Well, this is Rich DeVos in Ada, Michigan, coming forth once again to chat a little bit with you, and to share a few ideas, and a little information and some of the things that are going on. The primary purpose to this tape is to communicate to you some of the things that went on at the Diamond Club in Hawaii, and I guess partly to make sure we have the least amount of rumors and the most amount of facts running around as to where we're coming at you from.
I guess another reason to talk to you right now has to do with what we've seen on "60
At the Diamond Club,
So I'm talking to you as the leaders of the organization. I hope you have all due respect for all the people below you and all the people above you, and that's just super. I must emphasize to you, however, that you're the leadership, on a day-to-day in dealing with your organization. Therefore, it's important you know some of these things, and so, maybe we can give 'em to you straight and maybe share some of our concerns with you.
Every since "60 Minutes" appeared, we have been innundated by mail. Both pro and con. I think in all honesty I must tell you that the outside world, the people who are in business, the people who are in government, the people who watch "60 Minutes" quite regularly and critically and have a knowledge of media and so
Paul Harvey called me the other day and said, "You guys did a great job, I'm proud of ya." And he wanted to call just to congratulate us. The head of a major university's business school, I talked with him yesterday, and (unintelligible) "Boy, you guys did as good as anybody's ever done. I was proud of ya. In fact, I had a bunch of people in just to watch ya, because I knew you'd do well." Well, that's fine, but the inside report from Distributors goes all the way from frustration to outright anger. People who say they distorted us, they didn't show anything good about us, they could do was find a few failures and show the extremes and why did ya pick those people, and why didn't ya pick somebody
Well, let me give you the background on "60 Minutes," it might help you a bit. We were first approached a long time ago. We tried to put it off, we told them we didn't think we were a good subject for the show, but they said they were going to do a show, with or without us. And we finally took it upon ourselves to say that if they're going to do it anyway, then we're not going to dodge
We had no control over the people they used. They took tape from all over the country. They taped people on the West Coast, they taped people on the East Coast and they chose to run the portion they ran. Now, you may not have liked, or I may not have liked
Now, let's face
Now let's, therefore
Now, we also have
We have guys in
You know, one of the reasons we use the curiosity approach is because people have preconceived ideas of what Amway is. You and I know what it really is, but they have a distorted or warped view; and therefore, if they thought they were coming to an Amway function, they would probably say "No" because of their preconceived ideas. Therefore, would we do is use the curiosity approach, but when it's used indirectly, all we do is give a further bad image for the organization. And people begin to say, "What's the matter, are you ashamed of what you're in? Do you have to be tricky, deceitful, lie to get me to come to a meeting? Tell me it's a fund-raiser, tell me it's
(Unintelligible) . . . that's how you overcome that, but I'd rather have you have to go through that little verbal battle rather to deceive a person and tell them it's not an Amway meeting and then when they get there an hour after they sat down they discover it is an Amway meeting. You know, that's deception, that infuriates people, and that gives this company, and you, a bad image. And so we need your help on some of that stuff, we just got to clean it up.
I get too many letters in here from people who are still being told, "You don't have to sell products, we're in a marketing group, we're just in a marketing outfit. No selling is necessary." Now you know, that's a lie.
Those aren't big things, those are just little things, but you know, we're a big company and we no longer can afford to do little things wrong, because everybody's watching what we do, and therefore we got to do even the little things
Now, I
"Please don't misunderstand, but a number of people not even in the business stated to me that you did not come out strong enough against the hype, hoopla, exaggerated claims and obvious mixing of
Then she goes on to say:
"I have no idea, of course, why they edited it that way, but, they did."
Now, I can . . . (unintelligible) . . . I can . . . her letter is many pages long, and she toldYou know, I got another one over here. And this is the stuff I am receiving, and it comes in the backwash of "60 Minutes." Somebody said:
"I consider myself to be the victim of aggressive Directs and their upline. I got caught in an ambitious and aggressive group."
If this was an exception letter, you guys and gals, I wouldn't beat it at ya. I got too many of 'em, and therefore I'm going to share it with you, although I know that it's a little negative, but I have to get to you, I have to get your attention that we have to do some things to change our image, and we need to the help of all of you.
(Unintelligible) . . . I consider myself to be
We were told in our, and I'll leave the name out because it would identify the organization, in our so and so meeting, certain things discussed were to remain within the walls wherein discussed or suggested.
Then the goes on to tell how he was harassed at this job.
Whoever was teaching that, and it was not some little new Direct, was teaching an illegal, immoral, improper system. I can't tolerate it.
You know, we've been talkin' to you for years that you don't buy a position in Amway, you earn it, and, here, blatantly, being taught inside a meeting, and then being told don't tell anybody, are methods that go contrary to everything we've heard.
