The 5 Pillars of Multilevel Marketing Critical For Your Success
Do you know what they are?

First, my background in direct selling(MLM)

Let me give you some background first on my direct selling adventure and exposure to "multi-level marketing" (MLM) before we get into what critical for the success of your venture.

It was way back in 1981 that I first became exposed to direct selling. It was a popular way of selling and making a living and the independence pulled me in. Quite a few companies used this model successfully at the time. Cutting out the middleman and giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to earn a good living as an independent distributor. I had never heard of MLM and most people I knew had no idea either how it worked.

I joined a direct selling cosmetics company - Reeva Beauty products. Named after the founder and CEO Reeva Foreman. A very intelligent woman, former model and educated with an honors degree in psychology. The perfect leader for a cosmetics company and trainer with her educational background.

I bought a starter kit consisting of 3 perfumes and a bath range and booked for my 5-day motivation training course which was expected of us if we were to develop into business leaders/distributors.

I attended the 5-day course and felt like I needed a holiday afterward it was so intensive.

It was the most tiring 5 days of my life till then and well worth it as I learned so much about business and meeting Reeva the founder made it so much more special. She was always around and visited her regional offices frequently. Most people got to know her when they joined the company. It was a happy company and I felt right at home.

With encouragement from my area manager, I became an assistant on the once a month motivational training course and learned a lot more each time I attended. If you think to work as an assistant on the course was easier it wasn't. I would make sure I had plenty of rest before it started as the hours were cruel from 9 am till 11 pm for 5 days in a row!!! This included lunch and tea breaks of course.

I sold perfumes and a bath range door to door (the accepted norm) and had them displayed in a briefcase with red velvet cloth so they looked outstanding and expensive to women when I flipped open my case. They were well priced and easy to sell because all women love perfume and bath products and these products were genuine and very good quality. This gave me confidence in the product and the company to sell them.

It was fun and I was having a lot of fun doing it too, besides meeting loads of women and making some good cash at the same time.

I progressed on my journey with the company by qualifying as a distributor with my own team of beauty consultants. We were paid 40 % commission on personal product sales and as a Distributor and we could earn a further overriding 10 % commission on another distributor and his/her team when one of our consultants either qualified or bought in as a distributor on my team. So there was a bigger incentive to recruit distributors.

This model worked well and there were no complaints from anyone about the MLM type business model.

I did not take to recruiting distributors as much as I enjoyed selling the perfumes and the bath range not to mention the business presentation I had to learn verbatim and delivered numerous times. This actually gave me the confidence to stand up in front of a group of people I did not know and talk to them.

The company ran a competition. A 7-day cruise in the Greek islands. We had targets to reach to qualify and I made my target in perfume sales to win. What a blast I was going on the trip.

In those days we took orders with an order book and personally did the deliveries when the customer wanted their product which was mostly the end of the month. That was sometimes quite hectic and remembering where the building was and finding parking nearby was quite a challenge. I visited almost all the buildings/ offices in my city selling perfumes to most of them.

The business model Reeva Beauty Products adopted came from one of the first MLM Company start-ups in California, USA back in 1964. Reeva attended the training of this successful company and applied the same formula to her company on her return to South Africa.

The USA Company was a very successful MLM company at the time with millions of dollars in turnover after a few years (very good for the time) and they sold cosmetics and home care products.

 Their success did not come without any controversy though as their business model was cited as an illegal "pyramid scheme " when the focus of their distributors changed to recruiting more and more people because more money was on offer and less and less product was getting sold.
The company continued until the untimely death of the director in a plane crash in 1974.

That is a little background of my experiences in MLM for the purpose of which will become more apparent later in this article.

Most people interested in MLM have no idea how to choose a company and know if it going to work for them or not. This results in changing companies quite often. We all know that 95 percent who enter MLM don’t make any money for various reasons and it is the 95 percent that I am addressing here. The world has come a long way with technology (the internet) over the past 20 years especially the way we communicate and do business but the mindset of everyone has remained the same when it comes to decision making and joining a business opportunity.

Today we don’t need order books, do deliveries, etc. Instead, orders are placed online and delivery is taken care of via couriers. You run your business from the back office in the comfort of your own home from your computer and this is a lifestyle sought by many.

