| Watching the network marketing industry over the | | | | movement. The government has finally admitted that |
| past couple of years has been like watching the | | | | maybe global warming is bad and saving the |
| annual migration of Swifts in my home town, | | | | environment is good. Closer to home, more parents |
| Portland. They cower in a dark chimney, while certain | | | | are coming to the conclusion that spreading toxic |
| predators hang out, enjoying a nice meal every | | | | chemicals around their homes can't be good for their |
| evening. | | | | kids. |
| Allow me to explain. | | | | So when one of my clients wanted me to help with |
| Each fall, a tiny bird called the Swift begins to gather | | | | his marketing of a new company that sells green |
| just before dusk. At first you see a few in the late | | | | cleaning products, my ears perked up. I thought, "My |
| afternoon sky. Slowly, they arrive from God knows | | | | goodness. A network marketing company that sells a |
| where, until there are thousands swarming above. | | | | real, live useful product." |
| Within minutes of the sun setting below the west | | | | What intrigues me most about this business is that |
| hills, the Swifts begin to form a massive funnel, | | | | they're attempting something no other network |
| swooping in great masses into a 100+ year old | | | | marketing company (to my knowledge) has done |
| chimney. They continue swarming, swooping, and | | | | before: it's as much about the vision of ridding the |
| diving until the last Swift is safely inside the chimney | | | | planet of toxic chemicals as it is about financial |
| for the evening. | | | | freedom. |
| Meanwhile, one or two steady-eyed predators sit at | | | | Doing Good... Or Making Money? |
| the lip of the chimney, plucking a nice fat meal from | | | | In the past, people have joined a network marketing |
| the swarming masses every few minutes. | | | | company either because they took the product and |
| To my outsider's eye, many of the network | | | | received some significant benefit, or they're in it for |
| marketers I have known are like those Swifts. Most | | | | the money. My suspicion based on my years of |
| probably don't know why they swarm or sleep in a | | | | study of human psychology is that money is the |
| dank chimney, but they feel the comfort of the | | | | driving force, and that they justify their pursuit of |
| masses. | | | | the money by suddenly "loving" the products. This |
| Over the past two years I have worked with | | | | feat of human rationalization has been proven in |
| network marketers on marketing their businesses. I | | | | numerous psychological tests. We first make an |
| have created a duplicatable (replicating) web site | | | | emotional decision based on a deep-seated need, and |
| designed to help them recruit new distributors into | | | | THEN we justify that decision "logically." My apologies |
| their downline. | | | | if I offended anyone. |
| I've worked with the network marketing heavy | | | | On the other hand, the green movement is more |
| hitter, who asks good qualifying questions, has spent | | | | about the vision of ridding the planet of toxic |
| years in MLM (Multilevel marketing), and has been a | | | | chemicals than it is about the money. |
| mentor to many. These are the people who have | | | | Case in point: I asked a "greenie" friend of mine |
| built vast networks with many levels, and have | | | | about the network marketing company who sells |
| worked with every possible form of compensation | | | | green cleaning products. This is a person who refuses |
| plan -- Binary, Matrix, Unilevel... you name it, they've | | | | to own a car, is a vegan, and shuns anything that |
| done it. | | | | isn't 100% organic. Her response was: "I'm all for |
| I've also spoken with the network marketing newbie. | | | | protecting the environment, but I'm totally against |
| This is the person who hates going into a cold | | | | wealth accumulation." |
| market, despises prospecting, and spends more than | | | | So there it is. The truth. |
| they make in commissions every month on their auto | | | | Network marketers will still be embracing "wealth |
| ship program. | | | | accumulation" if they become distributors of any |
| While all these network marketers might differ in | | | | network marketing company. It's going to be the |
| their approach to business, everyone agrees on one | | | | primary motivating factor for being a distributor. |
| thing: network marketing has fallen into a dismal | | | | However, the savior of the dying network marketing |
| slump. | | | | industry may indeed be this green movement that |
| Network marketing is presented as the fulfillment of | | | | shuns wealth. It's both an enormous opportunity and |
| a dream. It's your way out of the rat race... a path to | | | | a hurdle to leap. Somehow, network marketers, while |
| financial freedom. | | | | "going green" will have to remove wealth |
| The problem is that fewer than 5% of the people | | | | accumulation as an obstacle to enrolling others in the |
| who go into network marketing ever make a decent | | | | business. |
| living at the business. And more recently, the whole | | | | The trick, if it is a trick, is to honestly stand behind |
| industry has acted like a bunch of chickens with their | | | | the products FIRST, and not stand behind the |
| heads lopped off. | | | | products because that's what is required if you are |
| We're in a recession, dummy... | | | | to sell the business. This will be a major shift for |
| Under normal circumstances, network marketing | | | | network marketers, who generally promote the |
| companies can survive quite well. Whether it's selling | | | | product as a means to grow their business. In this |
| hyped-up tropical fruit juices, green lipped mussel | | | | case, they'll be promoting the products because they |
| extract, or skin cleanser that will make you look 20 | | | | are good for the planet and good for their families. |
| years younger, each company gathers its teeming | | | | Money, it seems, will have to play a secondary role |
| masses of "Swifts" and streams down their | | | | EMOTIONALLY, and not just in the sales pitch. This is |
| respective chimneys together, safe in the belief that | | | | different. |
| "our products save lives" and that "we'll all get rich." | | | | It's the message, and a lot more... |
| But something terrible happens during a recession. | | | | While some people like my friend think that "green" is |
| People stop buying "dreams." | | | | the same color as dirt poor, I think that the smart |
| They go back to basics, buying what they need, | | | | greenies will understand that there's no harm in |
| saving for the future, and putting their dreams off | | | | making a few extra bucks while you protect your |
| until things improve. | | | | kids. |
| That's why my network marketing friends have | | | | They key, as I said, is to put the VALUE of the |
| sputtered and floundered of late. They can't seem to | | | | products first --- saving the planet, protecting your |
| talk anyone into buying or selling the mostly | | | | kids, etc. |
| over-priced supplements or beauty aids for the | | | | Can network marketers make this kind of switch? |
| simple reason that nobody really needs these things. | | | | Time will tell... |
| They're luxuries, and people stop spending their | | | | P.S. I'll bet I just made a TON of enemies in the |
| hard-earned money on luxuries during a recession. | | | | network marketing industry. You know who you are. |
| And this brings me back to "going green." | | | | You're a zealot for your products. You think they are |
| Green Cleaning Products: The savior of network | | | | the greatest thing since sliced bread. Without "your" |
| marketing? | | | | product, your back would still be hurting, your heart |
| Whether you firmly believe that network marketing | | | | would have failed, and you would look 30 years older. |
| is a scam, or you are a network marketing zealot | | | | I am NOT saying that your products can't or don't do |
| who sees it as the best thing since sliced bread, | | | | these things. What I AM saying is that if you look |
| there's one thing I bet I can get you to agree to: | | | | deep into your soul, you'll see that being a distributor |
| "Green" is good. | | | | IS about the money. Otherwise, you'd just buy the |
| We're at the frontline of a revitalized green | | | | product and leave it at that. Am I right? |