Archive for September, 2010
Fuzzy MLM Pay Plan Illusions
Fuzzy MLM Pay Plan Illusions
Heartache and frustrations within the realm of MLM can be directly tied to unrealistic expectations from its dreamy enthusiasts. I know because I was one for many years. To this day I still devote a lot of my training and coaching efforts to achieving a proper balance in the minds of my new members.
To recruit or sponsor an inexperienced MLMer into a program under the guise of earning large sums of money without first establishing whats REALLY required to attain that earning level is to be blunt misleading at best.
MLM boasts more selfmade millionaires than mainstream America yet its high failure rates for Average Joe doom it to remain infamous as a money scheme or sucker play. Successful veterans know this characterization is not accurate. But few do much to improve the situation.
I cant discuss every aspect of the dilemmas that haunt the business anomaly called MLM in this article. However since I mentioned the realities and illusions of pay plans lets dig into that.
Compensation Concepts and other Common Confusion: What type of pay plan is best? How do they really work? In reality rest assured there are only a handful of basic concepts each with its own pluses and minuses. Your growing experience will eventually improve your ability to discern whats best for you.
Do I have to be an expert? The newer you are to the MLM industry the simpler the pay plan should be. Fewer hoops to jump through few if any volume requirements just to get paid.
Each new income opportunity introduces its version of the best plan yet. In reality 99.9 are just variations on an old theme presented with a fresh coat of paint. You do NOT have to be an expert on your pay plan to be successful. But you DO need to know if it offers realistic potential based on YOUR skill level. And you should at least be somewhat familiar with how your earnings are generated from the sales on the first 2 levels.
Properly building the first 2 levels or generations on your sales force will cause the rest of the plan to work in your favor as your downline gains depth and volume. You dont really have to fully understand how the lower generations pay you to get started. If you cant build a productive foundation on the first 2 levels youll never reach the lower levels anyhow.
How Can They Pay Out 75 to 90? Honestly they cant. Thats an obvious truism of any business. No company can survive on such a small profit margin.
To fully understand MLM pay plans you have to recognize that they have builtin buffers and margins better known as breakage or blockage. These include multiple purchase levels and various other qualifiers. MLMer A is only eligible to earn on 3 levels while MLMer B has qualified to earn through 7 levels. This skews the company averages.
These factors affect the ACTUAL companywide gross pay out ratios. If MLM Company X claims to pay out 80 commissions to its sales force this means that 80 is their maximum pay out liability to any marketer who fits into a perfect world scenario and maximizes every aspect of the pay plan. In the real world this rarely happens. And when it does it merely adds fuel to the motivational fire for everyone who is not fully maximizing the pay plan. See? He did it. I can too!
Yet for each solitary MLMer who might maximize the pay plan there are thousands who dont. So the law of averages keeps the companywide pay out much lower than advertised. Having worked behind the scenes for several MLM companies myself I can tell you that the average pay out is only about 5055. I worked with a trendsetting company back in the 90s that actually got as high as 63 actual pay out on a plan that offered over 80. Again they were an exception to the norm.
What Should I Worry About? As a newbie or MLM rookie evaluate what you will earn on a sale. Typically this is when you sponsor another member who makes a purchase. Then what will you earn when THEY do the same?
Calculate this early earning potential against what you must invest in personal purchases marketing expenses time and effort. Determine if this equation will get you to the POINT OF NO RETURN within 90 to 120 days assuming you work effectively and get consistent results. PONR is discussed in other articles Ive written You must understand that you will undoubtedly operate at a loss initially. But your goal is to reach profit within a reasonable timetable and reach PONR shortly thereafter.
What About Retail? Legitimate MLM opportunities must include the ability to earn without sponsoring. That means retailing of the product/service must be a viable option. In the real world the majority of MLM sales are made through sponsoring and repurchase by existing marketers. Retailing is a minute fraction of the overall business. I consider it gravy to your primary earnings and dont generally factor it into the equations mentioned above.
What Should I Avoid? Theres a list as long as my arm of things to avoid in MLM. But since were discussing pay plans rookies should avoid binary programs. Binary plans are based on 2 sales organizations beneath you 2 downlines or 2 legs as they are commonly called.
While I wont get into all the pros and cons of the structure offered by binaries I do want to highlight the major drawback for MLM rookies. These plans pay you on accumulated volume not per sale. That means you have to accumulate multiple sales and generally have to achieve a ratio of volume balance between the 2 legs.
Seasoned marketers are better suited to the downline management required in binaries and can usually afford to satisfy the volume requirements BEFORE getting a check. However most newbies cant period.
Whether you are a MLM rookie or an experienced home business expert you should consider programs that appeal to Average Joes of the world. Learn more about MLM issues through recommendations and in depth analysis as written by Michael Clutton by visiting http://www.michaelclutton.com
Michael Clutton has been successfully helping others to achieve their home business goals since the early 1990′s.
About the writer: Living in small town in western NC Michael Clutton has enjoyed over 15 years of success in the home based business field. Most noted for his efforts in the mid 90′s Michael received numerous awards for achievement. Having appeared on stage many times across the country Michael has been blessed with great networks and long lasting relationships that have endured good times and bad.
Fountain Of Life Review – Can Fountain Of Life Associates
Fountain Of Life Review – Can Fountain Of Life Associates Succeed With This Model?
