[nabentre] Business Opportunity

[Bob Clark]

Hello Jim:

WMI is a direct sales company.  The focus is on direct sale of its
products.  In fact, many people who buy the product buy it for the
product itself rather than to sell the product.  In fact, if you
review the affiliated website, you specify what you want to do.

If you do decide to sell the product, you are only compensated on five
levels down.  This has two advantages:
   *. Much higher commissions are paid on the initial sale
   *. It focuses on direct selling of the product.

A true MLM theoretically can build a down-line to infinity.  However,
there is nothing wrong with this approach either other than
commissions need to be spread across significantly more levels.

To summarize, Wmi focuses on selling the product: true MLM focuses on
the down-line.

Have a great day.

On 6/21/10, Homme, James <james.homme at highmark.com> wrote:
> Hi Bob,
> The differences between a true MLM company and one with an MLM component.
>
> Jim
>
> Jim Homme,
> Usability Services,
> Phone: 412-544-1810. Skype: jim.homme
> Internal recipients,  Read my accessibility blog. Discuss accessibility
> here. Accessibility Wiki: Breaking news and accessibility advice
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabentre-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabentre-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Bob Clark
> Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 10:09 AM
> To: NFBnet NAB Entrepreneurs Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nabentre] Business Opportunity
>
> Hi Jim:
>
> I am not sure which differences that you are talking about.  Please
> clarify.  Is it the commission differential, the difference between
> the websites, WMI products, or the MLM, direct sales, and pyramid
> issue.
>
> Talk to you later.
>
> On 6/21/10, Homme, James <james.homme at highmark.com> wrote:
>> Hi Bob,
>> Please explain the differences. For whatever reason, I'm not getting it.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> Jim Homme,
>> Usability Services,
>> Phone: 412-544-1810. Skype: jim.homme
>> Internal recipients,  Read my accessibility blog. Discuss accessibility
>> here. Accessibility Wiki: Breaking news and accessibility advice
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabentre-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabentre-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Bob Clark
>> Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2010 12:50 AM
>> To: NFBnet NAB Entrepreneurs Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nabentre] Business Opportunity
>>
>> Hello Mary Ellen & Loren:
>>
>> You both have made excellent points about MLM companies.  WMI is a
>> direct sales model with a MLM component.  Many individuals that buy
>> our products never try/want to sell our product.  If they do, I would
>> receive a portion of the commission.  For example, I receive from $150
>> to $8,000 commission depending upon the product sold.  This reduces
>> signifficantly the number of down-line individuals necessary to earn
>> significant income.
>>
>> Have a great weekend.
>>
>> On 6/18/10, Loren Wakefield <isaiah5719 at mchsi.com> wrote:
>>> Another thing I would ad to the excellent points made by Mary Ellen, is
>>> that
>>> in Shaklee, anyone I sponsor can rise to a higher rank than I do.  He or
>>> she
>>> can make more money, go on more trips, receive more awards, etc than I
>>> do.
>>>
>>> I might also ad that the only way I would know if you were interested in
>>> what I had would be if I asked.  You would not know if I liked a
>>> particular
>>> song or movie or restaurant unless you asked.
>>>
>>> One of the best motivators and trainers in our company, says he uses what
>>> he
>>> calls "the seven magic questions" to gage interest.  Again, he only
>>> proceeds
>>> with permission.  This is more than most companies do, only there we call
>>> it
>>> advertising.  And no, you cannot always get away from it.  And no, I will
>>> not believe you if you try and tell me that an ad has never influenced
>>> your
>>> decision to buy or not buy a product.
>>>
>>> By the way James, I can really relate to not being able to speak up in
>>> public and talk with people about what I do and love.  It is difficult
>>> for
>>> me.
>>>
>>> But in the longrun, it will come down to if you 1,believe in me; 2, want
