Today, I want to share my thoughts on what a healthy MLM Organization looks like. Please keep in mind this is just my thoughts based upon my experience in the industry. To keep things simple, I’m going to assume your MLM Organization has 100 people in it. This just makes it easier to give you real numbers.
Of those 100 people, your organization should look something like this:
- 80 people are just retail customers or wholesale product users (wholesale distributors)
- 10 people retail some products and have a small retail business of 3-10 customers
- 5-10 people build their business part-time consistently each month
- 2-5 people are really serious and want to build a full-time income
In other words, MOST people in your team are product users, either as a customer or wholesale distributor. This is where your residuals come from. This is where the majority of your bonus check comes from (in the beginning). Without people using the products there is no bonus check and no business.
In addition to the product users, you will have a small amount of people, maybe 10-20% of your team that does a little bit of retailing. They might have anywhere from 3-10 customers, maybe even more. These folks want to earn enough to get their products for free or sell enough to make a couple hundred dollars per month.
Next, you have about 10% of your team that wants to do something with the business, but not on a full-time basis. They are out there sponsoring people and getting customers every month (or trying to). These are the folks who want to build up a $500 to $5,000 per month income (or more). They aren’t all in, but they do a little bit each week and each month to grow their business.
The final group of folks is the “all in” and “gung ho” folks who have the vision for what this business offers. They are actively sponsoring people, getting customers, listening to training calls, going to functions, talking to their upline, meeting new prospects, attending webinars, etc. They are the really serious people. These are the folks you will want to invest most of your time with.
These are the folks who will help you build your dynasty. Most of your income in the future will come from this very select group of people. Ask any top earner and most of their income comes from 1-2 people on their team.
Once again, this is a healthy MLM Organization as I see it. You should have mostly product users (about 80%), a few folks retailing the products (about 10%), a few part-time builders (about 10%) and a couple really, really serious people (about 2-5%). These percentages should hold true, even as your business grows.
What does all of this mean to me? It means that you should spend most of your time finding product users and always keep an eye open for people who want to retail the product, supplement their income or build a full-time income. To me, it means you should promote both the products and business. Find out which one interests your prospect most and then educate them about that option.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
P.S. Learn how to grow a successful network marketing business. Secret tips, training, and practical ideas. Free training delivered by email.
This illustration is absolutely correct that usually there are only a few people who are genuinely interested in growth of business. They think out of the box and go out of the way to sponsor people, make calls, meet people, attend events and do other similar activities that give your business a boost. The figures not only holds true for larger organizations but they will be witnessed irrespective of the size of company.
MLM is about a lot of people doing a little and a few folks doing a lot. No matter how good you are at sponsoring or team building, only a few people in your group are going to account for a significant portion of your income.
To get a bunch of leads, even with your own Automated Prospecting System, you are either going to have to invest a lot of time, or money. And sometimes both. It can take a little bit of time to figure out how to do this, but it’s well worth the investment.
Yes. Definitely stay away from the ones where most people are just recruiting other people and that’s how most of them are making money.