Several times a week, someone emails or calls the office with this question:
“I am looking for a new company. What do you recommend? What’s a really good one?”
My answer: there is no magic company for everyone. But here’s help to decide.
Whether you’re looking or wondering if you’re in the right place, ask yourself two questions first:
1. What’s most important to you about joining a network marketing company?
2. Why are you choosing network marketing versus some other option, like a part time job, or a different type of business?
Here are a more specific questions for each…
1. What’s most important to you about a NM company you’re considering?
- Do you want to market a product you are in love with or does it matter?
- Does the type of pay plan matter? If yes, check that out first.
- Do you want a supportive upline, or can you run on your own?
- Do you prefer an established versus new company?
- Do you prefer to be told what to do, versus try things on your own?
Ponder your answers to such questions – or chance being buffeted along like a rowboat on the sea – directionless.
2. Why are you choosing network marketing versus some other option, like a part time job, or a different type of business?
- Are you looking for some extra income and hope this is kinda easy?
- Have you ever done NM before, or owned your own business?
- Do you love sales? 100% commission sales?
- Would you do this if you knew it might take a few years to get it going?
- Do you get discouraged easily?
- Why are you doing NM, specifically?
Any other questions that make a difference in predicting someone’s likelihood of sticking with it long enough, to make a success of it?
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What if you could learn to tell your story so you can amaze and delight your customer niche: Here’s a book and CD program to help. And here’s help for talking in a human voice about your business – a CD set and cribsheet .
I think it is also important to ask how much capital they have set aside to start their business. What do you think?
Brad Pollina
http://BradPollina.com
http://YourFreeCard.com
Send MOM a mother’s day card on us!
I think that it is important to ask how much capital they have set aside to start their own business. Whaat do you think?
Brad Pollina
Send MOM a mother’s day card on us!
http://YourFreeCard.com
http://BradPollina.com
Here’s a question – Are you looking to build a SECURE financial future?
If you are, make sure that the company you choose has to have a reason to terminate you. If the Policies & Procedures say things like “This agreement can be terminated by either party at any time” that is NOT a place you want to build with. If they say that they can “reject any application or RENEWAL application” and you have to renew every year, they could terminate you when your contract comes up for renewal. Companies love to terminate you AFTER you’ve built it big and retire, cutting off your future. If they never intended to use those clauses, why would they be in there?
Another question – Do you want to eventually retire and have recurring income for life?
If the company says things like “regardless of level of achievement, you must have XX new sales (or recruits) per month (or year)” that means you can never retire.
Read the Policies of any company BEFORE you join. I know – most are very long. But, look at it this way – you wouldn’t buy a house without reading the contract first, would you? Don’t build your future without reading the contract and knowing what you are getting into.
Have an awesome day!!!
Roxanne Green
Network Marketing Rules!
Are you self motivated or do you need someone to push you to action? Can you think outside the box for new approaches to sell?
There are more I’m sure,
Nancy
Ha~ I LOVE Your questions, Kim!
I just had my pay cut 80% by a company whose products I LOVE, but who have terrible business practices, and horrible comp plans :(((
So, now, after a year of incredible financial hardship due to the company cutting the comp plan, and now being older and wiser in the business, and recovering from those horrible business practices of the afore-mentioned company, with the great products, I vote for a company with:
1. Excellent Products
2. Excellent experience MLM management – people who have been in the trenches of the field and built an organization who know the blood, sweat and tears involved in building and maintaining a group. A company that respects – and shows by their P & P’s (Policies and Proc edures) that they respect distributors
3. A comp plan that is distributor friendly – vs. company friendly.
My friend is in a company with great products, but a very unfriendly distributor payout. She gets ZERO, NADA, NOTHING in pay for $2,000,000.00 ($two millions US) in volume underneath her :(((
4. A company with LOW overhead – no fancy and expensive offices and huge staff – so more money comes to we distributors.
5. A comp plan that matches the personality type of the distributor…. ie some comp plans reward aggressive hard sales people and few other people make money… vs. a comp plan that pays respectable money to the average part-time people – the single-moms, the retired people, the “right-sized” people who lost their incomes, etc.
