MLM section

I'm not sure David, I've never compared the 2, but I believe the WF does already have an anti MLM approach.

You may have a good idea, I'm only commenting based on my experiences.

Most of the mlms may sound good in concept, as we know sexy sells. So the more sexy they can make there products sound about all the things they are going to do and make it look how easy it will be to bring people with these sexy products ...the bigger there initial pre launches and launches will be. But if the concept never becomes a solid product where the company can sustain itself on product and not just increased distributors, then its nothing more than a money scheme doom to fail within a few years at the most.

Yes… the original pitch was they had cut out the middlemen by taking the product straight from the manufacturer to the end user and instead of buying media ads they pay their advertising budget to their distributors. The promise was higher quality products priced less than what was available locally, better service and the opportunity to get paid to refer others to something that would appeal to everyone.

SendOutCards is one of the very few that actually delivers on that promise.

Other major problems of not living up to that promise is Network Marketing attracts a lot of people who do not have the skills required to build the business. And it’s not their fault. They do what their upline leaders tell them to but only end up losing their friends over the sales tactics they learned from their upline. They turn to their uplines who for the most part also lack the skills. Yet the skills are very simple… they just aren’t taught because most people don’t know them. So instead, they are taught to sell, sell, sell… in the old school American style of sales which originated from door to door Bible salesmen and today’s smart consumers are immune to those old tactics. They know that if there were no income opportunity attached to your MLM deal you wouldn’t be pitching it because anyone can go to their local shopping center and buy the same products under a different name for far less money.

Example: In my town there is a manufacturer of Aloe Vera products… a few years ago they were purchased by a MLM company. I can still purchase a large bottle direct from the plant for $18 per bottle or off the shelve from the local health food store for $24.95 but if I were to join the MLM company who now owns the plant my distributor price would be $40 per bottle and I’d be told to retail it for at least $60.00

So before joining any MLM opportunity, always ask yourself… would I buy and use these products at the prices they are being sold for and tell others how good they are if there was no financial incentive for me to do so?

The answer to that question will eliminate about 98% of MLM companies.

I failed for years in MLM because of the above factors. It wasn’t until I moved from the States to Australia and read the book “Wombat Selling” that I started to have a bit of success with a Network Marketing company.

WOMBAT stands for…. Word of Mouth Buy And Tell. You can download the book for free at: http://tinyurl.com/ouqzkk6

Here’s the front and back cover of it:



Pay extra attention to the sections covering MLM.

I used the principles in that book to triple the profits of my photography studio but had difficulties applying them to the health and nutrition MLM deal I was in. The product was “Kakadu Juice” a super juice made from native Australian Bush Plants along with a combination of other popular super foods. I thought that it was a great product to promote because you could not find it anywhere else. That was true until September of 2008 when “Australian Bush Juice” started turning up on the shelves of my local health food store at a retail price of about one half of my wholesale cost. So I dropped it. If you do a google search for the product you’ll see that the free blog that I set up to promote it at http://www.kakadu-juice.blogspot.com.au/ still ranks on the first page even through I haven’t touched it in nearly 5 years.

About a year ago I stumbled onto a series of free MLM training videos that expanded on the principles taught in the WOMBAT Book and gave some very useful tips.

Based on the value I found in watching the free videos I wanted to purchase his $500 training course but he only opens it to new members once or twice a year so I had to wait months to take the training. I wish it were available 30 years ago. It’s the training that is missing from the Network Marketing Profession. And no, I’m not promoting it. There is no affiliate program for it and I only teach it to members of my down line.

I’m grateful that my mentor only opens the program up to new students for a 10 day period twice a year because the long wait I had gave me time to research hundreds of MLM companies and do due diligence on the most promising ones. So I was able to narrow the choices down to just 3 companies. Sendoutcards was one but I decided to just use their service to help market both my photography business and the MLM I’m now with. I settle on my present company mainly because of 3 things… 1) an established track record over the last 5 years. 2) a fair and very profitable compensation plan, and 3) a competitively priced product that everyone would love to have a garage full of. Sendoutcards is a great company with a great product but it’s not my primary choice. However, anyone who owns a business can use Sendoutcards to increase their business.

Sendoutcards likes to mention Joe Girard’s secret to success was (read about Joe and SendOutCards at http://tinyurl.com/pp44pvu ) was sending cards. But that’s not what got Joe started. In fact, it wasn’t until Joe got fired from the first auto dealership he worked at for being too aggressive that he got serious about sending out cards and hired two full time assistants to help him.

The tool that got him started and helped him more than sending out cards is the same tool that networking professionals still use today to build their business and no, its not posting on the internet.

Cheers,
Steve