March 20th, 2011 | 
Author: 
A new Direct Sales company launched a few days ago and for the purpose of this blog post I am going to refer to the company as JANEDOE.
I have been in Direct Sales for over 25+ years and I love direct sales. However, there is a right and a wrong way to go about promoting your business.
When a new Direct Sales company launches we all realize that the reps and consultants are excited about the new opportunity they are involved with and that is fantastic. However…many of these reps & consultants get overly excited and start promoting their new business and the new JANEDOE company incorrectly. What do I mean?
Well, the new JANEDOE company launched this week and since the company launched me and hundreds of other people have been repeatedly spammed via email by overly-excited reps that we do NOT know. These reps are spamming hundreds if not thousands of online home business sites and blogs. In addition, many of us are finding this JANEDOE company info spammed to us on Twitter, Facebook and in blog comment posts.
While all of the new reps are excited about their new company business it is STILL ILLEGAL to send out emails to people you do NOT know & within that email is an announcement about you, your JANEDOE company and their FREE sign-up biz oppty offer is WRONG! It doesn’t matter that your email starts off with…Let me introduce myself and my new JANEDOE company to you, it is STILL email spam. Let me repeat myself…
IT IS ILLEGAL TO SEND EMAIL TO PEOPLE YOU DO NOT KNOW OFFERING THEM A CHANCE TO JOIN YOUR NEW DIRECT SALES COMPANY! (it doesn’t matter if it costs or if it’s free). SPAM IS SPAM and hundreds of us are getting fed up with this.
Does the newly launched company hold any responsibility in this? Yes they do! It should be CLEARLY stated in any and all sign-up information for this JANE DOE company that reps may not send emails to people they do not know offering them the business opportunity. Established companies make it clear that their consultants are forbidden to spam others on the internet and this new JANEDOE company needs to clamp down on this immediately. In the 5 days since launch, I know personally that I have been spammed via email numerous times by new reps and spammed numerous time via Twitter and blog comments. When I griped about this on Twitter, at least 20+ other direct sales professionals answered my tweet to tell me that they are also getting spammed by JANEDOE company’s reps.
Dear direct sales consultants with any business….it is unprofessional, it is tacky and it is ILLEGAL to send out spam emails and messages to people you do not know offering them a chance to join your paid or free home business opportunity. Please…conduct yourself in a professional manner and you will see that professionalism is what gets you the new team members.
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Posted in Business Basics, Direct Sales, Recruiting | 
Tags: business sense, direct sales, home party consultants, Recruiting, team leaders
Exactly Shelly, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
As we mentioned on Twitter, I don’t believe the consultants “didn’t know” what they were doing was wrong. They just hoped they could do it, get 100′s of people in their “downline” and make lots of money.
Aside from being illegal, tacky and wrong, it also made me form a negative opinion about the company. Especially since their launching with a FREE opportunity. Of course, how could they ask people to pay for the opportunity when they still aren’t selling any merchandise.
From all aspects, this is actually one of those “opportunities” that looks like a scam.
Hopefully, many will see this post and stop what their doing.
Thanks for stepping up with this post Shelly, I have one scheduled to go out tomorrow about the same thing :)
I have heard from many of people about this spam! Fortunately I haven’t gotten any but I’ve had my shore over the years of junk like that.
I think Janedoe has a very bad reputation and will not last long after it starts.
No integrity= no respect=no growth
Thank you ladies for your comments! This blog post was made for a few reasons: Many of the JANEDOE reps are spamming my blog via comments which I moderate & don’t let through. Secondly, they are sending me emails which is for those who want to advertise here, not for them to spam their FREE business oppty at me. I am fed up with this. This company needs to get a GRIP on their reps and tell them to quit spamming folks online who they don’t know.
They can email me…but it better be because they want ad space on my site and not because they want me to join.
AMEN! If I wanted to join or get more information, I would have looked at the first 100 or so emails I received, not the last!
Exactly Ann! I understand those reps being excited about joining a newly launced business…but hundreds of them running around spamming direct sales blogs, work at home mom boards and so forth is not the way to go at all.
I just want to clarify you guys are complaining about networking sites. People advertise with everything on all those sites. That is open invite for everything & anything. Boards/wahm sites. It’s all part of the virtual world of networking. If ya don’t want to read it or hear about it. Then don’t read that post. When receiving emails via your “website”. That is an open invite as well. It’s not like a corporate business that will sue you. I sure hope some consultant of any business would have “knowledge” not to be messaging corporate business’s website. Then again, if ya want to try to sue that person for contacting about any opportunity then be my guest. I would LOVE to hear how that battle ends.