>>> what I have to offer;  3, give our products a try.  I can show you all
>>> the
>>> proof to back up what I say.  I can let you know that right now, you can
>>> join free with a qualifying order.  I can tell you that if you don't like
>>> the products you can have your money back.  But if you have it in your
>>> mind
>>> that Any product that does not come out of a store in a mall or business
>>> district, or some place like that, I am just wasting your time and mine.
>>> While no business, regardless of the type, can please all of its
>>> customers
>>> all of the time;  if you believe that all I am trying to do is cheat you,
>>> then frankly, I do not need you either.  One reason for doing the type of
>>> business I do is being able to choose those I work with.  And I can find
>>> enough thing to drag me down elsewhere.  So Brian, as much as I wish you
>>> would give my products a try, (you can just buy, you need not sell them),
>>> and as much as I know they would help your health, I would not try to
>>> sell
>>> to you because you have a strong bias against them.  I strongly believe
>>> your
>>> bias is misplaced.  But I truly do wish you the best and may you find
>>> what
>>> makes you happy.  You and I will just have to disagree.
>>>
>>>
>>> Loren Wakefield
>>>
>>> "The best way to predict your future is to create it."  Dr. Forrest C.
>>> Shaklee
>>>
>>> www.shaklee.net/ultimatehealthwithtlc
>>>
>>> 319-433-0145 866-433-3969
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Mary Ellen" <gabias at telus.net>
>>> To: "'NFBnet NAB Entrepreneurs Mailing List'" <nabentre at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 8:35 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nabentre] Business Opportunity
>>>
>>>
>>>> Jim,
>>>> Thank you for those very thoughtful remarks. I'll check out that book.
>>>> My husband and I have been involved with a network marketing company for
>>>> ten
>>>> and a half years. My husband is the active business builder; I
>>>> appreciate
>>>> the products and want to support him in his efforts. I inform people of
>>>> what
>>>> the company has to offer when the occasion arises, though my activity
>>>> could
>>>> be classified more as incidental than business building.
>>>> Nikken's culture is to spread the word as widely as possible, so the
>>>> company
>>>> encourages distributors to work cross line. For those of you not
>>>> familiar
>>>> with the jargon, that means we help anybody in the company whether
>>>> they're
>>>> in our pay group or not. Anybody involved with Nikken can call us from
>>>> anywhere in North America to help demonstrate products to someone they
>>>> know.
>>>> We can do the same. We've had Nikken distributors who have absolutely no
>>>> business connection with us demonstrate products, and even loan them, to
>>>> people we hope will be our customers. We routinely do the same for
>>>> others.
>>>> The culture is all about cooperating to ensure that as many people as
>>>> possible are aware of the benefits of Nikken products.
>>>> Although this sounds like a commercial for Nikken, my point in telling
>>>> you
>>>> this is to say that network marketing does not require what you describe
>>>> as
>>>> cultish behavior. I personally would run as fast as I could from any
>>>> company
>>>> that tries to restrict my friends or tells me I cannot cooperate with
>>>> other
>>>> groups within the same company.
>>>> Business survives only if the products are good and the service is
>>>> better.
>>>> If products of equal value are available cheaper elsewhere, it's
>>>> ridiculous
>>>> to expect to build a business selling them -- unless the customer
>>>> service
>>>> you offer is so superior that it justifies the higher cost. Most direct
>>>> sales companies either offer exceptional customer service or products of
>>>> much higher quality than commercially available products. If you can't
>>>> say
>>>> either or both things about your product, whatever it is, then you need
>>>> to
>>>> find something else to sell.
>>>> I've heard of the three foot rule, where you are asked to talk to anyone
>>>> within three feet of you about your company and products. Our company
>>>> subscribes to that rule, but with a very important difference. It's
>>>> suggested that we talk to everyone we meet, really talk to them, to find
