Herbalife is a company known for it's weightloss shakes and other diet suppliments. The products are sold through the company's independent distributors. Their reps are in the hundreds of thousands. And business is BOOMING! Most of the people who are customers are also sales representatives. Without trying too hard, I can think of over 10 of my family, friends, and associates who sell Herbalife and have tried to get me to buy at least once. Many people are willing to jump in on this bandwagon because the company makes it so easy to sell it and make their own money. If you sign up and buy it online, you can also sell it!
There is an array of opinions about this company's products and marketing strategies. They range from high praises to calling it a pyramid scheme. Well is it just a sinister, dishonest prymid scheme? ABC News did an investigation on this fast growing company!
Herbalife independent representatives are coaxed to use their personal life stories to sell the products. Even though many of the stories actually took place way before the reps even touched the products themselves, it doesn't stop many of them from using it to make the sale. There are always opportinities to make a story relevant to your cause, if you have finesse. LOL!
According to ABC News, Herbalife currently remains "under a court order from the 1980's not to make false or misleading representations about the product's health benefits." The company claims that they tell their reps not to make any health claims of the products, especially not in order to sell them. Yet when ABC News approached multiple different representatives, recorded footage of their outlandish claims that the Herbalife products had grande medicinal abilities. One rep even told a story of a woman who had an incurable form of brain cancer, saying that she had started using the products and that "whatever it is that is in it really helped her".
Hmmm... Ok...
Yes, I agree that this is pretty messed up, but I can't judge the whole company based on it's independent reps. As I have learned from selling Avon, Empower Network, and Doba products, when a person signs up to sell, they are also creating their OWN business and aren't employed at all by the company. The company just gives the rep permission to sell their products with the understanding that the rep only makes a certain percentage of the revenue. Not all independent reps are the same. Believe it or not, some do actually have souls...
Although, I don't think the company is TOTALLY to blame for this... I do believe that it is their responsibility to put a stop to it. If it is happening repeatedly, they need to take action. Clear up the misunderstandings. Band the people who shouldn't be selling from being reps. They have taken SOME action to correct problems in the past. Over 600 independent reps were disciplined just last year alone for making medical claims, 12 of which were stripped of their rankings. This is good, but it isn't nearly enough. Representatives are supposed to be just that, someone who represents the company. And what a Rep says should also reflect on the company.
If all of that wasn't bad enough...
Even though Herbalife said that their rules forbade it, ABC News revealed footage of training seminars for new recruits, where were being taught that Herbalife products helped in treating HEART DISEASE! They were being taught that it also treated headaches, anemia, and even helped a woman conceive a child! Which absolutely goes against the aforementioned court order... not to mention that is just morally wrong! Even if the representatives DO actually believed in these claims, though many of them know it is BULL$#!&, they can't guarantee it will help the next person's ailments. It gives people a false hope and many morons would choose to not go and see a doctor, instead deciding to rely on the Herbalife products alone.
From the information that I have been given, I don't believe that Herbalife the COMPANY is a scam... BUT, I do believe that some of Herbalife's representatives resort to scamming in order to sell their products. I don't have any problems with the products though... so far. Which is a good thing! Overall my suggestion: If you are interested in this company's products, make sure that the representitive you get your information from is trustworthy and truly knowledgeable about the company and it's products.
Until next time, my fellow Nutters!
Kia C.
Sources: www.abcnews.com
*All information in this article was given to the best of my knowledge with only the best intentions. If there were any mistakes, they were unintentional. I also included reference links to my sources so you can read it for yourself...*
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