The Truth About MLM. And It’s NOT What You Think!
Posted on 30. Aug, 2010 by Keith O'Brien in Leadership, Network Marketing/MLM Articles, Online Marketing
MLM, Multi-level Marketing, Network Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Direct Sales…call it whatever you want. It’s all the same, by any name. MLM has been around since the 1950’s, actually even earlier, but the industry as we know it today really began to gain prominence in the early 1950’s.
I am not even going to address how some people think MLM’s are a scam and they are illegal pyramids. With decades of history to review, anyone who thinks MLM is a scam is just simply ignorant.
There are illegal companies in every industry. There are franchise scams, insurance scams, internet scams, and scams in every business. It doesn’t mean those industries are scams.
Seriously, some people are just funny.
As of year end 2009, there are roughly 68 million people in the industry worldwide and direct sales produces annual revenues of over $105 billion a year. Bottom line, as a business model to move product into the hands of consumers….MLM works, and it works very well.
Many people get involved with MLM to make money and with the challenges in our current world economy, more and more people are looking at the industry as a viable solution to either supplemental or full time income.
This article is going to lay out the most common myths of the industry. We are going to hit the top 5 most common and look at what truth there is in each.
Unfortunately, millions buy into the myths rather than the reality. Let’s see if we can change that.
Most Common MLM Myths
I took some time to survey a ton of my friends in the industry and got some feedback on what they hear all the time. I also took some time to talk with my non-MLM friends and learned what they think of the industry.
The interesting thing about MLM is that the industry isn’t branded by the companies themselves. For the most part, it’s branded by the independent distributors. That means, a customers experience of any given company is influenced much more by the distributor than by the actual company. This is unique in the business world to network marketing.
One of the greatest aspects of MLM is that anyone can get involved. This can also be a challenge. This means that millions of people every week are learning about a new business from people with all different levels of talent, skills and ethics.
This phenomenon creates the variety of the perceptions and misconceptions people have about network marketing. So, let’s dig into some of those right now.
1. MLM is a get rich quick scheme – We’ll also add this one…”you can make money with little or no effort.” Making substantial money in MLM quickly is possible, but only a very small percentage of people achieve it. Most people who are currently making $10k+ per month have built that check over some time.
This instant lottery mentality is often the downfall for many distributors. If they don’t hit a home run instantly, they quit. Many distributors think they have to over-promise results, when the reality is, if they would simply manage people’s expectations and support them in creating solid daily productive habits, the results would be there.
Network marketing is rarely a get rich quick business, but if you do it right, it’s a get rich and keep it forever business. I would much rather build it once and make it last.
2. Only the people at the top of make money (or you have to get in early) – One of the reasons people from the international community love MLM so much is they see it as one of the purest forms of capitalism in the world. Making money in this industry is about production not position. If you are at “the top,” and do nothing, you will make nothing. If you get in early in a company’s life and do nothing, you will make nothing.
MLM compensates for performance, nothing else. Everyone is “the top” of their own team and can out produce and out earn everyone in their upline if they want to.
Getting in early or towards the top of a company’s structure can certainly be an advantage for those who produce. If you create a big team early and your team’s reach is large before most people hear about a company…then you have set yourself up a solid foundation and will likely reap the rewards.
But let’s put this to bed right now. You produce, you make money. Period.
3. You don’t have to sell anything – This is a funny one. We can create as many euphemisms as we want but at the end of the day, in order to make money in any business, you have to sell something. In MLM, you can sell the product, the system, the opportunity and yourself…but it has to be something.
It’s true that good companies have great tools that do the presentations for you. Good companies even have tools that will support you in doing your follow up. But let’s get real here…someone needs to buy something in order for revenue to be generated.
And, for the love of God, stop asking for what you don’t want. If the “systems” did ALL of the work, the company would have NO USE FOR YOU.
Here is where the irony comes in with MLM. For your own personal recruits, the more you sell, generally the less successful you will be. Most people don’t like to sell or can’t sell and MLM is a duplication business.
Whatever process you use to introduce someone to the business will largely be what they think they’ll need to do to be successful. Hard close them and they will think they need to do the same. Let other people and systems inform your prospect while you facilitate the process and you are off to a great start.
