I remember back to about 1977 when I first started my adventure with the concept of Multi-level marketing. I remember sitting down with my father as we went over the pay plan of a particular marketing group. My dad was very excited. He had worked all his life very hard with very little to show for it. Now right in front of his eyes was an opportunity that was jumping off the paper.
I remember thinking that the concept was so masterful that how could anyone fail. The logic was so simple that if anyone desired a better life all they would have to do is follow a few simple directions.
Although this particular company being somewhat at the beginning of learning the concept of Marketing their strategy was somewhat askew. Overall though, the principle seemed flawless. It all seemed too good to be true.
I remember that day because my dad joined first. He was so excited. He already had the ability to talk to others because his job was unique in that he was responsible for about three to four hundred people. He felt that this was a great opportunity for his group to join this business, it could help so many out.
My dad was greatly respected and that alone seemed to go along ways in approaching others about this concept, and that offering something like this to others, which appeared so simple on the surface would seem like a piece of cake for anyone to succeed.
My dad then had a little party at the house and brought over around seven individuals to begin to share this opportunity with them. He chose what he believed were the elite of his group, those that had the ability to break the ice so to speak and begin teaching others the concept.
How hard could it be to teach people to find a few others, get them involved, and simply train them to do the same? The figures were staggering if people could only understand what was in store for them.
My dad took it upon himself to begin the explanation, trying to help his friends comprehend this powerful moneymaking strategy.
Little did my father realize at the time that his entire presentation fell upon deaf ears. Oh they all thought it was a great concept on paper, but few of them believed they could pull it off.
My dad spent weeks teaching others the concept and when it was all said and done he could only recruit about 5 people.
Now that was not so bad considering the concept was to recruit a few and teach others to do the same. So finding 5 people was great, on the surface.
The problem came in when those 5 people had to duplicate the process. First of all none of them had the ability of sales like my father. Secondly, only a few of them actually believed in the concept and they only joined because they wanted to somehow impress my dad. They also realized though if my dad could only recruit 5 being that he had access to hundreds of people, then what chance did they have?
To make a long story short none of them could find any other people to join. Those 5 people ended up being stuck with a boatload of product and nothing to show for it, they were quite upset.
It was a bitter pill for my father to swallow, for all of a sudden, the perfect plan turned out to be arsenic in disguise. It became a type of poison on how it divided very friends and neighbors.
My father did not stay with this company for any more than a couple of years. He realized it was a lost cause. But myself on the other hand, I could not get away from how powerful the concept was and I spent the next 25 years trying one program after another looking for anyone or anything that would or could tweak the idea enough to make this a success.
Years went by and thousands upon thousands of dollars were lost looking for the perfect unbeatable plan. I would shake my head in disgust over the many years why this perfect designed income plan only worked for a few people. That 95-98% of all people joining MLM failed miserably, and it did not matter what the plan was, or how they tweaked the idea, it always failed for the majority and only worked for the few. And sadly it was always the same few that would succeed which made it even more suspect.
You see I was not interested in what these individual plans could do only for me, I wanted one to work where everyone could succeed. I tried to make excuses when I did do well at times as saying hey, it ain't my fault those people below me were failing. For if they don't do some work then I am not to blame.
I tried every excuse in the book but my conscience wasn't buying it. People were losing their money on the greatest concept in the world and I was responsible for luring them into this pitfall, and I could not find a way to help them.
Why was this perfect concept, this idea that was shared by the early entrepreneurs way back in the turn of the 20th century, why was it that most people failed in the perfect idea? What an oxymoron!
Obviously if it was the perfect plan for success for all people, then most would not fail. So I had to come to the conclusion, am I being dishonest to share a concept that I know does not work simply because I may make it partially work on my behalf on the backs of all the people that I know will fail?
It took decades for me to crack the code in that MLM was cast as the perfect answer to success when it was a fraud from the very beginning. This was not what the early entrepreneurs were trying to teach about success.
Network Marketing or Networking is not really MLM. Before you become totally confused let me explain.
The entire concept of marketing is to sell a product or products. MLM is based on the idea of selling a business. There is a powerful difference between the two.
Back in the days when I first was turned on to MLM with my dad, I realized even back then that the people that he recruited were never interested in starting their own business. Sure the money looked great, but most people in general are passive. They really do not want to have to do something for money unless there is a boss at the end of it handing them a weekly paycheck for prescribed duties.
