Joining the Melaleuca shopping club ought to be a no brainer, but misconceptions can and do get in the way, and prevent people from taking advantage of a very good opportunity and enjoying the benefits. The reasons for joining are covered all over this site so I’ll only highlight the leading barriers I’ve observed but in no particular order of occurrence frequency.
Some of these are:
- False perception that Melaleuca is a multi level marketing (MLM) company
- Valid reasons to not like MLM (a dislike that I very much share)
- Resistance to change
- Not realizing how much money is being spent and the “hidden costs” with the traditional retail model
Associating Melaleuca with MLM
First, Melaleuca does have an incentive model for sharing Melaleuca and their products with others. This can easily lead to the assumption, “Oh, another one of those.” The collateral damage done through tactics employed by the plethora of MLM’s out there, and the people promoting them, has created good reasons to RUN when you are approached by one of their disciples.
Melaleuca is a consumer direct or manufacturer direct product company. When you sign up you are joining a “shopping club” where you shop from home and buy directly from Melaleuca. If you share Melaleuca with others, Melaleuca will pay you but there’s no requirement to do that. In fact, only about 20% of Melaleuca customers actively enroll other customers and the 80% who don’t are just as appreciated and valued as the 20 percent.
Melaleuca is a quality product driven, customer satisfaction driven company—not a go out and recruit everyone you meet company.
Resistance to Change
People are naturally creatures of habit. But the Melaleuca model is very unconventional and requires a change of habit. Knowing that people find it hard to leave their comfort zones, Melaleuca has created numerous incentives, and broken down barriers, to reward new customers who do nothing more than give the company the opportunity to prove they are worthy of being given the opportunity.
Unless you’re a rescued Melaleuca customer, you’ve been very much conditioned to accept the retail model without questioning it, and those profiting from that model want very much to keep it that way. It’s worth mentioning that 96% of those who overcome their apprehension and give Melaleuca a try, reorder. If only 96% of those presented with the opportunity would resist their resistance, they’d have a better life but it is what it is.
A Few Points About That Conventional Retail Model
One of the primary barriers I’ve observed to recognizing the value Melaleuca offers is people not realizing how much they’re really spending. Melaleuca is not going to totally replace the retail store model but very few people have any idea of how much money goes toward purchases that Melaleuca can replace. Those costs are hidden inside of the sum total spent at the store. Most people could probably tell you their “grocery budget” but not the amount spent on purchases that can be replaced with Melaleuca products.
I call this a barrier because in order to qualify for the 30% to 50% discount on Melaleuca products, you need to purchase roughly $60 to $70 a month with Melaleuca. This often causes an initial resistance unless someone is willing to actually evaluate retail store purchases; a process almost guaranteed to cause a bit of shock. Then the $60 to $70 a month is a non issue. We’re empty nesters and have no problem whatsoever exceeding the requirement, and never have since 2006, 15½ years as I write this.
NOTE: I outlined this in more detail here which mentions the benefit of receiving up to 15% additional discounts over and above the 30-50 percent.
If you regard the conventional retail model and conventional wisdom as tried and true based on widespread acceptance, you’re standing on logic fallacies of epic proportions. There is no actual wisdom. It’s propped up by the “we’ve always done it this way” logic that’s left a path of mass destruction in its wake. When you buy products from the store that you could be getting from Melaleuca, you’re pouring your money into an inferior, inefficient, wasteful, and grossly expensive vortex that could never survive if enough people question it.
The traditional model has at least one thing in their favor though, deep set thinking takes a while to die.
The products people purchase through the retail model are up to 63% of the price paid just to get them on the shelf. That leaves less than 40% for any value or product quality. No wonder 96% of people who try Melaleuca products order again! Without having to increase their budget, Melaleuca customers enjoy safe and radically better product quality, inherent health benefits, and generate a seriously reduced volume of trash from discarded packaging.
I should end by pointing out that the conventional retail model is fine for groceries and other items, but the Melaleuca model for the products they sell is so far superior, it renders the traditional model woefully flawed and obsolete.