Certain leaders don’t want to bring attention to the things that are blatantly wrong with the network marketing industry…but from my perspective, these issues MUST be addressed, and corrected.

This Will Be Controversial

So I’m just going to lay it out.  Again, this may be controversial.  Disagreeing with me is okay.  Agree with me is okay.  You may even stop reading this article, and that’s okay.

As you will discover, I like network marketing.  In fact, I highly recommend network marketing as a great way to earn a good full-time income. I just don’t like what is happening to the industry today, when there are so many ways for it to work.

I have a different take on the industry than the “orthodox,” old-school leaders.  The old school way of growing your business is not wrong, it just does not work!

The controversy is that the old school producers have built a successful business the old way.  Now they are teaching the new recruits this form of network marketing to a new generation of business builders.

Now, I’m not saying that I’m right and everyone else is wrong…you’ll have to decide that for yourself, and what works best for you.

But, I’m going to tell you exactly what I believe is wrong, and what we can do about it.  Again agree or don’t.  This is my perspective.

What’s WRONG With Network Marketing Today

To kick the topic off…I like network marketing!  I really do.  I have been involved with the industry for many year.  My wife and I have had some success and some failures.  We have made money, and we have loss money.  We have made life long friends, and we have lost some-so-called-friends.

Do I recommend network marketing as a great business for anyone willing to work the business?  YES!

Network Marketing is not for everyone !

However, as the title says, there are some thing wrong with network marketing.  The business model is not for everyone, and that is the root of the business issues.

Anyone in network marketing knows that the model is to recruit ANYONE.  Anyone who can walk, talk, breath, and has a pulse.  WRONG.

As I said, Network Marketing Is Not For Everyone…Period.

With that being said, I wrote an article on 7 Reasons Why We Fail and How To Get Better At Network Marketing

So what happens, too frequently is that we sponsor a person who is not a good fit.  Within a few weeks or months, they quit for some reason.  Now instead of just quitting, they go on a rant on how network marketing is a scam.  How network marketing does not work.  Network marketing is a pyramid.  Don’t get involved in network marketing, you will only loose money.

So instead of working the business, they go on a rant on how it doesn’t work.  In the first place they probably were wrong for the business, they should not have been recruited.

Now is this everyone who joins and quits?  No.  Many just quit, and go about their business.  But there are exceptions.  And it’s these exceptions is what gives network marketing a bad name.

Network Marketing WORKS.  You just have to WORK NETWORK MARKETING.

• Don’t fall for the party line of recruit everyone.
• Don’t make a list of 100 people to show the business to.
• Don’t recruit anyone you are not comfortable working with, and
• Don’t recruit family and friends.

Train with them.  Practice with them.  Learn how to answer questions.  Learn how to respond to negative responses.  Again, practice with family, and friends.  This will be your biggest learning experience.

Again, the party-line is to recruit ANYONE, and EVERYONE.  While that’s not the biggest problem with network marketing, it ranks as one of top, What’s Wrong With Network Marketing Today.

Skill Base Training

The lack of skills-based training is the first thing, and the tops the question, what’s wrong with network marketing?

That, and the fact that the majority of network marketing company events are mainly hype.

Not all, of course, but a majority of company events are full of hype, and have very little skills-based training.

Most network marketing companies will parade top earners across the stage.  Present them with plaques, trophies, and checks.  The earners will tell how they did it.  They may even have a motivational speaker to excite the audience.  New products will be shown, outside get-together events such as golf or a spa will be part of the agenda.  The final event is a dinner, with company officials thanking you.  The whole weekend is ment to inspire, and motivate.

Some training may be involved but in my experience, the weekend is really ment to motivate.

This is a huge problem because this is a perfect opportunity to train the new people.  To show them how to to build a business with the latest techniques.  It’s an opportunity to take the new people aside, answer their question, offer suggestions, help them establish their new opportunity.

Now I do know of two business that do just that.  The first day is solely for the new people.  The whole day is training.  The trainer give them assignments, action items, and wants results the next morning.

That’s training for success.

By parading top earners across the stage is important, and I support that, it’s an opportunity to laying a lot of false expectations when new people are first brought into the industry, and all those false expectations make it seem like it’s going to be easier than it really is.

Company event is a huge opportunity to train the new recruit.  The next mistake, is not having a “Mingle” session with one-two-three-four top earners in a private setting.  Let the top earners do a small group “round table” with the new person.

