Please
understand that, with this list, I am talking with reference to long term
network marketing success and long term residual income.
1. The Company itself: I
immediately discount ANY start-up company. I don't care if the company is
founded by someone who has successfully done it before, or by a billionaire
celebrity entrepreneur, of by anyone else who "impresses." The whole
concept often touted is "get in at the top & ride the wave that will
ensure your success" or "with this well known successful billionaire
as a founder your success is guaranteed"...or something along these lines.
In this industry, one would have to really try hard to speak anything that is
more "BS" that this type of talk.
* It
is absolutely essential that the company founder/s and managers are of the
highest business talent, best reputation, and experience possible.
*
However...all these people can do is provide you with a fantastic, well run
& managed vehicle through which YOU may be able to achieve success. Hear me
well...they cannot & will not guarantee your network marketing success with
their company. That is entirely up to you, your skills, your personal
development, your action & your persistence ALONE will determine that.
* The
"failure" and "success" rates is/will be the same as with
any other well managed MLM company.
* I
want to see 4 or 5 years of successful operation & expansion, good public
acceptance, good reputation, proven products, etc. before I will my pour my
life, time & resources into building my network marketing success with any
company. Remember...think long term.
2. Publicly Traded OR Privately Owned: Both
have their positive & negative aspects. Personally, I will not join up with
a publicly traded network marketing company...so obviously privately owned is
my choice. (I know this opinion is the opposite of many!)
* It
is often said that publicly traded companies are more accountable as their
books are more open to scrutiny. Probably generally true...however...you don't
have to look far to find publicly traded companies that have rigged the books
& have given false impressions of financial management. So being publicly
traded is absolutely no guarantee. If the founders/managers want to be
dishonest they will find ways of being so irrespective of whether they are
publicly traded or privately owned.
* To
me the issue here is really "who are the company managers aiming for
approval from...who are they running the company to primarily benefit"?
* In
the case of publicly-traded...it will absolutely be to benefit the
shareholders. This can...and often is...at the expense of the interests of the
distributors & representatives that are busy pouring their lives &
resources into to achieving their own personal network marketing success by
building their business. The focus will be on what the shareholders (who mostly
know nothing about network marketing) perceive will bring increased profits.
The well-being & success of the distributors will be at the bottom of the
consideration list. They just do not understand that successful distributors
mean a more profitable company.
3. % of Revenue Paid out in Compensation Plan: Anything
over around 50% and you've immediately lost me. I'm just not remotely
interested in working my butt off for 2 years to then have the company go belly
up. It may sound great to promote "we payout 75% (or more) of revenue to
our distributors". Problem is that history has shown that it is not
sustainable in the long term and these companies usually fail sooner or later.
They
may go fine while economic circumstances are reasonable. But when things get
tough & business perhaps declines...now we'll see who thinks it's amusing
to lose their hard-earned "residual income" because the company went
broke. Maybe there are some out there that can do it...I'm just not willing to
risk doing all the hard yards only to lose any network marketing
success I may have achieved.
4. The Products: I might be a bit
controversial here...but ah well, I'll worry about that later.
Firstly
let me say (again) that I am speaking here from the perspective of creating
long term residual income (& I mean real residual income...not where you
need to keep working in order to keep getting paid)
Please
understand that I'm not saying that you definitely shouldn't join one of these
companies as they can be excellent companies...I'm just trying to make you
aware of what usually happens. The 2 or 3% of distributors who are super
successful may well be able to overcome or work with these situations...but
they can bring some serious discouragement to the other 97 or 98% of people,
making network marketing success more difficult and/or more unlikely. DO NOT
look for a product that you can fall in love with & passionately believe
in, and then decide you will go out & sell it. ie...don't focus on the
product. This is back to front. Instead, focus on the people & the market.
Find a mob of people raving about a product THEN fall in love with THAT
product! Be a passionate advocate for it. If you find a product with a HUGE
market and fall in love with that product you will be able to sell it. You need
a product that people will buy even if there is no compensation plan attached
to it.
* I
really don't want to sell products that have a significant customer drop-out
probability...for the simple reason that I don't want to keep on having to
personally sell more every month or so to replace lost volume (or customer
points...or whatever the company chooses to call it). That would mean it is
very hard to "retire". (to me...long term network marketing success
means not having to work anymore).
My
experience is that you can lose existing customers for many reasons. If you
lose them because you didn't "look after them"..that really is your
own fault & not what I'm referring to here. I guess I don't really regard
as "work" something like sending out a card of appreciation, or a
thank you email, or Facebook message...or whatever method you may employ to
keep an occasional contact with your customer base.
*
Products that I'm not interested in selling are ones that people would probably
like to use...but may not be able to afford them for the long haul.
They may well be brilliant products and your customer really would like to use
them for the long term, they can see the benefits of using it/them, maybe even
"need" to use them...but because they don't normally use them they
have to find significant space in the weekly/monthly budget to purchase them.
These customers will nearly always be short term only...meaning you will have
to replace them sooner or later.
This
is no reflection on the products themselves, they may be brilliant...just the
reality of what people will do. Into this category, I would place most (if not
all) MLM nutrition products, weight loss products, juices, skincare, etc. I
have been in a company that sells some of these...I know how fast customers
fall away when the budget tightens for whatever reason...like job loss,
reduction in working hours, taken on another commitment, a mortgage interest rate
rise, etc. (The products themselves that we used were brilliant...but only
affordable for a few months or until a goal was reached).
*
Products that I am very interested in selling are those that people are already
using anyway...especially those they can't live without. Or if they
theoretically can live without them they already are so accustomed to having
them that not having them is not considered an option. And they are already
fitting into the budget. These are products or services that will have very
high customer retention...meaning very seldom having to replace lost ones.
With a
good personal customer base and a good team with a good customer base that I
get paid commissions on and little or no customer loss...now this is what I am
calling real residual income. I don't have to keep working if I don't want or
need to...& that to me is what network marketing success is all about. Very
cool indeed!!
This
article is part A of a larger article. I will continue with part B in my next
post. Make sure you check back for the remainder of Network Marketing Success -
Choosing A Network Marketing Company.
I
would sincerely love to help you accomplish your personal network marketing
success along with your dreams that drive you. You can check out my website
here for a duplicatable free turnkey training and attraction marketing system
for your network marketing success or simply click the links below.
I am
very successfully building an awesome life long residual income in the Network
Marketing industry. I have been in two network marketing companies in the
past...with dismal results. So I know the feeling of failure. As a result, my
view of this industry wasn't overly positive...although I really knew all along
that it was, in fact, a brilliant business model.
I
believe the failure rate in the network marketing industry is mostly due to poor or
total lack of mentoring & training made available from up-lines...also the
fact that many up-lines treat their prospects like just a number. These people
are recruiters...not sponsors. They never get to know you, your dreams, your
partner's & kid's names, your WHY...anything about you.
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