How to Survive in the
Network Marketing Jungle
“Choosing the
Right Company & Always Making Profit From Them All!”
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Why Would
You Be Choosing An MLM In The First Place 6
Types Of
People Who Are Looking For Opportunities 10
What Is The
MLM Jungle Like 12
The Team
(Upline, Sidelines, even the Company Staff) 25
The Trend of Time 26
There Is No
Such Thing As A Perfect MLM 27
Getting
Started Off The Right Foot 32
Recommended Resources + Bonuses 34
How to Survive in the Network Marketing Jungle
“Choosing the Right Company & Always Making Profit From Them All!”
THE SHOCKING TRUTH!
If you are reading this book, let me first congratulate you if you are a
newcomer to the world of MLM and allowing me to impart my experiences on the
industry to help you in taking the first step into this fantastic industry.
My intentions of writing this book is to help and provide people generic
information that would apply to any company regardless on their
marketing/compensation plan, product, team, country or even offline or online!
It is indeed a shocking truth to find out that over 95% of network marketers
or home based business owners are operating their business at a LOSS!
How scary if
you are reading this for the first time.
Well thankfully if we all worshiped statistics fanatically, most people
today will be afraid to drive cars or
even go to school (e.g. the percentage of road accidents and how many students
in a class ‘make it’ in getting distinctions)
We all want to be smart people and rather be in the top 5% being the ones
making the money now, don’t we? Of course we do.
It is sad that countless of poor victims join the industry, uninformed,
and when they run into problems, they usually put the blame on the company, the
team or even the industry itself!
That is why
we hope to avoid such unfortunate circumstances.
Even if you have been involved, this information is invaluable because it
might teach you things you have missed out or information to help your
downline.
Let’s proceed…
Why
Would You Be Choosing an MLM in The First Place
MLM survival. Let’s face it, the world out there is like a jungle. More
particularly so in the MLM world. It would be easy to say, since it is that
difficult, let’s just forget about the whole MLM or network marketing deal in
the first place (then this book would not be necessary at all). That action
would be self-defeating.
There is good
news for all of us. So let us instead start from a positive note.
The purpose of this book is not just about teaching you to choose the
right MLM Company but also how, by being properly educated about the industry,
you will be able to receive benefits from
every opportunity you invest your time and money in. The information here will
be completely generic and neutral. I am not endorsing any company over the
other as there is no such thing as the
perfect MLM but rather choosing an
MLM that is SUITABLE for YOU!
Whatever your
reasons may be, let us make a few assumptions about it before we proceed (or
else you wouldn’t pay for this E-book in the first place)
(1) Making money
(2) Saving
money on products
(3) Meeting
new people
(4) Growth
and development
Making Money
(a) Looking
for fast money
(b) Building
a long term business with money coming in long after you have ‘retired’
(c)
Investing in the product itself
For people
looking for fast money, there are pros and cons to this kind of thinking.
Some people are WELL TRAINED salesmen. They have built the relationship
with their clients, customers and all sorts of people. People trust what they
say and will trust whatever they are selling. They may sell the product itself
(sometimes, in large quantities), or they may sell the opportunity (the money
making part of it) or both. Are YOU this kind of person?
Fast money is not impossible, but it COULD be for the short term only.
Consider the facts that 80-90% of people
in the world are NOT built for sales. If a salesman sponsors a non-salesman,
would the non-salesman be able to do the same thing as his upline? Does that
mean that I would spend most of my time looking for the 10-20% of sales types?
The next type of money is the long term type.
When I define
long term, it does not have to mean that you might not see money right away. It
differs from company to company. But as a general rule of thumb, it involves BUILDING A NETWORK OR AN ORGANISATION.
The key to building a large organization as quoted by Zig Ziglar, “You will get whatever you
want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” In
other words, if you will help enough downlines get enough downlines, you are on
the road to network marketing financial freedom. The key is to help others.
There is one more category of people who ‘invests’ in network marketing
companies, not to make money through retaining or networking, but rather
investing in the product, position, or depending on the company, appreciation of
their ‘assets’. A few examples would be investing
in a product, so that in the future, its value will appreciate, so you can
sell it to other people at a very high margin (sort of like old comic books.)
Others might purchase the account or
distributorship from you (depending on the compensation plan of the
company) while some Internet companies actually pay you to ‘invest’ in their
company, sort of like buying a share of
the company.
Saving Money on Products
Retailing of a product is very important to an MLM business. Lack of (or
even non- existing) retailing could be harmful to the distributor or the
company as certain states have outlawed ‘headhunting’ and have their own
policies.
