I often see people today pushing all kinds of products: a jungle juice, a CBD oil or a keto product. Even if the products are genuinely good, there are a few important things to think about before you decide to represent a brand.
The product is important, very important, but it isn't actually always the deciding factor. Before you fall head over heels for a weight loss product or a wrinkle removing product or whatever it may be, you want to know a bit more than just that the product is good if you're going to work with it.
Note: Read on before you dismiss that statement. Let me say that the product shares first place with four other pillars. Ken Dunn's book The Most Important Minute covers these in one chapter. I want to shine a light on it again, because it's more relevant now than ever.
Pillar 1: The presenter
If you don't trust the person who presented the business opportunity to you, your sponsor or upline, it's going to be hard to succeed. Is that person qualified to help you? You need to feel that this person can guide and support you all the way, from where you are now to your goal. If you don't have anyone, there are people further up the chain who can help you. Find someone to link arms with.
Pillar 2: The product
It matters. Not necessarily the list of ingredients, that depends on what you think is important, because you're the one who has to stand behind it. Now that we no longer listen to the TV news as a source of facts and information, but instead listen more to the people around us, our community, it's extra important to decide what you want to stand for. Art Jonak (founder of Mastermind Event) calls it Community Commerce or Community Based Marketing. Entrepreneurship, including in direct selling and network marketing, is about standing up for something you believe in.
Pillar 3: The company
How long has the company been around? Who's behind it? Does the company have debt? How many countries is it in? How is the company doing? Have you seen the annual accounts? Is it a public company so you have full insight into all the numbers, or is it privately owned and not necessarily sharing everything?
Is there an office in Sweden, or do you have to call the US to get help? How many languages does support speak? If the company hasn't opened in Sweden yet, far more will be required of you as a pioneer, even though that doesn't have to be an obstacle. Customs and shipping costs? Do you have to pay even more to get the product into Sweden, or is there a local company here?
Have they registered the products according to Swedish regulations? Otherwise, once the company gets big enough, it will have to start removing a lot of useful ingredients that aren't approved here, which means you'll have plenty of customers and distributors who no longer get the same results and quit. We don't have to look further than the CBD companies to make that point.
Pillar 4: The business model
To succeed in network marketing it's crucial to understand and believe in the business model, which historically has proven to be both sustainable and powerful for those who go at it professionally. Network marketing has its origins in the 1940s and grew quickly in the post war years. Today network marketing turns over more than 167 billion USD globally and involves over 100 million people around the world.
The strength of network marketing lies in the fact that the model rewards all activity that leads to results. Success can be reached by anyone who works with purpose, no matter when they join. The model creates value through relationships and cooperation, and it gives both flexibility and personal growth, which makes it attractive to those looking for a business model built on long term relationships and personal contact.
Until you believe in the business model you won't take action and do the work. You might try the products as a customer or a distributor, and you might even recommend people close to you to become customers because you've started to believe in the company, but you won't build a business until you have full belief in network marketing. The purpose of this blog is to strengthen your belief in the business model of network marketing and in our profession.
Pillar 5: Believe in yourself
This is about identity. Once you've developed your belief in the presenter, the product, the company and the business model, your belief that you're a person who can do this also grows. You bring a sponsor or upline along to your meetings and over time you master the first four pillars and can help your team in more and more of their meetings.
With these pillars in place you have a good foundation to build from. If you ask me, go for something that's unique, consumable and that the market genuinely wants. Saving money on bills, services, membership fees and discounts on platforms that sell things often turns out not to work in network marketing, especially if the rules require you and your network to wait for your compensation until the product or service has actually been used.
The future is exciting, but you want the authorities on your side, otherwise the rules of the game won't be much fun. Stay away from crypto, forex and anything that smells of a grey area. More about this in the next post...
