There are literally hundreds of different opportunities all
wanting a piece of you. Which ones will you give the light
of day? I have compiled a guide to help you evaluate MLM
companies and choose one that works for you, not what your
sponsor says.
First of all, there are three criteria for fulfillment. You
are obviously going to sponsor others into the MLM business
of your choice. In order to guarantee that the people you
sponsor are satisfied with their choices — and feel
good about them — it's essential for these three
criteria to be firmly in place.
SAFETY — There's little or no risk involved. They
won't lose their money (not risk a whole bunch, anyway),
their health, their happiness, their friends and family,
their reputations, their dignity, their status, their job,
their self-esteem... nothing will be worse than it already
was.
EFFICACY — It does what it says it will do. It keeps
its promises. It works! (This includes the company, the
compensation plan, the products, the support systems, and
the upline team.)
VALUE — The benefits are much greater than all of the
conditions that had to be met to obtain them. (The
difference defines their degree of fulfillment. If that
difference is negative, it defines their degree of
disappointment. Either way, it will make them want to tell
others about how they feel!)
Most people consider themselves lucky to get two out of
three when they buy or commit to anything. If you are
fortunate enough to get all three out of three you have a
fantastic start!
In addition, there are five factors to consider in order to
properly evaluating each network marketing business
opportunity...
1. The Company
The Company comes first in priority for one simple reason:
if the company goes out of business, so do you.
Company failure is the single biggest threat to network
marketers, because 90% of them fail in the first five years.
Check out the track record of the company owners and senior
management. Have they been previously involved in failed
companies? Do they have convictions for criminal or
corporate offences, such as fraud? (Corrupt, incompetent or
inexperienced management is still a major cause of company
failure. Any decent company will be happy to be
scrutinized.)
Start-ups of course are risky but they also can provide a
high return because you can reach more people especially in
the network marketing industry who haven't heard about it
yet. Because of this I recommend getting your foot in the
door by first focusing on one solid business to start a
foundation, and commit yourself to it before quitting or
expanding your portfolio so you have somewhere to work from.
Another word about companies... "Don't put all of your eggs
in one basket". Building multiple streams of income is the
quickest and easiest way to creating a large income online.
Once you have created a foundation create a secure income
by adding on other income sources.
2. The Compensation Plan
The compensation plan is second in priority because 90% of
network marketers fail to make money, despite their valiant
efforts and hard work, and despite name calling ("quitters"
or "losers") by some upline 'leaders' and company managers.
The simple reality of network marketing is that most
compensation plans are geared against the part-time
marketer. They reward the company and the "heavy hitters"
with mega-networks at the expense of the part-timers.
Beware, too, of "breakage." This is the money that rolls up
to the company when distributors fail to qualify for
bonuses due to high group volume qualifications. Breakage
can results in windfall profits to companies that can
amount to as much as 50% of their net annual profits. This
money rightfully belongs to the members.
3. The Products
The basic truth about products is this... they do NOT drive
network marketing. Money does. It's estimated that as many
as 75% of most companies' distributors don't even use their
own products because they can't make enough money to buy
them.
There's a name in network marketing for people who are
focused on products and prices. They're called customers.
As an entrepreneur, you should be focused on marketing and
margins, not products and prices.
While it's crucial to have good quality, well priced, high
demand, highly consumable products in network marketing,
they're what you carry in your business vehicle —
they are NOT the vehicle itself.
Be wary of companies and network leaders who promote heavy
emotional commitment to their products. Too often it's a
cunning distraction to keep you from looking too closely at
the first two factors — the company and the
compensation plan.
Despite this fact, you should have 100% belief in the
product, compensation plan, and company. In a perfect
situation the products should be something you are excited
to personally use and recommend.
4. The Support Systems
You need effective systems in place that can be easily and
inexpensively duplicated, over and over again. Systems for
lead generation, prospecting, presentation, sponsoring,
training, communication, recognition and support allow you
to focus on people and their needs. You don't get bogged
down by the workings of the systems. Systems for ordering
products, shipping of products, payments and bonuses should
be provided by the company.
5. The Upline Leadership Team
Committed, caring, supportive upline leaders are crucial to
your early and long term success. They should have training
programs, supervision and support strategies and systems,
and they should be accessible to you and your downline.
You owe your upline leaders nothing but gratitude for
helping you succeed. They, on the other hand, owe you and
your people their livelihood — their incomes and
lifestyles. They have an obligation to YOU, not the other
way around. Don't be afraid to ask for help — and
demand to know their level of commitment BEFORE you decide
to join them. (It pays to check them out with other
downline members, too, to learn the reality of their fine
sentiments and promises.)
Just a small tip before I end this. The scams and duds in
network marketing (they're never true network marketing,
they only pretend to be to fool people) are easy to find
— when you know how.
Here's the reality...
They always create a FALSE vision of getting rich with NO
time, NO effort and NO discipline required.
So anytime you encounter an "opportunity" that tells you it
can make you rich with no time, no effort and no
discipline, you can be absolutely certain of one thing...
it's a FAKE. Let's get real, would they need you if any of
that was true? If it does work for some time, it is very
short lived and is not a good strategy for long-term
success.
In closing, it is still always better to get started right
away instead of spending too much time looking... while you
are out in the field you just may accidentally come across
what you have been looking for!
----------------------------------------------------
Darren Olander is helping others find and be successful
with MLM businesses online. Learn more about him at
http://www.darrenolander.com
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