Nevertheless, saving money on an MLM product is one of the most wonderful
key features of joining an MLM company if recruiting is not your forte.
In certain compensation plans, repeat purchase of the products you buy
from the company gives you more rebates or bonuses. In essence, the more you
buy, the cheaper it becomes. This
becomes an even greater pleasure if you are totally in love with the products or you have already set
aside a budget for those products (which means you are now buying from the MLM
company or your upline instead of buying from the supermarket, pharmacy,
grocery store, etc)
There are some important aspects to take note however, if the company
requires you to purchase the products in bulk (hence the term – frontloading),
is there a DEMOTION in your achieved
position in the company, is there MAINTAINANCE
required, or how much are the renewal fees for membership. All these will
be further discussed in the later chapters.
Meeting New People
This is one of the many reasons why people join MLM companies (even if
the first two reasons discussed above don’t even concern them). There are all
types of people in the world. Some like the positive environment. Others like
the social events the company or team organizes. Some look for a potential life
partner there!
Lots of people even go all out to join these kind of businesses to get
more contacts for their OWN BUSINESSES (maybe even THEIR OWN MLM BUSINESS).
Bear in mind one thing. There is this old saying that goes, you scratch my
back, I scratch yours. If you participate in their activities but don’t go full
force in their company/team vision, don’t expect them to join you or buy from
you. There may even be negative repercussions (such as being banned from coming
back to the company).
Growth and Development
One of the biggest reasons why I would recommend joining an MLM company
and doing the business is opening your mind to positive thinking and achieving
your full potential. There are many companies out there who have the best
training courses, motivational rallies, sharing sessions and whopping
transformation camps that will not only fire you up but take your business building to the
next level.
I will not touch much on this subject extensively here. There are so many
companies out there that will do a fantastic job in terms of training.
Remember that
growth is a journey and not a destination.
Types of People Who
Are Looking For Opportunities
Remember that people join MLM companies for their own reasons. However,
the character or intention of a person will determine how far they want to go
in MLM. Here are classic examples of different types of people
(1) Genuine
business opportunity seekers and builders
(2) Product consumers
(3) The supporters
(4) MLM junkies
(5) 001 syndrome
Genuine business opportunity seekers are the most important people in
building a large business. They are the bread and butter. Not all are leaders
but leaders are not born, they are developed. This group of people also can be
product consumers.
Product consumers are people who join an MLM and buy from them because
they like the product and enjoy the service of their upline. They are not
necessarily genuine business opportunity seekers or builders yet for many
builders, a lot of their income will come from this group. The good thing about
them is as they learn more about the product, the company and interact more
with their upline, their exposure to MLM grows and they might convert to
opportunity seekers and then builders.
The supporters’ category is quite a mixed match of people. When their
close friends or relatives build an MLM, they will join under them to ‘support
their businesses. However, the consequence of that action varies according to
the individual. For example, I would join my friend’s organization but it could
be purely out of obligation and not for any genuine reason. This could
potentially lead to resentment (when you mix business dealings with
friendship), confusion and even loss of friends. Others might even join to see
if their friend or relative is involved in a scam to try and pull him or her
out. In order to prevent any potential
disaster, make sure your intentions for joining an MLM are very clear cut.
MLM junkies are the sort of people who jump from MLM to MLM (some people
even call them Multi-Level-Monkeys). They attend a talk, get hyped up about the
opportunity, and build the business on euphoria. Sooner or later, they lose
steam and find problems with the company (when the real problem is themselves
most of the time) and jump to the next SMOKING HOT business opportunity. It is
not wrong to be a member of many MLM companies (depending on your budget). Bear
in mind, certain companies discourage or even forbid you to join other
companies (then their business practices should be examined). If you are a
member of many companies, it is ok to do a good survey and attend trainings,
but the key to remember is you must focus on ONE good MLM for the long run and
the others can operate on a referral basis (like recommending a friend to buy a
product from another company while building one main one).
This leads us to one more category of people who could be MLM junkies as
well – the 001 syndrome. Basically
they want to be the first to start building a business in a brand new start-up.
They want to be the pioneer. There are many pros and cons to assess about a new
company like their background history, financial status and product market
rather than just focusing on the income potential. There are many more
challenges to be faced for people who are sponsored directly under the company
and new companies don’t usually have a time-tested workable system in place.
If you fall into one of the above categories (or even some or all of the
above), these will give you a general guideline on how to improve your choice
selection of MLM companies before we go in to the details about compensation
plans and product demand. By knowing yourself better, you can do a better
assessment.
What is the MLM
Jungle Like
There are
thousands of MLM companies out there! Here are a few categories of MLM. These
will help you determine which company suits you.
