Rodan and Fields Business Opportunity Review: A Pyramid Scheme Perhaps?

Wondering if Rodan and Fields is a good business opportunity or if it’s just another pyramid scheme-ish scam? This review does justice to what this company is all about.

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An Overview of Rodan and Fields (R&F)

Let me start by explicitly stating that the whole point of this review is to help people decide if the business opportunity presented by Rodan+Fields is a good one. This is a review of the business opportunity rather than individual products.

In order to be thorough in this business opportunity review, we will be talking a little bit about the products. I cannot tell you if the products work or not because I have not used them or it’s not really important, but I will tell you about your chances of being able to sell them.

I completely understand that some people might not want to sit through this long review due to time or patience constraints. If you are one of such people, please sit tight for a minute and go through the following point-form summary of some important things to know about this company:

• Rodan and Fields is a legit company that sells skin-care products
• To become a consultant of this company, you will have to pay $45 for a business portfolio
• Consultants purchase products at wholesale prices and then resell at retail prices. They keep the profits
• To remain an active consultant, your team has to acquire a minimum of 100 sales volume per month
• They operate a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) business model
• There is a chance you could make money but as with most MLMs, your chances are very slim
• The average annual income of all R+F consultants (which includes the highest earners) in 2015 was $5,444
• This is not a part-time or work from home opportunity.

What is Rodan and Fields?

This is an MLM-based company that sells skin care products like toners, face wash, anti-aging cream and much more. They were founded by two dermatologists, Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields, in 2002. The products were originally sold in departmental stores, until 2008 when they decided to market their products using MLM.

The Products

The first thing to look at with any MLM is the product you will be promoting. Poor products set you up for failure from the get-go, regardless of how much the company says you could potentially earn.

The signals I use to test the quality of products are:

• Are the products unique?
• Are they reasonably priced?
• Are they trustworthy?

Not that your chances of doing well with any MLM would be high anyway but if any if these signals are missing, you will definitely have a hard time selling and it is almost certain you are going to fail to make money.

My golden rule is: Only join an MLM opportunity if you truly believe in the value of the products. Only opt-in if you would buy the products if someone you didn’t know promoted them to you.

There is no arguing that R&F offers a wide range of products related to skin care. Now let’s test the products using our aforementioned strength signals…

Are their products unique?

In one word, no! Skin care products could be bought anywhere.

Go to the nearby pharmacy, they are there. Go to any departmental store, skin care products are there. Even when it comes to MLMs, I think only the weight loss niche beats skin care when it comes to the number of companies offering those products.

Are their products reasonably priced?

Honestly, I do not know.

I am one of those guys that have never had any need for special skin care products. As a matter of fact, the only products that touch my skin are regular lotion and shower gel. I don’t know how much anti-aging cream is supposed to be and so I can’t tell you if R&F’s products are expensive.

But I can tell you that I have read many complaints online claiming that their products are expensive.

Are they trustworthy?

If one of your potential buyers decided to look up reviews of R&F products, they would find so many complaints about the company itself, its products and consultants. These are unresolved complaints by the way.

While I do not know the story behind the complaints, it still makes the company untrustworthy to the buyer. This makes it nearly impossible to sell the products.

Since the products are not unique and maybe not reasonably priced, it means similar products could be bought elsewhere at a cheaper price. Add to that the many complaints about the company online. Now tell me why any rational person would want to buy the products from you.

Another thing is you will purchase the products at wholesale prices and then sell them at retail prices. You keep the profits from each sale. To save on the products, you could purchase a business kit.

A business kit is basically a bundle of products. There are 3 of them:

• Personal Rewards Kit ($395)
• Big Business Launch Kit ($695)
• RFx Express Business Kit ($995)

The Business Opportunity

We have established in the previous section that the products could be a hard sell for you.

Your best bet with promoting the products will be guilt-tripping your family and friends. While this might earn you a few bucks, it is not a long-term way to make any real money.

The big money in MLMs comes from getting people to join the company. Recruiting is where the real MLM sauce is.

The cycle is the same as other MLMs. Since they don’t teach you any great strategies to get leads, you will start by recruiting your friends and family. Then these people go on and recruit other people. This continuous cycle is how you grow your downline. The more people you have in your downline, the more sales and recruiting that take place and consequently, the more money you make.

I wish achieving this was nearly as easy as describing it on paper.

