MLM business - what is it - decoding in simple words

March 30, 2020

“I would rather earn 1% of the efforts of 100 people than 100% of my own efforts.” J. P. Getty

The reasoning of the oil magnate and industrialist J.P. Getty is valid not only for the owners of large companies with a huge staff of employees. Those who do not have millions in assets can also make money on this principle. How it is implemented in the MLM business and what is the price of income from the work of other people in network marketing, we will understand in this article.

MLM business is an abbreviation for the English term Multilevel marketing (MLM), which means “multi-level marketing” or “network marketing”. This is a type of trade where the promotion and sale of goods are based on the principle of direct sales: directly from the manufacturer to the consumer. Manufacturers are abandoning the expensive impersonal advertising that classic businesses rely on. Instead, product distribution is facilitated by the personal experience of a large team of distributors who know the product not only from catalogs and can share their own stories about its effectiveness. However, not all direct sales can be considered network marketing. The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations distinguishes three stages of direct selling1:

• purchasing products only for yourself at a distributor discount;
• distributing goods among your friends and receiving interest from each transaction;
• expanding the distributor network and attracting new sellers.

Network marketing is a method of distributing goods that includes all three stages. And the last point plays a significant role in market promotion. To increase sales, the manufacturing company motivates its distributors not only to sell more, but also to attract new members and create their own team. At the same time, the seller’s goal is not so much to find those willing to distribute the products, but rather to train them to do it effectively. After all, the remuneration does not depend on the number of invited agents, but on the cost of the goods they sell. If the distributor has done this job well, and his students have become successful sellers, he will deservedly receive additional income from the transactions of those whom he invited into the business.

Dictionary of network marketing A manufacturing company is a company whose products are distributed through network marketing. Dealers (distributors, agents, entrepreneurs, partners) are direct sellers of goods. Sponsor is a distributor at whose invitation a new seller joins, in relation to this seller. Active income is the income that the seller receives from his own transactions. Passive income is the income that the seller receives from transactions concluded by members of his team. Starter package - the amount of goods that must be purchased to start a business. Marketing plan - the conditions under which the manufacturing company and distributors cooperate:

• percentage of sales due to distributors of different levels;
• percentage of income generated by the sales team;
• the amount for which you need to purchase goods in order to start a business;
• the presence of an obligation to purchase products monthly for one’s own use;
• sanctions for violating the terms of the marketing plan.

What is network marketing?

What analogies do network business evoke for you? If this is: “pyramid”, “sect”, “spam”, “zombie” and “imposition”, then you need to carefully read this article. It will help you look at this business differently.

In fact, MLM is just one type of marketing. That is, for the company this is simply a way to promote its products.

Traditional companies typically have very high fixed costs. These are expenses for advertising, marketing, as well as salaries for managers and sellers.

In contrast, network companies shift all marketing and sales to their partners/distributors. That is, anyone can sell the company’s products and receive a reward for it.

This scheme benefits all participants:

• Beneficial for the company.

First, network marketing reduces risks. Many traditional companies spend 50-60% on advertising, marketing and sales.

As you understand, this entails great risks. If sales decline, expenses may begin to exceed revenues, which may lead to bankruptcy.

At the same time, MLM companies do not have constant expenses for marketing and pay money to partners only for specific sales. Therefore, marketing costs are always predictable. If a company decides to spend 30% on payments to distributors, then this percentage will be independent of sales volume.

For example, if this year a network company sold 2 times less products than last year, then marketing costs will be 2 times lower.

Secondly, network marketing is more effective. The fact is that people trust recommendations from friends and acquaintances more than advertising. Therefore, promoting the products of network companies through partners/distributors is easier than with the traditional approach.

Thirdly, partners work more efficiently than hired employees. When a person realizes that he is working for himself, he is ready to work more and harder. At the same time, hired employees who work “for their uncle” and sit on a salary usually do not show much zeal and are not ready to sacrifice their time for the sake of the company.

• Beneficial for partners.

Network companies give people the opportunity to work for themselves (without bosses and with a free schedule) and receive almost unlimited income.

By and large, the distributor gets his own business. And the company helps him with this, taking over most of the processes.

• Beneficial for buyers.

Firstly, thanks to MLM, many online companies spend less money on marketing than traditional companies. Therefore, they can sell their goods cheaper.

Secondly, when purchasing through a distributor, the customer receives better service. This is a truly personal touch.

So, by and large, MLM is one of the types of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing has now become so popular that it seems that everyone has already heard about it.

The world's largest companies have an affiliate program. For example: Amazon, Ozon, Ali Express, Ebay, etc.