The main difference between traditional MLM and Internet MLM is the method used to recruit or sponsor. Traditional MLM relies mostly on one-on-one prospecting (like at a McDonalds or Starbucks), home party, opportunity meetings or rallies. Internet MLM does the recruiting through e-mail, newsletter, forums, websites and sales letters. This minimizes the human interaction part and may be more suitable for those who are not very good at talking to others.
Two main types of traditional MLM are one that is heavily concerned with
retailing, consumption or distribution of a physical product. Typically one
with a high volume of repeat sale (like vitamins or skin care products) and
good testimonials of the product with
high visibility (e.g. look at my skin, the product has cured all my pimples!).
Concept MLM doesn’t focus as much on products compared to its former
counterpart. They usually do have a product, but it doesn’t have as high a
repeat sale as those mentioned above. Most of them run their business like a
club. Some are like lifestyle clubs. Others conduct their business with a high
degree of professionalism (they all
dress better than an office worker). Often they will sell their people a
dream or molding them to a particular image to convey the image of the company
for attracting more recruits. It’s the sizzle that sells the steak.
In Internet MLM, there are distributions of two types of products. A
physical product distributed through the Internet means that the Internet does
the selling and recruiting, taking the orders, and the shipment of the product
are done offline. Digital products remove the headaches of physical product
distribution. This usually gives the company a better margin due to lower
overheads (no warehousing or shipment).
Exposure to the
Industry
In the MLM industry, there are a few factors to consider when considering
which company to build a long term business.
Product
background
Marketing or
Compensation plan
The team (Upline,
Sidelines, even the company staff) The trend of the time
First off: It has been said in the past – your UPLINE chooses the first
company you join. It still is the case today for many who are either unexposed
and their friends or relatives who join an MLM first approaches them.
The unexposed might oblige their upline and if they are not careful, will
cause a very bad first impression on the industry.
Today, you don’t need to be picked by someone else. You can choose first.
Do a good survey based on the guidelines above. As a matter of fact, you don’t
even need to join the first person who invited you in a company. You have a
choice to choose someone else to be your upline within the SAME company.
Products are very crucial in MLM. Just because one company says our
product is the ‘best’ doesn’t mean that it is. Just like any other business,
people seriously building an MLM will only say good things about their own
product. They will even give fantastic and even outrageous testimonials about
how the product can help them.
Many are very sincere and well-meaning, but the rule of thumb to remember
is – yes, you say the product is the best, but that is also because you haven’t
tried any others because you are in this business!
I firmly believe that most MLM products are of exceptional quality. That
is because the product must work then only can the distributor give good
testimonials due to the nature of the distributor doing direct sales (dealing directly with the prospect/customer). There
are companies that DISCOURAGE their people from using products from a
competitor MLM (some even ask you to stop buying from the supermarket and buy
from your ‘own business’ instead).
Beware:
some even go as far as to talk down about the products of other MLM companies.
Most people, in their zealous zeal to recruit others, may use this tactic. This
is often perceived as rather unprofessional.
Bear in mind: in MLM, if you talk bad about other MLM companies
or their products, you are talking bad about the entire industry as a WHOLE
(you mean to say that only your company, product, compensation plan, team is
the best in the world and the rest of all the other companies are of inferior
quality? Man… I don’t want to be in this industry.) Can you imagine if every network marketer is
doing this? No wonder the industry has a bad
name!
The Marketing or Compensation Plan
The plan is very important. It shows how much work you need to do to get
paid this much. All marketing plans have their own advantages and
disadvantages. Different companies offer different margins for their products.
The key to remember in margin comparison, if the company pays the distributor
too low, you might not survive; if the margin is too exorbitantly high, you
might earn a lot, but your retail customers will suffer and the business might
not be long term.
Before I share with you a few more popular type of marketing plan to give
you an idea about what company will offer what, I wish to highlight two things
in every plan: DEMOTION and MAINTAINANCE
DEMOTION means dropping from
one MLM position to a lower one (usually resulting in a loss of future
potential income) or your remainder quota required to reach a certain target is
increased (the volume achieved in the past do now count towards the grand total
anymore) Demotion is an important factor to consider in every marketing plan as
someone who suffers demotion suffers a sudden loss in income and could be very
embarrassing to others.
MAINTENANCE (sometimes called
autoship) is the minimum amount of sales volume (usually every month) a
distributor or serious business builder has to buy either his own personal
volume or combined with group sales in order to maintain his rank, be eligible
for bonuses, overriding commission or sometimes even maintain his
distributorship. Having maintenance or no maintainance all has its pros and
cons. I will highlight 3 scenarios to give a clearer picture.
