When it comes to charging your independent reps required or optional monthly fees, your direct selling company has choices. This article is about these choices. Shortly, I will explain the strategies and consequences of each one. Mandatory or Optional Monthly Fees If you are or will be charging your independent representative’s monthly fees for services,…
Must Direct Selling Companies Treat All Reps The Same?
By Kevin Grimes, J.D. The short answer is a very precise, lawyer-like “Yes and No”. The long answer depends upon the context of the question. If the question is about compensation plan issues, ranks, and the rights and privileges associated with each rank, the answer is “No”. In a direct selling model, the compensation for…
7 Ways to Improve Your Corporate Facebook Effectiveness
By Karen Clark of My Business Presence Spring is in the air, so it is time to do some Facebook spring cleaning. Whether your company is a seasoned Facebook veteran or 2016 is the year you plan to really take off with Facebook marketing, the following practices will help position your company to maximize results from…
Ask Victoria: What Is The Most Dangerous Thought?
In business, the most dangerous thought is “My problems will go away by themselves.” Unfortunately, wishing problems away rarely works. Fortunately, there is a better way to make your problems go away. We Understand Thinking that the problems will go away by themselves is a topic that we discuss with many of our clients. The…
Pilot Programs For Direct Selling Companies
What Is A Pilot Program? A pilot program is a group of activities planned as a test or a trial of a business model. Some party plan companies and network marketing companies choose to conduct a pilot program before officially launching their direct selling companies. Why Do A Pilot? The more you know about your…
Direct Selling, Network Marketing, MLM, and Party Plan
If you’re confused by these words, then read this article to understand the differences between direct selling, network marketing, MLM, and party plan. Direct Selling Direct selling is the sale of a product or a service that is conducted outside of a permanent retail location. Most often, the sale occurs from one person to another….
The Elephant In The Room – Lack of Retail Customers
One of the elements of a pyramid scheme is the lack of retail customers. Pyramid schemes are illegal. A good number of network marketing companies have few retail customers who aren’t also independent representatives. This is the elephant in the room. In the Omnitrition, Trek Alliance, Equinox, and Burn Lounge cases, courts found problems with…
Are Business Cards Still Relevant?
Are you still purchasing and giving others your business cards? Are your independent representatives? Heck, we don’t even have to talk with each other face to face anymore….or do we? We can just use our phones to text each other, so, I ask you, “Do we need to be passing out these pieces of paper?”…
Direct Selling and Thumper’s Wisdom
In the classic Disney film “Bambi”, the rabbit Thumper offered some great advice. He said, “If you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” What does this have to do with direct selling? The answer is “a lot.” When people join a direct selling company, they are in search of something and…
Your Competition: Who Are They?
In life, we all compete to win. In business, winning means getting the sale. As a direct selling company, you are competing with others. You’re competing for independent representatives and you’re competing for customers. The first step in competing well is to identify your competition. Next, you can develop strategies to win.
Time for an Incentive Trip?
In previous posts, we’ve talked a lot about compensation plans. In this one, we’ll address one component of the other side of field compensation – recognition. Field compensation should include both money paid through your compensation plan and recognition. Incentive trips are one category of recognition for both party plan and network marketing companies. Planning Your…
Ask Victoria: What Makes A Good Company Story?
What makes a good company story? Often when we begin working with party plan and network marketing companies, we ask them to tell us their story, how they got to this point. During the process, we begin to see some interesting points that seem to be consistent in each of their stories. Here are some…