USANA Prospect Question: Is USANA a Scam?

I don't think I have had a prospect ask the question if USANA is scam in years and years and years.  However,  I am able to track what people are searching for and asking about on the internet with our online marketing knowledge and one of the most searched terms on USANA is "USANA scam." This isn't a bad thing, it's natural, it happens and believe or not, most Fortune 500 customers deal with this every single day.

It's hard to believe people even ask the question, but maybe they have heard of USANA from someone and don't know anything about it, so they search USANA scam on the internet not knowing any better. That said, I feel it's my job as a distributor in the USANA to set the record straight and to help any of you that may get this question.

Definition of "Scam"

Let use Wikipedia's definition since they often come up in most search results:

"A confidence trick (synonyms include confidence scheme and scam) is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence. "

So Is USANA a Scam?

NO!

I think this is pretty obvious.  USANA isn't attempted to defraud anyone. They are manufacturing, distributing, and selling Health, Wellness, and Nutrition products.  

USANA is a publicly-traded stock on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). I would doubt investors (and institutional investors as a part of that group) would continue to invest money into USANA if it was defrauding people.

It has been in business for over 20 years, has hundreds of employees, and has been voted numerous times as a Best Place to Work for by Outdoor magazine.  

Can you see with this knowledge in hand how outlandish this question is?

So, what does USANA even get put in the same sentence as Scam?

I feel it's the business model that USANA has chosen to distribute their products and that's network marketing, multi-level marketing, mlm, relationship marketing, direct sales, or whatever term you want to use.  Some people try to say that network marketing isn't multi-level marketing, but that isn't a true statement (or they are confused).  Are we paid by people levels down? Yes. We are.  

The problem with network marketing (like any other business including real estate firms, law firms, dentists, doctors, car repair shops) is that unfortunately their are dishonest people out there and in network marketing, we have had our share over the years.

In addition, the network marketing industry has caused a bit of it's own problem by constant focusing on recruiting and weighting the compensation plan in favor of recruiting people as a means to move product as opposed to getting customers to move product.  I am proud to say that USANA pays the same commission on $200 worth of products  whether the person is a customer or a distributor.

Nevertheless, a lot of the network marketing community (and the the thousands of companies included in it) aren't like USANA, so understand WE (USANA) are going to get lumped into that group.

So, maybe, someone or someone they knew felt "defrauded" or "scammed" even though no laws were broken by the "scammer" in the situation.

This is why USANA as network marketing company gets put in the same sentence as scam, because we are network marketing company, we are proud of that in the distributor field, but we must understand and be ready for the misconceptions that are out there.

What can we do get rid of the word "scam" being put in the same sentence as USANA?

1) You can know your facts (and this article is a great place to start), so when someone asks the question or you see a post on a forum that references USANA in this light, you can intelligently, unemotionally address that response.

2) Start building a customer base in your business. In the Integritas Group community, we teach our team to get 20 customers and teach your downline to get 20 customers, so we have a business built on moving products through customers.  Sponsoring people is great and I have sponsored a lot of people (I have nothing against it), but let's get customers too as USANA associates.  We have a great customer course and RESET and Healthpak marketing methods that can help you move product.

3) If a prospect ever asks you a question like "Is USANA a scam, I have read that USANA is a scam, is it a Pyramid" or any other question that shows clear misunderstanding of the network marketing business model and USANA, then ask them "What do you mean by that? What is a scam / pyramid to you?"  Get the perspective on it and understand what THEY are thinking, so you can address the thought they have in THEIR head not what YOU think they are thinking.  This is objection handling rule #1.

Conclusion

USANA Health Sciences has been the best thing to happen to a lot of us in the USANA family, but you must understand that your prospects or people writing stuff on the internet don't have your reality on USANA. They haven't been taking our products, they haven't attended convention, and they may not know that we have been in business for over 20 years and are publicly-traded on the world's most respected stock exchange.  

If you keep that in mind, stay unemotional, have the facts, you will be equipped to set the record straight on USANA.