A) MANDATORY MAINTENANCE
Some companies require you to purchase products every single month. This
is good if you have built a large organization and it ensures you have
guaranteed income every month. Not good if you are forced to maintain and you
are not making money in your business. If you are in love with the product and don’t mind paying for it every month then
it is fine. But this can cause a person who is not seriously building or is
still struggling with his business some pressure and it is one of the main causes of drop out in MLM.
If the maintenance is too expensive, people might shun the company.
However, the upline with a lot of people in his group can build a large stable
income this way. Some companies may not require you to maintain at the early
stages and increases the maintenance after they achieve a certain rank.
B) NO MAINTENANCE
This is very good for people who have just started their business or for
people who is just casually ‘trying out’ an MLM. There is no pressure and a
person can be in an MLM for years but still at the same rank.
The bad news is that it might not be good for the long term (because no
maintence means no downlines need to buy anything) unless your group is in love with the product or if you and your
downlines have built a solid customer base and the demand of the product it there.
C) OPTIONAL MAINTENANCE
This is also very good for people who just started or the casual type.
They will only ask you to buy a certain volume of products when you want to
override your commission from the company. This is also very good in the sense
that you are not pressured to pay
maintenance and you only pay when
you are making money.
There is one problem with this, however. Among the serious business
builders if the downlines are not producing any sales, even having a large
organization will not pay you well if not at all (just like a zero maintenance
company, no downline sales means those in the middle will not maintain, causing
a chain reaction all the way to the uplines at the top). This is a hollow
organization where your rank/title means nothing without income.
Next, I will go in detail about
the more popular types of plans…
1) The Stairstep
2) The Unilevel
3) The Binary
4) The Breakaway
5) The Matrix
6) The
Australian Two Up
7) The Hybrid
1) The Stairstep
The Stairstep or step and
ladder plan is a simple plan that has requirements that you must meet to get up
the “Stairs of Success” Every step is a promotion usually based on achieving a
certain volume and each promotion or rank gives you a larger cut.
Demotion in stairstep plans to ensure a distributor’s group commits to a
certain volume every month. It gives a particular rank a guaranteed income.
Demotion in this case means that you must either maintain a certain volume
every month (or quarter or fiscal year) in order to maintain that rank. Let us
say for example, Anthony achieves a
sales volume of $200,000 in his entire team (for a certain timeframe) and that
promotes him from Leader to Champion, certain companies require him
to keep up that same sales volume the next time or else he will be demoted back
to a leader. In certain plans, there is no demotion in rank, so the group sales
are accumulated for reaching the next level.
Maintenance here plays a key factor how building a solid group will look
like. If there are low repeat sales for the product being marketed, expect the minimum entry fee to be higher than the
average MLM. This is because low repeat sales means less maintenance
hence the majority
of the income comes from recruiting new blood. If
nobody does maintenance in a Stairstep plan, having a high rank doesn’t
earn you money so don’t be a fool if
someone tells you that the ‘minimum’ income for a ‘grand emperor’ is $100,000 a
month – it all depends on the volume generated. On the contrary, plans with
maintenance involved do guarantee an income or else you will not be in that
rank.
This type of plan is one of the oldest and longest plans around. The
advantage of climbing the ladder gives major incentives for distributors to work
harder and fight for the target. The larger your group the more you override
even up to infinity levels as long as your downline is of a lower rank than
you. There is also a fair system involved lets say if your downline works
harder than you and sponsors more people, he can actually have a rank higher
than you and that is when breakaway in
certain plans come into play (discussed in the breakaway plan below)
The disadvantage
however, is once a downline reaches a certain rank (lets say you need 3
directly sponsored leaders to qualify
as a champion), one of them becomes a
leader while you focus on making the
remaining 2 groups to become leaders, the first leader might be neglected in
the process. The other disadvantage is if the downline is too far deep in the
organization (lets say your downline’s downline all the way down 10
generations), some distributors may neglect helping them because the monetary
incentive is too small.
1) The Unilevel
The Unilevel is a simple “Number of levels” that the company will pay you, and usually there is no promotion or rank. You make money by getting a certain override off of the volume, and usually there is a requirement of volume to qualify for a check.
The advantage here is you don’t have work your butt off during certain
seasons to fight for that rank. You can sponsor as many people as you can and
your income comes from a large volume of people in your organization. For
example, you can personally sponsor 5 people, and these 5 will look for 5.
after 4 generations you will have 5 to the power of 4 in your organization (780
people) and the calculation of your sales volume will give you a straight
forward income.
