As we are building our business, focusing on our goals and WHY's and really just minding our own business, all of the sudden you get a thorn poking at you. Yes, it's from an old friend or business partner getting really aggressive on you about this company called "MonaVie" that sells a "miracle" "Jungle Juice" that is breaking all sorts of records and that people there are making mad money.
As a new rep in Network Marketing, this can sound very confusing and also very tempting. However, for an experienced Network Marketing Rep, this story seems all too common and very old. We have heard that noise before - many times- and have seen all the smoked mirrors. The same thing over and over again, promises of wealth & recognition, and the mud slinging about the company you are in and the upline leaders you are working with. All lies and deception using bait & switch techniques to get you to join their company.
So what should a you do?
First off, don't promise them anything and don't offer any information about your company, team, upline leaders, promotions or events. They will use whatever you give them to spin it and hook you. Just tell them you are very happy and satisfied where you at, END OF STORY.
"Bait & Switch" Techniques (otherwise known as "The Dark Side of the Force")
You will hear things like:
"Come see a meeting with my company, and I'll go see one of yours.."
"Come meet up with me and my "friends", we are gonna hang out.."
"Come meet up with me and my friend and let's talk about business ideas, we can help each other out.."
Don't fall for any of these attempts to trick you. Once you are in the lion's den, they will sick their best hyena on you to pressure you, lie and make false promises to you.
A simple "hang out" can turn into something we call an "Ambush One on One" or a "Bushwhack"
Definition: To attack suddenly from a place of concealment; ambush.
Just when you think you and your "bro" are having a burger at Red Robin, in walks your "bro's" upline dressed in business casual clothes with a Laptop and a briefcase. At this point you have that bewildered look, and you think in your head ... ahh shit. Your hands start sweating, your heart starts pounding in-sync with a Paul Van Dyk trance track and random thoughts start running through your head. You are unprepared for this ambush and they got you surrounded. You look to your left and you see that some of their goons have been there all this time! Then you give your "bro" the evil eye. He looks at you and says in a fake simi-confused tone of voice, "Hey man, I didn't know he was gonna be here..what a surprise!...haha". The Upline then starts to interview you and ask you very personal questions. You start thinking of an escape plan but you don't want to come off like a panzy. Here you are, feeling like a Vietnam War P.O.W., getting interrogated. Now you are trying to think back to that one training you attended when Duke was talking about how to handle these situations. Your mind goes blank! You are now strapped on for the ride... or are you?
Let's start with MonaVie's founder, Dallin Larsen. In order to understand all the deceptions, you got to understand the origins of this company. Source: Click Here
MonaVie juice was launched in January 2005 by multi-level marketing (MLM) company Monarch Health Sciences, which was founded in 2003 as a distributor of diet and weight loss supplements. Also in 2005, the executives of Monarch founded MonaVie LLC/MonaVie Inc., a privately-held MLM company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The newly formed company took over the bottling, distribution, and marketing of MonaVie juice products. Both Monarch Health Sciences and MonaVie, Inc. were founded by Dallin Larsen, who graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.S. degree in finance.[10] Larsen previously held senior executive positions with the MLM companies Dynamic Essentials and Usana. According to company sources, MonaVie juice was developed by Ralph E. Carson, now the company's Chief Science Officer.
* Here it's important to note that Dallin Larsen is the brother of USANA Top Producer, 10 Star Diamond Director Collette Larsen, & Uncle to Zachery Ross.