All of these companies pay commissions to people for promoting and selling their products. For example, if you become an Amazon affiliate and someone buys their product by clicking on your referral link, you will receive a commission of about 5%.

Network marketing works on the same principle. But the difference is that in MLM the affiliate program has several levels in depth.

This means that you will be able to receive a commission not only from personal sales, but also from the sales of your partners and their partners.

I would like to immediately dispel outdated ideas about network business.

Now distributors are no longer engaged in direct sales. They focus only on marketing, that is, on promoting products.

The distributor does not need to buy the goods for sale and store them on the balcony. He does not need to personally sell the products, take money from the buyer and deliver. The company takes care of all this.

In most modern MLM companies, a partner simply needs to send a buyer to an online store with products using his affiliate link. The company will take over payment acceptance and delivery.

The history of network marketing2

Multi-level marketing originated in the USA. Local companies preferred direct sales to distribution through retail stores, and sent representatives directly to customers. From these beginnings appeared:

• the case of Henry Heinz, a seller of vegetables and grated horseradish in jars, and later one of the largest ketchup brands in the world;
• California-based perfume company known as Avon since 1939;
• Stanley Home Products, a company that sold products at home parties, from which later famous entrepreneurs Mary Kay Ash (founder of the Mary Kay cosmetics brand) and Brownie Wise (general manager of the Tupperware manufacturer) emerged.

The transformation of direct sales into network distribution occurred thanks to the innovative decision of Carl Rehnborg, an American manufacturer of dietary supplements. At first he sold products only to his friends and acquaintances. Later, in order to expand sales opportunities, I began asking them to recommend the product to friends for a small fee. This initiative was successful, and in 1934 Rehnborg founded the California Vitamin Corporation, which later changed its name to Nutrilite Products Company, Inc. It developed the first marketing plan:

• the distributor buys the product at a 35% discount;
• as motivation, the seller receives a bonus - a percentage of sales;
• If the distributor manages to find 25 buyers, he receives the right to create his own network of sellers.

Rehnborg's experience gave impetus to other MLM businesses. In 1959, employees of Nutrilite Products Company, Inc. Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos founded their own firm. Today it is the largest player in the network marketing market, known throughout the world as Amway. Network marketing came to Russia in 1989 with the Herbalife company. A little later, in the 90s, other representatives of this market appeared: Avon, Mary Kay, Oriflame. Now many of them occupy a stable position in business, which has not been shaken by economic changes in the country3.

Why is there so much negativity about MLM?

Since MLM is just a type of marketing that benefits both sellers and buyers, then why so much negativity?

First of all, the blame for such a reputation lies with the networkers themselves. The fact is that all these decades, while MLM companies operated in Russian-speaking countries, distributors used sales and recruiting methods that irritated people.

You may remember how distributors used to go door to door and try to sell vacuum cleaners, knives, dishes and other household products.

Networkers not only went door to door, but also pestered passers-by on the streets, entered offices and called everyone.

They also used fake job advertisements to attract partners.

Well, and the now legendary spam on social networks.

Even now, many leaders still teach novice networkers to create a list of contacts and call friends and acquaintances. Newcomers do this so ineptly and obsessively that even their closest friends stop answering the phone and begin to think that their friend has fallen into a cult.

Although recently the work of distributors on social networks has become more correct, they still continue to mislead people. They promise beginners quick results without much effort. Which, of course, leads to disappointment and the spread of negativity about online business.

This is why I advocate non-intrusive recruiting. Therefore, I propose to rely on content marketing rather than on aggressive methods of selling products and attracting partners.

What is MLM business in simple terms

Times were hard. And people have already partially gone through the bitter experience of MMM and other comrades. And none of the adults believed in fairy tales about the Field of Miracles, where you could get rich overnight.

Factories in the country were standing still, mills were closing, the dollar exchange rate was hitting record highs every day, and then our neighbor Lida brought our family the opportunity to earn additional income. Moreover, in foreign currency, and with the possibility of additional bonuses: corporate parties, a new car, holidays abroad.

Of course, all this was hard to believe. Even I, at that moment a 10-year-old teenager, had certain doubts. Moreover, there was one obstacle between all these “goodies” and us.

It was necessary to go to friends and acquaintances, offering the products of this company.

Yourselfbranding

What none of our family of four could do. Where have you seen this before selling unnecessary cosmetics to your loved ones? What will people think of us? Who will we be after this?

Therefore, we gave that ill-fated catalog back and none of the parents joined this brotherhood of the most environmentally friendly cosmetics in the world. Much later, I myself came across some MLM organizations. And I just had to figure out what is truth and what is fiction.

