One can’t help be impressed with the Kangen success story.
Every would-be dealer talks about how many they have sold, how many millions they have turned over, and (of course), how much better they are than anything else on the market.
The Kangen company began in the US a few years after we began in 2000.
It began, I am informed, by purchasing the old Sanastec water ionizer company in Japan, and then applying a very clever multilevel marketing system to the product. The technology is old. The same system has been used for 30 years. Recent developments and new science has exposed the problems of using electrolysis to create high concentrations of the therapeutic element in the water – molecular hydrogen.
I admit that the MLM approach is clever. So clever that it has taken me years to understand why they have done so well. But I think I have it.
Any MLM company sells two products.
a) the product it actually offers and
b) the business opportunity.
There’s a kind of ‘swings and slides’ effect here.
If the seller can charge enough for the product to pay high commissions to multiple distributors all the way down or up the chain, they will be successful because they have sold the business opportunity. Kangen has certainly done that. Their price tag is way above competitors even though their technology, especially related to continuous H2 output, is, in my opinion, way behind.
Do you get this concept? It’s tricky.
By charging top dollar for your MLM product you attract the ‘killer sharks’ of the MLM world. These denizens of the selling world could sell Donald Trump a holiday in Mexico City. They will sell the product opportunity. They’ve been doing it for years for different companies, demonstratings they are really only interested in the business opportunity, and selling the product is a byproduct of this product offering.
Now.. I’m not judging it. The company began after we began and they are waay, waay richer than we are. I can really only conclude that the system is what they are really selling, and we don’t have a system.
The other byproduct of this approach is that the ‘buyers’ who bought the business opportunity will sell the same opportunity. Yes, they will talk about the ionizer, but the money is in the sales of the business opportunity, not the product. Which to me, is a shame.
But.. the company has created a replicating system where each dealer sells their mother in law, uncle, auntie and best friend the business opportunity, using their friendship or kinship to make an easier sale.
But the BIG fact is that on average, 98% of distributors never recoup their investment in an MLM scheme.
So let’s get real about this. If you’ve been approached by a Kangen distributor, you know he or she is talking about you making money as much as or more than he or she is talking health. And the chilling statistic is that only around 2% of all buyers earn their money back in MLM schemes.
So.. you have two products you are being sold; so let’s look at them separately.
I’ll try to ‘pitch’ each product to you so you can discriminate on what you are really being sold.
- The Water Ionizer“This water ionizer produces filtered, high pH water. if you clean it regularly, it will give you reasonable amounts of molecular hydrogen infused in your water. Yes, there are many similar products available, and yes, other less expensive products have been shown to produce more H2 with less frequent cleaning…. but..”
…and here comes opportunity/product #2.
2. The business opportunity
“Hey, have I got a deal for you. What do you know about network marketing? Not much? Good! Did you know that it can set you up with residual income for life? Did you know you don’t need to own a shop, an office or even to buy stock? And look at me. I’ll show you my commissions and yes, of course you can do the same? Yes, the water ionizer is very expensive.. but look at the money you can make!”
When I wrote this article I shared it with some friends who have been in MLM and know water ionizers. They brought up a point that I had not covered. Here it is.
There is a ‘gradient’ of integrity in selling. The top MLM sellers may have very little integrity but great persuasive powers. But down the graph a little the average distributor isn’t a good or experienced salesperson. So they’ve taken – for them – a big rush in investing in this business opportunity, and for 98% of them, they quickly hit the wall of lack of sales. It’s at this point that they either:
a) Create a glowing testimonial in the hope that it will bring in customers and
b) begin to fudge facts.
And here’s the hidden edge of MLM. An MLM company can’t legally fudge facts.. but hey, what can you do if your distributors are a little loose with the truth? So any MLM company that promises high commissions has, knowingly or unknowingly, upped the ante for this sort of behaviour. Yes, you will be told that you can lose your distribution rights if you do it.. but what MLM company enforces this? It’s not in their interests to do so because they have an army of unpaid distributors out there beating the bushes for them at ZERO cost.
So please.. if you are talking to our alkaline specialists give them a break. TELL them you’ve been to a Kangen meeting and that you are really not as interested in the water ionizer as the money you have been told you can make. Be honest and don’t waste your our our time.
And.. if all you wnat is the best and latest water ionizer technology, the best possible filtration and molecular hydrogen capability, go here.