We've always said you earn your position in Amway and you don't buy it. And here I see it being done, and I want to tell you,
Now, I just got to lay these things on you,
Here's another person, and that's the last one I'm gonna read to ya, but
The first is a quote from a 1965 recording of the "Four Winds," where he told the Junior Achievers, "Before you go out to clean up the world, you had better learn how to clean up your own room." Boy, how's that for having' it thrown back at you?
And how right it is, and how right-on it is, that a person would do that.
She goes on to
Wow, that's a direct quote, from another person. As I told you, they come in by the stacks. I take 'em home by the pile at night, and just sit there are read through them, wishing I could answer all of them, but many of them carry this message, that we've got some things to do.
Well, that's partly what we addressed when we were in Hawaii. By the way, I do have one more here, I see it on the bottom of my list,
There's only one thing we can do the change the image, you've got to do some things about the way we are conducting ourselves in this business to correct them. Therefore, what I got down to at the Diamond Club, by the way, and this sort of fell out afterwards, you
But you know, we finally concluded, and that's what I announced at Diamond Club, that we are going to put BV on tapes. By the ways, our tapes in the United States will sell for $2.50 and in Canada they'll be $2.95, we will pay full
In other words, you can't make Direct by selling tapes. You make Direct by selling the regular line Amway products, but you will get Business Volume on the other. Now, from our standpoint, that's the kind of a simple things, you know, that's absolutely consistent with the Plan, it awards everybody fairly in relationship to what they do in it, it protects the upline, it protects the downline, and it was kind of a simple thing.
Uh -- primary reason was because we got a lot of people in this business who don't have a tape program and they're saying, "Why don't you put something out; that's legal and proper," and we finally said fine. We're going to put out legally clear tapes that give it straight, and that you can rely on, we're going to put them out at a price we think it right, we'll put a little BV on 'em so that you recover some of the costs,
Now, the tape business, if it is not used as a support for the Amway business, will oftentimes be an illegal
And some of you have made it a business unto itself. And you're making a lot of money on it, and all I'm saying to you, well, I can't tell you whether you can or you can't, I can't tell you whether it's legal or illegal, I'm not checking on your business right now. But we have to provide an alternative to the Direct Distributor in this business in a fair and legal and honest manner as a support device for the main business. And so we decided to put BV on tapes.
We really didn't think it was a big deal. I was a little surprised, and I am surprised today to the reaction of some people to our doing this.
I really find it hard for anybody to argue with Amway putting some profit in
Another upshot of everything else, therefore, at the Diamond Club, and all the discussion, led me to challenge the Diamonds, and
Say, "so-and-so came in to see me today to try to get me to sell their stuff." And, you see, then we can put a quick track on anybody who is violating one of the basic principles of this organization. And we'll begin to spot them; and we'll get to them. And then we can take our action from there. But we need your help on getting us some of that information. But, more than that, we need your help in making sure the way you're doing it is proper in your own group.
These are the ten things I put before the Diamonds, and let me just put 'em before you. I asked the Diamonds, by the way, that if they agreed with these Ten Points to write me a letter or to stick it on the note pad that was in front of them in the meeting room. All they had to say to me was, "Rich, I agree with you. We support those Ten Points, and we will teach them to our people. And, you know, I received such letters from almost everybody who was there. Not everybody, but I did receive them from most of the Diamonds. So I have them in my file, and I know who has pledged their support to uphold these things. And while we're not in a meeting and I can't ask you exactly the same thing in the same way, to hand it to me when the meeting's over with, and scribble it on a piece of paper, if you feel so inclined, you might want to write a note and say, "Rich, I support your Ten Points, and I'm gonna uphold them in our group, and I'm gonna teach them to our people and see if we can't clean up our business so we can present a better image to the world." So, I'm
Now, here they are. They're not very complicated, but they do get down to some of the
Number One: I will unplug from any group, up or down, which is not in my line of sponsorship.
You know, a lot of you, got your fingers dirty. You got your hands a little bit into somebody else's group, or you're dealing into somebody else's group that's not in your line of sponsorship, or you're getting stuff from somebody. I'm just asking you to unplug it. Tend to your own business; stay in your own line; deal only with the people you sponsor. The other people are not in your group; they are not your business; and if you are a believer in this Plan, then you'll believe in the principle. If it's okay for you to intrude somebody else's group, then it's okay for them to intrude yours. If it's okay for you to intrude somebody else's group; then it's okay for somebody above you to go around you and intrude your distributors below you. You and I know you can't tolerate that. We can't stand it, and you've got to agree to stand on it. If you do, send me a note. I know, there are some old, historical associations. Some of you had 'em goin' back ten years. I'm not going to come running over and try and police it; but I'm saying you should start to think in terms of unplugging and gettin' your act cleaned up.