The disadvantage however, is there is no incentive for developing many
different groups (called legs). In spite of conditions in a plan imposed by the
company (that you have to sponsor a minimum number of legs) some unilevel
people tend to let the ‘strong’ downlines do all the work as in wait for their
downlines to sponsor MORE people than themselves, which is a poor reflection of
leadership.
In the Unilevel, there is no demotion (the only demotion is leaving the
company) and maintenance plays a key part in the long term income.
2) The Binary
The Binary is an interesting design
for a Comp Plan. It usually has 2 “legs” that you can have “Business centers”
in, and you have a volume requirement to get paid on each leg. There is what is
called “balancing”. in the Binary…you must balance the volume from each both A
and B group to make sure you maximize your commissions. In the illustration
above, the A group is the strong leg
(or the giant leg) while the B group
is called the weak leg (or the profit leg). A has more people than B (assume
they all produce the same volume per person). B needs to find 2 more people in
order for U to ‘balance’ hence
maximizing U’s income.
The main
advantage of this plan is spill over. Allow me to illustrate
U sponsors 2 friends. In a
binary, the company limits each distributor to have a MAXIMUM of 2 people. A and B were previously recruited by U.
U needs to ‘balance’ his group by
helping B find 2 people. But let us
assume that B is not actively
building the business at the moment, so what does U do? He finds and sponsors 2 people HIMSELF and places both of
them under B and they become B1 and
B2. This is called SPILLOVER.
The advantage of spill over is that when everyone works as a team, the
tree will fill very fast as all uplines and downlines work together to balance
each other’s networks. It is
also immune to the problems in unilevel or stairstep plans with downlines
being too deep in the organization. A binary can be balance depending on which side the downline is in and not how deep.
The disadvantage however, is that this plan is particularly attractive to
lazy people who don’t do any work and expect free handouts from their uplines.
Imagine what will happen if everyone waits for their upline to place people
under them? It doesn’t develop strength.
1) The Breakaway
This plan has been said to have become somewhat unpopular in the
industry, as you could lose the business you build, once it gets to a certain
level of success, and it “breaks away” to no longer be a part of what you get
paid on. It usually appears in stairstep. Lets use the example above in the
stairstep illustration.
If I am a Champion and my
downline builds his organization faster than me, and qualifies as an Emperor before me, 2 things might
happen.
Depending on the company’s pay structure, I will not be eligible to
receive overriding commissions from my downline Emperor’s group. Hence the ‘breakaway’ his bonuses will be ‘passed
up’ to MY upline Emperor or Grand Emperor. In some cases,
the ENTIRE group breaks away and join MY upline so even if I do qualify
as an Emperor later on, I will not
receive bonuses from his group! Selfish people might even involve in SABOTAGE
as in trying to slow down his downline from breaking away or overtaking him.
Today, more and more companies are acknowledging the breakaway problem
and will start awarding leadership development bonuses (such as a fixed bonus
percentage over that entire group even those they have broken away). This
system has still worked out well in the past though, because it gets people
working harder to prevent the breakaway from happening.
In MLM (just like in life), companies reward PEOPLE who work hard to
build their groups. If a downline works harder than his upline, he should get
paid more – hence it is more fair to
them. So in this case if an upline doesn’t work hard enough, he shouldn’t
blame the company if the downline breaks away.
2) The Matrix
The matrix or sometimes called a FORCED
MATRIX is like a pre-order tree. A computer driven plan puts into your
group by computer, and they go in the next available slot. Usually this plan is
combined with some form of a Binary (sometimes 3 by 9 or 5 by 25 matrix
depending on the maximum ‘width’ allowed), and it does work well if there are
a lot of people that are recruited and WORKING TOGETHER TO FILL THE MATRIX.
When you recruit someone, the computer searches down for the next open slot,
and positions them there. There are some plans that allow you to override the
commission of those that you personally sponsor even though they are not
positioned directly under you within
the tree.
How the
computer works is like this:
D sponsors a new friend. That
new friend doesn’t get slotted under D but
rather fills the last position which is the dotted line under C. Once they fill up to a certain
level, the distributor gets paid a lump sum.
Once again, the advantages here is that every single distributor in the
tree all work together to fill the matrix and the duplication result is
fantastic! Imagine if everyone finds 2 and everyone does the same thing, the
matrix will be filled very fast. This means that even if you don’t look for ANYONE
to join the company, you will get paid when the tree reaches a certain level.
