Negative truths hurt more. On Troy Dooly’s blog, Dallin published his official response to dispel the rumors of a “death dive” in revenue. There’s one small detail missing from the statement: a denial of the rumor! While we’re questioning the wisdom of Rod Cook and Ted Nuyten’s reports about the decline, we’re failing to address the very issue that started this conversation: the veracity of the data on Ted’s site (link here). When given an opportunity to address the report, Dallin punted. After sending Ted Nuyten a threat laced with several allegations against his character, MonaVie failed to do two important things: they failed to apologize and they failed to deny the report. I want to talk about the report.
Recap
I want to quickly recap some events over the past few weeks. It starting with Rod Cook’s report about MonaVie’s decline in web traffic. Rod put out a video titled “MonaVie’s Death Dive.” He gave his opinion about MonaVie’s 60% drop in web traffic over the past year.
Fast forward to last week. Ted Nuyten publishes a report “from an anonymous source” stating that MonaVie was experiencing a dramatic decline of over 20% in revenue in 2010. He made a mistake when failed to provide the source of the information: Tracey Coenen’s site. Tracey is a forensic CPA, she’s accomplished (she worked for Arthur Anderson) and she’s a known anti-MLM person.
Fast forward a few days. MonaVie sends Ted Nuyten a threat of legal action. Ted responded and I chimed in. I’ll be honest: I get angry when I see big guys pick on little guys. MonaVie’s threat was unfair. But despite the threat, people are still teeing off on Ted questioning his decision to publish the data, which MonaVie has yet to deny as false. I’m not sure if most of you readers have ever been threatened with litigation by an enormous company. It’s not fun!
Dallin’s response
Update: I originally and accidentally included commentary from Troy Dooly as Dallin’s quote. This has been corrected.
Fast forward to today. Dallin Larsen published his official response. After Troy asked him a specific question about the rumors of a decline, Dallin responded as follows:
-Start quote-
“Troy, with our webcast in October, we will unveil the next phase for MonaVie. Let me simply say that in the words of Mark Twain,” the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
We are a private company and don’t release our numbers but let me simply say that I just returned from 10 countries over the last 90 days and we are growing. Up in some markets and down in others. There’s a cycle in business and there’s a cycle in this industry. . .
Since MonaVie began operations in January of 2005, we’ve paid commissions accurately and on time, each and every week, and we will continue doing so.”
-end quote-
I’m not doubting in Dallin’s ability to take charge of his business and reposition it to win. I’ve met Dallin. I like him. That’s not the point. There’s a decline in traffic. There’s a plateau. So what? Companies cycle up and down. And when people opine on those cycles, it’s inappropriate to threaten them with litigation, especially when there’s a kernel of truth. Instead of commenting about the successes of prior years or the natural cycles of business, the focus of Dallin’s response should have been placed squarely on the issue that started this controversy: the reports of a serious decline in revenue.
If we, as a community, cannot discuss obvious facts about challenges faced by various companies, how can we improve? Ted’s article sparked a great debate. Now people will be watching MonaVie in October to see how they re-tool their business for the future.
This is very simple sequence of events: Rod Cook posted a video about a decline in web traffic. Ted posted an article about MonaVie’s decline in revenue. Ted was dubbed “irresponsible,” accused of publishing “half truths” (without any facts to shed insight about the half that was not true) and threatened with a lawsuit. MonaVie via Dallin Larsen did nothing to dispel the rumors. And yet, we’re beating up on the guys that reported on this in the first place…Does anyone else see a problem?
Rod and Ted
Rod Cook’s report was confirmed by Dallin. He’s off the hook. There’s nothing wrong in publishing a decline in web traffic. When compared to other companies, the web data is important and lines on a graph that go down are not as good as lines that go up. Pointing out the obvious should not cause widespread panic. Ted’s decision to comment on MonaVie’s plateau was not inappropriate. The issue really lies in whether those stats are accurate. This leads me to a special request.
Second chance
Troy Dooly, I know you have the golden phone to Dallin Larsen. If you see fit to do it, please send him a message or give him a call and ask him if MonaVie is experiencing a 20% decline in revenue in North America as stated on Ted’s site (give or take a few percentage points). If the answer is yes, ask him why they threatened Ted with a lawsuit. I think those are fair questions and they get at the very heart of the issue.
If we are to remain in the dark about the specific figures (MonaVie is under no obligation to provide this info; however, after accusing Ted of publishing malicious lies, I think they’ve opened the door and it would be appropriate) and if MonaVie reports a 20% decline in North America at the end of the year, I think a lot of people will owe Ted Nuyten an apology. What do you think?