>>>> out
>>>> enough about them to know whether they would be a good prospective
>>>> customer
>>>> or distributor. The emphasis is on learning enough about them to know
>>>> what
>>>> to offer that might meet their needs. That's very different from
>>>> accosting
>>>> strangers and asking"Do you want to buy my stuff and get in on my deal?"
>>>> The
>>>> purpose of prospecting is attempting to determine if we can meet
>>>> someone's
>>>> need. It's not trying to get them to help fill our bank account.
>>>> I freely admit that we didn't understand how to prospect in the
>>>> beginning.
>>>> We were so thrilled with the benefits we'd received from the products
>>>> that
>>>> we skipped prospecting for interest and went straight into recruiting.
>>>> I'm
>>>> afraid unbridled enthusiasm like ours is an example of why people
>>>> dislike
>>>> network marketing. We've had to go back to friends and apologize for
>>>> dumping
>>>> more information and sales pitch on them than they wanted. Now we still
>>>> talk
>>>> to everybody within three feet, but the name of the company doesn't even
>>>> come up unless the person to whom we're talking says something to
>>>> demonstrate that they might have a need. Then we ask their permission to
>>>> introduce Nikken. If they give permission, we either offer to
>>>> demonstrate
>>>> products or let them listen to a CD with testimonials from satisfied
>>>> customers. At every step beyond that, we ask permission before
>>>> proceeding.
>>>> If someone has listened to a CD, we ask if they want a demonstration. If
>>>> they've had a demonstration, we ask if they have any questions that
>>>> either
>>>> we or someone else in the company could answer. If people give us
>>>> permission, and only if they give us permission, we proceed to the next
>>>> information step. People don't like to be sold. People love to buy,
>>>> provided
>>>> it's their decision and they don't feel coerced in even a subtle way.
>>>> This
>>>> is a slower process than spewing forth information, but the people who
>>>> give
>>>> permission are almost always happy with their purchases and thankful to
>>>> us
>>>> for informing them.
>>>> You're right when you say that all business structures are pyramids. If
>>>> you
>>>> doubt it, just ask anyone on the assembly line of a car company whether
>>>> they
>>>> have much contact or a similar salary to the president of the company.
>>>> People tend to think of themselves at the bottom of someone else's
>>>> pyramid
>>>> when they join a networking company. That's true, but they're also at
>>>> the
>>>> top of their own pyramid, a pyramid they need to fill in by recruiting
>>>> and
>>>> training others. No one gets the big checks in network marketing unless
>>>> they're reached a lot of people. In the beginning they worked long hours
>>>> for
>>>> less pay than they're worth. Then they began being paid what they're
>>>> worth,
>>>> all the work they did in the beginning starts being compensated.
>>>> Finally,
>>>> if
>>>> they're really good, they get paid more than any reasonable person would
>>>> pay
>>>> for an hour of time. One of the leaders in our group estimates that, if
>>>> his
>>>> time were paid for based on a forty hour week, he would be earning about
>>>> three hundred dollars an hour. In the beginning he worked himself to the
>>>> bone and probably got about three hundred dollars a month! He decided
>>>> the
>>>> beginning spent working for very little money is more than made up for
>>>> by
>>>> his checks now. Few people have the faith and fortitude to put in the
>>>> long
>>>> hours with little reward in the beginning in order to be paid handsomely
>>>> later on.
>>>> In our company, about seventy-two per cent of distributors never earn
>>>> any
>>>> commissions at all. That's because they are users of the product who
>>>> occasionally refer others. Of the other twenty-eight per cent, some
>>>> succeed
>>>> at making huge livings but most do not. That's because some people just
>>>> want
>>>> to make a little bit to top off their bank account or pay for a luxury
>>>> now
>>>> and then. Others want to make it big but don't stick with it at the
>>>> necessary intensity.
>>>> Network marketing is really net *work* marketing. It's not a job; no
>>>> commission sales position is as steady as an hourly  paycheck. I believe
