Multi Level Marketing – A Problem of Structure or of People?

When it comes to multi level marketing, doubters always point to the structure of the business as the reason these programs are doomed to failure. First of all, the multi level marketing program lends itself to becoming pyramid schemes – in fact, many multi level marketing organizations are nothing more than exactly that. Others point to the fact that even legitimate business opportunities in multi level marketing are destined to go bust because the very nature of the set up causes the market to become saturated with more sellers than buyers. Since reps recruit new members from their circle of family and friends, suddenly everyone you know is selling, and there is no one left to buy. So who else can you marketing the multi level marketing opportunity to?

These all sound like logical arguments to approach multi level marketing with a great deal of skepticism and doubt. But the fact remains that some multi level marketing outfits are indeed profitable, thriving, legitimate businesses, so there seems to be some flaw to blaming the sky high failure rate of multi level marketing get ups on the structure alone. So, what else could be causing the problem? The real root of the issue here might be the people that tend to jump at these multi level opportunities.

To explore this issue, we have to leave aside the subject of multi level businesses that are outright scams. These will fail eventually, and people will lose financially and personally when they do. But taking the multi level marketing programs that have the potential to be successful – why such a rate of failure? Well, much of this comes down to the people that are lured into multi level marketing deals. People with a lot of business experience have a natural distrust of multi level marketing deal, even if at their base, the best multi level businesses are hardly different from a franchise. What that means is that there’s not a lot of business skills and know how flowing into multi level marketing deals. The reps that many of these programs end up with are wet behind the ears or worse. Many of them have a history of failing at business and a tendency to flit from one get rich quick scheme to the next. They simply may not have the knowledge to capitalize on the legitimate opportunities a multi level marketing scheme can offer.

What are some of the rookie mistakes these people tend to make? They often overestimate their own potential in the business, and in turn, they overestimate the value of the product when they are trying to sell to customers and the value of the opportunity when they are trying to recruit new reps. They often fail to figure out when is the time to try and make a sale and when is not (like their neighbor’s cookout). Further, they may simply not know how to sell, which is at the very crux of making it in multi level marketing, making their failure the only sure bet. If you’re considering joining a multi level marketing program, be honest about your abilities, so you don’t end up losing more money than you make. Be assured that legitimate business opportunities can be found in the multi level marketing industry.