Ten Big Lies of Multilevel Marketing 直銷、傳銷的十大謊言

Lie #1: Multilevel marketing (MLM) offers better opportunities than all other conventional business and professional models for making large amounts of money.
謊言1：直銷傳銷提供比傳統的商業模式更好的機會賺取鉅額的金錢。

Truth: For almost everyone who invests, MLM turns out to be a losing financial proposition. Fewer than 1% of all MLM distributors ever earn a profit and those earning a sustainable living at this business are a much smaller percentage still.
事實：幾乎對所有投入直銷傳銷的人而言，參與直銷傳銷計畫都有不好的財務結果，只有少於1%的人勉強能獲利，而能有相當獲利的人比例更低。

Lie #2: Network marketing is the most popular and effective new way to bring products to market. Consumers like to buy products on a one-to-one basis in the MLM model.
謊言2：經由人際關係網路銷售是最流行與有效的銷售方式，消費者喜歡直銷傳銷的一對一經驗。

Truth: Personal retailing -- including nearly all forms of door-to-door selling -- is a thing of the past, not the wave of the future. Retailing directly to friends on a one-to-one basis requires people to drastically change their buying habits. They must restrict their choices, often pay more for goods, buy inconveniently, and engage in potentially awkward business relationships with close friends and relatives. In reality, MLM depends on reselling the opportunity to sign up more distributors.
事實：個人零售已經過時，更不是未來的趨勢，網際網路才是未來趨勢。向朋友直接購買商品，往往讓消費者選擇變少，價格偏高，購買不方便，又和朋友有令人不習慣的商業關係。事實上，直銷傳銷靠的是不斷重複販賣一種可能賺錢的契約給下一個經銷商。

Lie #3: Eventually all products will be sold by MLM. Retail stores, shopping malls, catalogs and most forms of advertising will soon be rendered obsolete by MLM.
謊言3：未來所有零售商品都會以直銷方式販售，零售商與百貨公司都會被直銷傳銷打敗而消失。

Truth: Fewer than 1% of all retail sales are made through MLM, and much of this is consists of purchases by hopeful new distributors who are actually paying the price of admission to a business they will soon abandon. MLM is not replacing existing forms of marketing. It does not legitimately compete with other marketing approaches at all. Rather, MLM represents a new investment scheme couched in the language of marketing. Its real products are distributorships that are sold through misrepresentation and exaggerated promises of income. People are buying products in order to secure positions on the sales pyramid. The possibility is always held out that you may become rich if not from your own efforts then from some unknown person ("the big fish") who might join your "downline."

MLM's growth does not reflect its value to the economy, customers, or distributors, but the high levels of economic fear, insecurity, wishes for quick and easy wealth. The market dynamics are similar to those of legalized gambling, but the percentage of winners is much smaller.

事實：直銷傳銷的祇佔所有零售量的不到1%，和正常零售量根本無法比較，而且這些銷量中，大半還是新會員加入時必須購買的額度。買產品的人多是為了買一個致富的彩票，除了你自己的銷售努力還有你下線的銷售努力，可以讓你致富。合法的直銷傳銷業就像合法的賭博業，只是你的勝率比賭博還低一點。投資股市也很像賭博，不過你的勝率可能高一點。

Lie #4: MLM is a new way of life that offers happiness and fulfillment. It provides a way to attain all the good things in life.
謊言4：直銷傳銷將給你幸福快樂的人生，讓你可以成就所有你想完成的事。

Truth: The most prominent motivational themes of the MLM industry, as shown in industry literature and presented at recruitment meetings, constitute the crassest form of materialism. Fortune 100 companies would blush at the excess of promises of wealth, luxury, and personal fulfillment put forth by MLM solicitors. These appeals actually conflicts with most people's true desire for meaningful and fulfilling work at something in which they have special talent or interest.
事實：在直銷傳銷的招募會議中展示的往往是物質主義的極致，財富前100大公司的職員前景可能都比不上直銷傳銷所描繪的財富與奢華。但是這和一般人希望的幸福其實是衝突的，一般人多半只想在自己有天份與興趣的項目上獲得成就感。

Lie #5: MLM is a spiritual movement.
謊言5：直銷傳銷是神聖的運動。

Truth: The use of spiritual concepts like prosperity consciousness and creative visualization to promote MLM enrollment, the use of words like "communion" to describe a sales organization, and claims that MLM fulfills Christian principles or Scriptural prophecies are great distortions of these spiritual practices. Those who focus their hopes and dreams upon wealth as the answer to their prayers lose sight of genuine spirituality as taught by religions. The misuse of these spiritual principles should be a signal that the investment opportunity is deceptive. When a product is wrapped in the flag or in religion, buyer beware! The "community" and "support" offered by MLM organizations to new recruits is based entirely upon their purchases. If the purchases and enrollment decline, so does the "communion."
事實：用貧窮感與心想事成的精神力來推廣直銷，把直銷傳銷比喻成傳教，甚至將銷售團隊自稱為團契，是對宗教的曲解，那些將希望與夢想建築在財富上的人，完全搞錯了宗教的意義。直銷傳銷團體所提供的歸屬感與支援，都是完全建立在購買的基礎之上，一旦你不再購買與招募新人，這個團體就什麼也沒了。

Lie #6: Success in MLM is easy. Friends and relatives are the natural prospect. Those who love and support you will become your life-time customers.
謊言6：直銷傳銷很容易成功，你的親人與朋友是最自然的下線，他們將是你一生的顧客。

