Network Marketing Cut Through The Hype To Get To The Truth
There many Network marketing companies in the market place today and more starting every week. Everyone of them claim to have the best product or service, the greatest compensation plan , and a sure fire duplicable marketing system. For a few companies that’s true, but for many, its not. The question is how do you cut through the hype to get to the truth?
When I look at a company I go through several steps. If any don’t meet my criteria, I eliminate the company, no matter how good the other areas look. Here are steps:
1. Who is the Management Team – This is most important in selecting a network marketing company. You can have a below average product and a great management team will build a huge company. The opposite is also true – a bad management team will take an amazing product and drive it into the ground. The keys to look for in a good network marketing management team are: Experience as a successful network marketing distributor (you want them to think like you do); experience building multi-million or billion dollar businesses with facilities, employees, cashflow, etc.; the President/CEO should be a charismatic visionary leader who naturally attracts followers; the CFO should be someone with extensive experience handling money decisions for large companies; there should also be a marketing person who has extensive experience marketing in network marketing.
2. Market Trends – I do the research necessary to assure me that the company is sitting in front of at least one powerful marketing trend. For example a solid network marketing company that is going to be around for years has a solid, ethical business approach, it will be a good entry into the Entrepreneurial Boom . If the company markets a solid health product, then the company may be sitting in front of the powerful Wellness Boom, which is approaching a trillion dollar industry. 76 million baby boomers here in the U.S. are all interested in wellness and that’s a powerful market trend. Take a close look at the product/service market that the company is targeting and determine if market is flooded with similar products/services or if it’s a powerful market trend that will drive the company through massive growth for years to come.
3. Product – You will find just about everything sold in network marketing. However, not every product is suited to network marketing. If you look historically at the industry, you will find that the #1 product category is health products; #2 is skin care; and #3 is household products. The reason these are the top product categories is that they are all consumable. The product should also be unique in some way – patents, exclusive, nothing else like it anywhere, etc. The product/service should be reasonably priced and compete effectively with what is out in the non-network marketing world. If the product fills a common need, you’ve got a real winner and if it results in an emotional response (it impacts a person’s life in an emotional way), then you’ve got a very big winner.
4. Compensation Plan– It’s important for you to to know that historically the average number of people a distributor sponsors in their life with a company is 2-3, so if a compensation plan will not allow a person to earn at least a good part-time income by sponsoring 2-3, then it’s not a fair plan. Also, a person working 10 to 15 hours a week, should be able to develop a $50,000 + a year income within 1 to 3 years with the plan. Finally, it should have big back end money to attract those who want to earn the high six and seven figure incomes. That’s a well balanced and complete compensation plan.
5. Training and Support – The number one reason people fail in network marketing is that they don’t do the work necessary to build a business. The second highest reason is that they are not trained and supported properly. In a good network marketing company you will find a mix of company training – primarily on the product/service, technology, tools, and compensation plan and training offered by leaders – how to build a network marketing business. A solid network marketing company will provide quality tools – company web site, distributor sites, webinars, DVD’s, CD’s, brochures, etc. They will provide national conventions and regional events. The leaders will provide local meetings, teleconferences, and their own webinars. In a well executed network marketing system, no one has the excuse that they weren’t trained properly.
These are the steps I use in analyzing a company. Each one is progressive in that if one doesn’t pass, the research ends. I will not recommend or get involved with a network marketing business that does not meet all five criteria. Now, you will find variations of quality in each area, but when you find a company that excels in all five, you’ve got a real winner.
If you’re at a point where you are searching for a network marketing business, hopefully this will help you cut through the hype. If you are already with a company and are completely happy, then you might store this away for some future year when you are looking.
To your success,
Herb Hunter, 734-285-6792, hunter645@aol.com.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Herb,
Another great post to follow.
Robert