Kim Klaver attacks Nuskin, Amway, and Herbalife
Just last week I mentioned Kim Klaver has been promoting her own MLM company.
Kim Klaver is a well respected MLM trainer. She’s been in the industry for 15 years and has a great reputation.
Unfortunately in the last year she has started her own MLM company and has started advertising for “dissatisfied” networkers to join her in her company. These are people that YOU and I recommended to her because she was a generic MLM trainer. We didn’t have to worry about her targetting our downline. Now that she has her own company she is targetting our downline even if she is doing it in a “nice” way.
Here’s where she got into trouble this week. She’s saying some pretty harsh things about some big network marketing companies.
(post 1 - her initial rant about Nuskin) (post 2 - her follow up). She also had several previous negative posts about: Mannatech, YTB, Freelife, USANA, and Shaklee
I don’t disagree. In fact I agree with some of her opinions of these big MLM companies.
The real problem is when you are starting a company looking for dissatisfied networkers, then you go out and openly attack these other companies… Of course you’re going to rattle some cages and get some people to second guess themselves. Then they become dissatisfied and they join your new little MLM you’re promoting.
Is this acceptable?
To you my loyal reader and fellow networker…
Do you recommend people to Kim Klaver for her training?
Will you still recommend people to her now that you know she has started her own MLM company, AND that she is openly writing about this and promoting this MLM company to her list?
What do you think?
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No, unfortunately I won’t be sending people to her site anymore. Here’s a comment I posted on her site, (don’t know if it will get posted there or not) but here it is below..
Kim, I’ve admired your new school approach to Network Marketing training for several years now. Your blog was something I could recommend to my group to get good advice on how to talk to people.
However that changed when you started your own MLM company.
Using this “generic” training blog to recruit for your new “tiny start up” as you have done more and more recently is as old school as it gets.
It’s a serious breach to recruit others who were sent to your site in good faith by people who trusted you to offer training. For you to now prospect them as well no mater how “new-school nice” you do it, is to violate that trust.
It casts a shadow over all your other good work, makes me now question your motives for many of your posts and ultimately tarnishes your reputation. At the end of the day your reputation is all you have.
Unfortunately I will not be able to continue to recommend your blog and website because of this violation of trust.
With Deep Regrets,
Carl LaFlamme
P.S. Your offhand comments about Shaklee were at best uninformed, at worst a targeted smear. If you knew Roger Barnett at all you wouldn’t have said what you did.
Ben,
It’s not the first time that a “generic” MLM trainer has done this, and attrition is expected when a well-known and respected trainer gets involved with a new MLM company. People will flock to work with them.
My first reaction is that this is unprofessional. Yes, Kim has done all the work to build a list and the money is in that list. However, there was a “trust” that leaders placed in her when they recommended her training to them and this is a slap in their faces.
My second thought is that those that “jump” to her opportunity, are better off in her down line then yours.
I’m sure that this isn’t one of the tactics that Kim taught in her trainings. How to promote yourself as a “generic” trainer, build your list and then raid down lines of all your leads.
As far as her opinions on other companies. She should have provided that information to her subscribers when they were first introduced to her. An unbiased opinion about the good/bad of MLM companies would go a long way, but then she wouldn’t have been able to raid the down lines of every MLM. In my opinion, anything that Kim Klaver says should be taken with a grain of salt.
No, I will not refer people to her at all.
I’ve been around the network marketing/MLM world for years (since the days when we called it Multi-Level) and I even met my wonderful husband through one. Anytime there is money in the mix, there will be sharks and “whores”. (I’m not cursing, it’s an industry term.)
It’s a shame that some people will always look for ’short cuts’ and ‘backdoors’ but that seems to be a part of any moneymaking industry.
Live and learn!
hi ben–
no what kim is doing is unethical.
and she shot herself in the foot in the process.
good ethics would dictate that she honor all companies and everyone else working tirelessly to promote their passions!!!
i was introduces to “mindset” in MLM many years ago.
apparently, kim never learned these self-less principles.
kate loving shenk
I followed the link to her post where she mentions Shaklee. It really shows you something when she just made an “off hand comment” as Carl said and all of the comments she has allowed to be posted are in defense of Shaklee and the CEO (Roger Barnett).
Whether she meant to or not, she picked a fight with her own customer base who now see her in little dimmer light. It’s one thing to generate controversy on blog - it’s quite another to alienate the people who support you.
This just highlights the fragile nature of any MLM business. Even if you manage to build a large downline it can and probably will be taken away from you at some point in time. One reason why I only ever integrate my MLM activities into an overall business strategy and never rely totally on it.
I don’t see what the big deal is. If your distributor is dissatisfied with your business, why not have them go elsewhere? (Oh, right, you need their volume.)
Anway, I know for a personal fact Kim isn’t poaching from her blog. I sent in a request to get more information about here company, and because I wasn’t qualified, she completely left it alone.
What’s the upside of what Kim is doing? She created some excellent copy that all of us can use in an ad to attract qualified network marketers!
You know, I love what network marketing is supposed to represent and what it can and has done to help people to work from home. What really frustrates me is when people are dishonest or ugly towards others to profit. What’s the point?
I wonder about her myself. I often leave comments on her site which are very positive because she has some great insight. there is never any negative there. But she has yet to publish one. Could it be a good old girls club?
Here is what i think about the issue. We cannot blame Kim for what she has done. If the people trust her because of her generic training, its these people’s decision. We can never blame anyone for what happened to us. Besides we cannot blame Kim for what she has done. We cannot say that it is right or it is wrong, besause we se the world through different set of eyes. I bet that Kim thinks that what she has done is ethical.
So again guys, be resonsible with your decision. You were the ones who made the decision to join Kim’s training right?
This is why we live in America. It is a free enterprise. Kim Klaver Rocks. Kim if you can build a fantastic MLM and create momentum and growth the right way. Then……….where do I sign UP!!!!!
Kathy
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Ben, i used to work with Nu SKin so i know how good the people are there. there are issues with the industry that we will always have to deal with, until certain standards are created. Between the Glavanic Spa and their Life Pak Nano, at least they have good technology. better than some mainstream companies!