"Didn't you just make 6A? Didn't you just reach the pinnacle of the comp plan?" Well, not exactly. The pinnacle no longer really exists, I explained. Just one of many reasons for this decision.
"They changed the comp plan last year," I told her. And that's a story in itself, I chuckled to myself. I'll have to tell you about it some time. "No retirement ... you have to sell 15 machines per quarter DIRECT to get the bonuses, and those are now a pittance compared to what they told us," I explained. "And they don't kick in until I reach 6A2 or something, and by the time I get there, they'll probably change it again." [If you are a 6A2 reading this, I don't have to tell you how much you've been screwed, and you know that you and those at your position are truly peeved right now. Am I right? You can comment below.]
"But, but, but .... I thought you would NEVER sell anything else because of the outstanding quality and results you and others were getting .... what happened????"
Ah, there's the rub, I thought. Yes, I BELIEVED with all my heart the stories about the highly touted platinum coated titanium plates in the engine of the SD501 ... the electrolysis chamber. And they are mostly true, although ALL water ionizers on the market until just recently have serious problems with plate deterioration, scale and rusting. Most definitely, the SD 501 stands up extremely well to the mesh plate ionizers that present the most direct competition. But what I had learned in over a year of investigation and journalistic research had educated me about the history of ionized water, who made what, and what the differences were. And what I learned at first shocked me, angered me, and deeply disappointed me about Enagic and its founder, Mr. O.
So it took a long time, and the decision to leave this behind was not made impulsively. But providentially, I was recently in the right place at the right time to evaluate some innovative smart technology before it was actually introduced to the world. I was able to see that a water ionizer could in fact produce identical if not better results (in terms of what we can physically measure - pH, -ORP, surface tension, free hydrogen and those amazing bubbles) and be sold at a retail price of half that of the SD501 with an extremely generous distributor compensation plan.
And once I saw what I saw ... tried the water as they say ... for a month, I simply could not ethically or morally sell another SD501. And once I made that decision, it opened the door of my mind to allow me to dig deeper, ask more questions, and learn more about how the wool was pulled over my eyes (and yours if you are an Enagic distributor.)
So I started this blog to share what I have learned, and what I will learn in the future as I continue to uncover stinking piles of doodoo left behind by Enagic leadership spinning the myth of the 'superior' Japanese technology to support the mark-up that pays the distributor network to sell machines. Darn it, I loved that comp plan! It made sense! I defended it wholeheartedly. And gosh darnit, I worked very hard for that money ... spent hours educating my prospects, holding their hands, installing their machines, following up ... and losing at least one sale for every one I made to the competition and their lies (yes, they definitely do lie as well or better than Enagic top leaders, but some of what they say is actually true.)
And then having to teach my customers how to read inscrutable instructions on how to CLEAN the machine ... not every 6 months like we were told when I started, but EVERY OTHER WEEK if they lived in hard water areas (which means more than half of North America.) And sending it in to be 'deep cleaned' once a year - not just if I didn't follow the cleaning instructions. Oh, and finding out that most people who bought a machine (not from me, of course) were never told to run 5.5 pH beauty water for 3-5 minutes a day.
And finally, dealing with the inscrutable and impossible to understand Japanese customer service and tech department who could never explain to me why I was NOT getting a decent -ORP where I lived and how to fix that problem.
One thing I have learned is this: All ionizers on the market ... solid plate or mesh ... have one thing in common. They don't do well in hard water. And they REALLY hate iron ... it rusts and destroys the ability to make -ORP water. Is iron common in the US? You betcha. So that superior Japanese technology was not so superior after all ... but wasn't it better than 'the competition?'
Depends. If it's mesh plate, yes. I'll talk more about that in another entry. But guess what? Enagic's mythical founder Mr. O owns a bunch of companies and he goes to great lengths to obscure or obfuscate that fact ... and he has been selling essentially THE SAME ionizer through these companies IN THE US for some time. It all busted open last year when Enagic distributors were solicited by US importers for Sanastech. Sanastech is Enagic's parent company ... it's on their corporate history page on the web site. And more recently when we learned that Amega [the Zero Point Energy wand start-up (read: Chinese fire drill) MLM that costs 4 to 8 times more than identical wands bought elsewhere on the internet ;-)] was importing 5 plate ionizers made by Toyo Tech owned by ..... tah dah .... Mr. O.
"Fed up are you," Yoda said, with a smile. Yep, fed up. (Yoda is what I call the wise voice in my head.) But I had dedicated my life to this pursuit and it paid the bills. So back to the question:
What the Heck Are You Doing?
The answer has many parts, many subtle layers of flavor, many stories of intrigue, and most of all a story of technological innovation and quality improvement. So I'll stop this first post now - it's dinner time - and come back to the history of this monumental decision in a bit.
I'd love your comments. But be reasonable - I can moderate you. We don't need to be nasty to one another. We might be working on the same team in this new company some day ;-).
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