Again, I do know of one company that does this.  The entire second day is devoted to the new person, and the top earners in a one-on-one training session.

Most network marketing companies don’t actually have any “systems” to teach people a real step-by-step process.  They have a company “style” training program.

This is a BIG problem.

The reason why network marketing is not taken seriously is because the leadership doesn’t train their people as if they are operating a real business.

For instance, you go to a marketing conference for chiropractors, and there’s going to be a lot of talk about the nuts-and-bolts of marketing, and sales — there’s actual skill-based training that’s being given.

But in network marketing, you’re just told…

“Bring more people. It’s going to be easy. It’s not selling, it’s sharing. Talk to everyone you know”

 

The Dumbing Down…Hype

It begins with all the hype, and it needs to change, because it gives this industry a bad name. The bottom line is people are not getting real business training, even though you tell them “it’s a real business.”

The company, and your up-line will show you hype.  Train you on the compensation plan, and the money you can make.  How great the products are (important).  Show you the structure of how network marketing works.  Your up-line will tell you to make a list, call the list, and will even volunteer to get on the phone call with you to recruit your new prospect.

Your up-line will “hype” the business, and you.  They will tell your prospect why they should become involved with you, and the company.  I have even heard of the up-line tell how they are driving a new Mercedes, how they travel the world, how they purchase a new home, did all this with paying cash.

Now while Hype plays an important role in signing up new recruits, is does have a down side.

Hype will last until the new recruit experiences their first NO!  Their first rejection.  Their first rude comment.

All they remember now is rejection.  They remember how the up-line told them to talk to everyone, and how they will jump at the business opportunity.

The hype is a false sense of security!

Learn the real part of building a business not the hype.

Is it easy?  NO!

But it was better than working 40 hours a week for the next 30 years at a job that could end at anytime with downsizing or economy that I can’t control. 

Side note:  My coach told me it will be a lot of work, and it was.  He didn’t try to hype the process.

It took time for me to fully master the skill sets that allowed me to build online.

However you build, you can learn skill sets that are far better, and more efficient than most of the stuff that’s out there right now.

Online or offline, you need the proper skills and training.

Recruitment

Another thing that’s wrong with network marketing is the emphasis on recruitment.

What’s wrong is essentially “recruitment only” based building.

Many companies focus solely on recruitment, and not enough on generating customers, and creating retail sales.

This turns ANY company into a thinly-veiled pyramid scheme, which is going to cause problems with the FTC.

FTC is cracking down on “recruitment only” companies.  I know you’ve seen the headlines of some companies under FTC investigations.

Do not get involved with any company that teaches recruitment only.

You want a network marketing company that has a product that people want and need.  A company that teaches the benefits of the product, and how to offer the products to customers.

Recruitment, and products are the package of a successful network marketing company.

Leaders That Stay For a While

I had the opportunity (not a pleasant one) to meet a top earner in network marketing.  I got involved with the company he was promoting, and he was the main focus on developing the business.

I Got Kicked Out

It wasn’t working.  He blamed the parent company, developers, and everybody who was contributing.  Every week all I heard was excuses.  I actually challenged him on his whining.  That’s when he “Kicked” me out.  I received hate comments from others in the business.

This individual is know in the industry.  He moves from one business to another always taking people with him.  He has made a sizable income, but it will catch up with him someday.

If you were to Google his name (I can’t tell you) you will find a lot of article on him.  How he scams people, lawsuits, not reputable, moody personally, etc.

By the way, the company he was involved with, and he was the main developer…failed.  And the people that followed him got screwed.  I saw through his whining while others did not.  While I did get some hateful comments, I didn’t loose any money.  Others who listened to his continuous blaming lost a lot of money with his scam.

Before you get involved in any network marketing company, interview your sponsor or your up-line.  Ask the hard question.  Review their comments.  Remember you are in control, not them.

I have always asked on “How many companies have you been involved with?”  I then listen carefully to their response.  Does it make a difference?  Not really, it’s just nice to know if they are a “moving leader” not a “staying leader.”

People misrepresent network marketing when they say it’s a business.

It’s NOT a business—it’s a profession.

Yup, it’s a profession, just like being a doctor or being a lawyer.

Simply getting your degree, and becoming a doctor or a lawyer doesn’t mean you have a “business.”  Listen to Erick Worre, and  Robert Kiyosaki as they describe network marketing as a profession.

Network marketing is not a business for the following reasons:

• First, you don’t actually own anything
• you don’t own your downline
• you don’t own your distributorship
• you don’t own the products
• you don’t own the marketing rules
• you don’t own the compensation plan
• you don’t own any of the marketing material
• All you own is your membership!

