Friday, January 6, 2017

The secret behind Seacret Direct’s success

You know those sales people at mall kiosks who hound you every time you walk by practically begging you to let them scrub your hand with their miracle hand cream so that you, too, can experience the skincare wonders of the dead sea?

Welcome to Seacret Direct.

They’re a cosmetic themed MLM and they’re pretty hot right now. Does this mean I’m involved?

This video explains everything:


Make sense? Either way, here’s the full review on Seacret Direct.

Overview

They may have started out as a mall kiosk – the only thing more annoying than MLM – but it worked for them. They pretty much started the dead sea craze in skincare and cosmetics back in 2005 when they opened shop in Phoenix, AZ.

Seacret Direct was founded and run by two brothers, Izhak Ben Shabat and Mordechai Ben Shabat. They’re really the quintessential American Dream story.

The brothers originally immigrated to the United States from Israel in 2000 for medical school, but, inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit of the U.S., they started dreaming about having their own company instead. The brothers tried everything from an ice cream truck to mall kiosks that sell children’s toys during the holidays that grossed over $4 million. [1]

But they really struck gold when they started selling their Dead Sea products, inspired by their homeland, in mall kiosks.

Within only 5 years they were global, with hundreds of outlets in almost 20 countries and were pushing over $500 million in sales since launch. [2] Some of their biggest markets are outside of the U.S. in places like Australia and Korea. [3]

Now they’re a billion dollar company pushing over 12,000 consultants and a massive $100 million in annual revenue. [4] They’ve got an A+ rating with the BBB and 4.34 out of 5 stars for customer reviews, and they’ve been featured in Business Wire and Business2Community for their innovative marketing techniques. [5] [6]

Like any MLM, they have a few potentially fatal flaws. One of their biggest appears to be their management style and corporate culture. They’ve got a 2.1 employee rating on glass door, and some of the worst employee reviews I’ve seen from people who worked at corporate.

According to reviews, former employees seem to agree that the upper-level management running the company is made up of people who are inexperienced, unrealistic, mean, unethical, and even abusive. One former employee goes so far as to recommend working there only “if you want to see what PTSD feels like”. [7]

Products

If it’s an MLM, it’s got to have a gimmicky ingredient from some far off land.

With Seacret Direct, it’s about as exotic and legendary as it gets: The Dead Sea.

According to the company, the Dead Sea contains 26 essential minerals, and 12 of those minerals don’t exist in any other ocean in the world. These 12 minerals provide benefits for relaxation, skin nourishment, and healing in ways that no other minerals can. [8]

They’ve got a whole drug store worth of dead sea skincare products, from cleansers and exfoliators to moisturizers and nail products to masks and hand creams. Their skincare lines include…

Facial Solutions

Their line of facial care products includes facial soap and face wash, CC creams and cosmetic products, makeup remover, eye creams, and mud masks. They range from $17 for a bar of mud soap to a whopping $240 for a “mineral rich magnetic mud mask”.

Body Solutions

This is their line of body care products, including body lotions, soaps, foot and hand creams, salt scrubs, and mud therapy products. The body products range from around $16-$50.

Age-Defying

Their line of age-defying products include anti-aging serums, eye creams, and face masks. They range all the way up to $315.

Re-Cover

The Re-Cover line is only available in Canada, but according to Seacret Direct, it’s so popular that the delivery is backed up at least 14 days at all times. They claim that the product literally unfolds the wrinkles in your skin.

Opportunity

The starter kit is $49, which is reasonably affordable. Reps get 30% commission on personal sales, on average, which is less than more established MLMs like Arbonne (35%). [1]

Seacret Direct runs on a binary compensation plan and offer reps 5 ways to earn cash.

Retail Sales

Commission on personal sales ranges from 30%-150% according them, but basically, your commission rate is 30%. A little below average.

Preferred Customer Program

Preferred customers get a discount for ordering on monthly auto-ship, and distributors get 25% of their monthly auto-ship orders which means…passive residual income, every money chaser’s dream. This is the honey pot when it comes to the compensation plan, but landing preferred customers is not easy. Especially when their products are overpriced.

Team Commission

Team commission is the other big ticket item here. You can earn 10-15% on your lesser leg, or even more if you move up high enough in rank.

Leadership Check Match Bonus

This is the holy grail of all bonuses. It’s not easy to get, but if you hit it, you’ve hit the jackpot. If you become a Bronze Director, you get a percentage (up to 20%) of every other Bronze Director’s check in your downline sent to your bankroll.

Performance Bonus

These are your typical car bonuses, lifestyle bonuses, and rank advancement bonuses.

Recap

Overall, this is a pretty solid MLM. They’ve managed to really skyrocket their growth in just over a decade, and they seem to be here to stay.

Their products, while overpriced, are well-reviewed and established. Their commission rates are mediocre but they offer some really great bonuses. That being said, those really great bonuses are only for the very, very special few who manage to get to the top.

Like most MLMs, there’s money to be made, but 99.9% of the people working here aren’t seeing it.

I’m not saying you would never make money with these guys. But they’re still an MLM and those kind of companies have a history of getting really hot and then falling off a few years later.

If you like automated ways to build passive income, there are better ways.

(and you can trash those old MLM habits, too)



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