The biggest and most obvious disadvantage is everybody waiting for
everyone to fill the tree thinking that they will get their money waiting for
others to fill it. This kind of thinking is EXTREMELY WRONG and will ruin the
company. Furthermore, unless there is a cut off system in the marketing plan,
(for example, after the sixth level the person at the highest position will
have to reinvest again at the bottom of the tree), the guy who ‘came first’
will get all the commissions and not do anything. By placing a cut off point, everyone who reinvests again will fill
the tree faster as the deeper you go down the tree, the more people are needed
to fill each level.
1) The
Australian Two Up
This is a marketing plan that is very unique. Basically, the two people
you recruit are ‘given’ to your upline sponsor and the rest of the recruits are
yours. Here is an illustration:
Assume that each person you recruit, you are eligible to earn $100. U sponsors Q1, Q2, A and B. You earn ONLY on A and B but not on Q1 and Q2 as
those sales go to your UPLINE SPONSOR. Q1 and Q2 are your qualifying sales.
Basically by finding Q1 and Q2, you have basically qualified to earn from A and
B and subsequently C, D, E and as many as you would like.
A recruits A1, A2 and Z. The sales of A1 and A2
goes up to U and the sales of Z goes up to A. As long as U keeps Q1 and Q2 going, he is eligible to earn as wide as he wants and as
deep as he wants! (A1 and A2 is now part of U’s group. This will multiply by 2 each time it goes deeper
enabling him to earn income up to Infinity levels!)
The biggest disadvantage of this plan is that sometimes people are
selfish and will only leave U with
‘weak’ distributors (for example, Q1 and Q2 are slow learners) while
capitalizing on the stronger ones in A and B (leaving the strong ones for
themselves). Some might even purchase dummy accounts (known as ‘cats and dogs’
or ‘potatoes’) This leaves their upline with non-moving legs and creates a
hollow organization. Some companies deal with this problem by giving bonuses or
special overriding mechanisms
where you get special bonuses for building them, or even removing the
‘qualified’ status should Q1 or Q2 drops out.
1) The Hybrid
A hybrid is a combination of any of the above features. An example would
be a Forced Matrix with Unilevel benefits (ensuring that those who actually
WORK to fill the tree gets paid more), or an Australian Two Up with Stairstep
advancement (to offset the disadvantages of distributors being too deep in an
organization)
Many companies that are combining the advantages of many plans to help
distributors maximize their income.
REALITY CHECK: Regardless of how good any plan
may sound, NONE OF THESE PLANS WILL MAKE YOU MONEY IF YOU DON’T SPONSOR ANYONE
AND DEVELOP THEM.
Only YOU can make the plan work
for without you, the plan is dead.
DO NOT get too
complicated about Compensation plans. Keep it simple while explaining to your
prospects and make sure you understand that you CAN MAKE MONEY with it if you
work your plan.
The 3 General Areas to make money
in any MLM plan.
1) The
First area is Retail Profit.
You must show
the prospect that they can earn a retail profit with your products and
services. The margin can be anything from 10% to 50%.
2) The
Second Area is Team Overrides.
This is where,
just like a Real Estate broker, or Insurance agency, you get to develop your
own sales team. ‘Sales Managers’ get paid a certain % of override off of them,
just like the Real Estate and Insurance Agents do. Your goal is to help your
people do the same thing. People don’t understand that you have to help people
or help your team in order to succeed. If they achieve success first, then only
you will succeed.
3) The
Third Area is Leadership Bonuses.
This is where
you help develop Successful leaders in your group, and you get an additional
bonus or override form your group. You get rewarded by helping others develop
their leadership potential. Once your leaders are in place, your MLM business
will go on autopilot.
The Team (Upline,
Sidelines, even the Company Staff)
Joining the right team is also crucial in MLM. No man is an island in
this world. Uplines will always be there to help but the attitude to be adopted
is that I am in business for myself but
not by myself. Since I am in business for myself, I am the master of my
fate, I create my own luck, and I am the author of my own book – it all boils
down to ME. Having an upline to help you is considered a BONUS. If you were to
run a traditional business, would you expect other people to open shop for you
and close the shop for you? Same goes in MLM.
Like wise, you have to be a good, responsible upline as well. No one has
succeeded in any industry without learning and MLM is no different. It is the
upline’s responsibility to guide, train, teach and motivate the downline. New
people in MLM without guidance are like sheep wandering into a wild forest –
what are their chances of survival? It is no wonder 95% of Network Marketers
fail to break even. The upline must lead them, empower them but must never
spoon feed them. Uplines must not be abused. If you give a
man a fish, he will feed himself for a day. Teach him to fish, and he will feed
himself for life!
