Hello Everyone,
Its Ernest Emelezi here again with another controversial and thought provoking issue. I think it’s time we tell ourselves the truth without any fear or favour.
Perhaps, this post may offend many but the truth has to be told to avert unforeseen but raging disaster. I may not be a business professional but experiences have thought me many things that I can no longer hide under any circumstance whenever I see problem looming in our growing business sector.
I have seen many so called networking marketing program (MLM) came and go in Nigeria, and this have prompted me do some research about network marketing (MLM) in 2004 on why these programs fail. By the year 2009 I was able to discover some of the main reasons why these programs after collecting Nigerians money and giving us hope disappear to oblivion without any notice whatsoever.
Surprisingly, some of the people that promote these fake programs already know that what they are promoting will not see the light of the day; but they intentionally collected Nigerians money to fill their pockets, not minding what the outcome will be.
However, I will not dwell much on the people’s people but the main problem, above all reason; one of the main reasons this programs fail is because they are not really MLM, they are actually what the expert’s called ”Pyramid Scheme”, they look somewhat like MLM but they’re not, they are SCAM!
Okay what is the point? Very clear, the core difference between an MLM program and a Pyramid Scheme is that an MLM program must have a product or service to market; hence the name network or multi level marketing, and any program that promises to pay you only when you bring people to join and have no product or service to market is a Scam! Pyramid Scheme. I strongly advise that you stay away from such programs; they will collect your money and disappear to God knows where without notice.
The terminology is; register with us, pay some amount of money, bring someone to register, when the person pays, we’ll pay you commission. Who told you anybody will agree to join you? MLM they say is not for everyone, because many people do not have the time to go through the process of recruiting or organizing a meeting for recruitment.
But they can buy the product or service, resell for profit and also collect the monthly commission. And this is how a true MLM program works; you will not only be paid when you bring people into the program, but when you and your down-line buy the product or service on daily, weekly or monthly basis then you will have what is called a spillover. It might start small but if nurtured will grow to the level of making you rich.
If you will like to take my candid advice, care should be exercised in the selection of the MLM program you represent. Because even though you may have only a nominal cash investment, if the program fails, you run the risk of loss because you will be making an investment of your most valuable assets; your irreplaceable time and contacts.
Next time you want to join an MLM program, consider the following aspect of their system; the demand and acceptability of their product or service by the masses, check if their product or service supplies a need and perform equal to their claims, the company should be a company with some operating history, ideally a minimum of two years. One problem with some MLM programs is that they sometimes have such heavy commissions build into the overrides that the ultimate consumer of the product or service must pay more than the fair market value of similar products bought through conventional shopping. Clearly, in such cases, people will not buy the product or service if they are not participating in the business opportunity. Price of the product or service should be considered as well as other aspect of the program before you join.
Lastly on this, the product or service should be consumable, if the product is something like vitamin or the service is something like financial, it will be easier to create a durable stream of income from repeat business than if it’s an once-in-a-lifetime purchase.
Meanwhile, there are other conditions to consider before you join any MLM program but I will talk about this all important aspect for now. Keep a date with me on this forum.
Thanks for reading this far, please feel free to drop your comments, questions, discussions and recommendations on this issue.
Love You,
Ernest E.