The Business of Change: Seacret Direct
We see a lot of products and opportunities. NetworkingStar.com was established because there are so many opportunities out there and we need the public’s help to sort them all out. We also established the site because we love hearing about entrepreneurs, motivation, inspiration and the ambition it takes to get through the day-to-day difficulties confronting success. Unfortunately, we also see a legion of good products dashed against the rocks of overzealous opportunity. Once in a while, we also see a product line that gives us hope for network marketing. We saw something that gave us hope this weekend at Seacret Direct.
When network marketing distributes a truly revolutionary product line and distributes it more effectively than traditional channels, I am excited. When product value statements are in balance with opportunity plans, something special can and does transpire. A truly great product can and should thrive in network marketing if the field is taught how to advocate that great product properly and given realistic and effective sales training.
Network marketing must continually reinvent itself or become irrelevant. Today, it is in the same situation the computer industry found itself in 1984; it is in need of some reinvention. In 1984, the novelty of computers had worn off and there was not much relevant application to the non-big business consumer. Word processing was virtually non-existent and outside of the real geeks, nobody knew how to write code well enough to make the computer effective for everyday use. Apple, in particular, was desperately trying to make themselves relevant against computer giant IBM. To do so, in 1984 Apple started a revolution called Macintosh and ran a now-famous Superbowl ad featuring an athletic blond metaphorically blowing up big brother, IBM. It will take truly great products, priced properly, distributed within an education model and sold using real sales principles for MLM to truly reinvent itself. I hope Seacret Direct can help in that process.
Seacret has a great product line and pretty cool story. Founded by Israeli entrepreneurs it literally started from nothing. Co-founder, Robert Meirovich, told us that after he and his partners completed their required military service, they wanted to see the world and make some money. When they came to the United States, they saw an opportunity and have created a retail giant in only a few years. As word back home spread of their growing success, more Israeli nationals flocked to the United States to sell Dead Sea Salt products in Seacret’s kiosks in hundreds of malls. Today, with the stability of hundreds of millions of dollars of inventory in a stable distribution system and a partnership with the largest manufacturer of high end cosmetics and skin care in the world, Seacret has a world-class product line and stability to go with it.
In an effort to take advantage of network marketing’s goal of education based selling; Seacret Direct believes their product line has found the perfect home in network marketing. Seacret’s founders have hired a very impressive team, led by Rex Powers as CEO, Deborah Bursley from Amway as VP of Marketing and former Mary Kay top earner, Allison LaMarr, to lead the sales training.
Network marketing is not magical, it is predictable. Big money exists in MLM, but successful network marketers understand that focusing on the famous, but false idea of “getting your three and your are set” does not create generational wealth. Network marketing is about understanding and applying correct principles often and consistently if you have any realistic hope of making it big or even making a profit. After sitting down with Deborah Bursley, I was impressed with her vision for an already complete product line. I was equally impressed with Allison LaMarr’s approach she will teach to the already growing Seacret downline. Allison was Mary Kay’s youngest million-dollar earner and after listening to her presentation, I can see that she emphasizes true sales principles that are often neglected in network marketing.
Allison was clear with her belief that others could replicate her success in MLM when they truly understand the principle that, “We are not in the business of changing people’s minds. We are in the business of finding people who want to change.”
When new marketers begin direct sales for the first time, most are shocked to be rejected by loved ones and friends. Allison is right on the money when says that you are looking for people that you don’t have change. There are plenty of people who are ready to change career paths if you persistently look. Combined with Deborah’s vision of truly educating the consumer and Rex Power’s ability to find and empower the right people, Seacret has a formidable team in the works.
Robert and his partners started Seacret with very little, which is truly relatable to millions of would-be entrepreneurs. They have wisely chosen to fill the new division of their company with seasoned MLM professionals that can successfully navigate a new niche for their product line. Combined with a partnership with the largest manufacturer of high end cosmetics and skin care in the world, Seacret Direct has the makings of something special. I am rooting for them to help reinvent network marketing and bring it to a new age of responsible selling of a great product.
Very nice write up, Mr. Boyle. I enjoyed it.
When a sales trainer like Allison LaMarr, jumps from MLM to MLM why would anyone believe Seacret Direct is the “Best” opportunity out there?
Allison LaMarr’s recent stint as corporate trainer in Bellamora or Bella-No-Mora was less than stellar. Not at all sure why Seacret is banking on her.
I’ve worked for plenty of companyies that came down around my ears and I didn’t have anything to do with it. Blaming one person for the failure of a company is unfair. I’ve heard repeatedly that BellaMora was unstable and inadequately built. At least she picked a good one this time. We’re happy to have Allison.