Sidelines or Crosslines are people not in your line of sponsorship. Why
should I bother with sidelines? They are all somebody’s downline. Somewhere
‘up’ the line they are probably in one of your upline’s group. Many companies
now encourage sideline team support. Because you will always have more
sidelines than uplines and downlines, it is crucial that side lines help one
another. One upline has limited time and resources, but if sidelines work as a
team, you leverage on more people.
Developing a good relationship with the company staff is also necessary
for success. Imagine if you are holding a team meeting and you need them to
arrange or prepare the rooms for you. Getting shipment on time for your
products? Check with the staff. If you have a good relationship with the owners
of the company, it is also a great advantage for moving in the same direction
together. This is even more so for pioneers with a new company, the first batch
of distributors and the owners of the company must work closely together to bring the company to success.
One last aspect to consider about a company is the state of it’s current
market trend. Many people at one time or another has heard about aggressive
marketing and campaigns on certain companies based on the need for their
product and how hot the opportunity is at the moment.
They could be in the pioneer stage, marketing the latest health products
to a growing or maturing market (for example, aging baby boomers). Some could
be in a mature stage after surviving in the market over 10 years.
The comparison of the new, smoking hot companies over the mature, or
aging counterparts have its pros and cons. New companies are not vulnerable to
saturation. Collaboration with new companies put you in positions of power
where you can negotiate with the
management team on the direction of the company or even enhance the marketing
plan. People who has heard of those new companies may jump on the opportunity
and it is generally easier to create a large group in a short time.
This does not mean you should not join older companies. Older companies
are more stable and has survived the times. They have run a time tested system
which has helped many people to succeed. International companies are even more
reliable as they have the manpower to tap the international market. Think of
McDonalds. They have been around for so many decades yet people are still
profiting from them today because they all follow a system.
There is No Such
Thing as a Perfect MLM
In spite of all
there is discussed above, certain companies may claim they are the best.
Different companies market different products and they all claim to be the best
in their line. Each claim to be selling the best skin care, nutrition,
aromatherapy, insurance programs, investment opportunities or even online digital
products.
Let’s face it.
There is no such thing as a perfect MLM, just there is no such thing as a
perfect church or perfect government. MLM companies are just like normal
companies in the sense that there will always be management problems, staff
problems, cash flow problems, shipment difficulties and product faults.
Take the skin
care industry for example. There are many skin care products that have long
histories, extensive research, powerful testimonials, and so on. But no matter
how good the skin care is, they will not benefit EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE
PLANET. We are all different. Some has drier skin. Some are more sensitive. You
can’t prescribe a drug that will cure everything for everyone.
Likewise with
teams. Certain teams are more suitable for younger crowds with all the
excitement and the hoo-hah going on. Others are for a more mature crowd.
All this I am highlighting will
lead to my next point in the next chapter which is:
An MLM That Would Suit
YOU
Understanding
this principle could save your MLM life. Many people label everyone who joins
more than one MLM company a ‘junkie’. It is true that there are junkies that
goes around recruiting their friends when he tries COMPANY A, dies a natural
death after a while and joins COMPANY B. He starts talking to the same friends
how good COMPANY B is and always talk bad about COMPANY A. Then he quits
COMPANY B after running into some struggles and joins COMPANY C, does the same
thing promoting C while talking bad about A and B and goes on and on.
No. I am not teaching you to be
a junkie.
I have explained
in the previous chapters that even the ‘best company’ in the world would not be
suitable for everyone. I may LOVE supplements for my health and buy it from the
‘best health supplement opportunity in the world’ but my passion is being on the
Internet! Don’t get me wrong, the supplement company would have a FANTASTIC
TEAM, a SOLID COMPANY BACKGROUND, and even an UNBELIEVABLE
COMPANSATION
PLAN. But I prefer to sell digital products. I don’t care if I don’t get to
meet or socialize as many people in person on my Internet MLM, I don’t even
care if I don’t operate at an office! I am making money at my Internet MLM.
I think we get the picture now…
Here is another
scenario. What do you do when you are already in one MLM and a good friend
approaches you for another? Do you refuse? Remember, you must not treat your
MLM business like a RELIGION. I don’t refuse because I will always find
benefits in every MLM company that I join. I may like the products there. I can
SHARE these products (for example, supplements) to friends who do not believe
in buying on the Internet! No single company will cover the ENTIRE market so we
have to be realistic. I may even join that company so I can build relationships
with them and get them to try my own MLM products too! If I don’t keep an eye
out for other opportunities, I don’t feel that I am a good business man. But
you must FOCUS on one business, some may say. Yes, I focus on one, but I also
open the door to many other potential customers too.
