Mark Ewell

If you are reading this, you are probably one of the thousands of people that want to run their own MLM business. Unfortunately, many never get started because they hit critical information overload and panic. There is so much information out there and most of it is just plain trash. People get confused and then take no action. Let’s try and clear up some of the misinformation you probably have come across so you can better understand how to get started and pick a company that will maximize you chance of success.

I’ve seen hundreds of MLM companies come and go, new and old. A very high percentage of the new ones fail. Some make it past two years and even fewer make it to five and ten years or more [nevermind to $1+ billion in sales]. You want to make sure that you pick one that’s going to make it – a company that won’t let you down. And you want to pick a company that has a large opportunity for growth.

Of course, every company says that they are the next “chosen one.” And the distributors that prospect you aren’t intentionally lying to you when they tell you this. They honestly believe what they’re saying. Unfortunately most do not have enough experience, knowledge and perspective to really understand what’s required for a company to go from small to big and take you with it.

So, what does it take? If you look at the companies that have gone from small to big you will see commonalities.  You will find that they all had:

• A Sizzle Product Line in Tune with the Market
• Corporate Leadership and Management Depth
• Proper Capitalization
• A Compensation Plan that Promotes the Correct Behavior
• Field Leadership and Great Systems
• And, of course, Perfect Timing.

Let’s have a look at each of these criteria.

A Sizzle Product Line in Tune with the Market

This is absolutely critical. If you don’t have these things, your life will be much more difficult than it needs to be. You want to select a company that is in a market that is large, growing and is fueled by demographic trends. This is because it is much easier to increase sales in this situation, where you can take advantage of the market expansion, instead of relying on taking market share away from you competitors.

Of course, you are best off if you have a company that has a product line that people can get excited about, is unique, exclusive [and cannot be easily duplicated], and consumable. Of course, it also has to be positioned properly in terms of cost, branding, and the like. Overpriced products will not support a long term opportunity. You also want it to be a line that people would buy even if they were not involved in the business. That is what will give you your long term stability.

Note that you, personally, do not need to be the in target market for the product line to be successful in the business. If the product is as good as it should be there will be plenty of testimonials out there. Yours is not needed. Think of it this way – let’s say that you are marketing a fantastic new weight loss product. I’m sure you would agree that there is a very large market for something like that, that works, right? There should be a lot of money to be made. Now, let’s say that you are 5’10″ and 125 pounds. The last thing you need is a weight loss product. Does this diminish the opportunity? I don’t think so. Make sure you don’t make that kind of mistake in your evaluation.

A couple of trends that are driving many markets are the aging of the baby-boomers and the lousy economy. The aging baby-boomers are driving the growth of the anti-aging, health, and wellness industry. Find yourself a company that has a unique, easy to explain product line that targets this group and you will be off to a good start. The shortcomings in the economy are driving entrepreneurship so your pool of business partners is also increasing. That will make building easier.

Corporate Leadership and Management Depth

As far as leadership goes, at the helm, you must have a visionary leader who has the charisma to light up a room. People want to be led. And they want to be led by somebody that can communicate the big vision of what the company is out to accomplish for its distributors and itself – somebody that you and your people will perceive is worth following.

Don’t get yourself stuck in a company where the management does not have a track record of success or has no depth. A solid team will have people who have built successful traditional businesses with buildings, employees, and payroll. The team must also include people who have worked inside network marketing companies and have been successful distributors. The depth must cover expertise in strategic planning and implementation, marketing, operations and logistics, information systems, finance, research and development, international, and so on. The depth must also include a true appreciation for and priority given to the distributor force and their role in the success of the company and their distributor colleagues.

If the company is public you will be able to find a ton of information out there on both these areas and the financials. If it is not, you will have to do more digging.

Proper Capitalization

Select a company that is not overcapitalized nor undercapitalized. You want there to be enough capital to fund the potential rapid growth but not so much that the management is not as careful in building the company as it should be.

Find out how the company is funded. If it is a pre-launch that is bootstrapping its way up, run away as fast as you can. If the company is venture capital or angel investor funded just know what these guys only invest if they have an exit strategy. I’d stay away. This usually means something like a merger, sale, or an IPO will be happening in the not-too-distant-future. Such an exit strategy is good for the investors but for you, maybe not so much.

A Compensation Plan that Promotes the Correct Behavior

An in depth discussion of what correct behavior is and how it is promoted via the compensation plan is beyond the scope of this short article. Suffice it to say that you need to have a plan that promotes leadership development since leadership and its duplication is the key to exploding a group – more on that in another article. However, the compensation plan also must allow the non-career distributors to make enough money to achieve their objectives too. It must be balanced.

Field Leadership and Great Systems

Just as you need that leadership at the helm of the corporation you also must have it in the distributor force. The companies that do the best in this industry are those that have leaders in the distributor force that are the best at developing leadership within the ranks. It is this leadership that distributors will follow and emulate. And these leaders must also have great systems in place. These systems consist of systems that give the tactics of building a business [both on and off line] so that distributors know what actions they should be taking on a daily business. These systems also consist of leadership development programs for those that want to build large organizations that move a lot of volume.

Perfect Timing

Yes, perfect timing. You need to do your best with this one since it is easiest to see only in hindsight! In addition to looking at the market trends you will also want to see where the momentum of the company is. Is it gaining speed? Is it slowing down? Where is the strongest growth? What new is being introduced – products?, markets? Where is the most interesting opportunity given where you are.

You can find a lot of this information on line. You can look at the change in Alexa ranking and the like. You can look at frequency of keyword searches. You can follow authority blogs [yes, there are a few! ]. Put your ear to the ground. Just make sure that people who voice their opinion to you have the experience and success in the industry to be worth listening to!

In Conclusion

So, how does the company you are considering stack up? Or have you yet to find one? If you would like my help in feel free to give me a call. And, Make sure that you enter your name and email over on the right so that you will keep up with what’s happening here.

To the top!
Mark