Something less than positive has appeared at least once on this blog about all your companies over the past three years. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][I have deleted the links to the old posts which commented on negative media/regulatory reports on our companies. More soon.]
I have good friends and many customers in all these companies.
So why do I report the bad news? Don’t we have enough of that in the regular media?
Here’s my schtick.
Unlike the media, I love the business, and have always included ways to remedy the situations reported.
I have been posting to this blog everyday for three years, and have been training and promoting the industry for the last 15. I’ve built five companies as a rep, and am now, for the first time, part owner of a tiny nutritional start-up.
All of my efforts have been geared towards reducing the astronomical drop out rate in the industry. It is a source of great embarrassment and eats away at the confidence one might have in the potential of the industry.
This blog is for women and part-timers, who comprise 82-85% of all network marketers. Why should 95% drop out? It’s not because we don’t believe, or won’t “get out of our comfort zone.”
The big drop out rate is probably due to one thing: the promise of financial freedom and success with little risk or effort.
Common sales pitches we all have been trained to use:
“If I could show you a way to make full time income with part time effort, would you be interested?”
“Would you be interested in earning $5,00-10,000/mo working part time?”
Before you say that again, ask yourself: Is that true about you? Do you know anyone who is doing that? If you personally know such a person how long did it take them? Is there a special story behind the story that most people cannot duplicate?
Is the above approach taking advantage of someone’s trust who might be in a desperate situation? Does it contribute to the loss of the self-esteem of thousands of women across the country who believe the dream and have no idea how hard it is to achieve?
We can monitor the words that come out of our mouths. We don’t need a corporate resolution or upline directive to change our approach.
So yes, I rattle a few cages. But it is YOU I hope to affect.
Let’s regulate ourselves, one person at a time, before the government regulates us. And before the public turns away from us even more. Together, we can bring network marketing to the level of respect it deserves.
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Kim – I just started my own blog yesterday after reading your posting about Nu Skin it is http://www.hybridmarketingsolutions.blogspot.com I have reposted your comment from yesterday on my blog with my response as it never got posted on your blog. I am with you 100%. I hope your blog audience will take a look at my response on my blog and as I said your comments from yesterday are on my blog.
Thanks. Juliette Gray
PS If anyone can tell me the system they use for getting their blogs out into cyberspace I’d appreciate it. Do you just use your e-mail list and start from there or what and Kim how do you e-mail people when you put up a new post.
How many people actually make the effort? It’s true that you can make a full-time income on part-time effort but who actually puts in the time necessary to do this? Very few I think. I tell my prospects that this is not a get-rich-quick scam but it involves time, it involves investing some resources and it means being persistent and patient and they must be willing to learn and apply what they’re being taught. It’s absolutely worth it for those who follow this advice. It may take six months or even a few years but even one half hour each day of productive time and they can achieve a good income. I also tell them most people give up. Actually, I’m pretty negative on that initial phone call but I have a good sign up rate. No pressure works, if the company and product are also right for the prospect.
Sharon Hoehner
http://www.detoxqueen.com
Wow – I love these posts. Finally people are waking up that old school apart from anything else is old fashioned. In order for a business to survive you need retail customers. Where did I learn that? A lady by the name of Kim something I believe. Maybe that is the reason why my former company – Arbonne is recruiting in Australia and the UK now because they are starting to burn their bridges here with the old school system of signing everyone up as a wholesale buyer – having their reps spend thousands of dollars on catalogs and samples and not making any money to speak of and then when they find a couple of leaders the comp plan has them breaking away from them until the recruiter passes them so it is all about recruit recruit recruit. Give me a break – Have you checked the Arbonne management promotions in the last 12 months and you will see what I mean. They are going south. Nu Skin, Arbonne, Quixar – as the french say “the more things change the more they stay the same”. Network marketers need multiple streams of income in opportunities where there is synergy where they make retail income and can train and mentor a select team of people who will build the other residual income. Makes sense to me how come the people running those aforementioned companies don’t see that. Juliette Gray http://www.itvsuccessline.com Bookmark my new site which should be up soon http://www.whoisjuliettegray.net
kim-
i think you are sincere but the problem with network marketing is the layered commission schedule prevents customers from getting anything approaching a good deal on the product no matter how legitimate it may be. just look at the weasles that head all of these companies- just like tv preachers. scum of the earth.
I like the closing lines of this post best.
Let’s regulate ourselves, one person at a time, before the government regulates us. And before the public turns away from us even more. Together, we can bring network marketing to the level of respect it deserves.
Dang Anonymous – lighten up. Bashing the heads of all MLM companies (weasels?) and all preachers (scum of the earth) is rather harsh. All companies have bad people in them as well as good. The world has bad people as well as good. And the majority of companies involved in sales are layered in some way from the CEO down to the janitor. For us, the New School is build around correcting the wrong that has been done in our industry.