Dallin Larsen and Dynamic Essentials/Royal Tongan Limu
MonaVie CEO and founder Dallin Larsen was previously a senior executive with an MLM company that sold a similar juice product prior to being shut down by the FDA for illegal business practices. According to Newsweek correspondent Dokupil, Larsen, who was “a 20-year-veteran of the multi-level marketing industry", "left a senior post at another juice company in 2002, a year before the FDA destroyed the company's ‘bogus products’ that were being falsely promoted to treat ‘cancer, arthritis and attention deficit disorder’." The company in question, Dynamic Essentials, distributed an MLM juice product known as Royal Tongan Limu juice.[6][24] According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Dynamic Essentials, from 2001 to 2003, had illegally advertised that Royal Tongan Limu ””was clinically proven to cure, prevent, or treat a range of diseases and disorders such as allergies, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.”[25]
Pyramid scheme allegations
In spring of 2008, Larsen formed a business partnership with former Amway distributor (Quixtar in the US) Orrin Woodward, founder of an Amway distributor sales network company known as TEAM. Woodward subsequently became a distributor and speaker for MonaVie, mixing his TEAM organization structure and distributor sales tools (e.g. sales brochures, audio/video recordings, etc.) concept with MonaVie's compensation plan. In 2008, Forbes magazine reporters Emily Lambert and Klaus Kneale noted:
“Team is one step ahead of all these juice selling schemes. It is a pyramid atop a pyramid. It is selling motivational aids to help MonaVie vendors move the juice. But wait. If you can't earn back the $258 you've spent on the motivational lectures by selling $39 juice bottles, you could earn it back in another way—getting people to buy $258 motivational lectures. If you're good, you flog the lectures to other people, who sell them to yet others. Everybody gets rich. Everybody, that is, except the last round of buyers. That's the theory, anyway. The reality is that a mere 1% of Team members make any money from involvement with the firm.” [8]
Regarding pyramid scheme issues, Lambert and Kneale elaborated:
”In a 1979 regulatory action involving [Amway], the Federal Trade Commission attempted to draw lines between legitimate and fraudulent pyramids. The ones that are legit focus on getting revenue from consumer goods sold to retail customers. The FTC did not, however, define ‘retail’ in that case. That leaves plenty of wiggle room for guys like Orrin Woodward; he counts the vast majority of people in his pyramid, who seemingly try but fail to make money, as retail customers..” [8]
Litigation
The company, its executives, and various senior distributors were involved in five lawsuits between 2007 and 2009.[24][26][27][28][29][30][30][31][32][33] MonaVie was the plaintiff in trademark infringement suits against rival companies Fruitology (2007) and Amazon Thunder (2007) and was the defendant in false advertising suits filed by Amway (2008), Imagenetix (2008), and Oprah Winfrey/Mehmet Oz (2009).
On July 11, 2007, Monarch Health Sciences, the company that launched MonaVie, filed a lawsuit with the Utah district court against rival açaí juice manufacturer Amazon Thunder,[26] alleging that owner/founder Todd Reum had made “harmful, false, and defamatory statements" about MonaVie which "purportedly injured Monarch’s reputation”.[27] The suit sought $75,000 in damages. On November 15, 2007, the Utah district court ruled to dismiss the case against Reum.
On November 8, 2007, Monavie, Inc. filed a trademark infringement suit against Fruitology, a rival acai beverage (Fruitavie) manufacturer, in Utah District Court. Monavie voluntarily dismissed the suit on March 20, 2008.[28]
On March 17, 2008 MonaVie preemptively filed a lawsuit with the Utah district court asking for a ruling as to whether Quixtar Inc. and Amway Corp. had been over-reaching the boundaries of its non-compete agreements and address whether or not such agreements are enforceable for independent distributors.[29]
On March 18, 2008, Quixtar North America filed a multi-count federal court complaint against the MonaVie company and 16 of its distributors (John Brigham Hart, Lita Hart, Jason Lyons, Carrie Lyons, Lou Niles, Farid Zarif, and 10 anonymous defendants) for unfair competition.[30] The complaint alleged that MonaVie competed unfairly by making false claims about its products.[24] According to a company press release, MonaVie filed to dismiss the Amway/Quixtar lawsuit on April 15, 2008.[34] On November 12, 2008, MonaVie et al. filed a lawsuit in the Colorado District Court against Quixtar[31]
On May 5, 2008, the MonaVie company, its board of directors, and several of its senior distributors were sued by Imagenetix, Inc. for $2.75 billion over trademark infringement arising from false claims that Monavie Active juice contained the ingredient Celadrin.[30][32] The case was settled out of court and the lawsuit was dropped on May 20, 2008.[35] On June 2, 2008 Imagenetix announced that it had entered into a new business relationship with MonaVie, the terms of which were not disclosed.[36]
An August 20, 2009 article in the Chicago Sun-Times reported that television celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Mehmet Oz filed suit against 40 companies that are either selling açaí or related products, with their name endorsements on them." According to their complaint, such companies are "fabricating quotes or falsely purporting to speak in Dr. Oz's and/or Ms. Winfrey's voice about specific brands and products that neither of them has endorsed." [33] Monavie Inc. was one of the companies named as a defendant in the lawsuit.[37] Winfrey’s website elaborated that “consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products."
Click Here for a downloadable pdf file of the Lawsuit.
Harpo Productions (Oprah & Dr. Oz) vs. MonaVie Lawsuit Video
Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz suing over 'false' açaí berry endorsement claims
Winfrey and Oz have filed suit against 40 companies either selling açaí or related products, with their name endorsements on them.
According to their complaint, such companies are "fabricating quotes or falsely purporting to speak in Dr. Oz's and/or Ms. Winfrey's voice about specific brands and products that neither of them has endorsed."
"Consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products," a statement read on Winfrey's Web site. "Neither Oprah nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any specific resveratrol product, company or online solicitation of such products. Any companies that misrepresent their affiliation are making false claims."
The Products
Customer Retention: The "jungle juices" average yearly customer retention rate is typically between 5% to 7%.
More information here: Read the Newsweek Article
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