Mandy,
Did you read my post? I mean…really read it? It is ILLEGAL according to the FTC to send out emails to folks you don’t know offering them the chance to join bamboopink or any other company for that matter. I have received 38+ and counting now via email. It is called SPAM and it’s illegal. Just because my email is on this web site…doesn’t give anyone the right to spam their business oppty to me. The email is there for folks to contact me should they wish to purchase advertising. It does not say CONTACT ME & SPAM YOUR BUSINESS TO ME. I might not be able to afford suing all of the reps emailing their spam to me…but I certainly can have their email accounts CLOSED since every email provider has strict rules regarding sending spam messages to folks you don’t know. I could care less if you all post spam messages on message boards…be my guest in doing that…but it is ILLEGAL to send emails to folks who don’t know you nor did they request that info from you. PERIOD
All companies need to have plenty of training materials available to representatives on how to collect their own leads in a manner that is ethical.
They also need to place strong restrictions on spamming and lay down the hammer on those who do. People will continue to do what they want as long as they feel that they can get by with it.
Truthfully, they’re just not “thinking” about how it makes them look to send spam. Do they think we’ll feel positive about receiving it and sign up? Perhaps they might get a lead here or there, but it’s certainly no way to build a business…when your reputation is damaged it’s almost impossible to repair!
Shelly,
I’m sure lots of people are getting “spam” emails a day from all kinds of people when they have a business website up. I know your not the only one out there. It’s a lot harder than ya think to just close people’s email accounts. They also have to look into your side & the other side too. Anyone can call these email providers up and say so & so is sending spam mail to me. It works both ways. Who knows if the person calling in is being vindictive or not. So they always say we look into it. I had that issue with pampered chef when we had websites started years back. They couldn’t do anything about it. I had my email listed which is an open invite to junk mail. You are opening yourself up by saying “IT’S OKAY TO CONTACT ME”. They just responded telling me how to use the spam folder & delete option.
Mandy,
I am really not sure who taught you how to network on the internet, but your methods are illegal and that is why so many people are pissed off right now at this whole mess. WTH continue if you are being told it is wrong. You are promoting a new company in a way that will hurt them in the long run. People have LONG memories on the internet and many of us who have been her for 8, 10 yrs and more have seen many a direct sales business crash and burn with actions such as yours. If it is your intention to destroy the reputation of your new business, keep doing what you are doing. Soon you will be kicked off of all of the forums, lose followers and have your email shut down. Not an easy way to do business.
Mandy…like I said, you are really ‘clueless’ on how to market a direct sales business.
I can assure you that I have reported spammers to their email providers and I have had their email accounts closed and done so easily.
(Smacks hand against forehead) Jeeze……
I’m late to the party, but Shelly is right, it’s illegal. 8-10 years ago, SPAM was a huge problem, firstly, because it was a new term and no one really knew what the heck it was, and secondly, ISP’s didn’t really know how to handle incidents of it, or clearly define it, since only in 1997 did the internet become popular and accessable to all. Maybe they didn’t WANT to handle it…it was a great new thing, this internet and email, you could communicate with family overseas without the cost of postage or a surprize telephone bill…why should they care if someone (or a couple thousand someone’s) were getting unwanted email from people they didn’t know? I’ll tell you why…. complaints would go unanswered, or worse, these people would be told they could do nothing about it, get ticked off, and go with another internet service provider. Uh oh…now company A just lost a paying customer to go to their competition, Company B. Then the complaints and reports of being scammed would come in. Some poor prince in a far away land is being held captive and must pay the bad guys 10 thousand dollars to be set free and save his family….will you help this poor soul???
Since then, the definition, policies and laws regarding spam have become very clear, especially in the wake of identity theft and fraud.
On another end, Chris is right in what she said about those on the internet having long memories, ESPECIALLY in the WAHM community. Some of us have been building our business on the net for over 10 years, and, like Shelly, have gained a solid reputation within the community. If someone is spamming, word will get out, and that rep along with her company will quickly be dismissed as unethical. That, I am assuming, is not your intended goal for your new business. If you want to build a successful business, while getting the word out, write articles, give advice, learn every single thing about your product or service and offer some insight. For example, If your with a gormet mixes company or kitchen wares company, write recipe articles with a signature tag and short bio…submit that to sites. If you’re with a cosmetics or skin care company, submit beauty tips. Long before the internet existed, there have been plenty of individuals who made a huge success out of their direct sales, MLM, and Party Plan businesses. The key is building rapport, and you’re not going to get that by sending unwanted, unsolicited emails. Customers (especially online) but from companies and brands they have come to know and trust.
*buy from….ooops!