Lead With MLM Products or Opportunity?

I’ve been involved in many different discussions over time about whether it makes more sense, when promoting your network marketing business, to lead with (focus on) your MLM products when talking to prospects, or your income opportunity.

I have to admit it’s a fascinating topic, and I’ve found that many people are hard core believers one way or the other.

Some business builders feel that leading with your income opportunity is the way to go, because what people are looking for is how to make money, and pitching the product won’t really generate that much interest and stimulate those emotions that make people want to sign up. In their view, the money and compensation is the main thing, and the products are secondary. They are there as a vehicle to earn the compensation, but the making money is what it’s all about.

Others believe that the MLM products are the true foundation of any successful business, and the greatest compensation plan in the world doesn’t mean much if the products aren’t of excellent value and don’t provide substantial benefit for the money. True value and benefit, over and above what people can buy at Wal-Mart or traditional retail outlets.

Personally, I believe that a balanced MLM business presentation puts emphasis on both the opportunity (making money) and the products (the foundation of the business opportunity itself in my opinion). In addition, you have to look at the big picture, and understand what helps hold a group together.

Here are a couple of extremes.

MLM Opportunity Focus

Here, you push your income opportunity hard and focus on how you make money with your business. If someone asks questions about the products, you brush them off or give a very shallow reply, not saying much about them at all.

You try to keep the conversation centered on how much money can be made, the benefits of a wealthy lifestyle, all the cruises and perks you can get, the BMW you can earn, and so forth. The products are sort of there to keep things legitimate and legal.

MLM Products Focus

In this approach, you put your emphasis on the quality and benefits of using your MLM products. If you’re selling a home care line, you may have a chart showing how your products save money over similar products you can find in retail stores. You may carry samples and hold tasting parties and things like that.

The objective is to bring people in by getting them to try the products and fall in love with them. You are focusing on creating consumers, then teaching them how to create other consumers, and everyone gets paid on products that are purchased and consumed.

Balanced MLM Product / Opportunity Focus + One Intangible

In the balanced focus, you don’t put all your attention solely on the money or the products, but rather present the opportunity and products as a “winning combination” that creates an outstanding income opportunity. You also introduce an intangible here – the concept of your team, and how working together can create wealth for everyone who really wants it.

People ready to embrace opportunity don’t want to sign up with you or your compensation plan. These things may excite them, but what they really want is to sign up with YOU and be a part of your TEAM. They want something bigger than just the MLM products or the income alone, they want to be part of something exciting and loaded with potential!

What do you think?

Did you get some value from this post? If you did, I would really appreciate you sharing it with others! And, your comments are welcome below!

Got a minute? Take a look at what’s working in an online business for me...

If you have a home business and are happy, that's good. If you are looking for the right opportunity, the right mentor, and something you can build online, I would enjoy the opportunity to share what I'm doing. Click here and let’s explore the possibilities.