Network, networker, networkers

The concept of MLM business, as usually happens, came to us from the very West that does not sleep. As a conclusion, this is an abbreviation for the English MLM - “multilevel marketing”. And if translated into human language, it means multi-level marketing.

This is the correct name for this type of business, although it is not a business at all. But more on that below. You can also hear or read other terminologies: network business, network marketing, networker, network. These are all sides of the same coin.

Why did MLM get such a name? Yes, because the MLM people themselves persistently planted the idea of ​​​​creating their own networks in the heads of new participants. So they called them networkers, because it’s easier to call this business in simple terms.

But why was this “own network” needed? Here, even for me, a ten-year-old child, it was not difficult to guess: in order to distribute the company’s products on an ongoing basis.

Benefits of network marketing (why you should do it)

I have already described the main advantages of MLM. Let's compare it with other similar types of business below to highlight its specific advantages.

MLM or traditional business?

“What’s better: opening your own business or starting to work with a network company?” - This is a very common question.

On the one hand, working in MLM is very similar to running your own business. Your earnings are not limited and depend only on you. You don't have a boss and you decide your own work schedule.

On the other hand, you will receive a huge advantage by partnering with a large company.

Such a partnership provides a number of advantages compared to opening a traditional business:

• Easy start.

In order to start selling products to a network company, you do not need start-up capital.

Unlike a traditional business, the only expenses in MLM are the mandatory monthly purchase of products for your own use. This is usually around $50-100 per month.

At the same time, you can find online companies that do not have this mandatory purchase of goods. In this case, you will not have any expenses at all.

So in MLM you can quickly start a business without risks and costs. There is no need to rent an office, purchase goods, create a website, do accounting, etc.

• No marketing costs.

You won't need to spend money on recruiting and selling products. After all, the methods that I describe on my blog are absolutely free.

• Most of the processes are undertaken by the company.

An MLM company will take care of the most unpleasant business processes: payment acceptance, delivery, storage, warehouse filling, taxes, etc.

Therefore, you will be freed from routine and will be able to focus on the most important things. You will be involved in marketing, content creation, personal brand development and working with your team.

• Free schedule.

Unlike a traditional entrepreneur, you don't have to run your business 12-16 hours a day. In MLM, you set your own schedule.

You can work 16 hours without days off or vacations if you want to become a TOP leader and earn millions.

At the same time, no one is stopping you from doing your network business for 2-3 hours a day after your main job. And when the income from MLM exceeds your basic salary, you can quit your job and focus on your network business.

Since many processes are now easily automated, you can spend your time extremely efficiently.

• Support from a mentor.

It is very difficult to start your own business alone when no one supports you. Because of this, entrepreneurs often lose motivation and quit their business.

That’s why MLM pays so much attention to support and motivation.

First, you will have a mentor who is committed to your success. If you choose a good sponsor, he will train you, support you and help you achieve results.

Secondly, you will become a member of a team of like-minded people. In chats and at events, you will find other networkers who will be not only your colleagues, but also your friends.

You will help and support each other.

MLM or affiliate business?

As I already said, you can receive a commission for selling goods through your referral link not only in online business. Many companies have an affiliate program and pay rewards to their partners.

But the main advantage of MLM is its multi-level affiliate program.

Firstly, thanks to this, you will receive a commission not only from the referral’s first purchase, but also from all subsequent ones. Not all traditional companies provide this opportunity.

Secondly, you will be able to earn commissions on sales at deeper levels of your structure. You will also receive bonuses for turnover, achieving ranks, etc.

Thanks to this you can:

• Don't sell the product at all.

You can focus on finding distributors who will handle sales for you.

You will need to focus on learning and motivation. With this approach, you would receive commissions from the second level.

• Build structure passively.

You can focus on finding leaders who will attract leaders and distributors.

This way your structure will develop in depth almost without your participation. At the same time, you will be able to receive rewards from deep levels, as well as bonuses for turnover and achieving ranks.

• Get passive income.

Many network companies offer compensation plans suitable for building a stable structure and generating passive income.

That is, over time, your structure will grow without your participation and you will receive passive income automatically.

MLM companies (rating)

There are a huge number of MLMs in our country, and it is extremely difficult for buyers of their goods and services to choose the right one. The situation is not cleared up by the fact that a large number of fraudulent organizations hide behind the form of an MLM structure, denigrating this essentially harmless business tactic. A rating of MLM companies, which will display the best of the network enterprises that conduct honest and legal activities, have experience in the field, have proven themselves on the positive side and whose names are well known to many. We will update this rating if some companies emerge and confidently win consumers or disqualify those who have completed their work. MLM companies, the list of which we have presented below, are suitable for learning from personal experience what network marketing is.

Where to begin?