6. I am in the biz for retirement residual income as well as living expenses money now. Since the fallout rate if over 90% for new companies, I prefer one that has been around a little while… but not one that is an old dinosaur stuck in old obsolete ways and comp plan payout systems.
7. A company that has excellent, tried and true and ethical owners and management that are distributor friendly.
8. Being a creative person, I appreciate a company that is open to my input from the field. And a company and upline that do not steal my ideas and then discredit me —- had it happen in the old deal. (PS. The greedly upline also stole my downline 🙁 )
OK, that is my MLM company
shopping list 🙂
Being with the RIGHT company with all the RIGHT ingredients can make a distributors life heaven. (My new situation :)))
A bad deal can make your life a hellish nightmare.
Best Wishes!
Pat Crosby
http://NETWORKwithPAT.blogspot.com
.
PS: I just attended a great leadership training weekend. Guess what the # 1 reason top income earners in my company gave for working MLM from home?
NO CLOTHES. So instead of advertising with MAKE MONEY FROM HOME, I think better is WORK FROM HOME IN YOUR BIRTHDAY SUIT.
Or Join the UNDERWEAR ENTREPRENEURS!
LOL! (This is true!)
I like wearing sandals to work. And my office is my garden swing. Or the balcony of a cruise ship cabin. Or a beach in Hawaii. Yeah!
I would not like to work in Cubicle Nation 🙁
Pat Crosby
http://NETWORKwithPAT.blogspot.com
For me personally when I looked at various network marketing company I looked at the company ethos. What did their site look like? What did their marketing materials look like?
Was their site based on hype and was the appearance about it something I could personally support?
It was very important to me, to find a company that was in line with my personal value system.
I’m not drawn by hype and carrots like trips and cars. Those don’t appeal to me and actually that is a big turn off for me personally. So I know that I would have a hard time being part of a company that uses that as a carrot to entice people.
Regards,
Erin
Kim,
Great question and one that is frequently on the mind of many.
Too often, a person rushes to sign up with a company because of initial excitement and without thorough research and a solid understanding of what and how the product line works, and even more so, what and how the compensation plan works.
Excitement is GREAT and a necessary ingredient. And an educated business decision is a must as well.
After all, if you are considering a business as a BUSINESS and from a business perspective, there are many things to consider.
For me, I determined, after 9 years, 4 companies and a lot of trial and error that the following are important to me –
Product I believe in and feel good about. As you say Kim, something I would use regardless of a pay plan.
Product that can actually be retailed for profit. Do a comparison with your product elsewhere and make sure the WHOLESALE cost to you as a distributor allows room for a solid retail profit by you. This makes your program more than a “wholesale buying club” and means that you won’t be forced to ONLY recruit other wholesale buyers in order to earn an income.
Residual based compensation plan. After working in several comp plans that are “bonus heavey” I determine that for me, I want 90-99% of my income to come from true residual. This stops the yo-yo affect of a paycheck that is high one month, low the next. I know I can count on a stable, consistent paycheck.
Solid upline and sponsor support. Why re-invent the wheel? Make sure there are tools and a support structure already in place. This will make your job more simple and you can invest your time and energy into growing your business.
Sleep on it. If you find yourself educated AND sleepless with excitement and the possibilities, go for it! If you don’t, you may want to re-think!
EXPECT Success!
Jackie Ulmer
Street Smart Wealth Group
Other questions that may be good for the person themselves (not about company):
1) Do you take 100% responsibility, and realize that even with support, it’s YOUR business? (i.e. no boss or upline to build it for you)
2) Do you have something you are willing to FIGHT FOR? Whether for yourself or others, your lifestyle or your legacy, if you don’t have something to fight for, you will give up too easily.
As for the specific company, I still have all of my research from when I spent 5 months picking out my company (if anyone wants to see some of the questions I asked of prospective companies, feel free to contact me through my profile, this was back in 2004), and I am sure that some things that mattered to me won’t matter to others, but it might help. I like Kim’s list a lot as a beginning point.
I do think, however, that if even part-time income is a goal, then you need to have the pay plan explained to you in detail, what it takes to achieve that, because even if you love the product, you will get discouraged if you aren’t properly rewarded for your efforts.