Fountain Of Life is an amazing venture with significant products… however if you have not trained yourself with effective marketing tools THAT YOUR TOP EARNERS ARE SECRETLY USING then you are headed to be an added figure in the statistics.
The truth is terrible but greater than 95 of all Network Marketers go out of business in an unfashionable way…and in honesty they did exactly what they were taught.
Traditional Fountain Of Life marketing methods are basically inadequate for 99 of their opportunity seekers. Can you think of an individual that is fond of hassling friends and family and with oldfashioned procedures to expand their Fountain Of Life business?
That’s why you want to begin applying technology to generate virtually ‘Unlimited’ Fountain Of Life leads and honestly market and build up your Fountain Of Life business to great proportions.
Building or hiring someone to create YOUR own Fountain Of Life review squeeze page that will PUT TO SHAME your company given Fountain Of Life website is actually the key step. You can be a success in Fountain Of Life but it won’t happen if you don’t take it into you own hands.
The Internet imparts you with enough opportunities where possible clients and distributors WILL search you out. By learning ‘attraction based marketing systems’ and using them in social networks such as Twitter… You can honestly be having Fountain Of Life leads knock on your door and ask you where to sign up.
You can be tapping into the zillions of Network Marketers clinging to YouTube everyday for new opportunities and new ways to expand their marketing skills. Think about this If you have 50 cool videos about your team’s benefits and your leadership and success how many of these do you think you can direct back to your own branded Fountain Of Life review website.
You see Fountain Of Life is a firstclass opportunity and a competent business… but you can make Fountain Of Life an even more amazing opportunity and supreme business if you take the moment and put in the energy to go over and above the competition using proven online marketing systems that many people for some purpose STILL aren’t applying to their businesses.
Isn’t it time You start to see REAL growth in your business? Isn’t it time to see your Fountain Of Life paycheck grow exponentially? The power of ‘NOW’ is so crucial.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;If you want to feed your business with 20 leads daily with just a few tweaks and no experience required then you have to see this…
Follow The Link To Direct Marketing Business Success
Follow The Link To Direct Marketing Business Success
It was Plato who said that “Necessity is the mother of invention.” I may not know anything about Greek philosophy but I can tell you that most of the business women I know are creative resourceful and yes even inventive when it comes to the necessity of promoting their Direct Marketing businesses.
They walk miles hanging door hangers post flyers all over town network everywhere from the office to the grocery line and I even had a promotional postcard in my child’s Trick or Treat bag one year! If you have tried one or all of these techniques and still have not taken your business to the level you desire maybe it is time for you to look to the Internet for help.
If you dont even know where to begin in building an online presence or getting someone to visit your cookiecutter company website here are a few tips to think about before you start:
1. Use a tag line. Does your parent company have a tag line that they consistently use to promote their product lines? If not or if you would prefer something a little different that captures the essence of how you do business write your own tag line. Make it short and sweet and be sure that it contains specific words that your customers would search for when looking for your products or services.
2. Create a list of keywords. Keywords also referred to as metatags are single words that describe what you have to offer. When you are making your list you may even want to add common misspellings of some of the words you choose so you can reach anyone who may enter often used misspellings or typos in the search window of their browsers.
3. Define the who and where of your target customers. Who are you trying to reach and where do they live? Write a descriptive paragraph about your company and its offerings keeping in mind who you are writing it for. Then take some time to research zip codes in the areas that you specifically want to target.
4. Offer coupons. Everyone loves coupons. A coupon is the perfect ambassador to introduce your business and to drive traffic to your door. Think about a small service or product that you could give away free as an introductory offer or to compliment a specific purchase or purchase amount.
5. Say it with pictures. We have all heard it: Pictures are worth a thousand words. But the reason we have heard it over and over again is because it is true! Take pictures of your products; take pictures of your customers enjoying your products or services; and have pictures taken of you so your future customers or clients can see that you are a real person and they will feel comfortable contacting and doing business with you.
6. Let your customers view it with videos. If pictures are worth a thousand words a video is worth a billion! You do not need a production company to prepare a promotional video for you. Your home video camera will do just fine. Here again the point is for your prospective customers to see your current customers raving about what you have to offer or to see a demonstration of one of your products or services. Videos are priceless when it comes to their promotional value.
Now how are you going to pull all these components together in one promotional package? The simple answer is LocalAdLink. It has been estimated that today more than 63 of all Internet users are searching online for local businesses and services. Since LocalAdLinks online directory lists local businesses first it is the perfect option for a small business owner who wants to boost her sales. And LocalAdLink is the lowcost leader when it comes to online directory listings. The icing on the cake is that LocalAdLink has also partnered with over 100 highprofile websites that rotate its local listings on their sites as well.
Promoting your business is definitely a necessity but now with LocalAdLink when it comes to Internet advertising you don’t have to reinvent the wheel!
About the writer: Mary Jo Shaffer is a 2 Star Brand Builder with LocalAdLink. Her main goal in linking up with the company is to help entrepreneurial individuals like herself start a successful business of their own or to help business owners effectively and successfully promote their existing ventures. Visit Mary Jo’s website at www.LocalBusinessAssistance.com to learn more about this fantastic business opportunity or email her for information at maryjoLocalBusinessAssistance.com.