While Kim has posted some of the companies by name – it could well be your or my company. It begins with each of us monitoring what we say and making sure we do not continue to do disservice to our industry and our personal integrity.
You’re right on the money as usual, KK. That’s one reason I have not recruited anyone into my current business. It’s hard work and takes an investment. Most people who need the money, can’t spend the $400 on the start up kit to have the most product on hand, $100 to have our upline set them up with a landing page plus $25 a month thereafter for hosting, and then $5+ for leads, as well as sign up for an autoresponder under them as is constantly “dripped” on us as “team building”. I’d just like to see how much the upline is making from that stream of income. Then there’s the implication that if you’re not willing to follow the ‘system’ in place, you’re on your own. I won’t imply to prospects that “she earns a six-figure income, you can too”. What kind of NM history did she come to this company with? A hugely successful one, and though she says she did not recruit anyone from a previous company, she surely sponsored some who knew her name from being successful before and chose her to sign up with.
Today with the internet, so many people are accessible, but until I come up with an affordably duplicatible system from scratch, I won’t be recruiting.
Canleluvr – ok You are probably not going to agree with this but if people want to really be entrepreneurs and small business owners it is going to cost them some up front money even in network marketing. The difference is that if you have enough retail customers to sustain you you can be selective about who you choose to be your business builders and figure out who your ideal business builder is and then target them. Your network is your net worth and yes you shouldn’t waste time with people who are coming from scarcity and cannot afford the monthly autoship – but if your prospects have a business sensibility where else could they get into a legitimate business with the relatively small amount of overhead that it takes to join a good network marketing company. The companies who have such a minimal start up fee will attract buisiness builders but they won’t have the motivation or incentive to build a business and in all likelyhood will drop out. All businesses have overhead. If you have a retail business, a restaurant or god forbid a franchise your inventory and or your overhead would be huge. It is so so important to figure out the lifetime value of the what you are doing and not the $400 or $100 or the price of leads. If your prospects are not prepared to put that kind of money into a business then they should just get a job and stay in their comfort zone. So yes, don’t build a team if you don’t want to figure out how to attract your ideal business builder – retail your product and if you have people on autoship you will make a residual income that way – it just won’t be anything close to what it would be if you had 7-10 productive business builders under you. Get some coaching in marketing and recondition your mindset so you will start to attract the right type of people for your business who are willing to put in the time and some money. Juliette Gray http://www.itvsuccessline.com
Hi Kim,
Here are some interesting stats our upline posted on our forum today:
From Direct Selling News Magazine
June 2007 Issue
Page 2
The Truth According to Offen (Nei lOffen DSA Pres and CEO)
1. The median annual income for direct selling distributors in the USA is $220+ per month
2 Less than 8% of direct sellers work full time (40 hour work week)
3. Of those working full time in direct selling, 25% earn MORE than $100,000 annually
No doubt income is proportional to effort. Less than 8% put in a full week.
Tom Doiron
Atlanta
Candleluvr, I hear you loud and clear, I felt the same way about my first company, I felt my upline was making more money in selling add-ons, then they were selling the actuals products. However I have to disagree with you on a couple of points:
1)“It’s hard work and takes an investment.”
Any legitimate business requires hard work and an investemnt. There is no such thing as a Free Lunch.
If you’re talking to someone and they are turned off because you tell them it’s hard work and requires an investment, consider yourself lucky that you found before and not after, they would have wasted your valuable time.
2)“Most people who need the money, can’t spend the $400 on the start up kit…”
This is a business. If someone who has been working their whole life,can’t come up with $400 to start a business,they have no business starting a business in the first place,they need another job. If someone is in dire need of money, starting a business will not solve anything.
It’s one of the things, I think that is killing our credibility as serious business people: why are we so afraid of money?
It’s a business, it’s supposed to cost money!
My Two Cents
Carmina
Sounds like we are all on the same or a similar page. The thing is maybe we are in a minority of people who take what we do seriously and have the vision that if it is done correctly this can be an amazing business. There is no free lunch for sure. It is also clear in the short attention span age we are living in that people need to realize that when they get into this business that it is not the lottery – this is a business which if you work well with vision can build a plan for retirement within 3-5 years. I personally do not intend to sponsor people who don’t get it. Once you start to put more value on your own time then it becomes clearer who you should be “inviting” to join your business – I don’t want to work with just anyone – and if the previous posts stats are correct which I am sure they are I certainly don’t want to breed a bunch of $200 a month amateurs. Juliette Gray http://www.itvsuccessline.com
Juliette,
You mentioned the “L” word, lottery. In the previous stats from the DSA, over 92% of direct sellers work less that 40 hours per week. Many of those live by the lottery mentality. Many have also been taught by their upline that it only takes 10 to 15 hours per week to build a dynasty.
