16 facts you need to know before you join Yanbal

Yanbal is a cosmetic MLM with a high-rollin’ founder who has found himself on the same lists as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. They have a new female CEO who’s all about getting women involved and bringing home the bacon.

Cosmetic products aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, that’s a given. Does this mean I’m involved?

This video explains everything:

Make sense? Either way, here’s 16 facts you need to know before you join Yanbal.

#16. Peruvian MLM

Yanbal was founded in Peru in 1967 by Juan Fernando Belmont Anderson.

They’ve still got a huge Latin American presence throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Bolivia, Spain, Italy, Venezuela, Colombia, and Paraguay, but they’ve also expanded to the USA.

#15. Old and established

They’re coming up on the big 5-0 mark, so they’ve made it over the hill. They’re present in 11 countries and have over half a million distributors.

#14. Consistently ranked in top 100 MLMs

They’ve been ranked in the top 100 for several years by Direct Selling News, hitting number 30 in 2016. This places them right next to Beachbody, Itworks!, and Advocare. Not a bad place to chill.

However, in 2014 they were ranked 20, so they are losing ground. [1]

#13. Big sales numbers

They can pump out sales numbers with the big boys. In 2015 they made it to $747 million in sales.

But again, they seem to be in a downturn. In 2014 they made $856 million in sales.

#12. Founder has been on the Forbes billionaire list

That’s right, he’s up there with Jeezy, Yeezy, and Weezy, and all the Lils (Wayne, John, Bow Wow…ok Lil Bow Wow probably isn’t a billionaire).

Well, sort of.

Yanbal founder Juan Fernando Belmont Anderson was on the Forbes billionaires list in 2013 and 2014, ranked #670 and #1465, respectively, after declaring his fortune to be valued at $2.2 billion. However…

#11. He fell off the billionaire list after 2014

Forbes figured out his company is an MLM and said that network marketing companies are usually valued at much lower numbers than mainstream cosmetic companies. The pyramid structure tends to inflate their demand and sales numbers, thus overvaluing their profit.

He has since fallen off the Forbes list. [2]

#10. Strong message

Yanbal is committed to empowering women and providing them with business opportunities. Back in 1967 when they got started, their goal was to “break a social paradigm” by proving that women can support their households and build their own businesses.

You know, I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T women. I can get behind that.

The message has been strengthened now that he’s passed the company to his own daughter, Janine Belmont, now the CEO of Yanbal.

#9. But do they really promote female empowerment?

Can a cosmetics company really empower women? It’s hard to say, given the history of marketing in the cosmetics industry.

And they’ve got some marketing and training materials that would make a lot of feminists raise an eyebrow.

For example, their training manuals in Peru are all about teaching distributors how to be (read: look like) the “ideal Yanbal woman”, complete with cartoons and diagrams of how she should dress and prepare herself.

They tell their distributors that they must “look impeccable at all hours of the day” and “always wear stockings even in hot climates”. [3]

While it makes sense that someone selling beauty products should look good, Yanbal’s methods might be outdated at best, and offensive at worse.

#8. Straight-forward, well-designed product

Although they started as a cosmetics company, and still focus heavily on that product line in Latin America, they’ve also developed a jewelry line that’s coming soon.

They also offer products for men and babies in Latin America, such as perfume/cologne and facial and body bath products.

In the U.S., however, they only offer jewelry. This line of products is truly global, created by New York designers, inspired by European stylings, and handcrafted in Peru and Colombia. The styles come in “fashion”, “timeless”, and “bridal”.

Many pieces are gold or silver plated and incorporate crystal or glass pearls. Their gold is 24k and certified with environmentally friendly production.

Shoppers are also offered a free personal stylist (a distributor), making their experience unique to most jewelry outlets.

Their products don’t really have anything unique or gimmicky to them, which could hurt their sales. But it also means they have a product that is clear and straight-forward, something many MLMs lack.

#7. Anyone can host a “boutique” party

One of two opportunities now available to Americans, you can “host a boutique”, which boils down to hosting a party where you help people style and try to sell the Yanbal jewelry. People can try it on together and shop in your living room.

Cute, but a little outdated.

This is something distributors encourage their customers to do. Distributors will then make commission off the party sales, while the hostess will get various rewards, such as product credits ranging from $30-300, a 50% discount on various items, and a potential bonus. [4]

#6. Their distributors are “style advisors”

You get to do more than just show your customers jewelry. Part of your job is to advise them on how to wear the jewelry and mix and match them for various outfits and occasions. [5]

This builds another level of trust that can help sales.

#5. You can be a walking advertisement

One great thing about selling jewelry is that, when you wear it, you’re marketing for yourself everywhere you go.

With most MLM products like supplements and cosmetics, women aren’t going to stop you to ask “what foundation are you wearing?” or “how did you get so fit?” But women stop each other all the time to compliment jewelry, which creates the perfect door to recruit someone as a hostess.

#4. Compensation plan is decent

Style advisors can earn up to 35% commission on sales, but most earn 25%-30% plus occasional bonuses.

They pump up their newbies by providing a lot of initial bonuses to jumpstart their motivation. Within the first month, style advisors can earn various product credits and small cash bonuses, but it slows down quickly for most unless they start recruiting heavily.

Pay overrides are offered on up to three levels down, 6-10% on the first line, 2-5% on the second, and 3% on the third, but you have to get up to the higher statuses to get paid on your third line.

#3. Balanced focus

Based on their marketing materials and training presentations, there seems to be a pretty balanced focus on the three components of network marketing: sales, recruitment, and training/leadership. [6]

This is good news, as MLMs that focus almost solely on recruitment and leave out sales and training are pretty much doomed to fail.

#2. Expensive starter kit

The starter kit is a little spendy at $199 – but it does include various products such as necklaces, earrings, bracelets, as well as training materials. The overall product value of the kit is unclear.

#1. Monthly auto-ships

Although the contract makes it clear to distributors, marketing materials imply the cost is a one-time fee when it’s actually a product subscription that needs to be paid monthly.

And cancellation is harder than just clicking a few buttons – the contract states that they must be submitted in writing. [7]

Recap

Money making potential here? It could be possible, if you worked at it enough.

If you are all about the product and have a method of getting leads that can be scaled, Yanbal isn’t a bad choice.

But if it’s solely the side income opportunity you’re chasing and you like automated ways to build passive income, there are better ways.

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