How to be diplomatic?

A question about : How to be diplomatic?

I've had a family member recently sign up to one of these Multi Level Marketing jobs selling various health products and now I'm required for a chat.

I really don't agree with these kind of companies as no one I know who has been involved in such a thing has ever made any money. They just strike me as a bit of a scam and rely more on recruitment than the product being any good.

How do you distance yourself from this kind of thing without seeming unsupportive of your family member? I don't want to upset anyone but I really don't want any part of it.

All advice gratefully received.

Best answers:

• Hiya
  How close is the family member? I mean are they living in your home?
  If some whare else I like to say you cannot live their lives for them.
  With our son and daughters we have come to an understanding - they listen to our good advice and then make up there own minds.
  How do you distance yourself = learn to zip it! keep quiet.
• Hiya, no we don't live in the same home but it is a close family member. I don't really want to have to have the conversation with them but I know it will come. I work in sales myself but for a reputable company who do not rely on a business model such as this but I know sales can be tough. What to do...what to do...
• Can you just be straight with her?
  Tell you wish her all the best with her new venture but you personally don't agree with that kind of marketing so you'd rather not be involved with it. Tell her you have researched it so you know you won't change your mind. But hey - you still love her and want her to do well. So .... lets talk about something else.
• Just say, 'I wish you luck with it but it's not for me'.
• Ohhh noooo how awkward....i detest being invited to Body Shop parties..... Jamie Oliver at Home etc etc...at least these are not hosted by members of my family and i lie and say i am at work....poor you x
• I agree that it is best to be straight right from the start, using the broken record technique if necessary. Keep repeating "I wish you all the best with this, but it is not for me."
• Thanks folks. I think I was hoping for some miracle way of getting out of it but looks like it's time to grow a pair.
• Encourage her sideways but claim a deceased relative's advice to "never mix business with family".
  Almost anyone on the properties board would say don't rent/lease to family, so there are plenty of names to borrow for your relative if you haven't a Polonius somewhere on the family tree already...
• I would suggest that you try to avoid getting into discussions of the business model. You are not going to buy stuff you don't want as charity just because s/he is a relative. This is harder of course if you do use similar stuff.
• Any business model that relies on a person's friends and family all regularly buying things they don't want is going to fail - everybody will "let her down" sooner or later. And if it does happen to be a great product at a great price, she won't need your custom.
  It's easier to opt out before you start than to try to extract yourself later. I doubt you'll be the only person who says thanks but no thanks. She'll be more upset if you were one of the few that she was pinning her hopes on than if you are one of the many who say no right away.
• You could point them at this video by Penn & Teller, is a great take down of multi-level marketing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncwj9iZ2oJ0
  The sound is a little off to prevent it being swiped for copyright reasons, but it's still very watchable.
• I'm afraid I was blunt when a member of hubby's family got involved, I said 'My neighbour got involved with this company, I was very sad when they lost their home after it failed'.
  Hester
• Hester, I am blunt myself and can easily say 'no'- which probably explains why I don't usually need to! Other, softer, people seem easier targets for emotional blackmail or quickly give in to pestering.
• I don't normally struggle saying no to this kind of thing but it's a bit different when it's someone close who you don't want to upset.
• If you are in a job already, say that your contract expressly prohibits other employment
  I see these recruitment drives on local Facebook pages. As soon as you argue with these people they turn very nasty. One girl said her business was going so well she has reduced her hours as a freelance hairdresser.
• Is this Forever Living perchance?
• It seems very much like Forever Living; it seems the world and his wife are doing this. A friend sent me an, obviously cut and pasted, generic message asking me to get involved. I just said I was too busy.
• Well the Forever Living thing just seems to be a bunch of people who haven't worked very hard in life and think face booking and hounding friends and family is the answer to their bank balance.
  When the patience of friends, family and neigbbours runs out its time to get more saps to work for you and every sale they make you earn a percentage.
  Any advert you read never tells you what the product is but the forever living appears to consist of Ј120 a week diet packs. To be honest Exante has the same end result for a months worth at the same price
  I expect a few a forever living sales people will come on here and say how wonderful running aloe Vera into your scrotum does wonders for fertility but at the end of the day the cost of the product includes a very high mark up.
  I have bookmarked these Facebook people who say they are doing well and will have a nose next year to see whether they are still living in their state subsidised homes driving delapidated Vauxhalls. One even tried to convert me but I politely told her I don't need extra income
  Next year they will have probably moved on to Avon, Kleeneze, Body Shop at Home, so they can sit at home on their backside hoping to make The Sunday Times Rich List in 2067.