MULTIPLE STREAMS MEMO.com

I know many people want to yank their hair out when trying to determine which network marketing company is the best one for them. For some the decision to start a home based business was harrowing enough. Then they have to weed through all the different types of home based businesses to find out which suits them best. Finally, once they decide that network marketing is the route they want to go, they get the pleasure of having to choose from over 500 MLM companies.

Now I know that most people – unfortunately – don’t go through a systematic process like that when choosing a company. Usually they sign up because their Uncle Milton told them that he had the answer to their financial woes or Betty at work is about to quit her day job because she found a miracle juice that makes her feel 20 years younger, and if they sign up too they soon will be following Betty out the door. I say unfortunately because I believe that most people fail in network marketing primarily because they haven’t done their homework and have no clue what they are getting into.So how do you find a network marketing company that works best for you? My first suggestion is not to type “best network marketing companies” into Google.  That will give you over 160 million hits, and I’m fairly sure that there will be at least one hit for every MLM company in existence claiming it is the best.  Instead, I think everyone should look at 5 things when considering a company:

1. History of the Company:  Find out how long the company has been in business.  I tend to think that five years is sufficient time to evaluate whether a MLM company is here to stay.  See if you can determine the annual sales of a company for the past three years. I want a company to have a minimum of 10 million in annual sales with an increase of at least 5% per year.  Sometimes these numbers can be hard to determine with MLM companies because they are usually privately held.  See if the person recruiting you can get you an answer to the question directly from the company.  A good company will usually provide that information. You can find relatively unbiased information about most MLM companies from Npros.com, which is a comprehensive resource for information on network marketing companies. The network marketing industry is no different than other industries when it comes to failure rate.  A majority of MLM companies will fail within their first two years.  This year alone, more than 45 MLM companies have closed their doors.  Now that doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking a peek at a new company, but it makes the answers to #2 all the more important.
2. Corporate Ownership and Structure: Has the ownership of the company remained stable?  If not, find out why.  Ask the person recruiting you if the management of the company is accessible and responsive.  If you get a boilerplate answer, dig deeper.  What is the management’s history in the network marketing industry?  I had someone tell me that I needed to get into a new MLM company because one of the owners was formerly a bigwig with a well known software company and the other had been with a large movie production company.  My answer, albeit given more diplomatically, was “So what?” Neither of these guys had a network marketing background, and regardless of how brilliant they might have been in their former lives, that is not they type of learning curve I want my management team to face in the infancy of a company.  Another suggestion is to actually read the company’s policies and procedures with regard to their independent business owners (IBO).  Most people never do this, yet you can glean much about how a company treats its IBOs by reading the fine print. Find out if the company is a member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA), which is the national trade association for the network marketing industry. Every member company  of the DSA goes through a rigorous one year application process and must abide by a the DSA’s Code of Ethics, which governs not only the company’s relationship with consumers but also with its IBOs.
3. Products: If there wasn’t a compensation plan attached, would you buy the company’s products? If you can’t honestly answer yes to that question, I suggest you take a pass. I got into my company by first being a customer. It sold a product that really solved a long term problem I had, and after using the product for a short time, I wanted to investigate the company further. A second question is whether the company has any unique products that provide a better marketing position over the competition? If the company only sells products readily available from other providers, evaluate whether there is anything else unique about the product that will give you a marketing edge. Another factor is whether the company sells products that fit a long term need, or if it is only marketing a fad that will soon be yesterday’s news. I am not picking on anyone in particular, but there’s a ton of companies living off the buzz of Açai Berry, the latest super fruit out of the Amazon. Don’t get me wrong, I love Açai Berry, but I suspect soon its popularity will falter upon the discovery of some other yet unheard of miracle fruit. So for those companies now only marketing Açai Berry products you have to wonder whether they will be ahead of the curve by having new miracle fruit products at the ready or will they be scrambling to find the next best thing? Personally, I don’t want that kind of drama in my company.
4. An Upline Organization: Who you go into business with is sometimes just as important as the business itself. That does not mean your direct upline has to be some MLM guru, but find out if they are part of an organization of IBOs within the company.  If your recruiter doesn’t know what you mean by that, take a pass until you find one that does. You want to have at least one experienced leader above you who is sufficiently invested in helping their downline succeed. You want a leader who has years in the business that you can reach on the phone. One that does training calls above and beyond the corporate training. A real pro recruits other leaders, so you’ll find in that type of organization you will have a number of people above you to give you needed guidance. All that being said, I want to stress that this is YOUR business – not your upline’s – so your success depends upon your efforts, but being part of a good organization makes it all the easier.
5. A System: Ask the person recruiting you what type of system they are using to develop their business. If all they talk about is their friends and family, then keep looking. Unless you are an incredibly gregarious person who meets at least 50 new people per week, you are going to have a tough time building a large organization through your friends, family and acquaintances. Find out if the organization has any type of lead developing system. Some teams have lead co-ops that you can buy into. Others may not have a lead generating system in place but will be able to guide you through some of the tools and resources that you can purchase to help develop your own leads. At the company level, you want a company that embraces the internet and provides multiple online marketing tools that help you harness the power of the web. You would be amazed at the number of companies that are stuck in the 1980’s from a technology standpoint.

Notice that the compensation plan is not a factor discussed here in choosing a company. Almost all compensation plans have strong points, but from my perspective, if you are not able to put a positive check next to all five of the above, the best compensation plan in the world will not matter. So conduct some due diligence and shop around. Finding a good network marketing company is not hard to do, but it takes some time and work. You not only have to search for the right company but also try to find an organization within a company that can contribute to your success. There are a ton of companies out there that are well organized, have great products and incredible compensation plans. Just keep searching – when you have found the right opportunity for you, you’ll know it.

3 Responses to “Choosing the Right Network Marketing Company For You – Five Easy Steps”