Number Two: I will only use Amway-produced literature in the presentation of the Plan and will use only the figures Amway gives.
We have a major lawsuit going right now with an attorney general in one of the states based on people making what they say are excess claims and telling people they hardly have to work at all, telling them you can make $50,000.00 a year and you only have to work twelve hours a week. Now, you and I both know, you know;
Number Three: I will not make my willingness to help a distributor conditioned on their purchasing my Tape of the Week or anything else I sell, which is beyond the basic Amway-supplied material.
I tell you why that's in there. I got too many letters from people who have told me that they were told that if they didn't support their upline and buy his or her tapes, then they would not give them any help. I can't put up with that. It is a sponsor's responsibility to train, motivate and supply their people. That's for the privilege of being the sponsor; not whether they buy some extra things you've decided to sell. If you have people in your group that you don't want, then let us know and we'll reassign them to somebody else; because if you're unwilling to take care of them because you are willing to sponsor them, then let me know. There are no conditions on servicing distributors. All of your distributors are serviced the best you know how, whether they buy a tape of the Week from you or not.
Number Four: If I offer tapes, books and rallies, they will always be presented on a voluntary basis. No strings, no pressure, and no force.
And by 'force' I mean such as saying to somebody in your group that "You must take ten tickets. You must take a hundred tickets. Here's your hundred tickets. Pay me for 'em. You better get rid of 'em. We're going to fill this hall. Or saying, "You must subscribe to Tape of the Week, or I won't work with you." That's force. You know, you offer these things, but you do that voluntarily. If you do it that way, fine. It doesn't diminish your willingness to work with them. Pure, voluntary use of support materials. By the way, you ought to be very careful, because the moment you do anything more than what I am saying to you to do, which is voluntarily offer them, you are going to run the risk of having an employer/employee relationship. That's the last thing you need.
Number Five: If I teach the curiosity approach, it will be in accordance with Rule Six, as passed out at the end of the meeting.
Well, I can't pass it out to you today, but Rule Six really says if you're going to use curiosity, you must tell them they are coming to a business-type opportunity meeting. You may not tell 'em it's a social event or a coffee or a church event or a fund-raising event or a how-to-save-money-on-taxes event. All that is deception. You must tell 'em it's a business opportunity meeting. If they ask you if it's Amway, you say 'yes.' That's what the Rule says. If I were doing it, I would say to people ahead of time, and I wanted to use curiosity, "I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I want you to come." If they said to me, "If that's the way it is, I'm not going to come," I'd say, "Well, fine, then, say home: You spent all your life telling me that you wanted to get ahead, you weren't happy with your conditions in life, you don't like your job; and now I ask you if you'll give me two hours to come and hear about something and you tell me you're not going to come. (inaudible) stay home." See? Don't beg people. Finally, you get down to challenging them to come or not come.
Number Six: I will not produce any literature or tapes about the Plan or the products.
I know you present the Plan magnificently, but what you don't always know are the fine points that we have to cover in all fifty states, plus satisfying the government, to make sure we say it exactly right. And that's why we cannot permit you to produce any such materials.
Number Seven: I will not hide behind group names.
We are proud of our group and like our own identity, but we will not use it as a subterfuge to say we are not in Amway. This really is a hot one, folks. People are saying, "Oh, we're in X-Y-Z organization. We're not in Amway." If you are signed on an Amway application form and if you have anyone you sponsor who's linked to you, then you are in Amway. I don't care what other name you want to run under: By implication, you are saying you're not in Amway: If you are asked, then you must say, "I am in Amway." And if you're not willing to say that, then don't send me any letters.
Number Eight: We will work together to build our own businesses while creating an organization that truly cares about every distributor in it. We will talk about the big picture while making sure we do not diminish those who choose to do less or make them feel like losers.
I hear that very often. "There's winners and losers. Are you a winner? Are you a loser?" Almost insulting people who don't sign up. You even got bad terminology. "We're the winners. Over here are the losers in life." They're not losers. They may have a richer, fuller life than those of you that got fancy cars and new clothes or big rings have got. You know,
Number Nine: While recognizing the importance of financial goals, we will attempt to use tact,
I don't mind your making money. I don't mind your enjoying the things that money will buy. But I do have a problem of presenting an image of an organization that has nothing in it but greed, that has no concern for the poor or the hungry or for what's going an in their community. It is time, folks, we changed our image and showed an image of a company and of individuals who care about other people, no matter where they are economically. And that while you may want to quietly talk about your new cars or your fancy rings, you also talk to people about the other values that the Amway business brings, such as the wonderful idea of being associated with people who are positive, the great and good things that happen
And Number Ten: I agree with the principle and will observe the rules relating to
In other Words, I need a pledge that you will not inventory load, that you will not push a bunch of stuff on somebody to win a pin or to earn a trip; but that they will, indeed, have not only bought the Amway products, but have, in turn, sold them so that they got retail and the money came back in. In direct contrast to what I read to you in a letter earlier, "go out and borrow the money to make it." I could tell you horror stories about every company I've ever lived with and fought against, who did inventory loading, asking people to borrow money to make a pin level. We have watched at least a hundred such companies come, and we have watched all of them go; and they are all broke and long gone. We cannot tolerate this business. We must stick to the principle that the people we hang pins on did so because they built a strong, Amway-centered business, built on what they did conforming with the rules of rewarding people on the basis of performance, not on the basis of their ability to beg, borrow or steal money.