In general, it is customary to start your journey in MLM by choosing a company. But I suggest doing things differently.

First you must decide what you want from your network business: quick results or stable income.

Depending on your choice, you can determine which type of networker you are more likely to be: a careerist or a surfer.

Careerists want to work with one stable company for as long as possible. They are ready to start smoothly and move slowly in order to build a stable structure in the future, earn credibility in the company and gain passive income.

Surfers prefer to move from company to company and each time they strive to collect the cream of the crop. They are always on the lookout and trying to find a promising company or a trending product that they can make money on at the moment.

So, you should choose your marketing plan, product and company type depending on your goals.

Therefore, you need to start analyzing and selecting a company only after you have decided whether you are a careerist or a surfer.

Choosing a company for a careerist.

We will analyze 3 elements: the company itself, the product and the compensation plan.

• Company.

As I already said, stability is important for a careerist. Therefore, the longer a company is on the market, the better.

In general, I suggest considering only those companies that have been operating for more than 5 years. In this case, they most likely went through a stage of rapid growth, experienced some difficulties and stabilized.

Take a look at various ratings of MLM companies, look at turnover and read reviews.

Give preference to international companies. That is, with foreign roots and local branches.

All the tips listed above will help you choose a reliable company that should stay on the market for a long time.

Now let's look at deeper things:

First, the company must have a convenient online store (if it sells physical goods).

So that you can concentrate on marketing, the company must take care of all the routine work. Your task is to advise the client, direct him to the online store, help him register and tell him how to place an order.

The rest is the work of the company (payment, delivery, checks, returns, etc.)

Secondly, convenient service and logistics.

It’s good if there are always a lot of products in warehouses and the company can provide fast delivery. It’s even better if the client has the opportunity to pay for the order to the courier using a plastic card.

The company should have offices at least in cities with a population of over a million, where customers could view the product and pick it up themselves.

Thirdly, the company and its leaders should be focused on selling goods, and not on attracting leaders.

In stable companies, 70% to 95% of purchases are made by customers, not by the distributors themselves.

Therefore, look at the training materials, the pages of TOP leaders on social networks, and study the company’s website. If, instead of information about a product and how to sell it, you see a luxurious life, “successful success,” information about how much you can earn, ways to attract and motivate leaders, then this is a reason to be wary.

Remember, stable companies are focused on selling products. If leaders attract only the same leaders who dream of making quick money, then the company may face difficulties in the near future.

• Product.

Careerists are better off choosing a physical product. As practice shows, online companies selling physical products operate much longer.

Of course, you should give preference to a product that interests you. If you are a man, then you are unlikely to be interested in working with cosmetics or skin creams.

However, it is best to choose a consumable item. That is, products that people buy again and again. These can be dietary supplements, vitamins, toothpaste, creams, shampoos.

Thanks to this, your customers will become regular customers. By purchasing products every month, they will bring you a stable income.

And of course, the company’s products must be competitive. That is, it must have good quality at an affordable price.

If a similar product can be found in a supermarket for 2-3 times cheaper, then it will be very difficult for you to sell it.

• Compensation plan.

Companies use various bonuses to reward distributors. Therefore, you should carefully review the compensation plan to see if it is suitable for generating passive income.

Many companies rely on a variable bonus. That is, the greater the difference between your rank and the rank of your partners, the greater the percentage of their turnover you will receive.

If your partners catch up or surpass you in rank, then you will stop making a profit from their turnover.

Companies pay a lot of attention to this bonus so that leaders constantly compete, do not relax and are never able to receive stable passive income.

A Carterist should look for companies that give a good, fixed commission. This reward does not depend on the rank of your partners. If you have signed a distributor into your structure, you will always receive a reward from his turnover.

I'm not saying that a company's compensation plan shouldn't have a variable bonus at all. Just make sure that the plan is balanced and allows you to achieve passive income in the future.

Choosing a company for a surfer.

A surfer should not rely on the reliability of the company. On the contrary, he should strive to get into a new company at a stage of rapid growth.

The surfer's goal is to take a chance and get in as early as possible. So he has a high chance of quickly becoming a TOP leader and collecting all the cream.

The only time a surfer joins a stable company is when it just enters the market in his country.

When a new company or a new product is just entering the market, it is much easier to sign distributors into your structure than when the entire market has already been burned out.

You need to try to choose a unique trendy product. It doesn't matter if it's physical or not.

Surfers often choose various clip-currency and investment companies, crowdinvesting funds, ISOs and HYIPs. Because they allow you to quickly earn a lot of money.

If you want to start making money quickly, you don’t have to sell goods and build stable structures. You can focus only on attracting leaders.