I believe our beloved Kim K. was the first Network Marketing trainer/mentor that stated the truthful reality that approximately one in a thousand have what it takes for big time success in our industry.
How many wannabees would be discouraged from involvement from the onset if they knew that it might take 1000 presentations to find a champion? Is it any wonder that those moving up the ranks steadily utilize the power of the internet to reach out to those looking?
The good side is that if a new recruit knew the realities of our industry, they would be motivated with accurate information to dig in and get past all those “no’s” to find that one gem.
Let’s keep digging,
Tom Doiron
Atlanta
Hi Tom, I like to consider myself as those 1 in 1000 but however motivated a new network marketer might be it is important to separate the wood from the trees and make sure that the programs you are involved in will be able to fulfill your desires, beliefs and vision if you do the work and find the right team. Thats what will make all the leg work worthwhile and keep ones integrity in check as a sponsor. E-mail me directly if you want to continue the conversaiton at itvsuccessline@aol.com Juliette Gray http://www.itvsuccessline.com
Kim,
You say 95% drop out in this industry, which is true and readily reported by the media to make our industry look bad. However, the drop out rate….or failure rate…is similar in “traditional” start ups. Most small businesses don’t make it to the 5 year mark. But, the media is not as eager to report that fact ;o)
When we compare though what the costs are to start a traditional business…like a franchise for example…and what the start up costs are in our industry then the question arises, which one would you rather fail in?
Even IF you fail in our industry you have not lost your life savings and you can easily start over. Maybe the business you joined wasn’t right for you. There are plenty to choose from. Just try another one.
About the common sales pitch you mention…
I received a call just this weekend from a gentleman who was obviously very new, reading a script he was probably given by his upline.
The call went like this:
“If I could show you how you can make $10,000 within the next 30 days would you have a few minutes to listen?”
I really wish people would quit sucker in innocent people and make them believe they could actually earn that kind of money in a month. There are so many people out there hurting and desperate enough to say “Yes” only to find themselves out a bunch of money and deeper in debt then before. On top of that it does give our industry a bad image. Because there is absolutely no way that someone brand new (and without a huge list) can earn that kind of money within 30 days.
Ilka Flood
http://www.JustDoItWithBooks.com
While I will be the first to applaud if it happens, I really don’t think the drop out rate is going to change that much. Our drop rate is similar to the selling industry at large and traditional business as well. Until someone changes human nature I think the drop out rate “just is.”
One of the areas where I think the value of new school principles will really help is in changing the perception of our industry. By dispensing with the hype and false promises upfront we get rid of any anger and bitterness on the backend.
After all, do you find a myriad of websites devoted to telling people how traditional business is a scam and they shouldn’t get involved? No. Do we find a plethora of websites devoted to telling people how traditional direct selling is a scam and they shouldn’t get involved? No?
Why is that? Because people know in advance it requires an investment of time or money (and usually both), hard work, and that they may not make it.
The traditional direct selling industry *does* entice people with the promises of riches, but what they don’t do for the most part is entice them with the idea it will be easy. I think a great training film for any newbie who aspires to be a full-time network marketer is “The Pursuit of Happyness” with Will Smith. Succeeding in business or sales is *hard work* and that should be clear to every recuit upfront.
And in a nutshell that is one of two reasons why I think our industry is so maligned. By telling people it is easy we attract all kinds of people who would have never joined this business if they knew how hard it is to succeed.
So when they leave, they don’t walk away saying, “well, it just wasn’t for me, etc.” like they do when they fail in business or traditional selling, rather they often walk away bitter and angry because they thought it was going to be easy and felt they were used or worse even conned.
Michael
http://www.grmbeyond.com
http://www.uptownonthebay.biz
The last post is exactly the way it is. Bravo. Ultimately the business anyone will succeed in will be because they are able to offer something unique to their customers and ultimately they will get paid in direct proportion to the service and value they bring to the market place. People have to ask is there a need in the market place. Then you have to ask how good is your product or service compared to the others out there. And how good is your ability to sell and market your product or service at a local, regional, national or international level. To get good at all this you need to have help a good upline and that means an upline who is not going to put you in a cookie cutter, tell you to get in long post office or supermarket lines to find customers, alienate your friends and family etc. and ignore what is going on in the marketing arena when it comes to the internet, television, blogging, web site optimization, etc. I personally don’t want to recruit people into my business who are coming from scarcity and don’t see the long term value of what they are doing. If you were going to open a shop, buy a franchise, or be a service giving medical professional you would have much more overhead than you do with a network markeying company. If people don’t get that then they should stick to a JOB. And when you are building your team you have to identify your ideal business builder and not try to hook in every Tom, Dick and Harry. Therefore, I recommend people take a leap of faith once they have done their due diligence and if they don’t have money they need to get some. They can get a small business loan or put it on a low interest credit card to get started if they don’t have the cash. If you have belief in yourself and are not just sticking a pin in and hope it stays there you will soon start making money to cover your expenses and then the residual income will start to kick in. But either be an entrepreneur or get on the freeway and sit in a cubicle all day and face the risk of losing everything anyway when you get outsourced, reengineered or simply laid off. If you are looking for a gold watch this ain’t the place to look for it. Juliette Gray http://www.itvsuccessline.com
Hi All,
Great comments on a great blog run by a great network marketer…!!!