Are these the rudely aggressive people at the mall kiosks?
And is this the Allison LaMarr who said about Mary Kay “the only way to fail is to quit”, before she herself quit??
Just trying to make sure I have it all straight.
I don’t believe at all that Allison LaMarr is the REASON Bella-No-More imploded. It was inadequately built as you say. Allison once said, “Mary Kay is the BEST business on the PLANET.” She used the exact same line in Bella-No-Mora. Will she use the identical line in Secret Direct? Time will tell… Time will tell. She also says the only way to fail is to quit. She’s done that TWICE. Will she quit a third time? Time will tell… Time will tell.
“When new marketers begin direct sales for the first time, most are shocked to be rejected by loved ones and friends.”
We don’t reject them, we love them dearly and will talk to them when they get their brains back. We reject having our current careers denigrated as being a “Journey of the Broke” and our lifestyles being sneered at as “mediocre”. We resent having every contact with the marketer turned into recruiting pitch. We refuse to hand over lists of friends to be invited to parties. We reject buying the MLMs overpriced, over-hyped products instead of the reasonably priced product from the local supermarket.
The Internet is a two-edged sword for MLMs. It makes it so clear to the rest of us just how many are out there, and how many serial “entrepeneurs” migrate like lemmings from start-up to start-up.
Lamarr is on her third MLM in just under a year and Bursley appears to have more experience with MLMs than Arnie has love children. I’m waiting for Dave Dubbs to show up and start bragging.
Thank you all for your comments to this article. As you can see, we have no problem allowing both positive and negative reactions to what I wrote.
Tsu Dho Nimh, I appreciate your concern about MLM. I believe that one of its biggest weaknesses continues to be overpriced product that would never sell outside of the opportunity to make money. Ms Campbell, I also appreciate your concern of movement from company to company.
I personally have a love/hate relationship with network marketing because of all the good and bad that I see in our industry. When I first joined as a college student I had high hopes for the ability to grow businesses with family and friends. In the last 18 years, I have seen some great things and some really bad things within this industry. I was impressed with what I saw at the Seacret function and their CEO, Rex Powers, seems very focused on creating a real value in the product.
I do not know the reasons Allison left Mary Kay. I do know that I saw a woman of passion that wants to make a difference in a company that needs somebody like her. I understand that she has made a considerable amount of money selling a quality product in Mary Kay. I hope that she makes Seacret a home for a considerable time and is able to bring profit to a company that is trying to improve its model.
I cannot make excuses for companies that thrash product value to make money. I can only hope that companies that have a real product line can really make a change. Similar to both of you, I have not seen all peaches and cream in MLM, I hope that open discussion can help companies continue to evaluate themselves and improve.
I also left the Seacret meeting quite impressed with their product line. I hope they will be a force of good.
Thank you for your comments.
Jeff – One cannot be an entrepreneur when one is selling someone else’s products under someone else’s rules, with the bulk of the cash flow flowing to someone else’s pockets. I would be reluctant to even calling in “owing a business”. At best one can be a highly paid shill and flunky for the MLM company.
Allison LaMarr’s real reasons for leaving Mary Kay, without even sticking around for long enough (5 years) to collect her 15 years of NSD retirement pay will never be known. But she left future income on the plate by leaving when she did.
Her income as an NSD was dropping steadily, according to the figures available from MK corp, and this probably lead to her admitting to being a “frustrated entrepreneur”. My own suspicion is that she was asked to leave for aggressively marketing her own sideline materials to the IBCs instead of putting that energy into recruiting and marketing the Mary Kay dream.
Bellamora was a victim of all the MLM lemmings who leapt into action at the first whiff of a new opportunity and dragged their downlines to the next best thing. The explosive growth the Internet made possible is also what torpedoed the company. They appear to have been caught short of cash to pay for samples and back office for all the people they recruited and make the payouts the top recruiters were pressuring them to make.
Before the Internet, the gripes would have been localized into small networks of personal relationships and the upline could do damage control on the sub-nets. But, they stupidly lost control of their web pages, their ISP shut off the back office, and they had no samples to sell from. Compounding the problems, the early-in lemmings had recruited too many strangers, created too many high expectations and didn’t have the relationships it takes for effective damage control. The lemmings leapt into the water and swam to the next MLM.
I don’t think Seacret will last long. I’ve been watching the life span of MLMs shrink as the Internet makes it possible to recruit faster, grow faster, and implode faster.
MLMs run into a well-known economic phenomenon called “low barrier to entry” … it’s cheap to get in. They also do not limit recruiting, in fact they heavily reward recruiting. So thousands of people join, and are encouraged to recruit their customers in order to build a downline. This destroys the customer base that profits are supposed to come from.