An Introduction to Multi Level Marketing

• Why Multi Level Marketing?
• What is Multi Level Marketing?
• The Best Products for Multi Level Marketing
• The Internet and Multi Level Marketing

Why Multi Level Marketing?

Multi Level Marketing is a 60 billion dollar a year industry and provides a ready-made business structure including product support and services.

Today there are more than 10 million independent business owners in North America and many of those in the Multi Level Marketing industry are enjoying more quality time with family, a better lifestyle, advantageous tax benefits and unlimited financial potential.

What is Multi Level Marketing?

Retail: We're all familiar with grocery stores, drug stores, and department stores - even service stations. The product moves through a wholesale/jobber distribution system to the retail store. The merchant displays the merchandise, and we go to to the store to purchase it. That's retailing. The customer goes to the merchant.

Direct Sales: The merchant goes to the customer. That's direct sales. Door-to-door selling, house parties and other methods are used in direct sales. Insurance, cookware, vacuum cleaners, and cosmetics are some of the products that are sold by this method. Multi Level Marketing should not be confused with direct sales, although some direct sales companies have converted to a multi level marketing structure.

Catalog Sales: We're all familiar with this channel, especially around the holidays when we are tempted with an assortment of foods, clothes and specialty items presented with colorful pictures.

Network Marketing: This channel evolved out of direct selling, but is distinctly different. Consider this scenario:

• Pretend you are a manufacturer who has a product that does not lend itself to the standard retail channels, so you hire sales representatives to sell your product directly to consumers.
• Sales are good, but growth of your customer base is limited by the number of sales people. How do you find more good sales people?
• Your current sales people have friends, family, or satisfied customers who may want an additional income. You ask your sales people to recommend some.
• You don't get many recommendations because your sales people are busy selling and can't be bothered. You decide to offer a bonus for each recommendation.
• Your sales people are excited by your bonus offer, so you get lots of recommendations and new employees. Some are effective and some are not! How do we reward the sales people who recruit the more talented people? And how do we train these new people?
• You decide to base the rewards on performance! You reward a sales person who recruits a new sales person by paying them a commission on what the new person sells.! It gives your current sales people an incentive to find good people and teach them as much as possible about your business.
• For example, your salesman, John, recruits and trains Sally and Bob. Sally recruits and trains Jane and Bill. Bob recruits and trains several of his friends. A "network" of sales people is forming. You have just moved from direct sales to multi level or "network" marketing. You are paying people for what they sell AND for their recruiting and training efforts that build your business.
• You may go one step further. You allow your sales people to become independent business people. They are no longer employees, as such. You sell them your product at a "wholesale" price and allow them to sell at a higher "retail" price. They agree to follow the policies of your company, but they are independent business people with a pride of ownership. And you, as a manufacturer, have a rapidly growing sales force and sales volume.

The Best Products for Multi Level Marketing

• Products that require customer education. A product that is not immediately recognized by a consumer as something he or she needs.
• Products that are attractive to a specific segment of the population, or a particular interest group.
• Products that are consumable. This assures repeat sales.
• Unique products with little or no competition from the mass marketing retailers.

The Internet and Multi Level Marketing

"Push" technology allows the merchant to go to the consumer. While surfing the web, you are bombarded with banner ads offering products or services. In many ways this resembles direct selling, knocking on your electronic door.

E-Mail lists allow a merchant to inform customers of new products, special promotions, etc., much like a catalog. The E-Mail message will usually direct you to a web site that has the colorful pictures. So, it's a little different.

A multi level marketing web site, such as this one, does sell products, but it goes far beyond that. It helps identify people who are interested in a business opportunity. It becomes an information source for enrolling and training new Distributors - about the company, its products, and its marketing programs. It is a more efficient way to keep current business and sales materials available to Distributors than through printing and mailing. E-Mail is a more timely and economical way for persons in a marketing organization to communicate. But, a multi level  marketing web site is not self-sufficient!

Multi level marketing is a people-to-people business. The web site can supply information, but personal contact is vital. That's why we encourage anyone interested in the Matol business to contact us and give us the opportunity to get to know you. Send us a note at kgoode@goode-health.com. Give us your name and phone number, and the time of day most convenient for us to reach you, and we will give you a call. We will be happy to answer your questions and help you evaluate the Matol opportunity. If it's what you are looking for, we will welcome you into our Matol family.