This site is all about providing information, so I don’t get involved in touting or bashing companies or brands.

Let me begin by saying that the Enagic Multi Level Marketing company has done an admirable job of creating interest in ionized water during the past three years, and that is a good thing in my books.

Enagic has a good machine.  Enagic purchased the rights to a line of ionizers produced by the well respected Toyo corporation, and began marketing in September 2004.

However, I’m not a fan of MLM in the water ionizer industry for two main reasons.

The first reason involves the price/value equation. The Enagic SD501 sells for just under $4,000, which is approximately twice as much as the other leading ionizers available on the market.  When asked about why their machines are double the price of everyone else’s machines, typical responses include: our machines are the best, OR, our machines are made in Japan which makes them better, OR, our machines have big plates, OR, our machines have alot of power, yada-yada-yada. But, you will never hear an Enagic dealer talk about how the price got to be $4,000 at a demonstration, but if you appear interested, you will hear about the “business opportunity” available to anyone that purchases their product.

Maybe it is just me, but when my wife and I were trying to decide which ionizer to purchase, I wasn’t happy to learn that there were eight levels of sales commissions being paid on the unit that we were looking at.

A quick survey of the market showed us that other leading brands were also producing great products that performed as well or better that the MLM product.  Further research and testing proved to us beyond a doubt that the industry had advanced beyond the technology offered by the MLM product, and that others provided significantly better value.   Needless to say, we didn’t purchase an ionizer from Enagic.

The second, and more important concern that I have about the about the MLM system in the water ionizer industry is that there is a wide discrepancy in the knowledge levels of the dealers. While water is very simple, it is also very complicated at a deeper level. Every Enagic dealer I have spoken to has had good intentions, but many, especially the new people are simply not well trained. A lack of training or experience can lead to false claims being made, or incorrect information being spread about other products. People that have just paid $4,000 for their machine are often enticed by the potential to earn the money back that they spent.  They are encouraged to contact their friends and family to buy a machine despite the fact that they have little or no knowledge of how or why the machines work.  Their passion is a good thing, but their lack of knowledge can be downright scary.   Water effects everybody in so many ways.  It only makes sense that someone should learn as much as they can about a topic that is so important before they start imposing their will on others.

The gentleman that introduced my wife and I to their MLM product was very knowledgeable.  He was a real pro in every way, other than what we thought his disparaging remarks about competitive machines didn’t make sense when we did our homework. I don’t know about you, but hearing someone talk badly about competitive products really turned us off.  In fact, the negative stuff acted as a springboard for us to start researching other companies in the industry in much greater depth.  If I was selling a great product, I would just focus on my product and people would see my passion.

Related posts:

1. Marketing hype in the water ionizer industry
2. Beating arthritis with ionized water or alkaline diet!