Here’s One From the Archives
How many times have you been introducing a friend or family member to Kangen Water when they ask one of the dreaded questions, “Is this Network Marketing?” or, “Is this a Multi-level?”
Sometimes you just want to crawl under a rock and hide when you hear it. Don’t. You need to make sure you understand your Enagic business and how to respond to such questions. First off, let’s define each.
According to Wikipedia, Multi-level marketing, also known as MLM, is defined as a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a down line of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation.
The definition of Network Marketing varies, but we like to define it as relationship marketing. This is a marketing strategy that compensates independent nonsalaried sales people referred to as distributors. (or associates, independent business owners, dealers, franchise owners, sales consultants, consultants, independent agents, etc.)
To an uneducated person, these definitions look very similar. Don’t be fooled. Networking Marketing has been in existence since the beginning of time. For instance, when you see a good movie, you tell your friends. The same is true when you see a bad one. If you have a bad experience at a restaurant, you will tell your friends not to eat there to save them the same experience you had. If you have a good experience with a particular automobile, you will very likely recommend it to your friends. Every company calculates this word-of-mouth, or Network Marketing, into their advertising budget. Why do you think Facebook has become so popular for companies to promote? They want their customers sharing their experiences with their products to future customers. Companies just aren’t compensating their customers for their networking activities.
As far as MLM, many experts have described it as the perfect business. MLM is a great way to take a product to market with the use of Networking. If a product lives up to its expectations, people will buy it month after month and a person can build a business of repeat customers and make a nice income. This sounds easy enough, right? Most MLM companies build their compensation plan around a $100 to $150 auto-ship per month purchase expectation. This means in order for the model to work, everyone in a down line will have to commit to purchasing month after month. If they don’t, they don’t get paid for their down line sales.
The problem is that according to the Direct Selling Association (DSA) the average distributor in an MLM only stays on an auto-ship program for 90 days. That’s the average. Some companies claim to have a much higher retention rate, so we’ll stick to the DSA numbers. After all, the DSA is a very prestigious organization. One page on their website reads, “The cornerstone of the Direct Selling Association’s commitment to ethical business practices and consumer service is its Code of Ethics. Every member company pledges to abide by the code’s standards and procedures as a condition of admission and continuing membership in DSA.”
There are literally 1000’s of MLM and Direct Sales companies in the world. Only the largest, most prestigious, companies who have withstood the test of time are a part of the DSA. They only accept into their membership those with the highest integrity and best reputations. Members must be nominated by existing members. Today there are only 203 members of the DSA. Enagic is of course one of the 203 members. You can’t just pay a membership fee and become a member. In the case of the DSA, Membership actually stands for something. Be sure to check out their website at www.dsa.org
This should put an end to any discussion on the internet where some of our so-called competitor’s say Enagic is not a reputable company. If these unfounded claims were true, the DSA would not have anything to do with Enagic. Be assured, as an Enagic distributor, you are working with a company with the highest level of integrity.
Enagic is a Direct Sales company, and not an MLM. The first commission check written when a machine is sold is to the distributor who makes a sale. If there are any of the 8 commission points remaining, the next distributor to get paid is the sponsor. This repeats itself until all 8 points have been paid. This method of paying commissions is totally different from an MLM. A typical MLM distributor gets paid on the smaller of the two sides of their organization, not their entire group volume. The exact method varies from company to company, but essentially their compensation plans are all very similar.
MLM’s stress balance. With Enagic, every time you make a personal sale, your commission on that direct sale depends on the total size of your group. A successful, active Enagic distributor can earn beyond the 8 commission points as their group continues to grow. Forget about earning $10 checks and $20 checks. Your first direct sale of a SD-501 will earn you $285. You earn $570 with your 3rd direct sale, $855 on your direct sales after your group reaches 10, $1140 on your direct sales after it reaches 20, and $1425 on direct sales after it grows to 50. After your group grows to 100, you will earn up to $1710 on each direct sale.
You can earn these same commissions for down line sales as well as long as you make a direct sale every 90 days, provided there are any remaining points to be paid. Please refer to the Enagic corporate website for further explanation of the compensation plan and the different commission amounts for the different machines. In this new audio CD Karl Roller does a great job explaining the compensation plan.
The next time you have a friend, family member, or prospect ask, “Is this Network Marketing?” or, “Is this an MLM?” you will have some better knowledge of how to answer their questions. To be successful, you need to understand the type of business you are in. We hope this edition of “Grow Your Business” has been helpful.
Be sure to take a look at our marketing tools to help you build your Enagic business. Our motto is Best Tools, Best Prices.
Thank you for your business and your support.
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