Slimming World Consultant

[UsernameChangeSW]

Hello, I have a Slimming World Consultant interview coming up. I have had my pre interview phone call and this will be in person.
Does anyone have experience of being a consultant? How do you feel about it? Would you recommend it or not? I am really looking forward to my interview and hoping to get to be a consultant. Any advice will be appreciated, Thank you xx

Slimming World is an MLM, a pyramid scheme. I would have a look at the stories from previous consultants before you join. You don’t need to worry about the interview, as long as they can make money from you, they will accept you.

Is it? I didn't know that. I used to work for Weight Watchers (now known as WW), and it wasn't MLM or a pyramid scheme, so I assumed SW was the same.

@Shiningstarr - it’s got all the red flags as far as I can tell, buy in fee, very little control over “your business”, very little return as a large chunk of members fees get passed up the chain, pressure to recruit other consultants (although I am not sure if you get extra money for that), pressure to sign up members or be penalised, very little or no science behind their health product, lots of cult like language and tactics. The whole thing is shady AF as far as I can see.

I am not denying people lose weight on it but it’s disordered eating and rarely sustainable.

I've joined SW, as a customer, and my observation is that the consultant's principal role is to sell SW books and magazines. I can't imagine it's very fulfilling trying to push products on to a group of people who know damn well they can find what they need for free online. There also seem to be a group of members processing payments and doing the weigh in while the consultant welcomes new members. Are they working for free???

Franchise, rather, I'd say.

You need to interview to give these people your money?

OP don't do it. This is not a job.

Here are some reviews

uk.indeed.com/cmp/Slimming-World/reviews?ftopic=paybenefits

Thank you everyone, this is making me think about it more in-depth. I have been looking at reviews from both previous and current Slimming World Consultants. It is very insightful. Everyone seems to have differing opinions. I am doing as much research as possible. Hence asking here. It is definitely something to think about extremely carefully. Especially after all your warnings.

I think the most important thing to ask yourself is why you are doing it. If it is to make money then don't do it. If it's to pass the time of day then it might have some value.

I’m not doing it for the money at all. I’m doing it because I was a member and reached my target weight. I had such a lovely consultant supporting me. I would like to help and support members as she did for me. That is my priority.

@UsernameChangeSW i think you should go for it then - i have been to plenty of groups and very few consultants have made relaxed - i feel it can get very clique like so if your willing to do it for other people and make them welcome then do it - it defiantly needs more consultants that want to help x

I've lost weight with SW and our local consultant is quite open about some aspects of how the franchise works. Even if you're not in it for the money, I think you need to be cautious about how much of your time it will take up and how stressful it might be. Actually attending groups and speaking to members seems to be just the start of it. As well as regular training courses (which don't seem to teach anything new about the actual science of weight loss etc, more focussed on sales and growing membership) there seems to be a lot of pressure on consultants to generate a certain number of new members at points of the year, and to have members who lose huge amounts of weight really quickly (presumably to feature in their magazines etc). The model also only seems to work (as pp's have said) if you can persuade a small group of members to basically work for you for free- dealing with the payments and weighing whilst you give the welcome spiel to new members and/or wonder around chatting and trying to sell SW merch

@UsernameChangeSW what did you do in the end?
And how much is the buy in, can you say?

Pretty much none of that is true...you do have limited control over the business as it’s a franchise and is run to the rules of the franchise, but that’s true of any franchise business.

If the group is sitting at 50ish members or more, then you get 50% of the takings, you’re not penalised for not signing up members and there is a bonus for signing up new consultants, but it’s a one off - you’re not taking a cut from their groups and it’s not a large amount.

It’s rarely as lucrative as they try to sell it as, but you can make an ok income from it.

pre-covid I had 2 groups, which averages out at about 25 hrs a week all in and my taxable income (after deductions) was about 16k.

They do use a lot of MLM style language, but it’s definitely not.

They are not fussy enough about who they recruit, but they definitely do refuse people after interviewing them.

And... it’s absolutely not disordered eating or unscientific, but because they’re not fussy enough about recruitment, and the training isn’t great, unfortunately there are consultants out there who explain it terribly to members.

I think the franchise fee is currently £1500 for the first group and half that for any after that, that does include things like a load of recipe books, various bits and pieces for advertising and running group.

