MLM Compensation Plans And Your Mlm Success
Posted on June 7, 2008
Filed Under Make Money Blogging |
MLM Compensation Warning - You’re More Successful than you Realize
by Debbi A. Ballard, MLM Consultant and Expert Witness
MLM compensation plan profits are too often used by networkers as the single factor that measures whether they are a success in network marketing. What you are actually earning today from the MLM compensation plan used by your MLM company in your MLM business should never be the sole success determinant.
If you feel like you just are not measuring up in your MLM business, it could be because of the way you are defining “success.” Here’s what you need to examine first.
Perhaps the most important questions to ask when you’re getting into an MLM company are the following:
‘Why am I doing this?”
“What price am I willing to pay to reach my goals in this MLM business?”
“How am I going to evaluate my success in this MLM business?”
These questions all relate to one’s perception of “success.” What does it really mean to you? How do you quantify it? How you perceive your “success” is important for you to understand.
First of all, please don’t ever measure your MLM success by someone else’s yardstick! Success is relative to your goals, your resources and the price you are paying to achieve these goals.
For example, in our industry, many of us have seen someone waving his/her $10,000 plus MLM compensation plan bonus check, which he/she just received after being in the MLM company for only three months. Now you’re sitting there, seeing this person up on stage and thinking, “Gosh, I’ve been in the program for three months, and the highest monthly bonus check I’ve received is only “$500.”
Are you a failure? Wait! Lets take a step back for a minute. What you have to look at is this:
How did that individual get from where he/she started to where he/she is now?
Do you know if the distributorship was built ethically and legally? Was “success” achieved by front-loading people with excessive inventory? Did the distributor come from another company where he/she already had an active downline of over 5,000 people?
How many hours does the networker work each week— 40, 70? What is the extent of his/her financial and professional resources? Is the person’s “success” being built at the neglect of his/her family?
You get the idea. Before you jump to the conclusion that your MLM business isn’t working for you and/or that you’re a failure, find out if you’re comparing apples and oranges! If you insist on comparing yourself to others, you’d better make sure to answer these and many other questions first.
My advice— don’t do it to begin with!
At any point in time with a given MLM company, there are distributors earning $500 per month whom I consider to be far more successful than some of their counterparts earning $5000 to $10,000 per month The former, with little resources and no business contacts, with integrity and family intact, may have a $20,000 per month MLM business in five years— one that is stable. The latter may be out of business completely!
And one more thing, when you share your MLM success with others who are just starting out, pass this perspective on— or others may be doing an apples and oranges comparison with your experience and theirs.
The Long Haul
The most critical question of all may be this…
Is that person in this for the short-term or long-term? And what about you? There are many things some people will do differently if they’re after some “fast monies” as compared with being intent on building lasting, growing businesses. Sometimes, that $10,000 check is the only one of its kind that person will ever see.
Now I don’t subscribe to the theory that what goes up like a rocket has to crash like one— or, conversely, that whatever takes a long time to build, will stay up once it’s up. There are many explosive growth opportunities in this business, and there are many slow and solid business-building opportunities as well.
The speed of growth is not the issue.
Your ability to manage it while incrementally meeting your goals, no matter how fast or slow, is what’s important.
That ability begins with your attitude.
The Power of Realistic, Personalized Expectations
I’ve never yet seen someone flashing a big check in a way that makes me feel entirely comfortable. I know the repercussions.
For the vast majority of people in network marketing, being able to make a car payment or recover the couch with the money from their monthly checks are satisfying achievements.
The worst thing a distributor or an MLM company can do is give new people unrealistic expectations. That’s why it’s so important to make finding out your goals and expectations the very first step in this business. It’s a sponsor’s job to match those goals to reality and to help the new distributor create a plan for achieving them.
Unrealistic expectations may motivate and inspire people to action for a short while, but they usually backfire when the big commission checks from the MLM compensation plan aren’t forthcoming in a short period of time.
It really upsets me to see people in this industry who get discouraged and drop out of a program early because they’re only making so much, and so and so is making this much. People need to know that success is relative.
There is only one standard by which to judge their success or failure— and that is to measure them according to their own goals. That, again, is why it’s so important to set those goals in the beginning— and to set them realistically.
At the same time, remember— you can change your goals at any time. In fact, you should always be changing them, making them more specific as you learn more, adjusting them to new levels of performance and achievement.
Don’t be afraid to downsize your goals, either. Having lofty goals you never achieve gives you the continual message that you’re the kind of person who always falls short. Starting small and making bigger and bigger goals helps you build a pattern of accomplishment and your momentum for bigger and better
achievements.
Consistent performance and success is fueled by expectations. To give that successful performance the best possible foundation, make sure that your expectations— and your people’s— are solid, exciting and real and above all, are personalized!
My Definition of Success
Everyone views success differently. Personally, I look at success as feeling good about how I’m progressing towards my own goals, while maintaining a happy, balanced life.
It’s a course I set for myself, a way of life filled with both achievements and the inevitable, momentary setbacks I view as opportunities to learn, develop and grow.
To summarize, don’t ever base your success solely on what MLM compensation plan profits you or others are earning. When you cultivate an attitude for success that’s realistic, that’s all yours and isn’t based on anyone else’s definition, that attitude itself will help keep you on a pathway to the true personalized “success” you desire.
(Portions of this article originally appeared in her book, How To Succeed In Your Own Network Marketing Business, and then an adaptation later appeared in Upline magazine.
My revealing report on MLM compensation plans at http://www.MLMCompensationPlans.com
can give you additional insight that can help you grow your MLM business.)
copyright, 2008, Debbi A. Ballard All rights reserved. MLM Consultants’ Blog
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