REALnetworkmarketing

Reed Floren’s blog featured an article today in which he identifies 2-tier affiliate programs as MLM programs.

As you can imagine, it’s produced an interesting response, for and against. But it raises an important issue and, never one to shrink from a potentially heated debate, I thought it was a good topic for discussion here.

If you’re not sure what a 2-tier affiliate program is, it’s like an MLM program that only pays out on 2 levels. Not a very appealing structure for serious MLMers, but very appealing for affiliates who are run ragged trying to build an income stream through just their own efforts.

And that’s the crux of the whole matter, really. By strict definition, a 2-tier affiliate program is an MLM program.

But that’s like saying that sales managers in conventional businesses — who earn overrides on the commissions of their team members — are all network marketers.

I don’t think so.

The reality is much simpler than most people suspect.

There’s a principle of wealth creation that says “you only make money doing what you KNOW”. (The unspoken corollary being that, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll be skun alive by those that DO know.)

Most people are conditioned by their upbringing, education and life experience generally to be three things:

1. Consumers — they know how to BUY at the best prices and share a bargain with friends.

2. Employees — they know how to WORK, trading time for money.

3. Imitators — there’s safety in numbers, so they do what everyone else does.

At least 90% of the population fall into this category. Probably higher.

Can we p-l-e-a-s-e put the “MLM is not about selling” nonsense to bed, once and for all?

MLM is ALL about selling!

You sell products to earn reciprocal income (commissions).

You sell your income opportunity to create leverage.

You sell yourself as a prospective sponsor to earn residual income (bonuses).

You sell continuously.

Calling it “sharing” or “offering” or any other euphemism does NOT hide the reality… it just makes you look and sound foolish and delusional.

Here’s a quick insight into reality:

All of this ignores one very crucial reality: the secret language of prospects.

Everyone you talk to about your products or income opportunity speaks this language. The challenge for sellers/recruiters is very simple: this is a SECRET language that can never be spoken aloud.

No matter what you think you hear a prospect say (usually in the form of an objection), what you need to hear them saying is this:

1. “I want to feel like you do about this… BUT

2. “I expect YOU to make it safer, easier, better and smarter for me to say yes to you than to anyone else… AND

3. “I expect YOU to make it safer, easier, better and smarter for me to say yes to you than to keep my money and do nothing!”

The reason you’ll never hear them say it out loud is because they don’t want you to know how they really feel. It might give you power over them.

JohnIf you’re like me, you get lots of spam — even legitimate email — touting different MLM opportunities. They claim all kinds of wonderful attractions, and public ownership is often viewed as a prize feature. NASDAQ or other stock exchange listing has them positively foaming at the mouth with excitement.

Other “trophy” features typically include membership of the Direct Selling Association and registration with the FDA as a nutraceutical manufacturer. The assumption is always that these features are highly desirable and proof of credibility.

DSA membership is neither a negative nor undesirable thing… it’s just not a yardstick of MLM company probity or ethical dealing, as some notorious examples have shown over the years. As for FDA registration… it’s a kind of ritual form of corporate suicide that defers the coup de grace to a time of the FDA’s — or, more to the point, the giant drug companies’ — choosing. See the report “Nutraceutical Nonsense” for insight into this mindless move.

Are any of these practices familiar to you?

Sadly, they’re all too common in network marketing and they result in untold misery and hardship…

* You ask your upline about something that concerns you and they tell you to “stop being negative”. If you persist, they turn the questions back on you.

* Someone in your organisation leaves and your upline immediately labels them “losers” and “quitters”, long and loud, especially in meetings and rallies, so you can get the message clearly… don’t quit, or they’ll turn on YOU!

* Your upline wants you to sign up for a monthly standing order for books and tools. If you question this, or resist, the emotional blackmail begins in earnest to get you to sign up. If you refuse, you’re abused, ostracised, called a “dream stealer”, “loser” or worse.

Hardly a week goes by without several people writing to ask if I can recommend a network marketing company for them that’s more honest and ethical than the one they’re with, or have just left.

They’re tired, disillusioned, cynical and sick at heart. They still have a little bit of faith left in the concept of network marketing, but they’re beginning to fear that they’ll never find a company with real integrity… one that actually “walks the talk” instead of just spouting noble sentiments in order to suck them in and take their money.

JohnMany people have asked me to explain a comment I’d made, usually during seminars or workshops, that I actually decline to sponsor around 60%-70% of the people who approach me to learn more about my network marketing businesses.

I suspect that they doubted my sanity, since having people approach you, wanting to join you, is the proverbial “Holy Grail” for most network marketers.

I’m also guessing that more than a few of the other people at the seminar also wondered about my mental health after that comment, so instead of just replying privately to a handful of enquirers, I decided to set out my reasons in this article, so anyone interested can see them and understand my perspective. I hope so, anyway.

Here’s the background context to my comment. There are two separate issues involved. I regard them both as common-sense, and both are non-negotiable…

JohnThe use of books and tools in network marketing has become highly controversial because so many people have been financially and emotionally hurt by blatant abuses by some distributor networks. They join an organisation and find themselves pressured into signing up for monthly standing orders for books, tools and training events, whether they need or want them or not.

Upline leaders justify this practice on the grounds that distributors need these tools and events to learn what to do, and to be motivated and inspired to succeed.

Frankly, this claim wouldn’t ring so hollow if so many of those upline leaders didn’t earn so much money from the sale and distribution of these books, tools and training events. There’s a clear conflict of interest in this kind of situation.

JohnPeople often ask me which is better, building wide or deep, or doesn’t it really matter?

My response is always another question: “which is more important… breathing IN or breathing OUT?”

You need both. But you need to get the balance right or it’s very easy to lose the plot and end up doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons — the worst of the three fatal aspects of the Law of FAILURE. (Remember — you can never succeed by obeying the Law of Failure!)

It’s like sponsoring versus retailing products… which is more important? Same answer. One without the other robs you of your real leverage and you end up working hard rather than working smart. (Note: “working” is the only word common to both expressions.)

Since the 1980s the trend has been to work deep instead of wide. Companies and upline leaders have encouraged working in depth for a number of plausible reasons, including…