It has been quiet for a couple of days in this blog because I’m busy learning things more about affiliate marketing. I just found a great resource that can help me improve my campaigns and its not free. I’ll just have to try it out first before blogging it here.

Anyways, I’m also messing around with offline stuff and I was being convinced into joining in an MLM (Multi Level Marketing) business a.k.a. pyramiding. Now, pyramiding is not illegal. Though most of them are. There are still some legit MLM companies out there. But this post is not about how to spot a scam MLM company but about how they sell.

A friend of mine in college experienced being recruited in an MLM company back then and when I told my story to him, he said that the “sales pitch” of these sales agents are all the same. We laughed and talked about it “Pare yan din sinabi saken noon eh, ganyang ganyan yun!”. Taking into account that this friend of mine got recruited 3 -4 years ago. If their not changing the strategy, it only means one thing, its EFFECTIVE! Let’s enumerate their sales pitch strategy a.k.a. marketing strategy that makes MLM companies (and even scam companies) successful.

MLM Sales Tactics

1. Rags to Riches. They will first start the conversation of what’s their situation years ago before they got into their MLM company. They will tell you all the saddest story from being a highschool drop out to a dog died experience. Just to make you feel that they are just an ordinary person like you that have their ups and downs in life. Of course, you will be interested to know that how this guy got to own a BMW if he’s just a high school drop out? On to our next tactic.
2. The Doubts. They will then tell you how they found the company and how hesitant they were at first. They will tell you that they are just like you that are skeptic and don’t want to spend money for the MLM company. They will blurt out the reason, “I have no money”, “I don’t trust the company because it might be a scam”. The sales agent is already putting his self on the customer’s shoes. He knows about the doubts and that builds rapport. This is a very good psychology because the people being persuaded to join might already be in doubt. The sales agent already did the work for them to clarify the doubts by presenting certificates of legitimacy, business permits, pictures of the president of the company shaking hands with a prominent figure.
3. The Hero Shot. This time, the sales agent will brag about WHO are the people already joined the MLM company. They will name names of celebrities, generals, political figures or people that are already rich. This will give the clients an idea of how “exclusive” this company may be.
4. The Opportunity. This is the fun part as most bloggers in the internet do this (me included). Post the earnings. This will give an idea to the client of the earning potential IF they join the MLM company. They will will show you Php100,000 check amount of money earned per day that its funny how we see our eyes got big but not bigger than the amount of money they have. They make it sound so easy by comparing it to a normal day job. They can earn Php100,000 per day and they will point that out compared to a normal day job. They will show you their BMW’s, introduce you to their youngest millionare teenager just to prove to you that its the shit. They will say to you that you are given an opportunity to change your life by joining their MLM company. This is a psychological tactic that makes the client feel in control. Now that the client is in a trance. It’s time for the next part.
5. The Challenge / Call To Action. They will flatter you. Tell you something like this “You, <your name>, you are intelligent, you know how to grab and opportunity when you see one. This is an opportunity that we are giving you, its all yours for the taking…”. This will most likely result to the person joining. Because no matter how hard they think, they will not see any reason why NOT to take it. The business is legit, check. Earning potential is big, check. Make it look easy to earn, check. This is how many people get scammed. They forget the fact that the reason why these agents want you to join is not about helping you. But its about the money.

We can learn a lot from their example as most of these principles are used in internet marketing.

I am not against MLM because I believe that its a really great marketing strategy. A lot of successful businesses started as MLM. It really opens opporunity for small players to do business. But the fact is, it is against my belief in business. Business for me should be for the long term, that even my 8th generation grand child may earn from it. In MLM, there is no way it could survive 10 to 20 years from now. Once the flow of sign ups stopped, the PYRAMID will shatter. And the ones that will get affected are the ones below. It’s not really helping people build a business, but a legitimate way to take someone else’s money.