Tim Darnell

©2014 All Rights Reserved

Being a Representative for a product or service can be financially rewarding.  However, there are several Crucial Criteria a marketer/representative should consider when deciding which products, services and company to incorporate into their working life.  If you will heed the advice of life-long Marketing Professional, and seriously observe and apply the following concepts, you will dramatically increase your chances of winning big-time.  If you compromise in any one of these area, you will likely suffer negative repercussions.  The following are five pertinent areas to thoroughly evaluate when choosing “Which Company” you’re going to represent.

1. IS THE MARKET BUYING: This is ESSENTIAL for your success as a marketer.  Is there a genuine need for the product?  Does your product/service competitively fill that need? Is the market crowded with similar products?  Is the public already proactively buying your product, or will you have to “pull teeth” to find a sale?  Your product should be one that the masses “WANT” to have, ones to which they are genuinely attracted, and ones for which they are ready and willing to pay.  Ask yourself, “Is the public really buying this product or service, or am I being overly optimistic about the validity of this item?

2. FOUNDERS AND MANAGEMENT GENUINELY COMMITTED to NETWORK MARKETING: Amazingly, many companies are founded by individuals who have little to no experience in Network Marketing.  They see our sector as a get rich scheme.  Often, they have scored in another business venture, have investable capital, and incorrectly think their success in their former business will automatically translate to success in our industry.  Rarely is that true.  Find a company whose Founders have decades of N.M. experience and genuinely love and are committed to Network Marketing, AND are products of the products, while completely committed to the ideals their company offers and stands for.  For instance, I know of one health and nutrition company whose President is obese and smokes.  Really?  Run, don’t walk away from that kind of incongruence as quickly as you can.
3. FAIR & GENEROUS COMPENSATION PLAN: Having reviewed in microscopic detail hundreds of compensation structures over the last several decades, as well as having written my fair share of the same for companies producing millions of dollars in volume, I cannot tell you just how critical a given compensation plan is for a Rep’s success.  Most Representatives, especially ‘newbie’s,’ are unaware that comp plan differences are numerous.  A great compensation plan can actually complement and support your efforts.  On the other hand, a bad compensation plan can absolutely thwart your efforts, hard work and ability to succeed. A comp plan must work for all involved in the sales campaign – the company and all levels of Representatives in the field.  In order to be able to delineate good from bad, compensation plan detail is a subject in which you’ll want to develop expertise as quickly as possible.  Call me – 32 years of experience with compensation plans will provide insight that you would never even know exists.  Some comp plans are virtually impossible for you to profit by.  A miniscule number have plans with which you can make hundreds, thousands, and even millions of dollars for the rest of your life!

Also, find out if there exists a Board of Directors that has the power to change the compensation plan.  Honestly, most Boards, in my experience, are comprised of individuals who have had success in other fields and other, often non-related verticals; and, their primary interest is the company’s bottom line.  They don’t understand the negative implications for the field when comp plans are changed.  If they, at the drop of a hat, can change the comp plan, you could find yourself damaged or in an indefensible position even though it would not have been your fault.  In instances where I’ve worked for other companies that I have not owned, each time the comp plan is changed, I’ve lost ~40% of my Rep base.  So, be certain to discern with clarity who it is that has control over the compensation plan.  If it is some ‘detached’ Board of Directors, you may want to consider another product/service or a different scenario.

4. CONSUMABLE ITEMS: I simply shake my head at many of the so-called opportunities out there to which the masses are deliriously  flocking.  One company has a single product, and they’ve done millions of dollars as a company.  Impressive, right?  Certainly good for the company!  But one item will never, with almost no exceptions provide the group volume necessary to produce any kind of substantial overrides for Representatives in the field.  It is an impossibility, unless you’re selling door to door. Rather, search for a company that has a wide variety of products that are consumable and MUST be re-ordered on a regular basis because consumers GENUINELY love the products, WILLINGLY consume the products daily, and reorder the products on Auto-ship.  That formula means retention and residual income! Don’t get star-struck by a single wonder-product.  There are multiple companies that fall into this category – not good – stay away.

5. DUPLICATION: Can you build a team selling with/under you that pays substantial overrides in depth?  Does the pay plan pay on a certain number of levels, or does it taper off or even end after “X” number of levels.  Also, does the compensation plan create competition between you and your enrolled Representatives?  Stated differently, does the pay plan reward you for building width, or depth.  If the plan encourages width, then every person you personally enroll will be in competition with the other people you enroll.  You comp plan should rather, naturally encourage cooperation.  E.g.; If there is a question as to where a new Rep should be positioned, or where a piece of business should be placed, the plan should allow that volume to go under the lower Rep to benefit many Reps under you.

Bottom Line – Fine a LIFETIME HOME: The dream and hope that Network Marketing offers is the creation of lifetime, residual income.  What I personally look for is “Residual, Growing, Lifetime, Walkaway and Willable income”.  That is the unique and tremendous power of the Network Marketing concept.  Many factors can thwart that dream from becoming reality, but choice of companies is really key.  I will never even consider a start-up company, as attractive as it might look.  In the history of our industry, the odds of that company making it past five years are slim to none.  We’ve seen thousands of promising companies fall by the wayside and everybody suffers.  There are less than a handful of companies I would even consider working due to the fact that the majority simply don’t pass the first five criteria presented here.  There are fifteen other criteria that I stringently require that are just as important when evaluating to which company you can commit.

The good news is that you’ll eventually find a product or service that meets all of the above criteria, and at that point, your patience and testing will turn into a lucrative position as an Independent Representative!

Final Thoughts

In closing, learn to scrutinize first.  Don’t emotionally commit to “what” it is you’re going to represent until you’ve done significant due diligence that includes the points discussed in this article.  Don’t let due diligence steal your enthusiasm.  You can research, and all the while remain optimistic.  There awaits you ONE powerful campaign with which you can succeed and prosper for life!  Be patient.  Exercise scrutiny.  Choose wisely.  Your time is coming!

Tim Darnell

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