By SK WONG
While searching through the Internet sometime ago, I stumbled across this statement, "According to a recent Harris poll, 72% of adult Americans are thinking about starting a home-based business!" And one of the easiest, low capital and require little knowledge and skill initially is to join a MLM or network company. MLM or Network companies had transformed many timid, shy introverts into outspoken, confidence and successful extrovert leaders and had change many people lives.
Most people join MLM out of obliging their friends and relatives without knowing what they were up to? While most MLM companies started and operated with a good cause and had bring much changes for the betterment of many individual, they were also many people left wondering whether they had made the wrong decision to venture into this industry.
There are four criteria that one can use to check whether the potential MLM company they are joining suitable for them or not. What is good for one person may not necessary be suitable to another? It is very much an individual decision and choice. The criteria that one can use to find a suitable MLM is
1. Products
What products is the company selling?
MLM industry sell one thousand and one item ranging from washing detergent, skin care, healthcare to high technology Internet conferencing system. The important question is how comfortable are you promoting their products? If you do it for the love of the money they promised, it would not last long before another company offer better compensation with a totally different product and you found yourself starting all over again. Choose a product that you are comfortable with which you can share with enthusiasm with your warm leads. You chance of success is higher!
2. Company.
Many times what seemed to be a fantastic and excellent product fell into the wrong company. While you may love the product, you might still have to do a background check of the company. How long has the company been established? How much is their capital and fund available? Where is headquartering located and is there any branches office to support their local members? There are many things you need to consider if you decided to build a long term business with that company. You definitely do not want to join a company and found out at a later stage when you business is booming and discover that the company do not have enough fund to coup with their rapid expansion.
3. System.
Having checked on the company, the next thing to consider is their system. Does the company have a good system to support their members? Top of the list of most people, will be the compensation scheme, what is the maximum payout? What system does the company employed in their compensation scheme? Do they have profit sharing and how does it work? In addition to the compensation scheme, you also need to know their ordering & delivery, support, coaching, training and promotion system. You do not want to end up doing all the work yourself.
4. People
Among the four criteria, people will be the most important criteria as it will make or break your business. While the MLM Company may have good products to sell, strong financial background and excellent system and compensation scheme to support their members make sure you know the persons who started this company, what are their vision and mission and their passion? Who are among the leaders in your up-line and Do you have access to them? How do they treat the new members? How about the supporting staff of the company, who are they and how do they handled members and customers' complaints?
Many people left what seemed to be excellence future in their MLM Company because of conflict among their up-lines, down-lines and even side-lines. What seemed to be a perfect compensation scheme, being manipulated by some leaders for their own advantages! And of course, the aggressive sideline who pouch your potential members so that they can get the promotion faster for better benefits. All these will surface after you build a strong group if the company you joined does not have strong principle centered leaders in the corporate as well as among your up-lines and sidelines! In any case, like the ancient Chinese proverb said, "There will rotten branches when the tree matured and there will be beggars among the villagers when the village grows too big."
Building a home business has been many people dreams and it has picking up momentum with the advancement of technology and the Internet, while the modus operandi is different between online business and offline business, the criteria remain the same. In building a successful MLM, one must always remember, it is not the product, not the company and not the system but the people that build the business. And as Robert H. Schuller put it aptly in his books, If It's Going To Be, It's Up to Me; "Keep Your Eyes on the Heroes, Not the Zeroes!" You will be there!
SK WONG is a Chartered Marketer with a MBA in Finance. He is also a certified Member Trainer and Life member of the Junior Chamber International. Currently he provides marketing and risk management training and services to his local business community. His online resource center providing ideas, resources, tools and strategies for small office and home office can be view at http://www.clickabiznes.com |