Truth: The commercialization of family and friendship and the use of"'warm leads" advocated in MLM marketing programs are a destructive element in the community and very unhealthy for individuals involved. People do not appreciate being pressured by friends and relatives to buy products. Trying to capitalizing upon personal relationships to build a business can destroy one's social foundation.
事實：想在家族與友情中獲取上商業利益，往往是不智的，直銷傳銷的出現，對社區與個人的生活都有很不好的影響，人就是不喜歡因情份的關係而買東西。想利用社交關係來獲利，往往會毀了你的社交生活。這我也在顧問的業務推廣上，發現有類似的現象，我的付費諮詢顧客，多來自家族與朋友圈之外。

Lie #7: You can do MLM in your spare time. As a business, it offers the greatest flexibility and personal freedom of time. A few hours a week can earn a significant supplemental income and may grow to a very large income, making other work unnecessary.
謊言7：你可以利用閒暇時間做直銷傳銷，它提供彈性與自由，每週幾小時就能賺得不錯的兼差收入，並且收入可能成長到可以辭去原本的工作，獲得財務自由。

Truth: Making money in MLM requires extraordinary time commitment as well as considerable personal skill and persistence. Beyond the sheer hard work and talent required, the business model inherently consumes more areas of one's life and greater segments of time than most occupations. In MLM, everyone is a prospect. Every waking moment is a potential time for marketing. There are no off-limit places, people, or times for selling. Consequently, there is no free space or free time once a person enrolls in MLM system. While claiming to offer independence, the system comes to dominate people's entire life and requires rigid conformity to the program. This is why so many people who become deeply involved end up needing and relying upon MLM desperately. They alienate or abandon other sustaining relationships.
事實：想從直銷傳銷賺錢需要投入很多時間，更需要人際關係技巧與堅持的毅力。此外，直銷傳銷模式比一般工作入侵更多你的生活與時間，每個人都可能是下線，每分鐘都在行銷。直銷傳銷模式以能幫助你財務獨立、財務自由為誘因，結果剛好相反，很多直銷人之所以如此沉迷與依賴直銷傳銷，是因為他們已經失去了所有其他正常的社交關係，只剩下直銷傳銷關係，讓他們對僅存的直銷傳銷關係，變得更為依賴。這是病態的人生，而非幸福的人生。

Lie #8. MLM is a positive, supportive new business that affirms the human spirit and personal freedom.
謊言8：直銷傳銷是個正向積極、彼此支援的新商業模式，直銷傳銷模式彰顯了人道精神與個人自由。

Truth: MLM is largely fear-driven. Solicitations inevitably include dire predictions about the impending collapse of other forms of distribution, the disintegration or insensitivity of corporate America, and the lack of opportunity in other occupations. Many occupations are routinely demeaned for not offering"unlimited income." Working for others is cast as enslavement for "losers." MLM is presented as the last best hope for many people. This approach, in addition to being deceptive, frequently discourages people who otherwise would pursue their own unique visions of success and happiness. A sound business opportunity does not have to base its worth on negative predictions and warnings.
事實：直銷傳銷的推廣者，往往是利用恐懼來招募新人，強調企業的冷酷無情，為別人工作是多麼的了無希望，其他工作都不能提供未來無限的收入，直銷傳銷被形容成你最後唯一快速輕鬆致富成功的機會。一個好的商業模式不該是需要憑藉預測別人的失敗與警告別人來招募。

Lie #9. MLM is the best option for owning your own business and attaining real economic independence.
謊言9：直銷傳銷是擁有自己的事業最好的方式，讓你達到財富自由。

Truth: MLM is not true self-employment. "Owning" an MLM distributorship is an illusion. Some MLM companies forbid distributors to carry other companies' products. Most MLM contracts make termination of the distributorship easy and immediate for the company. Short of termination, downlines can be taken away arbitrarily. Participation requires rigid adherence to a "duplication" model, not independence and individuality. MLM distributors are not entrepreneurs but joiners in a complex hierarchical system over which they have little control.
事實：參加直銷傳銷不是擁有自己的事業，創建直銷公司才是，多數參加直銷者，不能自由銷售其他公司的商品，而且公司可以很容易地中止參加直銷者的資格，下線也可能被無預警移除，參加直銷者必須嚴格遵守公司經營規則，只能複製公司設定的模式，既不獨立也不自由，參加直銷者不算是事業主，只是參與簽署複雜合約的一方，而且對這份合約，參加直銷者沒有任何置啄與修改的控制權利。

Lie #10: MLM is not a pyramid scheme because products are sold.
謊言10：直銷傳銷不是老鼠會(pyramid scheme)，而是真的有銷售商品。

Truth:The sale of products does not protect against anti-pyramid-scheme laws or unfair trade practices set forth in federal and state law. MLM is a legal form of business only under rigid conditions set forth by the FTC and state attorneys general. Many MLMs are violate these guidelines and operate only because they have not been prosecuted. Recent court rulings are using a 70% rule to determine an MLM's legality: At least 70% of all goods sold by the MLM company must be purchased by nondistributors. This standard would place most MLM companies outside the law. The largest MLM acknowledges that only 18% of its sales are made to nondistributors.
事實：有銷售商品並不表示就一定不是老鼠會騙局，在美國的法律，區分老鼠會詐欺與合法的直銷傳銷行為，是需要法院判決的。而多數目前存在的直銷傳銷公司並不表示就一定合法，只是尚未被起訴與接受法院判決過。目前美國法院判決的原則是要有70%以上的商品銷售是賣給非經銷商的最終顧客，才是合法的直銷傳銷行為。而多數直銷傳銷公司只有18%的商品銷售是賣給非經銷商。