Seriously Though,
What is MLM?
We've heard the term
a million times, we've watched the info-mercials and have possibly even come
within inches of jumping onboard, but do we really understand the concept and
the ins and outs of Multi Level or Network Marketing?
Amway seminars
immediately come to mind and most women these days have been approached at
least once by an independent consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics. For the
majority of us, the reality is blurry, buried in the back of our minds just in
case we ever muster the courage to take the plunge.
Multi Level
Marketing (MLM) is one of the fastest growing businesses today. In truth, it is
not an industry but simply a marketing method for moving product from Point A
to Point B. The concept spread like wildfire through the 80's, picked up a
little negative press in the early 90's and has rebounded in the 21st century
as the wave of the future.
Many people tend to
confuse MLM or Network Marketing with Pyramid Schemes. Pyramids are actually
illegal. The easiest way to identify a Pyramid Scheme is to ask yourself two
simple questions. (1) What is the product? And (2) where it is going? Something
has to move!
Multi Level
Marketing moves product on various levels hence, it's name. Here's how it
works. In MLM you are in business for yourself. You purchase products directly
from a wholesaler at wholesale prices.
Product moves from
Point A to Point B. You can, if you wish simply use these products for personal
consumption or you can resell them at a retail price to make a profit. The most
common misconception, however, is that you have to sell retail to be successful.
Not true depending on the company you've chosen to work with.
In the majority of
MLM programs, the true success comes from building the organization or your
downline. Your sales will come as a result. Getting a little nervous? We
mentioned the word sales.
That word will
generate a negative response in almost 95% of the people who hear it. If you're
seriously considering Multi Level or Network Marketing as a career, the first
thing you need to do is instantly replace the word sell in your vocabulary with
the word share. We all love to share and we were actually taught that skill
when we entered kindergarten. If you can share, you will be successful in this
business.
When you build your
organization or your downline, what you're actually doing is building a network
or a funnel for your product or service. The sale of a product comes when
distributors share that product with family, friends, coworkers and/or
neighbors. Now, visual a single thread from a spider's web.
As the spider
continues to expand his web it continues to grow and reach in all directions.
This is exactly how MLM works. As you meet people who are interested in doing
what you're doing, you recruit them. You become responsible for their training,
helping them to build a business of their own just like yours.
From that single
thread becomes a massive web. Each thread that makes up that web ultimately
leads back to you. Each thread is moving product from Point A to Point B either
through their own personal use or the sharing of the product with their
friends, family, coworkers and neighbors.
As your web expands
you become the person at the top, the business owner who is successfully
directing potentially hundreds or thousands of people who are busy moving that
product or service from Point A to Point B.
Depending on how
your particular program is set up, you are financially compensated for every
person and the product they move. The most obvious difference between MLM and a
Pyramid is that anyone can come into a network-marketing program and end up on
the top. In a pyramid scheme, however, the top remains the top and very few
people actually make any money before it collapses.
The products and
services currently being sold via Multi Level Marketing continue to increase.
Corporations are beginning to realize that the dollars they spend on
advertising their products and attempting to identify their markets are better
spent on the consumers themselves. Who do you prefer to purchase your
consumables from, your best friend or the big chain down the street that
doesn't pay any attention to you when you walk in the door?
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