Nov 10
1
One of the best things about true network marketing, online or offline, is the win-win relationships. To quote Zig Zigler, “Help enough other people get what they want, and you will get what you want.”
Sales and internet marketing, as opposed to networking, have the potential to be win-lose games. The seller wins, whether or not the buyer wins.
The reason there are laws against “enticement” with income-claims is that actual results depend on the talents and efforts of the buyer. Many people want to believe that they can buy their way to success, and many marketers are happy to imply that they can.
Honestly, I have resisted the temptation to make and sell my own information products, because I have thought that there is already sufficient information available. I am still focused on learning more than
teaching. There may be a small kernel of truth in the old saying that, “Those who can do, and those who can’t teach.”
As a professional networker I have never been a fan of so-called “network marketers” making MOST of their money from selling CDs, books, or training seminars to their starving fans. They are one of the reasons MLM has a bad rap. Essentially they were really just marketers, period. Like infomercial salesmen, they make their money whether or not their customers make money.
Granted, some of them have good training, and there is nothing inherently wrong with selling information products. But call it like it is, direct selling is selling, not networking.
I prefer real networking, based on leveraging trust and influence from relationships, because I win in proportion to how much they win. In other words, if our income comes from MLM “overrides,” we must help others to earn income in order for us to be paid upline bonuses. It is a win-win situation.
Of course, good training has value, and value is the basis of free enterprise, but I have seen too many cases of people getting rich selling information to people who did not benefit much. Unfortunately, most information products are never used. That is why I quit selling home study courses, even though at one time I was the second highest producer in the USA as a Distributor for Achievement Motivation Institute/SMI.
I admit that, just as in network marketing, the buyers may have not worked (and they say “it didn’t work”). “Caveat emptor.” But at least in MLM the financial incentive is based on helping people win, rather than just taking their money regardless.
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