In a business where we have a 95% drop out rate, it's interesting why those who stay, do so. I can assure you it is not the money.
When Excel Communications went bankrupt in November, 2004, the company reported to the court that as of October, 2004, Excel had 106,426 U.S. representatives eligible to earn commissions. 64,967 actually earned commissions. Of those, 98.1 percent earned $100 or less. Only 99 of them, or 0.2 percent, earned more than $1,000 for the month." More here.
So why do they stay?
"Oh," said one on a conference call last week, "I love my products."
Others chimed in:
"I like helping people and when someone uses it and tells me what a difference it made in their lives, it feels really good."
"I just love doing this business and I've been doing it for almost 20 years."
I find these responses very interesting. One reason is that a recent Yahoo survey reports that these reasons for sticking happen to be the same ones most people give today who are looking for a business of their own.
"Two thirds of Americans have entrepreneurial ambitions," and the #1 reason, reports Yahoo, is because they want to do (finally) something they love. Where they can make a difference. And yes, it should pay something. But that was the last reason for 97% of the respondents.
So is everyone looking to be a volunteer then?
Not likely. It may just be that the satisfaction this business offers people beyond the money does more for folks than the promise of money. Perhaps the sole focus on big money or nothing has run its course in today's post 9/11 environment. Who knows?
What matters is, how do these reasons for sticking compare with yours - if you're in that great majority not making much money yet?
And how do your reasons for sticking with it compare to the carrot you're dangling out there to recruit new people into the business?
9 comments :
I know where I am financially, emotionally, physically and spiritually if I continue in Plan A (job). It’s not where I want to be.
Even though I’m just beginning to understand how to “do” this wonderful business (thank you, Kim et al.), I stay because I absolutely love being around people who are kind, courageous, generous, hopeful, and fun. People who choose to see the glass half full, not half empty…and want more. People who understand that negativity in words and/or behavior leads to destruction and away from prosperity and so make every effort to see the best in others and in circumstances. People who are always looking to improve their own way of thinking or doing things. Those are the people I want to hang out with…all the time.
Plus, there is no other opportunity like this business for profit.
It’s a tough business…it takes incredible commitment, faith, effort and delayed gratification. But, wow, the payoff is awesome…in lots of ways. So, I’m in!
Kim,
I recently found your Blog and looking thru it and an finding a lot of good information, thanks! In response to "So why do they stay?" I wonder if it could be the same reason that people stayed on too long during the stock drop. Way too many people felt that things would bounce back. They hung on too long and lost a lot more if they had gotten out earlier and cut thier losses. I think it may be human nature to think on the bright side and hope for the best. It will be better tomorrow but tomorrow never comes. One should have a limit that they reach when they start something like this. When they reach the limit they walk away. In some ways this is like gambling. You need to set your loss limits and then walk out of the casino when you meet that limit or if you win you can leave when you want to.
Thanks again for your blog.....
Barre
I'm in my 4th MLM company and finally feel like I found the company with a plan and a product that I can stick with for good. Part of that certainty also lies with your wisdom, Kim.
So why did I stick with the last 3 for so long? Because I didn't want to be a quitter; because I knew that I wasn't a failure and I wanted to prove it; because I liked the products and didn't want to quit using them; because I knew that there was something I was missing and I didn't want to leave until I figured it out.
I finally figured it out. Thanks for your help, Kim!
Kim,
I have not yet offered a post to your blog. I have enjoyed following the discussions offered.
<< In a business where we have a 95% drop out rate, it's interesting why those who stay, do so. >>
I think that this is interesting, too. I wonder if some of the reasons for staying might also be some things that I have felt myself.
I love my products and have come to believe that they are truly wonderful.
I have a couple of customers and I am trying to stretch myself to reach out for more. I think that they are pretty cost effective and competitively priced.
I believe in the business opportunity... I think net work marketing is brilliant. I would love to “make it big” or even be really happy to build some retirement income and security. I would like to help other people.
So, there are two of the three legs that I believe must be in place and alive in order to build a successful business: belief in the product/company, belief in the business model.
