THE WAY IT WAS

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Let me, first mention the history of the ...
... was founded on the ...
of great products and ... of such.
In fact, the oldest direct sales company ... i Let me, first mention the history of the MLM/networking industry.Networking was founded on the principles of great products and thesharing of such.
In fact, the oldest direct sales company inAmerica is now a network marketing company based on the sales ofproducts and sharing the concept of retailing products to make money,but through a strategy of networking in order to find others who willdo the same.The answer to the "Which Comes First" question really rests with thebusiness opportunity seeker based on how he wants to build hisbusiness. What I am about to share with you may help you determinethe kind of networking company you may want to align yourself with.Let me start by saying "the face of the network marketing industryhas changed drastically in the past 15 years." With the emergence ofcomputer technology, network marketing has taken on a new look interms of what is on the "front door" as you come knocking.
With theintroduction of the Internet as an additional medium for networking,the whole MLM industry has seen a new emphasis. PRODUCTS, PRODUCTS, PRODUCTS!Just to give you an idea what I am talking about, 20 years ago aprospective sponsor would sit down across the kitchen table with you .
.pull out his catalog of products ... show you some sampleproducts or may even have a small home meeting demonstrating theexcellence of their product line and then tell you how you can makemoney, not only selling the products, but having a distributorship.In so doing, you could set other people up with a distributorshipwhich would allow you to retail products AND earn commissions fromthe products sold by your distributors you signed up under you.
Inother words, they led with the products first. There are companiesthat continue to use that approach today and with certain companies,that is a necessary approach to take and certainly makes sense.
HOW ABOUT A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY?In the eighties we started seeing an emergence of "businessopportunity" in the headlines as a way to attract people to MLM.This emergence led to a new approach in network marketing ..."Mail Order." No longer was it necessary to have local meetingsor to meet across the kitchen table with people. Simply send outa mail piece and sign people up.
Companies had the ability to managedatabases of people and to run commission checks so "business opportunity"became the lead-in rather than products. Although these type companieswere backed up by products, the emphasis on products was not the samefor some companies .
. .
and in fact . .
.brought on certain companiesthat were "here today and gone tomorrow" because the products were notgood enough to keep people involved. Remember, it’s the sale of productsthat generate commissions for the distributors.
LET’S MAKE SOME MONEY!In the early nineties, the personal computer became so popular thatit was possible for "John Doe" to start up his own program . .
.rightfrom his own kitchen table. With this came on the "Make Money" approachto MLM.
Many times the word "business" was not even mentioned. It wasabout making money regardless of the products and in some cases illegalMLM schemes were developed with the intention of going out of business atsome point .
. .even being put out of business due to attorney generalprobes or postal regulations.
It was this phase of MLM that started givingMLM a questionable name because the good, the bad, the ugly were allgrouped under MLM . .even if they were illegal pyramid schemes or ponzischemes.At this point, I might add that there were still legitimate productoriented MLM companies continuing to prod along just as they havebeen doing for years, but due to the hype of "make money" peoplewere being lured toward these "make money" type companies.
So whatbegan to happen was the truly product oriented MLM companies beganhaving competition from the short lived "make money" type programs. LET’S MAKE MONEY, AND I'LL DO IT FOR YOU!Something else happened at this time as well.
The "Make Money"programs hyped the "don’t work hard" image and in some cases . ."we’ll do it for you." Let’s face it.
If people could make moneywithout working very hard . .
either due to their not having time ortheir just not wanting to work hard . ..certainly people would jumpon the bandwagon of the "make money" type companies over the slowerto build product oriented companies and that is exactly what happened.The result was, many people getting a bad impression of MLM due to acompany going out of business or due to lack of focus on what thecompany had to offer other than just making money.
This is why youwill see ads that say "this is not MLM" because they know many peoplehave been hurt in the "not so legitimate" companies. Unfortunately ittakes only a few bad experiences and negative publicity to give thewhole industry a black eye.
MAKE MONEY . .
. FAST!!Well, if that wasn't bad enough, the Internet emerged and it was nolonger just "make money." Now it was "Make Money FAST!" It was nolonger good enough to just make money.
You had to make it fast . .
.you know . .
. like $90,000 in three months or become a millionairein six months! In addition to that, the Internet began to attractanother kind of person .
. .the person who could barely afford hismonthly ISP service, but accessed the Internet in the hope ofgetting his share of the Internet Gold.
Along came people who notonly could not afford products to buy, they could not afford the costof adequately marketing their business in a way to build a solidfoundation for that business. The result has been a majority of thebusiness seekers who join one program today to "Make Money FAST" .
.find they didn't make it fast so they jumped to the next company andso on. These "jumpers" are spending $50 here and $50 there, but theyare not spending what is necessary to build a solid business .
. time,energy, focus and persistence.
Now I realize I just made ageneralization and realize not everyone does this, but I havepersonally noticed a tremendous number of people who basically can'tafford even the products to build their business. In other words,there is no such thing as product loyalty because people often timesjoin a company or program based only on the dream and hype of makingfast money.
So . .why do they get involved? Because we tell themthey can make money FAST and it’s easy! In order to compete,networkers have had to learn how to hype and this hype has led todisillusionment and disappointment, especially to the new networkerwho has no idea what it really takes to build a long-term successfulbusiness.