As for our industry, some other great questions to ask a prospect are:
1) Do you like working in teams?
2) Do you like helping people?
3) Are you just looking for income or do you want to learn real life skills, not taught in most schools?
4) Are you willing to adopt a “back in school” mindset and be willing to study and practice to achieve what you want?
Great topic, Kim!
I’ve had my own businesses for 32 years and it’s been entirely based on if I don’t sell a product/service the bills don’t get paid. I know what it feels like to be hungry and what it feels like to have money coming in faster than you can figure out what to do with it.
Selling product and myself is second nature to me at this point. I’ve never sold a product or service that I didn’t enjoy and/or believe in at the time.
In my mind, there’s little difference between commission sales and the profits from a non-NM business. It’s all money that comes into my pocket after the fact (after the expenses are paid, etc.)
What I need from a company and/or product:
1. I need to know the company has the same quality standards as I have. For example, if they have a hand sanitizer and it contains Eucalyptus essential oil and it also contains alcohol I immediately know we are not on the same page and I wouldn’t use their product or sell it.
2. I need to love the product or service.
3. I need to know the pay plan is one that isn’t going to make me jump through hoops or turn my garage into a warehouse.
I chose NM/my company over having a regular business because:
1. The product is very useful and pure. I used it for 8 years before I did it as a business (that choice was due to the fact I had a landscape design business that I was enjoying very much. I discovered the product, loved it and used it. Then I moved and decided I wanted to do something less labor intensive and here I am today).
2. I like that I have a team that feels the same way I do about the product and commitment to excellence.
3. I like knowing that the product is making a positive difference in peoples lives.
I have never gotten discouraged easily. I’ve always felt if something wasn’t going as I wanted or expected that it was because of something I was or wasn’t doing.
I went into this business knowing it would take some time to build. Which is why I made up a vey ambitious 2 year goal plan. Since I already know how much work is required in any business I didn’t come into this, or any venture for that matter, with stars in my eyes.
Before I switched from landscape design to this business I thought long and hard over what it was going to require of me, was I up to it, and would I be ok with the bumps and hurdles unique to this profession. I also asked myself what I think is the most important question… “is this something that I will want to put my energy into and want to see it be successful?”
I’m not the type who goes into something with a mindset that’s anything less than very successful. If I don’t think I will be successful at it, I don’t even bother taking it on.
I can honestly say that every business I have been in has been successful and it’s probably due to my thinking/mindset. I do not know what falure feels like first hand and I don’t expect I ever will. This ties directly into your previous post Kim on “Two Wolves” which is so right on the money.
I enjoy feeding myself a diet that nurtures myself and my endevors.
Evelyn
Hi Kim.I always want to know who
runs the company.What their personal track record is in the industry.I will call the states attorney general’s office,in which state the company is doing business in.(All companies by law must register, to see if there are
any valid complaints against the company).They don’t have to register with the Better Business
Bureau.If they can past my “smell”
test in these areas, then I will look at the other parts of the company.
Raven
http://www.fdirep.com/rmahdee
I look for:
A company with corporate leaders with MLM management experience and who have built a downline
Management with integrity
Products that are value priced, a variety, and good quality
Compensation plan that requires the fewest number of people, yet makes me the most money
A marketing system in place that part-timers can benefit from.
Hmmm… I just found a great web page on http://MLMWatchdog.com on how to choose
Do Due Diligence BEFORE joining any MLM company. Already in one? Measure your company here.
http://www.mlmwatchdog.com/MLM_DUE_DILIGENCE.html
Pat Crosby
I have also posted this article as a resource on my networking info blog
http://NETWORKwithPAT.blogspot.com
Three of my questions would be:
1. Does the company have a Representative Rewarding and Representative Friendly Environment.
2. Does the company have good decision makers? (experienced in NM)
3. Are the company Mission, Purpose and Product(s) an extension of me?
PS. I used to think that the buck stops at the top, however, I have since learned that I must checkout who the big hitters are as well, as they also set the rules and call the shots. They must be nice and have integrity and good intention as well.
Regards, Herb