Well, that's quite a Directly Speaking tape. Heavy? Well, maybe. But, you know, folks, this is a serious time. What you saw on "60 Minutes" was probably not all to your liking; it was not to mine. But the beautiful part of it is that Mike Wallace, when he was here, said, "You know, this is the most phenomenal thing." He was intrigued with the lives we were touching and the things we were doing. He was intrigued with the motivation, the lifting up, the spirit of the people. He was convinced; when he went to shoot those pictures at that meeting in North Carolina, that he would find nothing but Bible-belt Baptists, all white, only to find blacks and Jews from New York City, all mixed in. He said, "We couldn't believe it. This was a cross-section of America, people trying to get ahead, and we were impressed." Well, they may not have shown that in their programming, but, you see, we know that they could have done a lot worse for us. And, so, we're grateful to them for showing us our warts and for helping us to remind ourselves that we got to "clean up our own room," as the one lady wrote and placed it so well. That if we are really going to go out and impact this world, we got to do it with clean hands. And right now, some of you have got to ask yourself these ten questions. Some of you have got to ask yourself whether you're really in the Amway business or whether you're in the tape business. You got to ask yourself whether you're really in the rally business or in the Amway business. You must ask yourself if everything you're doing is to support your Amway business or is it really for a secondary motive. We are, of course, a little prejudiced. But, you see, it is the Amway Plan that you run under, and we really cannot tolerate people running under the Amway Plan and then doing such things that destroy the image of all other Amway distributors.
And, so, we're off and running. We're on to the subject, and I hate to confront you with it. But I think for most of you, you'll recognize that if we aren't careful with our image, some day it'll be so bad, you won't be able to sponsor anybody. And then there won't be any sense in talking about it anymore. But right now, this night, at the meetings you have today, with the people with whom you talk today, is the time to make sure you present the Plan as a plan that offers opportunity geared on hard work and that you approach people honestly and straight-forward and don't try to deceive them, and then you don't try to push stuff on your nice distributors because you make money on it when it may or may not be totally necessary for them.
I know some of the tapes are magnificent. I know they're important, and I know rallies are important, and I know books are important. I know all that's
And so, we're on the road. Thanking you again for a great year and thanking you ahead of time for your cooperation because it is my belief that each one of you, when you realize what's really going on in this business, will say, "Rich, you're right. I'm with you. We do got to clean up our act. And it isn't just in the other guy's group. I got some stuff to do with my own group." And if all of us will take that to heart right now, we will begin to build the new Amway, based on sponsoring people in a very simple, straight-forward manner, to join the fastest-growing, most magnificent outfit in the world that offers people at the bottom of the rung a chance to make a beginning. And we will focus our attention on selling products.
Expo is just hitting the road. It will be in Atlanta next week for its opening thing.
Dick, my son Dick, and Roger just came back from Cleveland where they built it; and they said it is absolutely magnificent; it is going to stun them when they see this new traveling show. We have two new semi's that are traveling across the country, carrying this from city to city. Bring every customer you get. In fact, go get ten of your friends who think you're nuts for being in Amway. Invite 'em over for dinner and say, "We're going to go to the Amway Expo." Or tell 'em you're going to take 'em out to show 'em the Amway Expo and
[page of transcript missing]
So we'll be in touch with you. We'll see you all, and thanks for being great people.
This is Rich in Ada with great gratitude for all of you. Bye-bye.
CERTIFICATE
STATE OF OHIO )
) SS:
COUNTY OF HAMILTON )
I, KATHLEEN M. McCLELLAN, a Court Reporter and Notary
Public for the State of Ohio, commissioned and qualified, do
hereby certify that the foregoing twenty-nine (29) pages
constitutes a true, correct and complete transcript of Directlv
Speaking, Rich De Vos, Amway Cassette Series VAL-2l50, which was
transcribed by me and/or under my direction.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and
notarial seal at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 29th day of March, 1985.
the web address for this page is http://hunza1.tripod.com/amway/speaking1.html