Promise them quick results, show the income of the company's TOP leaders, motivate them to invite similar leaders - this tactic works well over a short distance (which is what the surfer is set up for).

Distributor income structure

A network business offers the entrepreneur-seller several sources of income.

Difference between product prices

Products are sold to distributors at a discount: for example, at Avon it reaches 30%, and at Mary Kay it reaches 45%. However, the seller sells the batch at a price not lower than the retail price indicated in the catalog and on the official website of the MLM company. This point is stipulated, for example, in the Faberlic rules.

Percentage of sales of your structure

An independent entrepreneur forms a network of consultants and receives a percentage of their sales. The larger the team, the higher and more stable his earnings. In some network companies, entire hierarchical pyramids are built. Thus, Amway distributors, depending on the number of attracted distributors, personal and group turnover, are classified into levels: “silver”, “gold”, “diamond”, etc.

Bonuses from the company

Since constant turnover is a guarantee of the survival of a network business, incentive systems are popular in companies. The organization can reduce the purchase price for a distributor who demonstrates high performance, or offer gifts: a car, a trip abroad, etc.

Who should be invited to MLM and how?

Let's first figure out what you will receive rewards for.

By and large, there are 2 types of bonuses in network companies:

1. Direct bonus - from personal turnover.

This is a fixed percentage that you will receive if you sell the item in person. That is, this bonus is awarded if you attract a new client (buyer) to the company.

In other words, a direct bonus is a commission to reward salespeople. To earn money with this bonus, a person must buy a product by following your link, through your ID, personally from you, or by registering under you in the company.

2. Bonus from depth - from the turnover of your structure.

In this case, you will receive a reward if the product is sold not by you, but by one of your partners.

For example:

If your first line partner sells a product, you will earn a bonus from the second level.

If the same partner invites his partner and he makes a sale, then you will receive a third level bonus. And so on in depth.

In addition to the fixed bonus from line 2 and below, you can earn bonuses for turnover of the structure and achieving new ranks.

Now that you understand the principle of making money in MLM, let's look at who you should invite to the company in order to count on commissions.

In total, you can attract 3 types of people:

Clients (buyers, consumers of products).

These are people who are primarily interested in the company's products. Their goal is to buy a product and benefit from its use.

If we draw an analogy with a traditional business, then this is the same as customers in a regular store.

As I said before, customers are the foundation of every sustainable company. It is on them that any network business (and not only network business) rests.

Therefore, the higher quality, useful and competitive your products are, the easier it will be to attract buyers.

And if your product is consumable, then you will get loyal customers who will come back to buy again and again, providing you with turnover.

Therefore, the biggest mistake you can make is trying to turn customers into distributors.

The buyer must remain a buyer for as long as possible. At the same time, it is best if he does not know at all that he is using a product of a network company.

Few people like it when they make money on it.

How to attract clients?

By and large, you should act as if you had opened an online store or retail outlet.

I have a detailed article on my blog in which I tell you how to attract clients to an MLM business.

I’ll say right away that if you work in a network business, then personal selling is not the best way to make money. This type of marketing allows you to delegate sales to your partners. This means you need to use it.

But in order for your partners to successfully sell the company’s products instead of you, someone must teach them how to do this. Most likely it will be you.

Therefore, before you start building your structure in depth, you must learn how to attract clients yourself. This way you can pass on this experience to your partners and completely eliminate sales from your activities.

To do this you need to study my article:

Article: How to sell goods in MLM: 11 best ways to sell products of network companies!

Sellers.

These are the people who will sell the company's products. They know how and love to sell.

Salespeople do the most important work for a company. They are the equivalent of the sales team in a traditional business.

If you attract such people to the first line and teach them how to sell products, then you will not need to sell the product yourself.

At the same time, sellers may not be interested in the product itself and its properties. They may never use it at all.

They are motivated in their work only by the commissions they receive from each sale.

How to attract sellers?

It is not enough to simply invite a person who knows how and loves to sell. It is also necessary to give him effective tools that will help him sell this product.

Either you or your superior partner should be involved in training.

As I already said, such people come to the company not because of the properties of the product and not because of its usefulness, but only for the sake of money.

In most cases, salespeople treat their activities as if they were regular jobs. They make sales and get money for it - a simple and understandable scheme.

Therefore, to attract customers and sellers you need to use different approaches.

There is an article on my blog that will help you start effectively attracting sellers to your structure.

Article: How to invite partners to a network business: 8 effective steps!

Leaders.

These are the people who will invite salespeople and other leaders into your structure. Thanks to them, your structure will grow deeper and completely passive.

If you invite only clients and sellers, you will only be able to receive rewards from levels 1 and 2. In this case, you will not be able to experience all the benefits of multi-level marketing.

