Before starting to write this article or post, I did some reasearch on some articles sites to figure out what questions people asked themselves before joining a network marketing company - whether the product be high, medium, or low end.

Some questions that came up from those articles makes sense to me and I wanted to share them here, followed by the two most two important questionsat the end.

1. Does my product have a SIGNIFICANT VALUE in the market place?

-Significant Value does not mean, people might need it or you think people will need it, significant value means that there is a PROVEN HIGH DEMAND for the problem your product is attempting to solve. I think anything in the fitness industry is of significant value because it relates to your health. Without good health, anything else that you try to do is just not the same. Wouldn't you agree?

2. Does my MLM product effectively answer that Need, NO QUESTIONS ASKED?

In other words, if you want to lose weight or want to show products from your company that show how to lose weight, does it answer that need?

3. Are there already a ton of competitors in your market?

Now, this is one industry that there aren't any lack of product in. To be honest, do people really know or care about the ORAC factor of a particular juice? They just want to know that this product works for so and so, and it might work for you as well. So, the competition is not really a factor as long as you have some strong testimonials.

-By ton, I don't mean 1 or 2, by ton I mean 100s upon thousands of globally recognized products that are already dominating your niche market. Products that people already Identify with & have a stronger marketing plan then you do.

4. Is this an effective Business Model that will pay me for SELLING this product or do I have to sell millions upon millions of these products before I get to my real goals?

This question made me think a bit. But in the end, I'm not sure you want to get into selling retail. I want to build a business and the cost of doing business with this particular company is to consume its products. This question should be be focused on the business aspect. However, I understand that people may think their particular product is great and want to share it. You should realize that by getting them in the business, they'll be consuming the product as well.

5. What do you think about the leadership? Do you trust them? Do they have real-world experience to back up their excitement? Do they stretch their facts/figures or do they tell the unvarnished truth? Is the organization financially stable?

I think learning about the leadership is important. Equally as important is the leadership of your upline. I'm a former Marine Officer, and the leadership that the Marines under your charge see most readily is yours. It's the same in a network marketing company. If you are not teaching the right way to to things, they'll teach the wrong way to their team members. The downline looks to the upline first and foremost before really looking to the executive team of the company.

6. What do you think of the compensation plan? Do you understand how to make money with the business? Are there any parts of the compensation plan that you are uncomfortable with?

Most people do not really understand the different ways they can make money from the business, either because their upline did not show them or because they did not take the time to find the answer. If you're going to build a team, you better be able to talk about what's going to affect their bottom line.

The two most important questions to me, aside from the ones above are:

1. Does the company provide free consumers?

This relates to you getting a certain number of distributors of your own and then your company providing consumers that just want to buy products one time or on autoship. Is that part of your companies structure? I can't say that I've seen any company, except one, provide that.

2. Does the company provide free business builders?

This particular question, just like the one above it, relates to the company giving you free distributors that you don't have to work for to get, to help you build your organization. There are no oraganizations, except one, that I know that do provide free distributors.

So, when people come to me about their opportunity, the first two questions I ask are the last two. Unless your company provide those two free components to helping me grow quickly, it's hard for me to even consider listening to what you have.

If you're interested in learning more about this company, which is in the health and fitness industry, go to my page, check out the video, and enter your details to learn more. [snip]

Thanks

Oh you are so right. Research is key before you jump into something.Thanks very helpful article it could help a lot of people.

This post is very informative, but I feel you left out the one most important aspect that one should consider before signing up to any network marketing business; are you passionate about the product/service you are about to provide? Yes, all the points you mentioned are important, but if the person joining has no true passion for what they are joining, only a logical sense of it, they will never achieve success. You have to get emotionally tied into what you are doing in order to have the drive to see it through.

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Interesting.

And network marketers wonder why they fail when they do their best to REMOVE the real leverage from their businesses!

Apart from the simple reality that it is ILLEGAL to just sponsor people in order to make money from their personal consumption of the products (it's the #1 test under most anti-pyramid selling laws, in almost every country, including every developed country), you have to recruit so many people that it chokes an otherwise efficient selling system.

Because that's what you and your organization are: the outsourced SALES department of your MLM company.

In winter, a smart farmer brings his cows into the barn to keep them producing milk. (Milk is what the cows give him to sell for a profit.)

As Tom "Big Al" Schreiter says, "if you want more milk, get more cows!"

But only an absolute FOOL of a farmer would bring his milking herd into the HOUSE!

The ONLY valid reason for sponsoring is to bring more CUSTOMERS into your business. Members of your downline team are NOT your customers! (Any personal purchases they make are a bonus — it's ILLEGAL for them to be your customer base.)

Time to put the leverage back into your business.

John

There are good reasons why all those companies don't supply free consumers and business builders. It's the same reason why companies regularly quit being MLM companies.

The REAL question you should be asking yourself is this:

“Why does this company need ME?”

Over the past 30 years I've seen company after company ask that same question and conclude that, in fact, they DON'T need distributors when the company does most of the customer acquisition for them.

Owners (including shareholders) are always wanting to maximize profits. If the network isn't doing what it's there for — finding new customers and leveraging that process through recruiting others to do the same — then why bother? Why keep paying out all that money every month?

It never ceases to amaze me how so many MLMers can't see the forest because of all those @#$%^&* trees!

Time to wake up and stop kidding yourself.

John

Think I'd have to respectfully disagree with you here, RNM, for the simple reason that the company to which Reggie referred does provide real customers (as opposed to unproductive leads) for their 'outsourced sales team' and it has been doing exactly that for 12 years.

However, you're not the first to say, "It can't be done." And it's not because you have no idea what you are talking about. It's obvious that you have incredible experience and insights into this industry. But rather it's because you are not intimately acquainted with the guts and workings of this particular company. If you'd like an insider look, then feel free to contact me. I know what makes it tick and as a result I have been able to help many others achieve a success they've never enjoyed before when they tried to build a home based business.

I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to think you'd need my help to make a business with this company a success, but I'd consider it a great privilege to share with you what I've learned during my 3 years with them. The model they have developed has made it possible for the average Joe to be successful... and let's face it... our business is based on average Joes. Perhaps we were once average Joes ourselves.

Having said that, I have to agree with your point... too many people think they can get something for nothing in network marketing and then wonder why they are not successful... and which leads to certain companies deciding that their affiliate program is simply not worth it.

Tula