Direct Selling Success

Chapter 2 R.I.P. MLM

You want to know how the majority of network marketing companies get created? It often starts with a couple of guys, having a few (or lots of) drinks in a bar. One of them slams back a shot and says, “You know what we should do? We should start an MLM company!”

The other guy lifts his head off the bar and says, bleary-eyed, “Great idea! What should we sell?”

And then they look around and see what most other network marketing companies are selling. So they probably end up with some kind of nutrition, skin care, or cosmetics line. Next they call up a private-label company.

If they decided on nutrition, they may ask for a line with a multivitamin, energy bar, and protein shake, for example. And that private-label company will sell them the same exact multivitamin, energy bar, and protein shake they produce for a few dozen other companies. Each company has their own custom labels, but they’re all selling the same mediocre crap.

These businesses weren’t started to add value or solve a problem. They were created for one purpose only: to make money for the owners.

Now there’s nothing morally wrong with that. But there’s nothing particularly compelling about it either. And that is a recipe for what we see all too frequently in our business: overexuberant people pitching positions in a pay plan, with no real foundation of a product that adds value.

Overzealous product claims are a consistent, prevalent problem with most of the nutrition, wellness, and even skin ...