Without leaders, you will not be able to receive rewards from deeper levels, receive a decent bonus from the turnover of the structure and reach high ranks.

Leaders must motivate and manage their structure. In traditional business, their role is played by managers and heads of sales departments.

How to invite leaders?

Leaders, like salespeople, may not be interested in the product. Their main motivation is money.

At the same time, in order to become successful leaders, such people must have ambitions and a desire to achieve career growth.

The number of leaders in your structure should depend on your goals.

If you are a careerist, then there should be significantly more clients in your structure than leaders.

But the situation when a networker attracts only potential leaders is quite typical for surfers.

If you want to learn how to invite leaders, then read my detailed article.

In general, the division of people into clients, sellers and leaders is not so strict. The same person can both sell products and attract new networkers to the company.

There is an opinion that in the MLM business every networker goes through the following evolution:

• First he sells the products himself
• Then he attracts sellers and delegates his sales to them
• And only then does he become a leader and begin to attract other leaders

This sequence is acceptable for a careerist.

The main thing is not to stay too long at the first stage. It is needed only so that you can train your partners in the future.

Move away from the product as quickly as possible and start focusing on attracting active networkers: sellers and leaders. This is the only way you can earn serious money in MLM.

Types of MLM marketing.

There are the following types of network marketing:

1. Matrix. In this case, only a certain number of agents can participate in the scheme. The most common matrices are 2x2, 3x3, 5x5, 3x7 and 5x7. The first figure is the number of sellers in the first line, and the second duplicates the first generation. Once one matrix is ​​filled, it is time to open the next one;
2. Stepped. One of the most popular types of MLM marketing, which involves recruiting distributors in order to expand the direction of the network. The income of agents in this case depends on how well the product sells within the network. The seller has the opportunity to separate from the rest of the group along with established clients, but only in case of certain achievements;
3. Mixed. Combines different types of network marketing;
4. Binary. For a beginner, this particular scheme is the most acceptable and attractive. In this case, there are two branches on one line. The distributor has the opportunity to invite 2 more agents. Regarding income, it can be distributed equally or in different shares as agreed by the parties;
5. Linear. This type of MLM implies equal rights for distributors. Regardless of who sells the product, it will have the same price for everyone. The lines that will be created by distributors will generate income, which will gradually lead the agent to a permanent income.

Old methods of working in MLM versus new ones.

With the development of technology, everything around us changes. And business is one of the first to respond to these changes.

Nowadays, all successful companies use the Internet to promote their products and promote their brand.

No one is surprised anymore if a company operates entirely online. That is, it does not have offices, branches or stores. Such companies interact with customers only online or by phone.

Unlike traditional businesses, which have already adapted to new circumstances, many networkers seem to still be living in the 90s. They continue to use methods that were popular 10-20 years ago.

Many modern leaders still teach their partners to call friends, post job advertisements, make cold contacts on the street, etc.

Of course, if you like these methods and they bring results, then you can continue to use them.

But, if you want to use your time more fruitfully and get a higher return on your work, then it is better to take a more modern approach.

I suggest using content marketing and other effective online tools to work in an MLM business. In my opinion, these modern methods are much more effective.

What is content marketing?

The principle of this type of marketing is as follows:

You need to create useful content (videos, articles, posts, podcasts) that helps solve problems for your target audience. In most cases, such content should answer questions from the audience.

Why is this so effective?

First, by creating content, you gain a lot of knowledge on the topic. That is, the more actively you create useful content, the more expertise you will acquire.

So content marketing can be considered as free education for you personally.

Secondly, by helping to solve the problems of readers/viewers, you will earn their trust.

This is quite natural: if you helped a person for free, he will feel gratitude, begin to trust you more and even feel obligated to you.

In addition, if you train a person, he will begin to consider you an expert in this field.

Thirdly, it's absolutely free.

Creating a channel on YouTube, an account on VK or Instagram and a blog on Yandex Zen will not cost you a penny. You can also add posts, videos or articles completely free of charge.

Article: Attracting referrals to highly profitable projects: 3 best ways for beginners!

Thus, content marketing is one of the best ways to gather a team of like-minded people around you who will trust you and consider you an expert.

And, of course, it won’t be difficult for you to sign members of this team into your structure.

Other benefits of working online.

The first is the opportunity to work with a specific audience.

For example, if you engage in cold contacts offline or call friends, then you are acting at random. You don’t know whether a person is interested in your offer or whether he is even considering new earning opportunities.

That is, you will need to make dozens or even hundreds of empty contacts to find one person who is truly interested in your offer.