It is my intention here to give you the essentials on what to look for in a company to make the best decision on which one to join. This leads me to  

The 5 Essential Pillars of  an MLM Company

The source of information for this article is available in a free downloadable e-book and I will leave the link at the end of the article. It’s compiled by an experienced Network marketer with 40 plus years in Network marketing (MLM). He joined over 100 companies to find out why some people succeed and others fail.

He found a sound company had 5 pillars.

Pillar 1. Company management with Integrity and Experience.

Check to see if the management built the company?

 If they have not built it, how can they manage it? they would have no clue of problems they have in the field. The company should have an income disclosure statement to show you what the average earnings of the full and part-time agents or distributors are.

This is your proof a part-time person can get a return for their efforts. Today some companies have more levels or ways of earning according to the number of income streams they offer. Some of them look like a Nassau scientist developed them so complicated they are.
 

Rewind back to my background in the beginning of this article. The owner, director Reeva Foreman was not only qualified to do the job, but she was also actively involved in the business and had done what we were trained to do.  So here I give the first pillar a big tick if I were evaluating that company. Income disclosure was simple to follow and good. As a director, she was very active in promotions and training and showed integrity and had the necessary experience.

Pillar 2. Timing in the Company/Industry  

Here we are talking about the right place at the right time? Timing for some products is important for your success and some products are timeless. What’s the point in getting involved in a company with a product that is not right for the times we live in?
It’s like selling cassette tapes today. Nobody uses them or a few do but there is no market for them. The market for them is gone. This might be a poor example but I’m sure you get my message.

Getting back to my background story. Cosmetics is a timeless ageless industry worth billions worldwide. You could sell tons of them today just like you could years ago. In fact, at the time I sold perfumes cosmetics was the second-highest consumer product worldwide. Food was first and it’s no different today. No woman walks out the front door without some form of makeup on. By the way, men are catching up too.
 

Pillar 3. Good Products  

They have to have remarkable products and they have to be value priced.

Research the products and check if they are well priced. Many health products in the network marketing industry in The USA come from the same manufacturers and pricing often differs from company to company and to the consumer. Be aware of this and do thorough research before you decide on the company. Propriety ingredients often distinguish one product from another but all are made by the same manufacturers.

To my background story. Reeva Beauty Products were very unique and natural. They were also priced right for the market and very popular and they sold and still selling today!

Pillar 4. Compensation Plan – It has to pay the part-time person!!.

Why?  Because 96 percent of your organization you going to build are going to be part-time people!!  Huh!

If the product/company can pay a part-time person you are going to build a very strong business and team. Your retention rate will be low and your income will skyrocket as they order products on a consistent basis.

Would you build an organization of 4,000 people paying 100 dollars a month and earn 10,000 dollars a month or would you prefer to earn 10,000 dollars per month with 400 people with the same 100 dollars?

Many of the affiliate/network marketing companies in operation today have some distributors/directors elite or whatever they called who have 1000’s of people in their team.

My question is. How does one person manage 1000’s of people in their team and help them with their business? Or are they simply working the numbers? In other words, recruit recruit recruit and forget about the ones no making it. I don’t have the answers to that but I have a good idea and sure you do too.

You need to have a coach, mentor and a proven duplicatable system to succeed period.

Returning to my background story. Our compensation plan was very simple and uncomplicated in those days. There were no such terms as matrix and 10 different income steams it was simple and clear and everyone understood it.

Pillar 5. A Proven Duplicatable System

You need to have a coach, mentor to train you and help you along the way. This is critical for your success. Network marketing companies should have this system in place for you. Your chances of succeeding are immeasurably improved.

If they start out with making a list of family and friends - Run… that’s not a system and does not work.

Remember, the network marketing business is a relationship-building business, and if you are promoting your offer online focus on building relationships first. This means no mention of what you are selling. Yes, nothing.

 Nurture your prospect to the point they trust and like you and this can take time so be patient. Only once they gain your trust and like you will the time be right to show them your offer. Any selling effort before this step you will surely fail. I can promise you this way you will build a small powerful producing team and will not need thousands of people.

Back to my background in direct selling.  We had a very simple system and easily duplicatable. It was straight forward and simple and easy to understand. I urge you to learn more to earn more. Download this free e-book it will help you enormously in your search for financial freedom and set you on a path you will never look back on.

I hope you enjoyed this article and feel free to comment.

Reference:  Part of this information is taken from a video of the 5 pillars of a successful MLM company and I urge you to read ‘10 Steps to Success’ full version written by Michael Dloughy, 40 years veteran in the network marketing industry. here is the ebook