The third leg holding up this stool is belief in me, my purpose, my ability, etc. Classic NWM dream building stuff goes here along with affirmations, etc….
So, I am an educated woman. I am competent, smart, engaging, witty…. Sounds like an ad in a dating service!! I want more in life – I am timid about going for it….
But, I am full of hesitation.
I am not "building" my business. Why? Well, if I dig deep (or even just below the surface!), I am all of the stuff that we listen to tapes in order to overcome – full of the wrong self talk, shy, doubtful of my ability, afraid of being judged, nervous about “rejection”, feel like I need to have it all together before I start, I want to do it with someone else – I thrive on being part of a team - and not by myself (even though one promotion for MLM is: “you are in business for yourself but not by yourself”, you are still actually alone, if your up-line group is somewhere else, until you get a group), realize that I find it easier to sell something or perform a function in someone else’s name and much more difficult to sell it in my name..…., etc, etc…..
So, I have exposed some doubts and fears. Pretty text-book stuff.
So, why am I still in it? Why do I stay? Why do I desire to keep thinking of myself as a business builder rather than just a customer [even though I really am a great customer for my up-line], even though I hesitate to let other people know that “I am in business”?!
Well, as someone was quoted in your blog, I feel good when that occasional some one else finds value in my product. It is encouraging, and gratifying. As I noted above, I believe in the business model of MLM….
Well, perhaps there is an underlying, unspoken layer to which some people out there can relate. MLM represents hope. It represents the idea that I can do and be more – and, yes, have more. The occasional positive response from a “customer” represents hope. It is positive feed back for my choice, for my ability, for my possibility. I wonder if there is a fear of moving out of the state of hoping and into action, because what if your idea is a bust? What if you fail? I do not want to give up. I do not want to be a quitter….. So even though I am not really “doing it”, I maintain the projection, hope, of “when….”.
So, some of us stay in a state of moderate accomplishment, orbiting around the bright star of Possibility. We are held in this “comfortable” orbit by the conflicting energies of hope and doubt. The perfectly balanced tension between the two keeps us moving but not really going anywhere, per se. We are orbiting…..
To put it bluntly, we do not want to give-up, to quit - to quit the idea and the hope, to fail by giving up…. Hmmmm – We – I - do not want to fail by doing, and I do not want to fail by quitting. !! Classic! So, I do just enough to keep the dream and hope alive in my mind and heart but not enough to be threatened by actually failure. Then my hope would be gone…. There is a line to cross and it is challenging not only to cross it but even to acknowledge that it exists!
There is nothing intrinsically or conceptually wrong with orbiting. I believe that there are those who become members in order to simply use the product at a discount. I believe that there are many people out there, in NWM, who truly derive enough pleasure and satisfaction from the occasional sale or opportunity to share something of value with another. I also believe that there are many out there who are holding on to the dream of doing more, having more, being more. And many of these people may be a bit like me – not wanting to give up, to quit and yet not moving dynamically forward. We do not want to quit the business because that might feel like quitting ourselves….
This group of nominal producers is, quite apparently, a large group. I believe that the portion of this group that is fueled by a small and constant voice of what might be is huge! We are great customers. We are great purchasers of tapes and tools because we want to break free. (If not for us, the support industry for MLM would not exist!) Many of us would like to be “one of those” great success stories… Some of us will be! There will be a moment of critical mass, of desperation, of break through that hurls some of us out of the gnawing comfort of a familiar path of orbit into a flaming line heading straight toward our star of Possibility!
In the mean time, there is the ongoing hope of something more, which is not easily deserted….
I wax poetic.
Thanks for listening and for your thoughts…..
Catherine
Kim…
I am one of the former Excel reps who were in the 98.1 percent and who stuck.
I, too, loved the services and I, also, love helping people.
Excel was my first experience in the network marketing industry. My educational background is in engineering.
Once I began learning about the industry, it made perfect sense to me; leveraging yourself, helping people up, creating win-win situations. What a perfect way to do business.
