[nabentre] major changes in network marketing

Tue Nov 24 17:35:58 UTC 2015

Thanks for this amazing information, this is how the network marketing industry should've been structured in the first place! One of the primary reasons I remove myself from all network marketing companies I was involved was that everyone in my company was seeking out new recruiters and not customers. And I greatly appreciate you sharing this information, definitely educational! I'll be sure to check out your website, right now not in the market for any products, but hey, my wife love shopping and if she doesn't have to go anywhere, that's even better!
Never stop being amazing

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 24, 2015, at 9:24 AM, Mary ellen via nabentre <nabentre at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I'm writing to pass along information on major changes in network marketing
> in general and in the company Nikken in particular.  I'm also offering an
> unabashed commercial for our product line and for the concept of supporting
> blind entrepreneurs when doing so is practical.  
> 
> 
> 
> My purpose is not to ignite the pro and anti network marketing passions.  I
> intend merely to inform people of some exciting changes that dramatically
> increase the effectiveness and ethics of the network marketing industry.
> 
> 
> 
> When I say increase the ethics I am not agreeing with the notion that
> network marketing is a crooked industry.  Although there have been some
> unscrupulous people in the industry, the concept as it is correctly
> understood is straightforward.  The difficulty has been that the concept as
> practiced by some, by no means the majority, has been corrupted and has not
> always been ethical.  Those few unethical practices have damaged the
> reputation of the industry as a whole.
> 
> 
> 
> Here is my personal reaction to changes brought about by the Federal Trade
> Commission.  I think the changes are healthy for the industry and create a
> better opportunity for the development of genuine businesses while
> decreasing the prevalence of what some call "netwish marketing."  Netwish
> marketing is the notion that investing a few dollars in what is called a
> business means that one actually has a business.  I believe unrealistic
> expectations and unduly optimistic hype from excited network marketers has
> helped create the "netwish marketing" atmosphere which has damaged the
> reputation of the direct selling industry as a whole.  Please understand
> that I accuse no one of falsification, and I do not accuse the concept of
> network marketing as a whole.  I believe the changes coming about will help
> focus attention on the genuine business of network marketing.  Fewer people
> will have businesses, but those who do will likely have more profitable
> businesses.
> 
> 
> 
> After that rather long and labored introduction, here are some of the
> changes.
> 
> 
> 
> It will now be required that companies have at least 51% of sales coming
> from people who are not enrolled in the network structure.  Although
> reputable companies have always had a 70% rule stating that 70% of purchases
> from enrolled business builders be either personally consumed or sold at
> retail, the requirements will be that at least 51% of sales go to honest to
> goodness retail customers.  Many companies have encouraged every customer to
> become a distributor in the hope that they would refer friends and become
> genuine distributors themselves.  That practice is changing.  Now companies
> are encouraging distributors to do a better job of distinguishing between
> people who are really running a business and those who just want a wholesale
> price.  
> 
> 
> 
> In the past, the "wholesale" price would more realistically have been a
> retail price. My husband distributes products and is building a sales
> network for the company, Nikken, which has just substantially lowered its
> prices.  In many cases, the current retail price is the same or lower than
> the former wholesale price.  Prices are now roughly equivalent to products
> of similar quality that can be found in health stores.  The difference is
> that, rather than driving to the store to pick them up, the ordering process
> is on line with drop shipping.  Customers who don't live near a retail
> health store or who don't want to be bothered running errands will
> appreciate the lower prices and the convenience.
> 
> 
> 
> Our company is strongly encouraging everyone who becomes a distributor to
> develop a customer list of a minimum of ten people.  (We currently have more
> than double that number and our customer list is increasing rapidly.)
> Distributors are now only recruiting those with a genuine interest in
> running an actual on line retail operation.  This change will eliminate the
> objection, "If everybody is supposed to sign up, where are the customers?" 
> 
> 
> 
> It used to be that a new distributor could achieve rank advancement, and
> higher commission percentages, by purchasing products.  Now rank advancement
> can only be achieved through genuine retail sales.  Some companies, (I'm
> proud to say that Nikken was never one of them), were encouraging new
> business builders to purchase a sales inventory.  Those who didn't sell that
> inventory had boxes of products on hand, sometimes for months or years.  Now
> distributors will only get paid if they sell a certain amount of product.
> They will still receive commission on their personal purchases once their
> sales quota of one hundred dollars of retail sales a month has been met, but
> no credit for rank advancement.  In Nikken, any distributor wanting to get
> paid commission will be required to do a hundred dollars of retail selling
> in a calendar month.  If one is running a genuine business, requiring sales
> of a hundred dollars in an entire calendar month is a trivial requirement.
> Any business that does not generate a hundred dollars of sales volume a
> month is not a business.  As the Nikken president put it, "If you open a
> restaurant and you're the only customer, you don't have a restaurant, you
> have a kitchen."
> 
> 
> 
> Correctly understood, network marketing offers an individual the opportunity
> to create a sales business part time with a relatively low investment.  It
> is a genuine business.  To make it work, marketers do need to market their
> products, not just the opportunity.  Network marketing is distinguishable
> from other retail direct selling situations because a marketer can recruit
> and train a sales force and that sales force can recruit and train a sales
> force and so on.  Marketers who also become trainers and help others develop
> their own businesses are paid for doing the training.  Those who concentrate
> on retail sales are paid straight sales commission.  Those who purchase
> products and do little or no sales are rightly defined as customers.  
> 
> 
> 
> I believe the changes in the industry are helpful because signing an
> application no longer gives a person the right, or the dillusion, to call
> him or herself a business person.  That designation is only earned when
> actual sales volume is created.  If you don't have retail sales, you don't
> get paid.  There is no insentive to sign up everybody and their dog in the
> hope that somebody who wants a product or two will suddenly become the
> Diamond Jim Brady of sales.
> 
> 
> 
> Network marketing can be lucrative for people who build a customer base and
> recruit genuine business people to do the same.  It can offer a few hundred
> extra dollars a month to people who just want to refer friends to good
> products and do a little retail selling every month.  Network marketing
> companies provide high quality products, more competitively priced since
> these changes.  The idea that the person who gets in first makes all the
> money and the ones that come in later are stuck at the bottom of the pyramid
> was never true for reputable companies.  That notion is even less true now.
> The industry is now structuring things so that anybody who wants to do the
> work can build a retail business and anyone who is so inclined can build a
> genuine sales force.  Nobody can coast.  It is easy for a new marketer to
> out earn his or her sponsor.  I know because we did so.  When one enrolls is
> irrelevant.  Compensation is based on work.  It has always been that way for
> genuine network market opportunities; the new changes increase the clarity
> and sharpen the distinction between customers, retail business operators,
> and those who recruit, train, and develop a network of entrepreneurs.
> 
> 
> 
> I understand that everyone on this list is already involved in one form of
> business or another.  My purpose has never been to lure people away from
> what they're doing and get them to "join my deal."  I have always thought,
> however, that blind people should, whenever it is a reasonable thing to do,
> support one another's businesses.  It isn't always convenient and the mere
> fact that a business is owned and operated by a blind person shouldn't be
> sufficient reason to dump longstanding business relationships to become the
> customer of a blind entrepreneur.  However, when all else is equal, I
> believe we should support one another.
> 
> 
> 
> So, if you're in a position where all else is equal, here's our web site.
> If it works for you to buy your nutritional supplements and/or magnetic
> products from us, we welcome your business.  I also would be happy to
> patronize your businesses, again, if all else is equal and the purchase
> makes sense to me.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's our web site if you want to explore.
> 
> 
> 
> www.nikken.com/paulgabias
> 
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