But the problem is that it has frequently been done very badly, and that people can be wrong for it for a number of reasons.

When a Network Marketing or MLM Company is Wrong

Here are some simple points to be aware of in choosing a network marketing company:

• It should provide training in good business standards, including marketing training. If it tells you to promote your business by hitting on friends, family or strangers, then it doesn’t know what it’s doing, and is setting you up for failure. If it can’t teach you how to operate your business successfully, trust me, it doesn’t know how.

• It should provide training in team management so that you acquire the skills needed to build a sustainable downline. Most downlines degrade, and most downlines fail. Good marketing and good management can prevent this.

• It should not emphasize recruitment over product sales. If the whole emphasis is on the “opportunity” instead of product sales, then that company will collapse because it is operating in a similar fashion to a pyramid scheme.

• This point relates to the one above and it is about market demand. You can only be successful in any sustainable way if there is demand for your product. If your MLM company can’t demonstrate public demand for the product (at a price the public is accepting) then you will struggle to make money, and you will not recruit intelligent or experienced business people who understand market forces a whole lot better than that.

• It should be open about commissions paid, and to whom. I don’t mean that they should say how much individuals earn, but they should be able to tell you what proportion of people got paid how much. If they’re selling you the story of financial freedom, find out just what percentage of people are actually getting there. Also make sure you know their failure rate.

• It might or might not require you to buy product in order to enter. If the product is well priced, and if there is a good strong demand for it, then this is in most cases a sensible requirement. However if the product is unreasonably priced (according to the market) or if the market doesn’t really want it and you’re going to have to work hard to promote it, or even give it away so people experience it for themselves, then it’s probably not in your interests. After all, that would mean that you’re bearing the brunt of the cost of launch and that stinks.

When You’re Wrong for Network Marketing

This is going to be disappointing for some readers but I have to be ruthlessly honest. 98% of MLMers fail and lose their money. I’d rather hurt some feelings than watch people going into MLM without knowing the facts.

You’re wrong for MLM if:

You have no business expertise or experience. MLM is certainly a business that requires a high level of skill, but you’d be surprised how many people believe they have those business or management skills despite never having that responsibility. They might have watched a business manager or owner and thought “I can do that” or even “I can do better than that”, but in reality they have little or no clue, and they start mixing with people and breaking not only business principles, but even principles of good business manners.

You think that it’s perfectly OK to present your product or “opportunity” to family, friends, and strangers. This isn’t how real businesses work, and it’s a complete lie spread by unscrupulous MLM companies that this works in network marketing either. Lead generation is incredibly easy and effective when it’s done the right way, in the right place, at the right time. But you have to be willing to listen and learn.

You desperately need money. MLM cannot provide you with overnight money, and your MLM business will not build quickly. In fact the harder you try, the harder it will get. If you want to be financially independent but you currently have no money, the number 1 strategy is to establish yourself in a paid job that will at least feed and clothe you and your family. MLM takes enormous discipline (as does any business) and you will have to be disciplined to plan and schedule your MLM business activities so that you keep making progress without risking your job, your family/leisure time, and your health. With or without a job, MLM done properly is slow and steady.

You have personal habits or grooming issues that repel people. As in any business, people will tend to buy from you (or join you) if they feel in synch with you, if they trust you. What kind of people do you want to attract? Turnoffs are: slothfulness, dirtiness, messiness, smelliness (including tobacco), loudness, being unfriendly or over-friendly, poor manners. All of these make a statement “I can’t be bothered being nice for you” or in the case of overfriendliness, “I am desperate”. All of these can certainly be improved, but the thing is not everyone can be bothered, and some people even belligerently think they can do and be whatever the hell they want and people should just accept them.

You’re on an ego trip. If it’s all about you, you will fail. Business is always about other people’s needs, not ours. If our attention isn’t firmly outside ourselves, focussed on the needs of our consumers and our downlines, we will fail. So avoid ostentation, don’t big-note yourself, and focus on responding courteously and intelligently to the needs of others.

You have no discipline. Some people aren’t suited to routine, regimentation, or systematisation. They just want to fly through life “on the seat of their pants”. I have no problem with that, none whatsoever. However those people are not leaders, and are not business builders (they can still achieve at a high level, but it won’t be in business). People can become very disciplined and can learn to intelligently design and apply effective systems to make things easier and more profitable, but not everyone wants to. Keep in mind that the other thing about successful business people is that they actually love what they do. If you hate it, why do it?

The product being offered is not one that you have a real interest in. Similar to the point above, if you have no passion for the product, you’re going to find it hard going. No matter how much you love the money, no matter how exciting the rewards that are being held out to you, you’ll find that’s not enough to keep you going. You’ll struggle to sell product, and you’ll struggle to recruit people who will sell product. Without product, the whole thing becomes unsustainable. So pick a product that matters to you, which you’ve researched comprehensively (so you know it’s not a scam and so you know there’s a real market for it at that price.) And when you build your downline, accept only those people who also love the product!

Please keep in mind that many of the points above can be redressed. It’s up to you whether or not you want to put in the time and effort to overcome them.

Currently we are building a review of as many MLM companies as we can, contrasting their cost and commission structures, and looking at market demand, as well as providing earnings data. Keep in touch with us at MLMProfessionals.biz for more information.

MLMProfessionals.biz does not have an association with any MLM or network marketing company, and does not receive payment for product sales or recruitment.

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