Most people have no desire to work for themselves. Now we could sit here all day long chiding these people, making fun of them, laughing at them. Yet it won't change the problem. These people who are about 95% of the entire world are not going to change. This is a fact of life. The few that do change are so outnumbered they are hardly recognizable.
The only real reason my dad was able to get these few to join was that the product seemed good enough to at least try it, and most of all he was very charismatic and good at sales.
As the years rolled along it became apparent that these problems never change. So why is it that a few people are able to strike gold in MLM? Truthfully it is because of those very few that actually hit pay dirt that the concept remains alive. It is through these stories we hear about the same individuals that became millionaires via this concept that continue to create interest in a failed and deeply flawed system.
The question is why is it flawed when on paper it is flawless? The answer has always been staring us in the face. The reason it is flawed is because the system is designed to market the business rather than the product.
I want you to read this over and over again. Now I know some people will say, that there are products with many of these companies, and that is what sells in their business. Actually that is not correct. It is not the product that sells it is the concept, and the concept is totally flawed, because it only sells the business.
Many years ago I read about how McDonalds' began marketing. Everyone always loves to use McDonalds' as one of the reasons MLM is so perfect. Yes I even bought into this. The sad fact is whether you believe it or not, McDonalds' is not a success because of its ability to duplicate franchises, it is a success because of what they sell as a product.
Here is the difference!
What if I approached you with a Big Mac and had you taste it? Let's say you ate it all up and loved it! Now the question is how does one market this burger that you ate and you fell in love with?
Number one, do I approach you and tell you that you can purchase this burger at the nearest McDonalds' for only $2 bucks. Or do I approach you and tell you that you can sell these burgers, and all you need is a about a million dollars to set up your own franchise and then you will strike it rich?
How many people are going to buy the burger versus buying the franchise? Again the numbers reveal the truth. Millions will buy the burger, only a few will buy the franchise no matter how wonderful the burger is.
The key factor in MLM failure is the product always plays second fiddle to the business. I have heard so many people tell me in MLM that are heavy recruiters, that they don't care about the product, they only care about the money to be made.
The facts are, if people did not like McDonalds' burgers there would be no business. The facts are most people do not join MLM for the business or for the product, they only join because they believe there's big money in it, and most of the time they believe it entails doing nothing. It is all a con!
First of all networking is the key to success. What you are networking is the difference between failure and success. If you are marketing a business then expect to fail. If you are marketing a product, then it all comes down to how well received this product is.
Most do not have the time to market a product. It takes millions of advertising dollars to do this. This is why the concept of MLM came in to fruition in the first place. One person tells another and so on and so on. It takes away the need to spend millions on advertising when working through one person at a time who then teach others to do the same will do the trick a lot cheaper.
My friends, if you are not selling a product then you are going to fail. And that product cannot be a business. As the McDonalds' idea rightly proves. Millions will eat the burgers but only a few will go into business selling those burgers.
McDonalds did not make it rich by selling franchises as a means to sell their product. What I am trying to say is McDonalds did not make it rich by making all their hamburger buyers first buy a franchise.
They made it rich by selling burgers, by selling their product until it is was so well received that franchises became a natural expansion. This meant that the few that wanted to go into business could buy and operate a franchise, while the millions that loved their burgers could walk into one of their stores and purchase them.
The same is involved with MLM, only the few ever make it successful in MLM. These are the few that represent the franchise owners. The millions of others that fail, only got the product.
So what is the difference. The millions that got the product were never interested in the product, so therefore new MLM's had to open up with new products. It is because the product was never the key to making sales in MLM, it was the business and only for the few that knew how and wanted to operate it successfully. Everyone else became a victim to a polluted process.
It all comes down to what it really is that you are selling and is there an interest in the product.
I have also been in MLM companies where I really liked the product but hated the business. However because of the business aspect attached to it, the product was way too expensive to buy alone.
This is another ruse on how they con you into joining a business. They make the price so high for the product that you have to go into business to recruit others just so you won't have to pay outrageous prices for the product, again, it does not work!
I have left hundreds of products behind even though I loved them all because it was being sold through MLM and I didn't have the money to buy them. And of course I have also left products behind that were being marketed through MLM that I would have never bought even if they were 1/10th the cost.
It all comes down to marketing a good product that millions of people need or want. It also is extremely important that whatever that product is that it is priced comparably or even lower than what others could buy it for somewhere else. This is not usually the case with MLM programs. Most of the time they sell products way beyond retail type prices that few can afford.
