Network Marketing Malaysia

Why join a direct selling company if you plan to start up your own business?

Starting up a business is never an easy task. Statistics has shown that 90% of small to medium businesses fail within the first 2 years of operation. Many individuals struggle as they turn from employees to being self-employed. Newly born entrepreneurs simply do not understand what it takes to make a business successful. Despite so, many dive into a business with the hope of making big money without proper planning. More often than not these group end up with a huge business debt and a ruined reputation.

According to international best seller Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad), a business is made up of 8 elements. When you are involved in a direct selling company, you put these 8 elements into practice. Applying these practices will build up the experience that is needed to start up and run your business successfully.  

How then can joining a direct selling company help in starting up and running your own business? Here we will show you how it can help by integrating Robert Kiyosaki’s business model:

1. Mission

An individual who wants to own a business must have a mission in life. The mission of a business owner drafts out the goals and objectives of his or her business. A direct selling company always emphasizes on their mission and their vision. Distributors are often encouraged to set their own targets so that they will be disciplined to achieve their goals in life.

2. Leadership

“Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people.” Brian Tracy. The purpose of leadership in businesses is to guide the many opinions of people within the organization to one direction so that they will head towards the business’ goals. If leadership skills are not present, distractions often occur which prevent businesses to be effective. In direct selling, all members are given leadership training either by their company or by their up line. Training is provided free or at a low cost as members are encouraged to recruit, develop and maintain its’ own down line.

3. Team

The top companies in the world become successful not because of luck, but because they employ the right people to do the right job. Not only do they do this right, they also chose the cream of the crop to work for them. In the direct selling business, new members may not have the chance to be parked under a good team. Nevertheless, they have the right to select a talented team for themselves whom they can build their business on. By being involved in network marketing, an individual is able to obtain skills to determine who he or she can work with. In the business world, having these team-working skills will prevent unhealthy politics to take place.       

4. Product

Product; be it a good or a service is the element that generates income for a business. Many small businesses fail because the owners sell what they desire but not what consumers desire. Insufficient research is done to determine if the product will sell in the market. A direct selling company usually does a thorough research on market demand before it launches its products. This simplifies distributors’ quantitative research and it increases opportunity for them to conduct qualitative research. In other words, distributors are aware that there is a demand and he or she is able to find out what consumers are looking for specifically. These first hand information obtained are useful for the business that they plan to start up in the future. However for this to be effective, a direct selling approach must be accompanied by questions to probe further on identifying prospects’ desires. 

5. Legal

Businesses that face legal lawsuits risk damaging its’ own reputation. A network marketer who understands the reason behind each direct selling company’s rules and regulations minimizes the risk of failure for his or her own future personal business. 

6. Systems

A business system is a structure which specifies the pathway of how it runs. It is a collection of steps that has to be carried out to ensure the long term growth of the business. When there is a system in place, work can be carried out productively. Being involved with a direct selling company offers members the opportunity to manage a ready built system. Upon understanding the system, entrepreneurs can then creatively modify and integrate the effectiveness of this strategic system to their new business model. 

7. Communications

Businesses communicate to the public via its marketing strategies, public relations and customer service personnel. For long term survival, it is vital for every business to build its own brand awareness early at the startup stage. The most cost effective method is to use the word-of-mouth strategy. Despite so, many direct selling companies move into advertising in the media to promote their products. Joining a network marketing company will enable you to identify and learn from the methods used by the company to engage the public’s involvement in the business or as loyal customers. The strategies used can then be innovatively duplicated to reach your future customers.      

8. Cash Flow

Businesses rely on cash flow for survival. When there is cash flow, businesses can start to plan for expansion. The way direct selling members manage their personal income and expenditures in most cases reflects the way they manage their future business’ cash flow. This is because in direct selling, distributors are not given a basic salary. Likewise majority of small business owners do not get any funding. These two groups of people have to initially rely on their savings to keep their business in operation. Thus a good indicator to find out if you will be successful in starting up and running your own small business successfully is if you are able to generate a consistent income from a direct selling business for at least 2 years.            

“Network Marketing” came from the word Multi-Level Marketing(MLM). The reason behind the change of word is because “MLM” alike the word“Insurance” has been hated by many over the years. Why then do people reject network marketing? The core reason is that many network marketing companies and its associates do not reveal the entire business concept, income structure and costs involved to interested individuals. Somehow, people are urged to make a decision hastily without having the chance to understand what it involves to be a network marketing distributor.

“People feel that MLM distributors mislead them into joining their MLM companies.”

As most of us are aware, many network marketing companies lure people to join by promising multiple streams of passive income. New members join with the perception that once they are a part of a network marketing group, they will be rich really fast. As soon as they are in, doubts begin to come in. Many will ask if they have made the right choice by quitting their current full time job to join a MLM company. Doubts start to rise when their expected income does not flow in or their untold expenses begin to increase. It is indeed easy for new comers to give up on network marketing but if it involves giving up on friendship, is it worth the risk?

“Working for a network marketing company does not give me a secure income.”

We have to understand that network marketing relies heavily on referrals and word of mouth to expand. With such a system, network marketing companies will not restrict any individual to represent the company in spreading the company’s great products and business opportunity. The problem arises when untrained or newly joined members use all kinds of methods or tactics to persuade others to join. Often due to desperation, the information portrayed tends to be incomplete or misleading.

“I was tricked into Network Marketing.”

Imagine if your friend invites you to a business opportunity talk and when asked what it is all about, he just said “come and you will  know.” Upon arriving, you then realize that it is a MLM business opportunity. Most individuals already have negative perception of MLM and you will definitely feel tricked to come to this meeting because you somehow feel that he or she was just not honest as it is not a proper business opportunity as you expected. Likewise if your friend asks you out for lunch and suddenly another person who knows your friend appears out of nowhere and started talking to you about his or her so called “business opportunity”. When this happens, most people will feel that there is a secret motive behind the lunch appointment and this motive is to make them spend more money on things they do not need.

 “Direct selling requires a person to hard sell through a secret agenda.”

 How then is it possible to break the resistance people have towards Network Marketing?

As mentioned in the introduction, the most effective way to get people to open up is just to be honest and sincere. As professional distributors, it is necessary for all to portray a good image. This can be done by following the below 5-Step Simple Rules to Effective Network Marketing: 

1. Always be honest and sincere in your answers when you are questioned by people about your network marketing business. This includes your income, your struggles, and your success story after using the product. If you are not sure of the answer, do not redirect the question, but give them the answer they need at a later date or time.

2. Never hide anything that involves money. Hidden charges will need to be disclosed. This includes membership registration fee, training fee, opening of business centers fee, costs of maintaining an active position that entitles distributors to their commissions, travel expenses, phone call expenses, and food and drink expenses when meeting potential business partners.

3. Avoid begging friends or relatives to join. If begging or being sympathetic is your tactic, do you welcome them to do the same to you if they are in financial need? If you use pity as a sales strategy, would prospects ever want to be a part of your pity team?

4. Do not impose fear in people to close a sale. Never use the word “touch wood”,“die”, or “disease” when you are referring to your prospect. Many people will take this as an insult. A very common phrase is “You never know when you’re going to die or have a disease.” The word “YOU” tells your prospects that they better buy your product or else they will die or have a disease!

5. Start your presentation to your prospects by pre-informing them that you are there to provide information about the product or the business and not to sell them anything. It is not necessary to close the deal on the spot because by doing it this way, you are indirectly asking them to get something they may not need. The trend now is for your prospects to ask you questions based on the information that you provide. Should they be interested in the product or business, they will be ones telling you without you having to ask them.