THE GOOD NEWS!The good news is, there have been some legitimate networkingcompanies that have come on the scene that have taken networkmarketing a step further. It is the new age of networking and leavesbehind the days of stocking products, going door to door andemphasizing the retailing of products.
This new approach is called"Referral Marketing." It is now possible for a distributor to simplyrefer customers and other "distributors to be" directly to thecompany with the sponsor getting credit for any products sold fromthat direct referral. The question is still about do we lead withproducts first or the opportunity first, but with referral marketing,one can very easily lead with either one.Because of what has taken place over the past few years, leading withthe business opportunity is a necessity, BUT only if it can be backedup with excellent products.Let me provide you with three examples.1.
Suppose I approach you with this: "I've got the best nutritionalsupplement product available on the market and because of that, youcan make money" Feel free to substitute another product . .
like ISP,web hosting, telephone service, etc. As a business seeker, does thatexcite you?2.
Now, suppose I approach you with this: "I've got this productthat no one else has and I have the sole rights to it so we will bethe only ones able to market it. Because of that, you have atremendous opportunity to make money." Understanding that it is hardto respond to such unless you know what the product is, the intrigueand power is in the fact that this company has exclusive rights to aunique product that no one else has.3.
Now suppose I approach you with this statement: "I have a businessopportunity that has a compensation plan that is so powerful that youwill make an excellent income in a very short period of time." Oftentimes the first question is "what is the product" but the realinterest of the network marketer is regarding the compensation plan.For me, the second example would be most powerful because the thoughtof a product that people would want with my being associated with theonly company in which they could get it from would seem to be atremendous opportunity. The problem is, it seems such products eitherdo not exist or they get copied so they are no longer a unique productor service.
In fact, I've even heard the statement that "if we hada product no one else has or can produce, why would we need MLM todistribute it?" So although this second example may be the mostpowerful of the three examples, in reality it really doesn't exist inthe MLM arena.The third example is where the action is in today’s MLM arena. It allboils down to making money.
If the product is good enough to promotenotice . .
I didn't say the best . .
.just good enough) and if peoplecan make money promoting the compensation plan knowing they have goodenough products to back them up, then that is what is attractingpeople to MLM. IS THERE REALLY TRUE PRODUCT LOYALTY?The truth is there is no real loyalty in products.
Loyalty is basedon making money. When I say no real loyalty in products, I'm talkingabout if a person would use those products even if they didn'tparticipate in the business opportunity.
It is easy to be a loyalproduct user when starting a company and certainly when making moneywith that company, but the true test is whether a person will use theproducts even when they are not making money. If people showed theirloyalty to products even if they were not making money, more peoplewould make money because people are consuming the product which isthe basis of commission generation.
CHANGING PEOPLE’S HABITSAnother factor is changing habits of people. For the most part,people go to stores and purchase products.
That is a habit based onyears of doing such. Changing ones habits require motivation to doso.
If the motivation is based on making money rather than beingreally sold and loyal to the products, then once a person decides hecannot make money based on that company/product and moves on toanother, will he continue to use those products? I maintain theanswer to that is "no" with the result being people going back totheir old habits or moving on to another company and trying adifferent set of products. You see, the name of the game is makingmoney .
. .not promoting the best products.
I've seen it time andtime again . ..
We have the best products money can buy, but only aslong as I'm successfully building my business. All of a sudden, theproducts seem not to be the best products money can buy.
IT’S THE NEEDS AND DREAMS THAT DICTATEIt’s the needs and dreams that dictate our actions. You see, we ]don't "need" to have the best products.
We don't "need" to purchaseproducts from a MLM company. We don't dream of being able to buy orsell products.
Instead we have a need to make money. We have adream to become financially independent.
It’s our needs and dreamsthat motivate us to take action so what interests us the most ismaking money. SO WHICH IS IT .
. .
PRODUCTS OR THE OPPORTUNITY?Based on that, it would seem the answer to the question . .
whichcomes first . .
.Products or the opportunity . .
the answer isclearly the opportunity . .
.but more clearly, the compensation plan.In other words, can I show you a compensation plan that will allowyou to make money rather quickly, yet am backed up by good enoughproducts to promote AND a company that is legitimate and stable?The old companies, of the past, that are trying to continue and growbased on their heritage and products, are not growing at the samerate as those companies that have developed state-of-the-artcompensation plans. By state-of-the-art compensation plans, I'mtalking about compensation plans that adequately reward the beginneras well as lucratively rewarding the seasoned MLMer who builds a hugebusiness organization.
In other words, the ideal compensation planis one that will keep the beginner involved long enough to make moneyquickly so he will stick with the business and at the same timelucratively compensate the leaders for reaching leader levels in thecompensation plan.I've seen newer companies with state-of-the-art compensation plansgenerate more volume in one month than some of the older companieswith outdated compensation plans do in a full year. The rebuttal isusually "but our company won't go out of business while those newcompanies will probably be out of business within two to five years."There is some truth to that, but there are now companies that are 3 -20 years old that have become stable growth companies withstate-of- the art compensation plans.
It is now possible to alignyourself to a company with a compensation plan that is stable enoughto feel confident that they will be around for the long haul. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .