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Best Network Marketing CompaniesMy Top Six Picks
If you just want to make a few bucks to support purchasing products you want to buy for yourself, most of the direct selling companies out there can work for you, especially if you have a large 'warm market', i.e., lots of family and friends that enjoy your product and want to buy from you. But if you want to grow a home business that allows you to make real money from home, you need to be more particular about the opportunity you pick. That's where my Six Picks come in. I've scoured the marketplace, done the research, and over the next few weeks I will be rolling out my six top picks, starting with Winalite. 7 Tests to Qualify as a 'Pick"What qualifies to be included in my Best Network Marketing Companies? First Test: I consider the product and the medium and long-term prospects for success. I need to be excited about the product and enthusiastic about spending the money to buy it. I need to feel proud to promote it as something I use myself. I need to feel comfortable recommending it to my own family and friends and giving it as gifts – there’s no substitute for that passion. Believe me, if you don’t love the products, you’ll never have the enthusiasm you need to carry you over the rough spots when motivation wanes or you experience disappointment, and those challenges are going to be there – they happen to everybody. Choose an opportunity that matches your strengths and interests because that’s the combination that will be fundamental to the growth of your expertise, and your expertise and enthusiasm will be the catalyst that will draw customers and team recruits to you. Second Test: I check out the company’s reputation online. How? By doing a simple Google search, entering the company name +rip off , then company name +review, and see what I come up with. I also check out My3Cents.com. While you need to consider all the information you unearth during your research, bear in mind that some people will scream ‘scam’ just because they didn’t make money in the business. Personal failure doesn’t necessarily translate to the quality of the opportunity. Building a profitable business takes time, focus, and the right personality traits and skill set. I take the results with a grain of salt because I know that there can be thousands of satisfied consultant reps and customers for every one that’s unhappy, but my search gives me a feel for whether or not I want to do business with the company. My search will also turn up if there’s anything really serious going on (like a product recall because of safety issues or a looming bankruptcy). Third Test: Assuming the reputation search looks good, I check out their marketing policies. What I’m looking for – to make sure the company does not have compliance rules that limit the online marketing activities necessary to build my business. (Some companies won't even allow their consultants to have a personal website, even if they don't mention their business opportunity!) I figure, who wants to try to do business with a dinosaur, so any interest I might have had dries up then and there. Fourth Test: I check out their ordering system and customer service policies. For ordering policies, the very best situation is where the company does not sell direct to customers (customers must supply a consultant rep number in order to place an order). Next best is where the company will sell ‘direct to the customer’ but they supply you with an online ordering page where you can direct your customers, and you get credit for these sales. (This is called a ‘Replicated Website’ and there’s LOTS you need to know about this. I have a whole section on Replicated Websites coming up in Module 5.) If the company DOES NOT offer online shopping, I’m not interested because I’m not up for spending the time and money to set up a shopping cart on my site. For customer service policies, I’m most interested in refund and return policies. Is there a liberal refund policy? Customers will be more confident to try a product if they know it can be easily returned for a refund. And finally, I make sure the company will ship direct to the customer – I don’t want to have to handle the merchandise (and I recommend you don’t either, unless you’ve always dreamed of working in a warehouse.) Fifth Test: I look for products that have not yet achieved high public recognition and household name acceptance – once they’ve reached that stage there may be so many distributors in the field that the competition may become a block to success. I run a search on Google to see how many results pop up. If there’s just a few.....bingo! But even if there’s more than a page or two, it’s not necessarily a problem – I run a check on Market Samurai to determine the quality of the competition (more on Market Samurai in Module 8).Another consideration – if it’s a fairly new company, I’m on the alert for organizational hiccups. I order a product online to check out the system. I check out the shipping charges. I watch to see how promptly they ship. When the product arrives, I contact the company with some kind of a product quality concern to see how the customer service responds, If there are red flags, I’ll table it for a year, then check back to compare the experience. The company must be sufficiently established to offer stability without having reached saturation (there's still room to grow). It needs to have a solid track record and upward trending over the previous six months, outperforming most, if not all, any competitors offering similar products. How do I determine that? This information is available at http://www.mlmrankings.com/ Sixth Test: They should do business in both the USA and Canada. (I've made a couple of exceptions, but only where a US company has plans to expand to Canada.) And absolutely, there can be NO territory restrictions that limit where you can do business, otherwise what’s the point of developing an online business. Seventh Test: And last (putting this last will probably surprise you) – The compensation plan must be attractive and competitive. Why is this my last test? Because I’m confident that any company that’s good enough to pass Tests 1 through 4 will have a competitive commission structure. Let’s face it – any company that is viable will be sure to provide a compensation plan that’s attractive enough to attract and keep consultant reps. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study it and make sure you understand it – there’s nothing more disheartening than expecting a plump pay check only to find your sales didn’t qualify due to some technicality you missed.
As I roll out my recommended 'best network marketing companies', I will teach you how start your business on the right track and to take it to the next level online. You'll learn how to maximize the potential of selling to your warm market (for example, tips on holding home parties for friends and families) plus how to harness the limitless potential of growing your business online.
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