The company can take your business away from you at any point if you break company rules, or you decide to build on the Internet, and you violate your company rules.

Whatever the case, if you have all these restrictions, and rules, it’s not a true personal business (and there’s nothing wrong with that).

You are using the company to make money, and they are using you to allow the company to grow.

You CAN Create A Real Business With Brand Loyalty

Your Brand is your strength.  Your network marketing company, their products or their competition plan is not your brand.

People will join you because of You…not your company.  They will follow You…not your company.

Its your brand that people look for when they join.

You can convert your distributorship into a real business through building a brand that you control. Your network marketing business is just a part of your overall business strategy.

You can do this through building a personal presence online or offline.  Grow an email list where you have control over your communications with your team, and customers.  You can even create your own products.

That’s how you create a following, and build a brand.

That’s a real business.

And once you develop a following outside of your company, you have leverage.   Should anything happen to your network marketing company, you’ll still have your brand.

Now your reputation is based on the fact that people know, like, and trust you.

And your income is based on people’s loyalty to YOU, and not on their loyalty to a particular company.

That’s something you can control and leverage.

Network Marketing..The Bottom Line

Through out this article I have mentioned Network Marketing several times.  If your in Network Marketing, I already know your filmier with the industry.  If your new you may have a vague understanding about Network Marketing.  Here is want Wikipedia has defined as Network Marketing or Multi-Level Marketing.

There’s a lot Right with network marketing, and my criticism is in no way an attempt to “prosecute” the industry.

Bottom line—there is NO other industry, there’s no other profession, that allows you to start a business with little start-up money with the ability to earn a good income.

There’s nothing else that compares.

So the #1 thing that’s right is the ability to basically start in this industry, and have unlimited income potential for such a low startup cost.

This issue has more to do with hype, lack of skill training, and unrealistic expectations than anything else.

If I started as a lawyer—I’m going to need an initial investment to start, and if it doesn’t go well, then I will likely be out tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I didn’t talk about “risk” in terms of what’s wrong with the industry, because there’s so little risk compared to any other opportunity.

So, again, what’s right is the low cost of opportunity, and the high income potential.

It’s funny because there’s so little skills-based training.

And I think the industry tries to make up for it by being insanely good at helping people with personal development through helping them overcome their own personal demons so they can persevere and eventually figure this industry out.

I’ve gotten so much in personal development that I cannot say enough.

It’s one of the reasons I persevered so long in this industry.  I was willing to persevere due to the personal development training I received.

So personal development is definitely what’s right in this industry.

No other industry compares.

Finally, the beautiful thing is that even with all its warts, there’s nothing that can duplicate the potential of the success inherent in the opportunity of network marketing.

The truth is…

Network marketing saves people from mediocrity.

It allow them to think on their own…learn business strategies…work with other like minded people…leaders who have your best interest in mind.

Network Marketing Is A Gateway Into Entrepreneurship…

• It’s a gateway towards thinking differently…
• It’s a gateway to personal development…
• And it’s a gateway towards other opportunities that might otherwise not exist.
• Saving people from mediocrity, is the biggest reason why we should all support the profession, while, at the same time, being open, and critical about the things that are wrong, and can be improved.

So, to recap, what’s WRONG with network marketing…

1. The hype, and lack of skill-based training (which creates false expectations and makes it seem too easy)
2. Recruitment-only models, which are not sustainable
3. Believing that network marketing is a business, and not a profession
4. The pettiness, egos, and insecurities of a lot of top earners because they don’t operate like a real business owner

And again, here’s what’s RIGHT with network marketing…

1. Low costs, and high income potential
2. Ingrained personal development
3. Saving people from mediocrity

We’ve got to be able to look at what’s good, and bad, the wrong, and the right, and, most importantly, what’s going to work, and not work for you, and your business.

And on that note, if you’re ready to start learning actual business skill sets, such as how to develop an online brand, and create a loyal following…

Then I highly recommend signing up for a 10-Day Online Recruiting Bootcamp.

You’ll learn the exact online business building strategies used to passively generate 100–200 leads per day, 10–20 customers per day, and recruit 10–100 new serious business builders into your business each month.

So if you’re ready to get started…Simply click here and I’ll gladly give you access to a 10-day bootcamp.

And if you found this content helpful, take the next steps to creating a profession you can be proud of.

Thanks,