On the Internet, you can easily find target people. That is, those who are interested in network business, are looking for new earning opportunities, or want to get advice on working with a specific MLM company.

This way, you will receive fewer rejections and will be able to work much more efficiently.

Read my article about how to work with an audience correctly.

Article: How to attract partners to a network business via the Internet: 7 effective steps!

The second is the ability to automate most processes.

You do not need to make a company presentation for each partner separately. You can record it and post it on YouTube or host a webinar.

You don't have to answer the same questions, you can write an article answering frequently asked questions.

Even these simple tips will help you save a huge amount of time.

But, this is just the beginning. You can automate almost any process: recruiting, training, partner motivation.

Read more about how to automate work in MLM in my article.

Article: Network business automation: how to earn passive income using MLM funnels?

Key Findings

Treat your MLM business like a business, not a hobby. This is not a get rich quick scheme. Like any other business, it requires you to build your customer base and make money from sales.

Any business is a transaction. There are sales - there is money. No sales - no money.

Getting started with MLM is relatively simple. You sign a contract, buy a package, and then start selling. Whether your business will be successful depends on your finances, passion and company reputation.

How to work with structure?

To become a successful networker, you must not only attract new partners to an MLM company, but also actively work with your structure.

What does effective work with your team consist of?

1. Training.

Even if you are just attracting customers and selling the company's products, you still need to do training. In this case, you must tell customers how to use the product correctly.

After all, the better results they get, the higher the likelihood that they will become regular customers and buy more products.

But the most important task is training leaders and salespeople.

Of course, you can train them personally by meeting or calling each of them. But, obviously, this approach is far from the most rational.

Therefore, I recommend using automation to train your partners.

Prepare training materials in advance: videos and articles. Now you can simply give a link to these materials to your partners so that they can study them at a time convenient for them.

All you have to do is check how well they have understood the information and answer their questions.

2. Motivation.

Any networker faces a lot of difficulties at the beginning of his journey. Due to these difficulties, he may lose self-confidence, become demotivated, and eventually give up.

This is why it is so important to keep your team motivated at a high level. At the same time, special attention should be paid to beginners.

First, I recommend reaching out to newbie networkers more often. Call or text them at least once a week.

Set tasks for them, praise them, correct their actions, discuss plans.

Secondly, all your partners must be subscribed to your mailing list. This could be a Telegram channel, messenger newsletter, email newsletter or group on social networks.

One of the goals of this newsletter is to constantly motivate your team. Therefore, some of the messages you send to your subscribers should be motivational.

As practice shows, cases of real people motivate best. Therefore, do not forget to share your results and the results of your partners in your newsletter. Show how much you earned, how many partners you attracted, what rank you reached.

For beginners, cases of the same beginners work great. So ask new partners to share their results with you and brag about these achievements with other team members.

3. Help.

Of course, as a leader, you must take care of your partners. But as your team grows, you simply won’t have enough time even just to help newcomers.

Therefore, I recommend creating a community where your partners can communicate with each other. It is best to use Telegram chat for this purpose.

In this chat, your partners will be able to communicate and help each other.

How to choose the right network company

Now I am collaborating with one successful and promising Russian network company, which entered the world market in just 2 years. The Greenway company produces a unique eco-product that is not found anywhere else on the market and you will not find analogues. This company is gaining powerful momentum and now is the time to enter it to build a successful business.

In more detail about how to choose the right network company and not make a mistake in your choice, I wrote a separate article, which you can read at this link.

If you want to join my team, then go leave your details here and I will contact you immediately and we will analyze a step-by-step action plan for achieving the first goal in the company.

If you also want to earn money and have decided to develop a business with the Greenway company, I invite you to join my team, where I will teach you how to effectively recruit partners on the Internet.

By joining my team, you will receive:

• Ready-made tools for recruiting on social networks
• My paid course on creating your own blog
• Ready-made free website for automatic recruiting with email notifications about new partners
• Ready-made step-by-step training to achieve results in a closed VKontakte group ONLY for MY partners
• Ready-made sales funnel + ready-made subscription page
• There are a lot of useful checklists, instructions, books - which solve many problems for beginners and not only
• Ready-made scripts for communicating with potential business candidates on social networks
• Ready-made scripts for communicating with warm and cold circles
• A lot of closed materials from company shareholders on creating large teams

Leave a request to join my team here using the link below and I will contact you shortly.

Submit a request to join my team

This concludes my article on network marketing. I hope this information was useful to you, as I tried to tell you the most important things without unnecessary words and attributes.

Stay with me and be sure to subscribe to my blog updates here and I promise to post very useful content for you on this blog and inform you about every new article release.

