The first time I heard about ACN was about 4 years ago. I was currently involved with a small consulting team with a proposal to open the Noveau Riche real estate model into Thailand on a corporate level. (That company has undergone some significant changes). We worked closely with a lot of direct marketing companies and I was very interested in basis behind the ACN model.

4 years and number of recruitment meetings later, my analysis of ACN is this:

• Compensation Plan: Not bad, but it really does require a high volume of downline to start seeing some money.
• Product: The product pretty much stinks. I mean, they don’t offer anything new, except another step between the real service provider and the consumer. Unfortunately, none of my experience or research has indicated that ACN really offers superior customer service, reliability or anything.
• Distribution and Promotion: Telecommunications isn’t nearly as intriguing as health and life, so it doesn’t surprise me that they have to stress the money and family/friends network so much. They have some good supporting tools, but unfortunately my experiences left a sour taste in my mouth when they stressed the “ask your friends for a favor” line too much.
• Sustainability: An entire company based solely on the regulation of an industry doesn’t seem too long-term to me. I can see a company like them building a huge clientale and then selling them off to real communication companies that offer better products and services but I just can’t see a strong place for them 5-10 years down the road. Especially with the advent of more affordable and reliable VoIP and other network communication services.

Four years later, ACN is still alive. I can’t argue past history of sucess. I think this company is best suited for the homemaker, or very young and eager salesman. (Both Demographics that can call on a number of close friends in their network for sympathy sales).

Let me know what you think.