I wanted to change the subject a bit toward the original post from Kim.
In her post she named some companies (one of which I’m a member), and spoke of the less than positive comments that have been made about each of them on this blog…
At the same time she dis’s these companies she is/has been subtly and not so subtly anouncing/advertising her ownership in a new tiny network marketing company…
I’ve been coming to Kim’s sites for years and have gleaned much and championed her causes by sending friends, team members and PROSPECTS to her sites for her generic training…!!!
I’m sure many other network marketers have done the same as I have done… As a result we added a lot to the growth of Kim’s mailing lists…
In my (perhaps cynical) mind I can’t help but wonder about this possible conflict of interest thing… How many might be swayed from what they were/are doing by the extraordinary credibility she has built over the years…???
I’ll keep coming back if she allows me to because she is a fantastic teacher and trainer…
BUT…
I won’t be sending any more team members or PROSPECTS…!!!
One last question:
How many of you good folks on this list have entertained the idea of joining Kim’s new company…???
Nuf Said…!!!
Live Well,
Gene
http://exposure.the7greatliesofnetworkmarketing.com/
Gene —
So, why DIDN’T you join Kim’s company?
Any why wouldn’t you send a team member? Kim is only looking for dissatisfied networkers. If your team isn’t dissatisfied, then you should have nothing to worrk about. If they ARE dissatisfied, then why try to provent them from going somewhere they might find better success?
I actually did send Kim a note asking for info about her company. But I said I wasn’t dissatisfied. She could have easily tried to get me to join her business. And I probably would have.
You know what she did?
Nothing.
That speaks volumes about who she is and what she is trying to (and not trying to) do.
Walter Reade (from Wisconsin)
Hi Walter,
I won’t be augueing with you here… I made a post that contains my thoughts and opinions and I still have and stand behind those opinions…
My main thought was about sending PROSPECTS… And the possibility of team mates sending PROSPECTS…!!!
As far as Kim’s charactor is concerned, I feel it’s practically impeccable (I say “practically” because I have never run across someone who is perfect, and that probably inclues you and I Walter ;-)- I just feel she made a mistake in this matter!
I appreciate you taking time to give your thoughts on this subject.
Take Care,
Gene
http://exposure.the7greatliesofnetworkmarketing.com/
Gene —
You’re right on. I wouldn’t send prospects to this site.
But I wouldn’t send a prospect to any other MLM training site either.
🙂
Walter
Gene, I like the fact you take the higher ground. Nobody is perfect as you correctly point out. And people need to be accountable – even someone as wonderful as Kim – otherwise they become demagogues. The only critisism I have about Kim is that she doesn’t respond to e-mails that ask questions that relate to the blog posting but are of no benefit to her. I believe in the law of reciprocity. Therefore a lot of things I do, including sharing my rolodex with people or giving them information about general matters that will save them some leg work, do not necessarily give me a benefit at that moment but sometimes it comes back in spades way down the line. I asked Kim twice in an e-mail how she gets the e-mailing part of her blog sent to the list and how her blog gets on the search engines and she completely ignored my question but answered the part of the e-mail that referred directly to the item in question. I find that disappointing. I would have answered that. I spent a considerable amount of time answering an e-mail to someone called Frances who had contacted me through this blog to assist her in some of her decision making because it was on a subject she could tell from the blog that I knew about. I knew there was nothing it it for me to do that but I did it anyway. So Kim, as you are reading this perhaps you would like to comment on the law of reciprocity as we are all supposed to be helping each other and let us know if you feel accountable to this law. Of course, if you choose not to post this comment, then that shines a light on exactly what I am referring to. I wish you the best either way. Juliette Gray http://www.itvsuccessline.com
PS – regarding my question to Kim, the reason I asked is that I started my own blog and want to get it out there for people to post on so if any of you know a good way to do that let me know and if you like blogging check out the blog and post a comment. It has a Don Quixote windmills of the world theme – you will see what I mean. Its http://www.hybridmarketingsolutions.blogspot.com Juliette
Juliette —
re: your question,
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/help/blogger_quickstart
Walter