Let’s just own the fact that we are in sales. Stop avoiding. Come to terms with it. Then just be smart about building your business. Get yourself out of the way and let new people see the systems that are in place. If your company doesn’t have great tools, either create them yourself or find a new company. Great tools and great training are keys to building huge businesses.
4. You will lose all of your friends – There are two sides to this one. First of all, if you lose friends while building your business it’s probably because you are being annoying. You were probably annoying well before you started your business. Now you are just annoying with a purpose.
If you are losing friends, stop doing what you are doing. If your friends don’t see what you see, just keep being a great friend. They may come around and they may not, but if they are a quality person, you should want to keep them in your life.
The second part to this is that often when people get into the industry, they start to hang around with some different people. They are surrounded by positive, driven people who want to live a big life and make a difference in the world. That’s what MLM is all about.
Sometimes our current friends aren’t exactly this way. Someone doesn’t have to have money to be a quality person, but they need to be positive. They need to be able to see opportunities and possibility rather than just problems.
When you set yourself on a course for success, one of the things you must do is take a good look at your social circle and see if your close group of friends are supporting your dreams or squashing them.
Some of the relationships you currently have may not be that healthy. It’s important to look at whom you associate with. Your associates are incredibly powerful.
5. Only spec
ial people with tons of contacts can make money – Here is the deal. In order to succeed in any business, you will need to develop certain skills and you must learn the strategies to make the business work. This is definitely true in MLM.
There are countless stories of average people with average talent with average contacts and average ability making fortunes in network marketing. There are a few things that are common amongst virtually all of these stories. These people had above average desire to succeed and they worked closely with a mentor.
What this means is that you need to be open to coaching and literally go on a mission to learn the strategies you need to win and the skills you need to develop to grow a massive business. You can do this by chance or you can do this by choice. Choice is faster.
I am going to add a bonus #6 to the list.
This one would only have made the list in the last few years.
6. Traditional MLM is dead, you only can build your business through the internet now – Remember, internet marketing is just that…MARKETING. The entire internet network marketing platform preys on people who are struggling and provides this wonderful miracle fix to your problems.
These marketers tell you that your upline has lied to you, that you can’t build your business with friends and family or traditional networking. This, pure and simple, is crap. Of course you can.
I am a big fan of internet marketing and it definitely works….for SOME THINGS. And for other things…well, not so much.
For example…
If someone gets started in my business TODAY and I want to help them build their business this week, where would I need to go?
Exactly…people they already know. These people already know and trust them and are already open and interested to speak to them.
I personally believe that EVERYONE has 3-6 new enrollments in their warm market within their first 60 days if they would simply introduce their contacts to the business.
Think how fast your business would grow if you simply helped everyone get started that way.
With that said, what strategies someone is going to use to create enrollments in month 3, 4, 5 and beyond is another story. The internet is a fabulous solution for that and a great way to advance your business…but it’s not a great way to start it.
I am going to talk a lot more about this in another article
“Old School vs New School,” but for now, I will just say this.
Look, let’s just let the results speak for themselves. Take the top 25 earner list from the top 100 companies in the entire industry and see just how many internet marketers are in that list of 2,500 people. I’ll give you the answer…NOT MANY.
You have to understand what works and what doesn’t work and also decide how you want to grow your business. Like I said, I’ll give you a lot more on this in my next article.
Okay, so if you have read this article all the way through (it’s a bit long) then I can assume one of a few things.
First, you are currently in MLM and enjoyed the content. Perhaps you are looking for more training and tools to improve your skills. Congrats on your commitment to your business and for seeking out training to continue to build your toolbox.
Second, you are looking at MLM as a possible business for yourself. I encourage you to learn all you can about this great industry. Done right, it will pay you back immeasurably for the effort and commitment you make.
Either way, I’d love to speak with you personally. Opt into my private list here, “like” my fan page if you haven’t already and feel free to drop me a personal call. My personal cell phone number is in the info section.
Cheers to your massive success.
With Love & Laughter…
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http://www.victorantonio.com victor antonio
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Lynn Mangan