That's not as much as I thought, @Swname! Presumably it includes the scales and three tablets? Payment machines etc?

No...

The scales and tablets are not yours, the stuff included in the franchise is yours as in, if you leave you can keep it, the scales and tablets go back. You pay an extra £1 a week for those and if they break you get new ones on next day delivery.

Card machines for payment - no, you get that, or not, some consultants don’t take card payments.

Ah, ok. Makes sense.

Have you been along to the meetings they hold telling you exactly what being a consultant entails?

I went to one last week, was very enlightening. It's basically a franchise. You could set up for between £1.5 - 2 k and you would have to do an awful lot of sessions to make decent money from it. You get out what you put in, lots of promotion, leaflet drops, looks like bloody hard graft. If you're thinking of just doing one or two sessions then it really isn't worth it. Lots of going to Derby or wherever the HQ is for training. I think you have to be really passionate about it, and give it lots and lots of hours each week.

That's frustrating- I'd be interested in the future, but we're moving further away from derby, not nearer!

It’s 3 weekends spread out over a few months for the initial training then 1 weekend every 2 years - every so often they do the top up training regionally, but depending on where it and you are it’s not always much more convenient than going to derby tbh.

It’s officially 10-15 hours a week per group and you can make money from one session, but it’s comparable to anything else you’d work that long for, you’re not going to make full time wages doing part time hours. I’d say it’s definitely on the 15 hours side for one group, but, 2 isn’t double because a lot of that is the same work.

Promotion, especially the first one is a hard slog, but once your group has members and is ticking over it’s not as bad.

The one thing they do completely mislead people on, is they sell it as being family friendly and flexible... it really isn’t, it’s really unsocial hours, most groups are evenings and things like meetings are always on Sundays, you’re expected to leaflet and promote at weekends too. If you’ve older children or a supportive partner that’s not an issue, but if you needed childcare you’d be stuffed.

Op or anyone on this post did you decide to go for it and can you say about the set up / return on investment?

I wouldn't be a consultant but I like Slimming World. I have been a Weight Watcher before and found the points system unsustainable after I had reached my target weight - I felt in a jam, not able to eat anything freely. With Slimming World I can eat things I like and I suspect once I reach my target (5lbs away) I will be able to sustain it because I like the food I cook and I know the odd fish and chips or cream cake will not screw me forever, which I have never felt with WW (which I found a bit judgemental, too). I assume any commercial slimming product is to make money, which is why I would not be a consultant, but I notice that women (and some men, too) who probably were never taught to cook from scratch begin to do so, and the motivation and encouragement they are given is a lot less aggressive than Jamie Oliver's. They also learn to think about the food they are buying and how to buy economically (I think this goes for WW, too, btw, I just find them harder to work with).

I went for the interview last year. I am now really relieved that I didn’t get the job. I very nearly did. Now extremely thankful that I didn’t.
Last year I thought Slimming World was the best. I was looking at it through rose tinted glasses. I have recently seen that it isn’t as good as I thought. At the beginning of the year I was diagnosed with an Eating Disorder. My weight went down drastically and I still restricted. I know that I struggle mentally and that had a huge impact. I’m not saying that Slimming World was the one and only thing that caused it. I’m saying it contributed to my belief that restricting is ok.
Now I would never be a consultant for Slimming World. I could not stand up in front of a group of people and say how restricting your food intake is fine. That’s what a consultant does. In my opinion Slimming World is a lifestyle but not in a good way. It’s a restricted lifestyle. Think about yourself with a good relationship with food. My good relationship with food was eating what I loved. NO RESTRICTIONS!! Slimming World, Weight Watchers etc make you feel bad if you go over your Syn or point “allowance”. Surely you should have that decision?! The thing I regret most is that it took me having an Eating Disorder to realise that.

Don’t be controlled when it comes to food by anybody. Eat whatever you need to keep you alive. I do understand people go to Slimming World/Weight Watchers for health reasons and are referred by Doctors. My opinion on that is anyone can improve health by eating a healthy balance of foods and exercising if possible. That sounds better to me than restricting your intake because somebody else tells you it will have good outcomes.

I know several people who have done this. Nobody went to Slimming World