There is not a hard and fast industry number. I have heard figures in the 80-95% range.

The issue is not necessarily how many people quit, as this means different things to different people. For instance:

* Are you referring to turnover…ie. leaving the company altogether; or

* Do you mean those who are still with a company but are not “working the business”?

While the 80/20 rule used to apply to MLM, if you ask most veterans they will tell you it is 95/5 these days. There are many reasons for the drop in serious MLM workers. For instance:

1. People choose a company based on the opportunity, not the product. I have many clients who tell me that they are only interested in a product to legitimize the compensation plan. These are generally the same people who more around constantly, waiting for the next ground floor opportunity.

2. MLM’s that provide a fairly priced retailable product, and marketing materials that help their representatives market such, generally provide their people with more stable businesses. For instance, I have used the products from one company that started out as MLM and have been a customer since 3/01. The initial compensation plan has changed, but it had little effect on those who wanted the product.

3. Affiliate programs have muddied the MLM water. While not providing the depth generally found in MLM companies, affiliate programs usually require no investment or monthly autoship. There are many one and two tier programs to choose from and affiliates are not barred from promoting more than one company’s products or services.

4. A lot of my clients were never successful in MLM’s because they really weren’t looking for a business in the first place. They were looking for a way to pay some bills. That does not make an entrepreneur. It doesn’t create that “fire in your belly” to operate your own business. Only 5% of the U.S. population is entrepreneurial, so a lot of failure is due to round pegs trying to fit into square holes.

So, how does someone succeed with such small MLM retention rates?

1. Understand that most businesses fail within the first five years. This statistic is not limited to MLM.

2. If you are committed to doing what it takes, you can become that 1 out of 5 who is successful. But it does take time, money and COMMITMENT.

3. With these statistics in mind, it is imperative to select a company that provides a unique, fairly priced product that will attract customers. Even if you want to spend the majority of your time recruiting MLM representatives, your customer base will provide a solid foundation for you and your sales team.

Hope this helped!

Debbi Bressler

There are affiliate programs which take about a year to establish a reasonable amount of monthly income.

In both cases, 99% of the people who get involved think that they are going to make a lot of money fast and give up after two weeks before they even begin to learn what they are doing and after paying various amounts of money to people who claim to be selling the “secret”.

It takes hard work over an extended period of time to make it in eaither situation.

My guess the quitting rate is somewhere near the non-success rate of 90%.

The clever ones who know how to milk the system leave to a new one where they start near the top of another pyramid.

The stupid ones who are being milked leave either because they have learnt the error of their ways or they are now being milked at the other MLM.

:-)~

The “friends and family” network only goes so far, especially if you’ve gone down that road previously. Bottom line is if you treat it like a business, it will pay you like one. If you had a traditional business, how would you promote it? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Business Cards - Give them to everyone you some in contact with.

2. Network. Go to business networking functions. Be proud and confident and people will treat you with respect even if they don’t have any interest in your offer.

3. Sell your product not your opportunity. In any business (network marketing included), you only make money if you sell a product. Don’t get into a company because you like the pay plan because if you don’t promote the products, you’ll never see a check.

4. Use the web. Build a web site, write articles, and create viral marketing pieces. They all work.

5. Make a plan. No one plans to fail, but many fail to plan. I don’t say that to be cute - it’s a fact!

Regards,

Anthony

You are probably already doing this but receiving ongoing training and education in the business is probably the most important action you can take each day. Click on my name to find other posts I’ve written where I recommend a lot of resources in that regard.

I have built my network marketing business via the Internet, once with a health and wellness company and now with a financial education and lifestyle management company. In the first company I was one of the top 25 distributors in the world for customer acquisition for three years in a row and I attracted all of those customers via the Internet.

I don’t mention that to brag but to point out that with some companies you can build a business online (and on the phone).

I list the 10 Internet marketing tools that have helped me the most on my website.

By the way, I think Bookwise is a good company (if that’s who you’re with) but selling books is a highly competitive market. I looked at Bookwise but I couldn’t get past this question, which I knew potential customers would ask me, “Why should I buy books from you when I can buy them cheaper from my local Barnes & Noble or on Amazon.com?”

If you’ve come up with a convincing answer to that question, my hat’s off to you.

My general advice when looking for a company is to look for companies with products that are either unique or possess superior quality. Otherwise, the big companies will beat us on price and availability.

All the Best,

Mark
–
Mark D. Worthen, Psy.D.

There are many ways to approach persons for MLM concept.

1st is the curiousity approach without sharing the company name but sharing the information of the products/services it deals in.
2nd is direct approach sharing directly about the company.
3rd is the sharing the product[s] with the prospects/leads as per their requirement and making them customers and you can have good number of customers and in future some of them may join with you if you treat them good.
4th is you treat people with more love and effection who do not join your MLM and when you are successful then they might join with you.
People who do not join MLM and who are negative about MLM because they were mistreated in some way or the other when they either did not join MLM or if they joined MLM then they were treated in bad way.The negativity about MLM is also there because the people are not fully informed and they have half information about MLM irrespective of whether they join with MLM or not.