Why network marketing has a less than perfect reputation.
Opportunity or evil conspiracy?
Talk to any entrepreneur or startup business owner and they will tell you – getting a business up and running is hard work and no walk-in-the-park affair. According to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. A whopping 80% crash and burn.
But this does not prevent entrepreneurs to keep a positive outlook and start anyway. No new business owner walks away from trying with a bad reputation. Nobody blames them for failing. Why then, is it that network marketing has such a bad reputation in the market?
Let me offer my opinion:
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
If at first you don’t succeed, then sky-diving might not be for you. The fact of the matter is just this – being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. The problem is that people get involved in this type of business with the idea that it will not be hard work, that it will always be pleasant and that money trees will sprout in their backyards. Why? Because joining a network marketing company looks glamorous. A yellow brick road to heaps of money!
Tapping into the glamour and glitz
You become part of a giant structure with all its business processes already in place. The company has a proven track record – their products work.
They have business plans, marketing plans, missions and visions presented in beautifully designed glossy brochures. This is called marketing and all respecting companies who need a ROI do it. It’s intention is not to mislead, its intention is to sell. It should be approached like any other marketing offering – with a bit of common sense.
Get a-flappin’
Treat a network marketing opportunity like you would treat your own startup and remember that good business practice does not fall away just because the mother company has all its ducks in a row. You are now part of the formation but it will take some serious wing-flapping to remain part of the flock that successfully migrates to warmer parts.
Fi, Fi, Fo, Fum…
Unfortunately, it is in our nature as human beings to always choose the path of least resistance. Becoming part of a network marketing structure does, however, offer something that starting up as a single entity does not. You are being backed by a giant! It can be a giant who will chase you up and down the bean-stalk or it can be a friendly giant – the choice is (as it always is) yours.
The power of a network
Why is it that Facebook has grown so incrementally since its inception in February 2004? In just 17 years, the few early adopters grew steadily and before Zuckerman knew what hit him, 1 billion people from all over the world were (and still are) using this popular network.
The Facebook story is one echoed by many other networking sites like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Pintrest. The internet has come to stay and with it, the ever popular network.
But even before the internet and all the networking sites we have come to know so well, people were networking. As human beings, we have the innate need to belong. Just look around you and this becomes evident. People with like interest flock together to form hiking groups, religious groups, social groups, hobby groups – the list is endless. Network marketing uses this age-old tendency of people to form networks as a vehicle to start your own business.
It does not matter which network marketing opportunity you choose, this basic fact is shared by all companies who follow the direct marketing approach to sell their products.
Les Brown – There is no secret to success, there is a system to success.
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