It is so different from the corporate world.
But I disagree with you that it is not about money. It may not be about BIG money, but money definitely IS the reason most people look at this business.
Whether it is for just some extra money to help supplement their current situations, or a way to get some extra things that they can’t seem to get with their current income level, or if they want to get out of the corporate world and be able to take care of themselves financially.
My reason is to get out of the corporate world and be able to take care of myself and my family financially.
I am in this industry for the long haul because I did make a little money and that proved to me that this business model does work. For me, that gives me hope.
I think that, that is the reason that people do stay. It gives them hope.
I believe that, because this business is so much different than the corporate world, most of us really don’t know how to get our arms around it to figure out how to make it work.
We’re taught how to work for someone else and do assignments, but not how to own and operate businesses.
We hear… just talk to everyone you know… or just talk to everyone… it’s a numbers game.
We’re excited at the possibilities, but we’re not given sufficient training to learn how to get successful at it.
I keep listening to people like yourself and Tim Sales. I truly love Tim’s “Professional Inviter” series. It is absolutely fabulous. He is providing the training that, I think, has been lacking to get successful in this business model.
I am very stubborn and I will figure it!
Thank you,
Cherryl from Oregon
Catherine is absolutely right on the money. When our dream is financial freedom and when the time comes to test that dream....what if it really doesn't work out? if our success is far less than hoped for? if all the rhetoric is false? ..... then what is left for us?
We are afraid that if we fail we will have nothing left to dream about and help us get through the tough financial times we all experience from time to time.
Wonderful to see all these reactions...Yes, many people do start this because they want money - although I wonder how much of that initial reason they give is due to how the business is presented: A way to make income.
Which of course it is. But since it takes much longer and requires much more effort than most people imagine, based on their hopes, lack of experience and what they were told by the people in front of the room, people give up almost right away.
And yes, some who stay are still dreaming about making money with it...but I'd bet they stick because they DO love the people, the products, and making a difference. Were it not for THOSE things, I suspect they'd have joined the 95% who did quit, because there was no money easily available, and the 95% I'm talking about - the quitters - had no other reason to stick.
Think?
Kim,
Besides agreeing with most of our other colleagues have said, I believe that most people stay around because it doesn't cost them money. And besides they can always continue to enjoy some great products and services at wholesale value.
Let's face it, statistics say that 90% of all new businesses fail before their second year. And that is valid for all kind of business, be it a corner shop, a franchise or web base start-up. Why would be MLM business different?
The difference is that when you've set up an "standard" business and it doesn't go well, you better shut it up before your operating costs eat all your reserves (if you have any). On the other hand, a non performing MLM business can go on and on forever. Just fueled by the hope of future success, the love of the products, the joy of meeting interesting people or the good feeling of being part of somehting big. If that's enough for some many, they can stay as long as they want.
Stay cool!
Thanks for the many good comments.
Some thoughts...
If it is only about the money, chances are you will not stick with it. Because it takes so much practice to get good, and so much restarting and trying again, that if you do NOT really love what you are doing enough, you will not practice enough to get good at it. That's why most everyone quits. There are afterall, other ways to make money, especially the little most reps make. People gravitate towards those things when the promises fall flat and no one really helps, but nags instead (you know, their upline...).
There is never a guarantee of success, so you better love the people the products, or somethinig about the business besides the money. That comes so infrequently that it doesn't sustain the interest of 95% of the folks.
Those who come in for the money often stay way longer because they do start to fall in love with the people, making a diffrerence, and feeling like they have meaning in their lives.
I think those things will help keep someone in, even without income. In fact, many people have jobs to support their "mlm habit" - I mean that "habit" in the good ways I've described. THOSE are the ones with a chance to make it.
Ray Gebauer of Mannatech told us on a live conference call years ago, that he worked 40-45 companies for 19 years before he finally made some big money in Mannatech...until then, he'd never made more than $1,000/mo, and usually much less. But he LOVED the idea of NM, and stayed with it all those years.
And now look...
All I am saying is: The promise of money is not enough.
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