Always be open to
new opportunities and cross sell! That’s where you put the ‘network’ in network
marketing. But don’t make the mistake of joining every opportunity just to get
people because it costs you time and money and only join different MLMs if you
see a tangible benefit.
If you don’t make
it in your first MLM, don’t despair! People make mistakes and they (hopefully)
grow wiser the next time they choose again. This is what I hope for all who
read this book because you must never give up when you fail the first time.
Most people don’t make it in their first MLM but they might succeed in the
second or third.
Being Aware of the
Risks
In any business dealings there are always risks – Same in life. Drive out
the door today and there are always risks of accidents. How to minimize your
risks also depends on your own judgment.
Before joining a company, you must always remember in MLM that if you
want to make serious money, you must be prepared to be in for the long haul.
There are people who tell themselves, if
I can make $500 to $1,000 part time/on the side, I would be happy. They do not
set their goals high and what happens? They give only part time or half hearted
effort which often doesn’t even help them make the $500 that they wanted in the
first place!
Others think to themselves, that if they can find that ONE opportunity,
I’ll be one of their first and look for 2-5 downlines, which will do the rest
of the work (network building) then I
will be set for life. MLM requires HARD WORK. MLM is a business that
appreciates in value OVER TIME. Which would you rather earn?
$10,000 a day
every month?
OR
$0.01
doubling every day per month?
Ten thousand a day would seem like a lot of money on the first day
compared with getting one cent on the first day? Most would choose the first
option, but consider.
$10,000 * 30 days
is $300,000. If 31 days, then it would be $310,000 1 cent doubling every day
would product a whopping $5,368,709.12!!! If we add one more day the total will
be over 10 million!!!
Don’t despair if you don’t make substantial money over the first 6
months. Those are your TRAINING months. Remember again, NO ONE SUCCEEDS IN THE
MLM INDUSTRY WITHOUT LEARNING AND HANDS ON EXPERIENCE.
Learn to pace yourself. Rome is not built in a day. But do it at a proper
pace where you know your financial limitations. Ask yourself:
(1) Can
you afford the joining fees?
(2) Are
you prepared for the obvious overheads like petrol, food and training
materials?
(3) If
you don’t make money in the first six months, can you survive?
(4) Are
you prepared to cut down on your luxuries so you can work out your business?
(5) Are
you prepared to LEARN?
Getting Started Off
The Right Foot
Once you have answered all the questions in the previous chapter, you
begin your journey.
Attend trainings repeatedly and listen to your upline. If your upline is
not qualified, the keep going upline until you find someone who can coach you
or mentor you.
Once you have downlines under you, you must be prepared to be a leader
and duplicate what your upline has taught you. DUPLICATION is the key to building a long term business because
your downlines are able to do the same thing you are doing. Many successful
leaders in MLM are fantastic speakers on the stage and powerful trainers in the
field and even write books on how to succeed. One of the biggest mistakes a new
distributor usually makes are buying a ton of books thinking they will be well
equipped to go ‘out there’ and create a sponsoring explosion. You may try to
imitate your leader, talk like them, look confident or even walk like them. But
the tricky part is duplicating the charisma or having the same influence. Even
after reading all the books on self- improvement, the tactics might not work
because you don’t have the same charm as the author!
I am not saying don’t read books or buy books. Factual information or
education is usually more helpful in making a good decision. I have compiled a
reading list at the end of this book that will give good facts. But trying to
become like another person and using his or her ‘techniques’ will often lead to
disappointment with the book itself!
They become disillusioned and go on to buy another ‘key to success in
MLM’ book and the vicious cycle repeats itself again. Eventually they become
disillusioned with books and they will stop reading all together.
KEY POINT TO
REMEMBER:
LEADERS ARE NOT BORN, THEY ARE DEVELOPED
OVER TIME. THOSE WHO SUCCEED IN MLM WILL HAVE TO PAY THE PRICE OF
LEARNING AND GROWING. THOSE WHO SUCCEED QUICKLY IN MLM HAS ALREADY PAID THE
PRICE OR WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND DOWNLINES WHO HAD ALREADY PAID THE PRICE.
ARE YOU PREPARED TO PAY THE
PRICE?
In
a Nutshell
MLM is not an easy road to walk on and there will be many obstacles along
the way. That is why choosing the RIGHT
company is of utmost importance as the journey of a thousand miles begin with
the first step so I hope everyone reading this will take the first step in the
RIGHT direction.
Regardless of success or failure, MLM is a journey worth traveling on
because of the things you will learn along the way. It is priceless.
It is with my sincerest wishes that all who read this book would achieve tremendous success in the MLM journey.
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