>>>> it's an extremely ethical system of compensation; you get paid precisely
>>>> on
>>>> the amount of work you do, whether selling directly yourself or teaching
>>>> those you sponsor how to do it. But it's not a system for everybody.
>>>> I hope those of you who have had bad experiences with individuals or
>>>> companies in the industry will take the time to differentiate between
>>>> those
>>>> bad experiences and the concept as a whole.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nabentre-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabentre-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>> On
>>>> Behalf Of Homme, James
>>>> Sent: June 18, 2010 10:45 AM
>>>> To: NFBnet NAB Entrepreneurs Mailing List
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabentre] Business Opportunity
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>> I'm speaking purely from my point of view with this message and
>>>> attempting
>>>> to think out loud and not be offensive. Bob or Lauren, if you want to
>>>> get
>>>> in
>>>> touch with me, use jhomme1028 at gmail.com. This is just my brain dump so
>>>> feel
>>>> free to move on when tired of reading.
>>>>
>>>> I was an Amway distributor for a while. I, personally, had a bad
>>>> experience.
>>>> I don't feel that it had to do with the idea of MLM, though. That was
>>>> back
>>>> when the Internet was either being used not at all for MLM or very
>>>> little
>>>> for that purpose.
>>>>
>>>> I'm a quiet person, unless I really believe in something, and even then,
>>>> I'm
>>>> not going to feel all warm and fuzzy about the whole mind-set of (no
>>>> offense
>>>> meant) cultish behavior. Things like:
>>>>
>>>> * If they're not in your business, you don't need to be friends with
>>>> them.
>>>> * You have to give the pitch to anyone within three feet of you.
>>>> * Pitching products you don't believe in.
>>>> * Saying that the stuff you sell is cheap, when someone can go to any
>>>> store
>>>> and get the same thing for less.
>>>>
>>>> I'm a musician, and I've written some tunes, so I understand and
>>>> appreciate
>>>> the whole idea of making money on what other people do. Composers,
>>>> artists,
>>>> and authors get royalties that perpetuate to the next generation.
>>>>
>>>> I don't know what makes pyramid schemes legal or illegal, but I work for
>>>> a
>>>> company. Every company has someone at the top with people under them,
>>>> with
>>>> people under them, and so on. No matter how you look at it, that's
>>>> generally
>>>> the structure of any business with multiple people in it. So just saying
>>>> that something's a pyramid shape doesn't mean anything in and of itself.
>>>>
>>>> I didn't read every word on Bob's site, but I saw that the structure
>>>> goes
>>>> only five levels down for the business owner. My memory tells me that
>>>> one
>>>> of
>>>> the bad things about a pyramid structure is when it goes down forever,
>>>> but
>>>>
>>>> I
>>>> forget why that is. I haven't run into the compensation plan yet, so I
>>>> don't
>>>> know how fair it is.
>>>>
>>>> I read the following book a few years ago and liked it, but dropped the
>>>> idea
>>>> because at that time I was still uncomfortable based on my earlier
>>>> experience. The book made me feel that there may be hope for someone
>>>> like
>>>> me
>>>> if I ever decide to do MLM again.
>>>>
>>>> How A Shy Guy Like Me Earned Over $1 Million in Network Marketing Joe
>>>> Brown
>>>>
>>>> Brief Synopsis:
>>>> "HOW A SHY GUY LIKE ME EARNED OVER $1 million in network marketing,
>>>> Without
>>>> Selling, Phone Calls, Meetings or Any of that Other stuff That Nobody
>>>> Wants
>>>> to do." Long Synopsis: Explains the system the author developed that
>>>> earned
>>>> him a big income in network marketing. Book Quality: Excellent Book
>>>> Size:
>>>> 246 Pages
>>>> Publisher:
>>>> N/A
>>>> Date of Addition:
>>>> 03/07/07
>>>> Copyright Date:
>>>> 2001
>>>> Copyrighted By:
>>>> Joe Brown
>>>>
>>>> Jim
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This e-mail and any attachments to it are confidential and are intended
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>>>> necessarily represent the views of Highmark Inc., its subsidiaries, or
>>>> affiliates.
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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