PS DON'T FORGET to download my free pdf bonus 5 remote professions of the future, where I talk about those remote professions that will be very relevant in our future and that will generate the highest income.

Thank you for your attention!

I wish you good luck and see you in my next articles!

With love, Vera Angel

How do I earn money myself?

It is obvious that the vast majority of beginning networkers are careerists. That is, they dream of building a career in one company and eventually earning passive income.

I perfectly understand this desire: to work at the beginning, and then enjoy financial freedom. But at the same time, I have the opposite view of MLM.

I consider myself a surfer. And there are several reasons for this.

Firstly, surfers' earnings are higher. Just look at the checks of networkers who run from company to company and collect the cream:

• Example 1: Income of more than $600,000 in the first 100 days of working on the project.

Example 2: Income of more than $28,000 in one calendar month.

Secondly , a surfer achieves high results much faster than a careerist. In the images above, we could see what kind of income networkers receive in the first months of their work.

Thirdly, the surfer will earn more over the long haul.

If you use the advice I give in my articles, you will be able to gather a team of the same surfers around you. Now you won’t have to start from scratch in every new project, because your whole team will start with you.

Thanks to this, you can easily collect the cream and get decent checks literally from the very first days.

Article: How much do I earn from MLM projects? Where should you start?

Is it worth working in MLM today - my opinion

MLM was very popular in Russia in the early 2000s. At that time, this form of business looked like some kind of novelty, people needed money, the dollar and euro exchange rates were much lower against the ruble than they are now.

Today the situation has changed. Working in network marketing has become more difficult because many people know how it works. You can often come across phrases like “Sell me not at the list price, but at a discount” - if the distributor agrees to this, he is left with no profit at all.

Many men and women associate MLM with “distributing catalogues”; it seems like something too complicated and unreliable. Maybe they are right in some ways.

It often happens that potential distributors “already work” in such and such a place or “already worked” and don’t want to anymore. It is difficult to captivate them with the benefits of MLM and make them believe in its prospects.

Exchange rates, sanctions and quarantine also leave their mark.

This, again, is my personal opinion. In principle, there are no easy ways to money; there are problems and difficulties everywhere.

It’s up to you, if you want to try yourself in network marketing, try it.

FAQ:

What is the difference between an MLM company and a financial pyramid?

I will say right away that I have no negative attitude towards financial pyramids. In my opinion, this is just another tool with which you can make money (if you know how to do it). Well, or lose everything if you make stupid mistakes.

Of course, the pyramids only attract surfers and are completely unsuitable for careerists.

The difference between the two lies in the product and sales. It can often be almost elusive to a beginner.

A legal network company promotes a product, engages in sales and pays rewards to partners only for selling the product.

Therefore, first of all, look at the project’s affiliate program. If bonuses are tied to the sales volume of a real product, then most likely this is a legitimate company.

In financial pyramids there is no product at all, or it is invented only for show.

If a company offers investment plans in which we can invest money and receive dividends, then most likely this is a pyramid scheme.

If remuneration to partners is paid for attracting investments or inviting partners (without connection to the sale of a product), then you need to be wary - this is a sign of a pyramid.

Is every MLM business a fraudulent pyramid scheme?

I understand the logic of people who think this way:

A financial pyramid is a scam. This means that any other organization that has a pyramidal structure is also a fraud.

Quite logical.

But in fact, in our World, a huge number of organizations have a pyramidal structure.

Let's take, for example, any company. At the top of the structure is the CEO, below him are managers, and at the very bottom are ordinary employees.

A school or university has the same structure. At the very top of the structure is the rector, below him are the deans, then the teachers and at the very bottom the students.

So, most of the structures surrounding us are built on the principle of a pyramid. Including the states themselves.

Therefore, a pyramidal structure is quite normal. There is no need to be afraid of them.

How is MLM different from a financial pyramid?

Banal financial pyramids are often disguised as “honest” MLM projects. And if in the first option it is difficult to earn at least something, but possible, then the second is a guaranteed loss of money.

How to distinguish MLM from MMM? Below are the visual signs of a classic financial pyramid:

1. Investors are promised high guaranteed returns. Moreover, the advertisement explains this by the fact that the company has opened new super-profitable types of investment (“the best way to make money”, “the product sells itself”)
2. The company does not have a license. Or they explain to investors that a license is not required for this type of activity
3. Investors are aggressively “driven” - they are rushed to invest money as soon as possible, without hesitation. At the same time, the advertisement does not even mention the possible risks.
4. The agreement is drawn up in such a way that in case of bankruptcy of the company, not a penny is paid to investors
5. There is no publicly available information about the company’s management and its details
6. Investors must pay a registration fee, and the amount of potential profit depends on the number of personally referred clients