Birth of a salesman

A few days ago Matt at The Other Side had a cheeky little post about Tomas Scheckter, saying he was quitting racing so he could sell MonaVie fulltime. As we now know know, Scheckter will still be driving - nine more races this year we're told - but the truth is he will also actually be selling the bottles of berry juice, which has to be some kind of a first for the top level of open-wheel racing in America.

For those who don't know, MonaVie is an energy drink that comes in containers that look like wine bottles, and it includes among other unknown ingredients the highly touted "acai berry". I'm not here to promote the stuff, so if you want to learn more go Google it yourself. You can't buy MonaVie in a store because it's only sold through licensed individuals, which is a nice way of saying it's distributor ship model uses Multi-Level Marketing. That's MLM for those in the know, and by the way don't you dare call it a "Pyramid Scheme" because if you do you'll get flaming comments like you can't imagine.

(Full Disclosure: I once was hired to do database programming for company that had an internet provider business, but was was soon transitioned to work instead on their MLM website organization. That didn't work out.)

It's often said that race car drivers are salesman for companies, that sponsors need "activation" in directly promoting their products by using the driver of the car they have sponsored, but what Tomas is doing is taking this to a literal level. Scheckter is a licensed distributor for MonaVie and he's been working his celebrity and his twitter - all decked out in MonaVie to help generate sales.

Email me at tomasenergy@googlemail.com if you interested in been part of my monavie distribution team !!!!!!!

Wanna send an email to that address? This is the response you get.

Thank you for expressing an interest in being a member of my Monavie distribution/racing team. This product has changed my life and I am confident you will like it also. If you are looking for better health and wealth, you are at the right place at the right time. To get started, go to my web site at [link removed]. There you will be able to learn about this amazing nutritional beverage that allows you to get your daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables by drinking 2 oz in the morning and 2 oz in the evening. Each case has four bottles in it and will last you one month. We have 3 formulas. The first is called Original and has 19 fruits in it. This is intended for children under 12, pregnant women and nursing mothers. The next formula is called Active. This contains the same 19 fruits plus two all natural ingredients called glucosamine and esterified fatty acids. This formula is for everyone over the age of 13 who is looking for general health and any joint issues. The third formula is called Pulse. This formula is geared for the cardiovascular system and in particular helping anyone with high cholesterol.

These are just fruit in the bottle. Monavie does not claim to prevent, cure, or treat any disease. It is just fruit. All I know is once you feed your body with the proper nutrition, your body is designed to heal itself.

To get started on my team just click the Enroll button located on the bottom right side of my web site. Most of the enrollment form is self explanatory but the first sheet you will need to choose your country, skip the next box, read/scroll through the Certification and check the box below. Read/scroll through each of the underlined sections then check the box below. Then read/scroll through the Privacy Policy then check the box below. Proceed through the rest of the enrollment.

I am so excited to have you be a part of my team. Once you have gotten yourself enrolled then email me back and me and my partner will give you a personal call and get you started. I can't wait to give you that call, remember after signing up when you email me to leave a number so i can call you.

Sincerely,

Tomas Scheckter

So if you like Tomas and REALLY want to support him, you can show an unprecedented level of support by signing up as one of his distributors. While other drivers are licensing their names and likenesses for use on t-shirts and caps, Tomas is hoping you will buy and sell lots of $40 bottle of berry juice so he can get a piece of that action. I know many folks were hesitant to cough up eight bucks a month for an additional cable tier to get VERSUS, but if Tomas can make this work then more power to him I guess.

He should know though that the odds are against him making a profit with MonaVie, as Newsweek noted last year "Fewer than 1 percent qualified for commissions and of those, only 10 percent made more than $100 a week." Those are some harsh numbers, but with a higher than average profile Tomas has an advantage over the other 99% of us not racing on weekends. So maybe this all works out for him, and since he's currently getting entered in races with this sponsorship you could argue it already has.

To be fair, MLMs in racing aren't anything new. If you're old enough you might recall the fetching Amway cars 20 or so years ago to the TWO different Herbalife cars in this year's Indy 500. I don't know if Townsend Bell and EJ Viso actually sell Herbalife (which has been amusingly called "liquid Amway") but Indy Lights driver Mike Potekhen appears to be working a "downline" like Tomas for a different energy drink called efusjon. I guess the bottom line is if you really want to drive a racecar you do whatever it takes, right?