Business v Product

Hi

I was at an event last night and was chatting to some of the distributors, 2 of which had different views on growing a mlm business.

Lead with the Product or Lead with the Business ? - what are your thoughts ?

Regards

Personally - if someone asks, and I am 'invited' to talk to them about what I do I ask them what they would like to know about first - saving money or making money? (in my case)

Surely product/ service is key before selling the 'business'?

Not nessesarily. some people are interested in making money & want to know if the system works, as long as the product /service is maketable as well, so actually both are important.

Product every time for me. You can't assume everyone wants the business side of it. I personally would never buy into anything without knowing exactly what the product is first.

Not necessarily. People use either way successfully. The products / services and the business opportunity are both something somebody may want to buy into. Whereas a conventional business has only to consider the product / service - they're not usually looking for prospective customers to become business partners / distributors.

I can see what you're saying.

However, from my prospective, when I came across Herbalife, I was desperate for something, I was on the verge of being bankrupt, I needed to do something, as long as it was legal, I wasn't interested in Health & nutrition, selling or a business, I desperatly needed money, if my sponsor hadn't told me what I needed to hear, ie "you can make money doing this" & had told me "you can help people get healthy with these products" instead, I wouldn't be doing this now.

after she had my interest was when she told me what the products were. I looked into it, to find out that it was a simple business, that I could do, with a prouct I could comfortably tell people about, which I am eternally gratefull for.

Alan,

Personally I don't think that there is any one "black and white" answer.

When someone asks me for more information on our business, I first find out what their potential interest might be - a customer, a distributor whosel focus is primarily retailing, a distributor whose focus is primarily team building, or an all round distributor.

My prime focus is team-building and training, but i am not interested in any opportunity that has a bona-fide range of top quality. repeat consumable products, which are NOT sold at highly inflated prices to simply to pay the commissions. Once this box is ticked, I then assess the compensation plan, and , as a retired Finance Director, do my due diligence on the company. Then, and only then, am I prepared to put our reputation on the line and recommend all three.

Often over the past few years I've seen leaders in certain companies advocate the "opportunity" approach as the only way, which in my experience was because they lacked sufficient confidence in the product. These were usually the "leaders" who surfed the "growth wave" of companies operating a plan which insisted on a fixed monthly autoship - irrespective of whether the product was required. Once the growth wave was exhausted, and distributors began cancelling their autoships, resulting in the inevitable "roll back", these "leaders" pocketed their earnings, jumped ship and found another growth wave to surf - leaving others to count the cost., both in money terms and loss of reputation.

Mitakuye Oyasin

Mike P

Both are right of course, what's wrong is not asking the questions to find out the prospects interest, once you find out thir needs and wants, you are then in a position to ascertain if it is right to lead with the business, the products or walk away.

I agree, There are many variables and the approach differs depending on the situation. Sometimes I lead with the business and sometimes the product - I try to see whats best for the customer. Thanks for your replies

Product every time, as without product, there is no business

Hello all,

Its not that black/white paul,sometimes you get talking to business people who are more interested in how the business works! If you are talking to people in general conversation and the topic of business opportunities arise, then I believe the UW business opportunity ,as opposed to the products would be the natural course.

Interesting that its MLM people who are saying business could come first

Without being disrespectful, this is my main issue with a lot of MLM folk, regardless of what you say, they still find a reason to tell you about the opportunity to make you millions!

Paul,

If you look at your own business,roughley speaking you have 2 parts to it, finding employees for an employer & finding employers for an employee, you get paid to do both.

MLM is no different,only there are 3 parts to my busuness, retail, recruit, & teach .

I Retail Health & nutrition products to people.

I Recruit people that want to do the same as me (most of who become customers as well)

I teach & support customers how to use products so they get the best results from what they have paid for, I also teach distributors how to do what I do.

If I don't offer the opportunity to earn extra money to someone, how do I know if that person wants to do it or not?

If you were recruiting HGV drivers in the midlands for a brilliant new contract that paid over the odds I hope you would ask me (as that is my background) otherwise how else would I know?

Thats it. MLM is no diferent from any other business on this forum. we sell a product & service & some recruit others that want to do it.

The difference is, both of mine are technically a product, and neither are a business opportunity

Surely you need to demonstrate the product ability before the business opportunity can be realised?

This is what I was referring to earlier... I have found MLM people try and sell me the business before the product

Example:
I met a Monavie woman at a 4N event. I hadnt even sampled the product, or really been told what it does, or is made of, etc, yet I was being encouraged to sign up as a distributor. How could I make that decision had I not learned the product first?