Saturday, May 17, 2008

Is your MLM company sucking you dry?

HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN MLM!

Do you hear a great sucking sound coming from your wallet and do you hear the clock ticking away your precious time? It's time to take a look at your present company or the company you are researching to join. You could be one of the many people in MLM today that wonders the same thing. Many people in network marketing want to be successful. Since the attrition rates are so high, many people who get started quickly quit and many before they even get their first order in! Success in networking doesn't come easy.

Many people don't realize that asking only ONE question can greatly increase their chance of success with MLM marketing. The question each of needs to ask is very simple. Is the MLM network program I am about to join, going to be a company that sucks me dry of my time and money? Please read on and find out how you can determine if the company your are in or looking at joining is a company that will leave high and dry.

Question #1:

Are you in or looking at a company that is always out for new blood or for new members? If it is a company that is always pushing its distributors to build a large downline. There is no true product and people would not join if there wasn't a business opportunity associated with it. Recruiting is vitally important in MLM marketing, but is spells trouble, with a Capital T! if that company or program makes recruiting it's only focus.

Question #2:

Is anyone selling products at a retail price or are they just filling their garages with product orders month after month? Of course, everyone should continue to seek new leaders to help their business grow and develop, but not to the point where there is no retailing of products. There has to be a balance between retailing and recruiting. In a true marketing company, selling something – whether it be a service or a product is the actual focus of the company.

Question #3:

What is the focus of the company? Again, if the focus is only on recruiting new members, and you are getting paid just to recruit, this is wallet drying networking at its worst and it is probably best to stay away from such a company.

Question #4:

What is the product that distributors will be selling? What is its price? Is it priced so that it will sell in the marketplace? Is the product price being over inflated? Remember, only a few companies actually manufacture the products for most of the major MLM companies. Inflated prices occur when a company's products are very high and the same product can be found with another company for much less. In addition, if you can find the product in places like Wal-mart, Costco, Safeway, etc., this spells trouble for distributors. Who can compete against the big boys, like Wal-Mart? When it comes to how to be successful in MLM, being involved with a company that operates with a product or product line like this will make success very difficult for most people.

Question #5:

What profit are people making? A profit is simply the difference between the wholesale and retail price of a product. If distributors only gets a few percent of the wholesale profit, they are going to need many, many people in their downline if they are going to build a good income for themselves. For many distributors operating at that level of profit percentage, it means that more than likely they are going to need at least a couple of thousand or more in their downline. Once again this is going to keep your wallet dry and is one of the worst type programs.

Question #6:

Is the company debt free (some debt is OK), but if overhead is excessive, it can signal the end for a company. For some, this won't make sense but it is very important to consider. Remember, the more expensive the buildings, staff, operating systems for procurement and delivery, the less money from the total revenue will be available. In other words, the less overhead expenses the head office has, the more of the total revenue can put in the compensation plan for distributors. The whole point being that a company is there to serve the distributor base. This is done by providing quality products and paying the distributor base for the sales of those products.

Question #7:

Are bonuses paid throughout the various levels of distributorship? Is so, what are the criteria for becoming eligible for these bonuses? Do people have to go through so many hoops, and the eligibility criteria so demanding that only the top 1% or 2% of distributors qualify for these bonuses? This is especially important to consider since most people in MLM are part-timers. If almost no one ever qualifies, where does the money go? If you are looking at how to be successful in MLM, think about this very carefully. Can the part-timer make money? If they cannot it might be better to look at company that can help the part-timer make money as their businesses start to grow. This is a KEY to keeping your attrition rates down and your sales up

Question #8:

Would people buy the product if there were no business opportunity associated with it? The question to always ask is this: “If all the recruiting of distributors stopped for any amount of time, would the company still be in business?” In other words – is the company – and its distributors – selling enough product to maintain a profitable revenue stream? If there is no true product being sold yet lots of recruiting is still going on, it may well be that the whole operation is an illegal pyramid scheme.

So, to answer the question how to be successful in MLM, think very carefully and seriously about the above questions. Some of you won't like the answers you find to these questions, because it means that you very well could be in a network company, where success probably will never happen. It might be time to make a change and find a company that does not suck you dry!

If you are contemplating becoming involved in MLM marketing, make sure you choose to be part of a company where you can build it big for your children and your children's children.