Digital Marketing

What about “Rah-Rah” meetings?

Buenas tardes! Today, I’m going to piss off a lot of people.

I need you to understand that it is not my intention or approach to upset anyone. My intent and focus, my mission, is to educate and help people understand how the network marketing industry works. And to do that, I realize that some people may be offended or upset by what I say. If you are one of those people, I apologize in advance. I am not anti-MLM or anti-network marketing. In fact, I think network marketing and MLM is probably the best place on the planet for the “little man” to start with a few hundred dollars and turn that into a huge residual income.

Unfortunately, network marketing and MLM have sketchy reputations. I am personally anti-BS and want to take a few minutes to look at one of the most misunderstood pieces of this puzzle.

Today I want to see the “company event” or “company conference”. You’ve heard of them (or been to them) – it’s a big MEGA-EVENT where a few key speakers come on stage and tell their “million dollar story”, the CEO or President can come on stage and speak about how amazing the company is. they have, what an amazing line of products, ad nauseam. Typically, companies will also launch a new product or product line at the event. Distributors will typically pay several hundred to several thousand dollars to attend the event, plus travel, lodging, etc.

What about these things? What are they for?

First consider this: Most of us are creatures of habit. If in doubt, go look in your fridge. The types of food you see there today will probably be the same types of food that will be there 3 weeks from now. We buy out of habit.

As a business, I need to know that the absolute best and most responsive customer I could have is a customer who has usually bought from me before. The group of these buyers, as a whole, can be called my “customer base”. My customer base has already proven that they will buy my products. They have also shown that they are willing to continue buying my products.

A network marketing or MLM company is no different. They have a customer base. They call these customers “dealers.” These dealers have demonstrated a propensity to purchase a particular type of product. They usually buy it monthly on “autoship”. So if I’m a business and I’m looking to generate more revenue, how can I do that?

Well, one option is to have a mega event. A network marketing or MLM company may advertise this “rare-rare” gathering as an annual (or semi-annual) mega event, a training conference, whatever. The company can fill an auditorium with current customers (distributors) and then bring in key speakers who talk about how much money they can make with this company, how good the product is, how great the opportunity is, etc. They charge each distributor a premium price (usually several million dollars) while at the same time branding the distributor as a “buyer” and with enough money to purchase additional products.

Once everyone walks into the auditorium and everyone gets really excited, the company can launch a new product or product line and literally guarantee that the launch will be a success. Because the company rated everyone as “buyers” and with enough money to buy, the new product launch is an absolute success. The company generates income. The dealer spends money.

This is the same principle that all other retail businesses use. Think about it: have you ever bought something online and then continued to receive emails or “spam” from that company with extra offers and specials? That company understands that you have bought from them before. And will probably buy from them again. So they keep sending special offers.

Again, I am not saying that networking companies are bad, or that MLM companies are trying to exploit their distributors. I am saying that network marketing and multilevel marketing is about business. Making a ton of money in this industry is downright easy if you understand how the numbers work. But the other side of the coin is that if a distributor doesn’t understand the numbers, he will probably make a lot of financial donations to his company.

Of course, these “rah-rah” meetings aren’t completely useless to distributors. Most distributors will surely leave that event highly motivated. And motivation is very important. But motivation without the right tools usually spells disaster.

Think of it this way: If I’m REALLY motivated to change the oil in my car, but the only tools I have are a fork and a steak knife, I’m going to have a really hard time getting the job done. The motivation has very little to do with my inability to change the oil, I might want to change the oil more than anything else I’ve ever wanted; it really comes down to having the right tools and the knowledge to use those tools effectively. That is the conclusion.

If you are a distributor then you need to know what you are doing. If you spend $2,000 on an event, I hope you at least get more out of it than some extra product. Invest in your knowledge, invest in your skill set and watch your business grow.

I, Joshua Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you may contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Companies.

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