The product is the key and the only key. If you are one that desires to be in business, then you must market a product not a business. Again using McDonalds as the reference here. Out of every hundred thousand people that will eat the burger, you might find one that will purchase the franchise.
Think about it this way, would you rather market a product to only 1 in a 100,000 that will purchase the business or market to a hundred-thousand that might purchase the product?
So why is it that so many fall into the MLM deception of trying to market a business rather than a product when only a few really want to be in business, whereas the majority could be interested in the product? And if you do have a great product then it must be compatibly priced to any other type or same product or else you are going to shoot yourself in the foot.
There is nothing wrong with networking, but MLM takes the real success out of Multi-level Marketing. This is what I came to realize was the great failure in MLM. In that I was not selling a product, but I was always stuck with selling a business that no one really wanted just to have the product that few needed.
So you could have a 1000 people in your Downline but only about 50 of them are able to sell the business. The other 950 are test marketing the product, which usually means that they will drop out because they are paying way too much for something that chances are they don't even need or want or it is too expensive. And as for the business side of things, there is usually no interest in that after about a week for most people.
So why do people not interested in setting up their own business get suckered into MLM programs? This is the reason why so many con experts keep doing what they are doing. The reason is, they are not truly even selling a business they are selling a lie.
The lie is simply this, make money for doing nothing...
Hundreds and even thousands of MLM programs open up all the time and they all love using the ideology that all you have to do is join and you will make money by other people's efforts. Let me tell you something, if the marketing experts did not tell you, that you could make money for doing nothing, they would not have a Downline either. It is so ridiculous to believe that no work needs to be done that others in the business will do it for you. What nonsense!
Understand, people that market like this are only concered with the numbers. When they start a business operation they don't care if a hundred thousand people fail and lose their money. they only care that they scored off you while you were there.
Since the majority will join an MLM and never desire to be in business for themselves, this means the majority are still going to look for the few to do all the work. Which means, the entire principle behind MLM, teaching others to duplicate, is not even being used by MLM experts, because they realize that only a small percentage will do the work. So they bank on the deception of getting people to join so they can make the quick buck and then go elsewhere.
Money attracts everyone. And if you offer free money you are going to get a lot of people interested.
I have learned not to be a part of any MLM schemes ever again. Yet I still market products online through networking. I use a product that everyone online has to have and needs. And it costs a lot cheaper than most are already paying for it. And what is even greater is that the product cost, which is less than allot of other companies is already pre-loaded to be the business cost also. Meaning no extra cash outlay to operate the business side if one so chooses. The truth of the matter is, the person that buys it needs it. And if they don't wish to sell it they don't have to, but they still desire to have the product. Talk about a win win situation!
And since it is cheaper and offers more than most companies offer then they will continue to use it. I then make cash on every sale, plus much more.
This is what you need to look for, a product that you need and know that everyone else needs also. This way you don't have to promote the initial advertising of the actual product because it is already something that is needed.
You must have the ability to sell the product along with the business as an attachment, not the other way around. This way if the individual that buys the product does not want the business, then it will not be a problem for them to continue on with their product without the business side of things. You will not need to force them into buy anything to continue with the business because that is not how things operate.
However if the product is a monthly purchase and that is all the customer desires, they will still make their purchase for the product that they need and want, and still not be burdened with the business side of things. Therefore you being in business will still get paid even though your customer has no desire to do the business.
This is how it was supposed to work. Just like McDonalds, if a customer wants only the burger, you should smile and say how would you like it fixed. For you have no real desire that they get into business selling your burgers; your only desire is that they buy your burgers and tell others like themselves that they love your burger. If down the road you want to expand, there is always that one of the many that will be happy to market your burger for you. However you also cannot charge $30 bucks for the burger just so you can pay uplines. It has to be compatibly priced.
Some might reply here and say, wait just a second, it was because McDonalds created franchises that made the owners very wealthy. And I will reply, yes that is true because their burger was already the product of choice. The owners did not go around selling franchises until they developed a product that people desired to have. But even then the franchise buyers were still a small percentage!
So quit trying to find people to buy your franchise and begin to market your burger. The only real pathway to personal success is the product not the franchise. Once you have established a success with your product then you can find franchise owners to duplicate your success because then your product will be desired by the masses, not your franchise. GET IT!
John Panella
Author of many books and articles!
http://www.thefeelgoodshop.com/perfbus.html