Network marketing is a marketing strategy being increasingly put to use by hundreds of home business owners nowadays. Network marketing is basically retailing products by using independent distributors. These distributors build and manage their own sales force by recruiting others to sell products. Each person in this downline is a distributor in his own right with his own sales team. This way a “network” of sales people for a particular product is formed. The upside is that
originating product manufacturer or marketer does not have to bear costly overheads of recruiting and maintaining their own sales team. Compensation for each distributor or sales person includes one’s own sales and a percentage of sales of his or her entire downline. In a way Network marketing is same as MLM or Multi-Level Marketing…a term that has been thoroughly abused by ‘scamsters’ and frauds, mostly on Internet. Though a whole lot of less than scrupulous people have caused some damage to standing and credibility of this form of business, it nevertheless figures as a very cost effective revenue stream for a new entrepreneur. Another benefit of Network marketing is training you get in operating a business; like selling, time management and keeping yourself motivated in face of rejection. Also see:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,298535,00.html
So how do you get started?
The first thing you would have to do is to select right MLM Company. That is half job done. With all those scams doing rounds, it can get a little overwhelming trying to pin point MLM company where you would want to participate. A lot of MLM companies fail because of various reasons. Some are not well financed; some don’t have a good, saleable product or haven’t been able to innovate to meet new customer requirements. Still others have shut shop because federal government got wind of their less than holy dealings and acted fast. Even after those MLM guys who had to wind up, there are still some left that are Real Mc Coys. These are guys you need to fish out.
Here are some tips for selecting a good (read ‘Safe’) MLM company for starting your Network marketing business.
- Participate in an MLM company that has a proven track record for at least five years. We insist on figure 5,because if company has survived half a decade and made money, they would have a good product, enough capability to innovate and would be able to provide their downline with good back-end support.
- Look for selling a product that you believe in. Imagine yourself selling weight loss pills when you know for sure that a doctor would never recommend most of these pills! Bottomline is, you can’t sell a product if you don’t have faith in it.
- Seek out a company that provides solid backend support and marketing infrastructure to its downline. It can rip shirt off your back to develop new marketing literature for your customers and for your downline.
What next?
Once you have selected right MLM company, next logical step would be to decide your sales strategy. Devise a plan for lead generation for product you will be selling. In your plan include what targets you need to set to break even, what sales literature you will use and yes, most importantly… how will you develop your downline. Don’t forget that one part of your income will come from them. It is a better idea to have 3-4 quality agents in your level-I downline, than to recruit everyone and their cousin and not have a single dime come at end of month. At this point of time, It is usually a good idea to focus on primary product you chose for marketing rather than include a host of other lucrative offers. It is easy to lose focus and spread yourself out thin that way.
