Willy Loman never made a good salesman. In fact, the tragic character in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” succumbed to his own deteriorating mental state before he made any profit. Loman was not a people person, but recent ASU graduate Alex Morton certainly is. Morton makes close to $100,000 a year selling energy drinks for Vemma and recruiting anyone else he meets to join the business. It takes a certain kind of person to push the right product, and Morton appears to fit the mold.
It’s not easy to recruit for a company continuously scrutinized as a pyramid scheme — and in some sense, it is. Vemma representatives order the company’s products and recruit members whose sale earns their recruiter a bonus to sell and encourage more sellers. In this cycle, more people are growing at the bottom of the company’s hierarchy than those who have achieved at the top. But the possibility of making money still exists, especially for those who understand how to sell.
Like any business where a product is being sold, a certain level of performance is expected. The people hired to represent the brand need to exhibit a certain set of skills, regardless of whether pestered consumers deem those admirable. A person who can sit down and convince someone they need a particular doohickey and why they need to pay money to have it is in demand. Typically, however, these people are self-selecting and seek out jobs where this particular skillset is needed.
Companies that give a monetary reward for recruiting other sellers deviate from this healthy hiring behavior by creating an atmosphere where people who are not “salesmen” are entranced by the get-rich-quick mantra and end up failing as a result.
But is it the fault of the pyramid scheme or the ill-suited employee?
One of the key benefits of a college campus is having a career center where professionals can help students acknowledge their strengths or weaknesses and guide them to a job that will realistically work after graduation. Even in spite of this, it can be easy to forget that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
So the next time someone says, “I earned $10,000 a day just by sitting on the couch,” be aware: it takes more footwork in the beginning to be a bum later.
Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.
Follow The State Press on Twitter or like us on Facebook.
