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I have come to discover that there is a lot that people do not know about Multi Level Marketing in Nigeria, and believe it or not, there are some things beginning to happen that indicate that those who have profited or lost but understand the systems are about to be rewarded. I know that there is a lot that people do not know about many things as well, many other things like manufacturing, refining, mining, agriculture e.t.c, but if I had the opportunity to start with one industry that I know has the power to empower people, particularly Nigerians the fastest I’ll chose Multilevel Marketing, Agriculture and then the others. I also know that the first reaction of most people to multilevel marketing might be negative, but believe it or not, you are missing out of some opportunities, and Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly is what makes people POOR.
Donald Trump is reported to have been asked, what will you do, if you suddenly became bankrupt today. He said “I’ll look for a good Multilevel Marketing company, and work my way to the top there.” Multilevel Marketing is business for people that are interested in helping others, it’s a business school in that, you work and learn. Interestingly however, all of us are doing it already, howbeit unsuccessfully.
I lady buys a shoe, it’s a very good shoe. She wears it to church one midweek service day, and everybody can’t seem to stop sharing good comments about the shoe. “Wow, what a lovely shoe, where did you get it from?” 10 of her friends in church decided to check the shop over the weekend, and 8 of them ended up buying the shoes immediately. They wore it to work, and their colleagues had a similar reaction to the one they had, and gradually the shoes are selling and this shop in a hidden alley in Marina becomes popular. Can you relate with that? If you can, listen further.
Same scenario as above, but only this time around, the owner of the shop calls the lady and says, “wow, I got 8 of your friends who came here to buy shoes, I want to say a big thank you, and reward you. For every of your friend that buys a shoe from me, I’ll give you N200, for any of them that refers anybody, I’ll give you N100, thanks for bringing me business!” In a more subtle form, he could offer her an extra pair of shoes for free. That’s multilevel marketing. We all generate referrals for what we like, Movies, Cars, Shoes, Clothes, Bags, Hotels, Banks, Investment opportunities, e.t.c, but in how many of these referrals are we actually rewarded? Multilevel marketing is a system that is put in place to ensure that the stakeholders in any sales process are rewarded. This concept of reward, motivates the first buyer, and kindles entrepreneurship as the buyer is also able to make passive income promoting what he/she would have promoted without reward.
In my indept research into multilevel marketing, I discovered that there are legitimate MLMs and illegitimate pyramid schemes parading as MLM. An ability to define the difference between these two, have made many people falsely detest MLMs. The major difference is MLMs are product based, and the emphasis is on the product/value derived. Distributors are paid based on commisions on products sold in MLMs, while for Pyramid schemes it’s a cleverly masquraded attempt to collect money from the base, and use the money from the base to pay a few people on top – No product, no value. In an MLM, the product or service is real and has value. Even if you are not rewarded, you still have the product. In a pyramid scheme, there is no product, your money get’s spent rewarding others, and there is no value for you in the transaction.
Robert kiyosaki says that MLM is business for people who love helping other people. It’s an exciting way to meet new people, do business at your own convinience, and grow your alternative sources of income. MLM is a business model that suits the interactive and social nature of Nigerians. It’s a tool that is being reviewed for use in various sectors, our banks are already heading in that direction, and a revolution might indeed be near. However…
Just for standards and quality check, always ask yourself before being a part of any MLM. Will the product or service be valueable to me if I wasn’t going to be rewarded? If not, am I going to be able to market people to whom it is valueable? If any of your answers is yes, you can go ahead.