The warm market approach might seem like a good way to start but you can never make any form of substantial income relying on your family and friends to recruit. You can only have so many friends and family members you can recruit and at some point, these people will run out.

Another problem with this approach is when reality sets in and you or any of your friends/family have to quit because they have not made any money, the relationship could be strained. You sold them false dreams and they trusted you.

There are many ways to get leads without having to exploit the people close to you but unfortunately, Rodan and Fields does not teach you these methods. You pay the fees and buy the products, then you are left to fend for yourself.

Stick around to the end of the review and I will actually recommend a system of getting consistent leads without having to bug your friends. A constant flow of leads is a must-have for any successful business online and offline.

To remain an active consultant of the company, you have to acquire at least 100 sales volume per month. Only active consultants are eligible to earn consultant commissions.

Ways to Earn

1. Retail Profit: You purchase products from Rodan and Fields at wholesale prices and sell them to retail and preferred customers at retail prices. You keep the profit.
2. Consultant Commissions: Commissions from the sales of consultants in your downline and preferred customers you sponsor.
3. Personal Team Commissions: When you achieve a minimum of 100 sales volume or $600 Personally Sponsored Level 1 volume in a single month, you get promoted to Executive Consultant (EC) and have the opportunity to earn Personal Team and Consultant commissions.
4. Generation Overrides: Commissions from sales and recruitment made 5 levels deep into your downline.
5. Performance Bonuses: When you reach certain milestones, you are rewarded with some bonuses.

Income Disclosure

The average annualized income for R+F Independent Consultants who qualified for payment for sales that occurred during 2015 was $5,444. The average annualized income for all Active Consultants for sales that occurred during 2015 was $3,182. – R+F Income Disclosure

Here are a few things to note:

• The average annual income of both active and paid consultants includes the very top earners.
• The top earners are huge outliers and their income greatly increases the average earnings. Most consultants earn far less.
• $5,444 per year is still abysmal
• This does not factor in any business expenses like the cost of seeking clients or the cost of purchasing products
• Based on the average figures in the chart above, 95.2% of paid consultants earn less than $8,000 per year

What I liked about this company

• The company sells real products
• A website is part of your business portfolio
• Compared to most MLMs, this business opportunity is cheap to join
• If you already have a network that can make sales, you don’t have to purchase the products yourself
• The company claims their products are FDA-compliant
• All the information about the opportunity (compensation plan, disclosures, etc) can be found on their website

What I didn’t like

• Even though the opportunity is relatively cheap to join, the products appear to be expensive
• They do not offer in-depth training on how you should go about getting consistent leads
• This has more to do with the MLM business model rather than the company itself but average earnings are ridiculously low
• You MUST join through a sponsor and purchase one of their business kits
• There are many complaints about the company, its products, and consultants online. Regardless of how you feel about them, it’s going to be an issue when you are trying to sell the products and opportunity to people

Is Rodan and Fields a Pyramid Scheme?

I would say R+F is NOT a pyramid scheme. I could not find official figures to back this up but I read somewhere that between 65-70% of product sales go to customers who have zero interest in the opportunity.

This means the company is mostly backed by its products and even though consultants might find it easier to sell the business opportunity, the problem does not necessarily come from the company.

One thing I think MLMs should consider is taking charge of the marketing training, rather than leaving it to sponsors who might promote the company unethically. Let every consultant get access to company training instead.

Closing Thoughts

Rodan and Fields is a legitimate company that offers real products. However, I do not recommend you join the business opportunity because there is a high chance of failure and a lot of that might not be down to you. People in your downline, some/most of whom you might not know, determine your success or failure in this business.

If you are not the kind of person that can walk up to people, interact with them, persuade them to buy products or join your opportunity and then follow up with them, you probably should not consider anything related to network marketing. MLMs are really hard!

If you would like to build your own successful online business or get consistent leads to another business (e.g Rodan and Fields), check out the system that taught me.

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Rodan and Fields Review

PRODUCT NAME: Rodan + Fields
Price: $45 for Business Portfolio + Optional $390+ on business kits
Overall Ranking: 40/100
Owners: Dr. Katie Rodan & Dr. Kathy Fields

I hope you enjoyed reading my Rodan + Fields review.

If you have any questions or thoughts, please leave them in the comments section below. I would love to hear them.