Because of what has taken place over past few years, leading with business opportunity is a necessity, BUT only if it can be backed up with excellent products.

Let me provide you with three examples.

1. Suppose I approach you with this: "I've got best nutritional supplement product available on market and because of that, you can make money" Feel free to substitute another product . . like ISP, web hosting, telephone service, etc. As a business seeker, does that excite you?

2. Now, suppose I approach you with this: "I've got this product that no one else has and I have sole rights to it so we will be only ones able to market it. Because of that, you have a tremendous opportunity to make money." Understanding that it is hard to respond to such unless you know what product is, intrigue and power is in fact that this company has exclusive rights to a unique product that no one else has.

3. Now suppose I approach you with this statement: "I have a business opportunity that has a compensation plan that is so powerful that you will make an excellent income in a very short period of time." Often times first question is "what is product" but real interest of network marketer is regarding compensation plan.

For me, second example would be most powerful because thought of a product that people would want with my being associated with only company in which they could get it from would seem to be a tremendous opportunity. The problem is, it seems such products either do not exist or they get copied so they are no longer a unique product or service. In fact, I've even heard statement that "if we had a product no one else has or can produce, why would we need MLM to distribute it?" So although this second example may be most powerful of three examples, in reality it really doesn't exist in MLM arena.

The third example is where action is in today’s MLM arena. It all boils down to making money. If product is good enough to promote notice . . I didn't say best . . .just good enough) and if people can make money promoting compensation plan knowing they have good enough products to back them up, then that is what is attracting people to MLM.

IS THERE REALLY TRUE PRODUCT LOYALTY?

The truth is there is no real loyalty in products. Loyalty is based on making money. When I say no real loyalty in products, I'm talking about if a person would use those products even if they didn't participate in business opportunity. It is easy to be a loyal product user when starting a company and certainly when making money with that company, but true test is whether a person will use products even when they are not making money. If people showed their loyalty to products even if they were not making money, more people would make money because people are consuming product which is basis of commission generation.

CHANGING PEOPLE’S HABITS

Another factor is changing habits of people. For most part, people go to stores and purchase products. That is a habit based on years of doing such. Changing ones habits require motivation to do so. If motivation is based on making money rather than being really sold and loyal to products, then once a person decides he cannot make money based on that company/product and moves on to another, will he continue to use those products? I maintain answer to that is "no" with result being people going back to their old habits or moving on to another company and trying a different set of products. You see, name of game is making money . . .not promoting best products. I've seen it time and time again . .. We have best products money can buy, but only as long as I'm successfully building my business. All of a sudden, products seem not to be best products money can buy.

IT’S THE NEEDS AND DREAMS THAT DICTATE

It’s needs and dreams that dictate our actions. You see, we ] don't "need" to have best products. We don't "need" to purchase products from a MLM company. We don't dream of being able to buy or sell products. Instead we have a need to make money. We have a dream to become financially independent. It’s our needs and dreams that motivate us to take action so what interests us most is making money.

SO WHICH IS IT . . . PRODUCTS OR THE OPPORTUNITY?

Based on that, it would seem answer to question . . which comes first . . .Products or opportunity . . answer is clearly opportunity . . .but more clearly, compensation plan. In other words, can I show you a compensation plan that will allow you to make money rather quickly, yet am backed up by good enough products to promote AND a company that is legitimate and stable?

The old companies, of past, that are trying to continue and grow based on their heritage and products, are not growing at same rate as those companies that have developed state-of-the-art compensation plans. By state-of-the-art compensation plans, I'm talking about compensation plans that adequately reward beginner as well as lucratively rewarding seasoned MLMer who builds a huge business organization. In other words, ideal compensation plan is one that will keep beginner involved long enough to make money quickly so he will stick with business and at same time lucratively compensate leaders for reaching leader levels in compensation plan.

I've seen newer companies with state-of-the-art compensation plans generate more volume in one month than some of older companies with outdated compensation plans do in a full year. The rebuttal is usually "but our company won't go out of business while those new companies will probably be out of business within two to five years." There is some truth to that, but there are now companies that are 3 - 20 years old that have become stable growth companies with state-of- art compensation plans. It is now possible to align yourself to a company with a compensation plan that is stable enough to feel confident that they will be around for long haul.

No one knows what future holds. If their company ends up going out of business, or perhaps things don't work out as they had hoped, you are one step ahead of game! The relationship has already started!

If you sponsor 3 people out of 25 prospects, that is considered real strong in cold market game. But that still leaves 22 people that you paid for in your lead generation efforts that wash away as waste--an added expense in building your business. The idea here is to find a way to turn those 22 into a small profit center that helps pay for your advertising cost on front end!

Network marketing is full of tire kickers! People that are simply just curious. Think about it. I am certain that a large number of prospects who respond to your advertising campaigns, on and off line, are ALREADY INVOLVED IN MLM!

Lets look at this example, which is one of your typical advertising campaigns. Over a month period lets say you start your adverting campaign, on line, USA Today, a card deck, whatever.

Week #1 19 Prospects 2 Interested 6 not interested 11 already in MLM

Week #2 23 Prospects 4 Interested 9 not interested 10 already in MLM

Week #3 37 Prospects 8 Interested 6 not interested 23 already in MLM

Week #4 22 Prospects 2 Interested 8 not interested 12 already in MLM

After 4 weeks you have generated 101 prospects. 56 are already involved in Network Marketing.

What if you share MLM Marketing Center with them, and only 10 of them, less than 20% decided to take advantage of your personal recommendation! You have just added $50 to your monthly advertising budget! That is six hundred dollars for year.

Here is unique part, you have possibility of adding $50 next month, and month after and month after. Within a relatively short period of time you could create a $100, $200, $500 or more MONTHLY ADVERTISING BUDGET!

What would that do for your business?