its legal or not makes no difference).
-would you even have an interest in the this product if the idea of making money with it was not an option. Most people get into MLM for the supposed big money then convince themselves the product is so great. Convince yourself of the product LONG before you even consider selling it…becuase if the product is unworthy, than how could the business opportunity possibly have any merit.
-if this is being presented to you as a business opportunity, will your friend, or anyone who is successful willingly share you their provable income/expenses (likely with a tax return) as would be done in any other business. This is the biggest one and most frequent road block you will run into. There is so much hype in MLM and if not the one trying to sponsor you, there is always supposedly someone that is making a killing by running the business meaning you can too. However, if I was to buy a franchise and my associate was running a successful franchise, we would undoubtedly go in detail through the numbers so I could analyze my own prediction of future revenue and profit. But in MLM, you often run into a road block because suddenly that information is “personal” and “none of your business”. If you are being told that people are making money in this business yet no one is willing/able to prove it, you can bet its not true. Its either a business opportunity where numbers like revenue, expenses, profit, market share, etc are important, or is not. If those verified numbers are not being shared, then just like any other business in that situation, you know something doesn’t add up (most likely no one is actually making the money they are suggesting).
Anyhow, this is basic food for thought. Perhaps you can also take a look at common MLM issues in another question i answered before you make your decision as it might help give you some additional guidance…check here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AursQD6056SRKQcIzInll4vsy6IX?qid=20060828175009AAaVsvO
Best of luck!
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