The Business Models Drive

the Behavior in the Field

Part 4

I am really just trying to give you some benchmarks here.  You really have to look for this stuff to see if you have a company that’s right for you.  Because I am here to tell you, these companies are not usually going volunteer this kind of information.  You are an intelligent person.  You went to school.  Raise your hand and ask some questions.  If not you are probably going to get squashed.

Here is yet another example of how the business models drive the behavior in the field.  This is a completely different company that we will use as a comparison and contrast to “ABC Company” in the previous example.  Let us call this the “XYZ Company.”  This is a product company.  By this I mean that they are a legitimate network marketing company who sells tangible products. 

“XYZ Company” noticed and grasped this concept of high overhead and its behavior driving characteristics.  The company decided to set up their business model so that it was so streamlined that they could pay more money to the field.  They decided that if they could use more technology, they could hire less people.  Less people means less overhead.  Technology is cheaper than hiring people.  More technology allows for more compensation to the field.

So the first thing they did to achieve this was to build their own software.  Most people would not see the importance of this.  So this warrants some exploration.  Almost 100% of all network marketing companies purchase their software from a software company that has never built a downline.  Think about that one.  They do not know how to spell M-L-M and they do not have the first clue as to what network marketing really is.  They look at your company as a business, which it is, and they show you the software that they have created that is for businesses. 

Let us divert to another concept for just a moment, which should add some insight into what is being explained here.  The #1 problem in Internet marketing is called “web site abandonment.”  Example:  a person goes online and they would like to purchase some clothes, or a vitamin, or a DVD, or a muffler for their 1978 Chevy Nova. 

These web sites are so confusing that people do not really know what they are doing.  They get confused and frustrated and they leave the web site.  It would only make sense that if the #1 problem facing marketers on the Internet is “web site abandonment,” that people, right from the get-go, should create a web site that is user friendly?

Now we should meld this concept with that of network marketing.  Most network marketing companies have one company web site.  That is the site where people can buy the products that the company is marketing.  The representatives, affiliates and distributors do all of their advertising and lo and behold, they get really great and excited sales prospects.  They send the prospects to the web site, and the first thing the potential customer sees is a big bright shining building.

If you want to sell your prospect a product, you have to spend some serious time on the phone directing the person through the maze of the web site.  You have to give them explicit instructions.  “Okay, this is where to go, what to click on, click on this link, go here, do this, jump through this fiery hoop, but you have to juggle a bowling ball, a chainsaw and a rubber chicken while singing the ABCs backwards…  Then you get to the product you are trying to buy.”  The customer just gets frustrated and says “FORGET IT!!”

The web site should not need a 25 page manual just to get a potential sale.  These companies do not just let the person buy the product.  They feel an incessant need to pitch all of these people on how great it is to be a distributor and how fantastic the company is.  That customer is probably not interested in becoming a distributor, and they may only be marginally intrigued by the company that is selling them the product.  They just want to buy.  So why not let them buy?  What are these companies thinking? 

Let us say that I am selling a skin care product.  I do not want my customers to go through the weight loss system just to get to the skin care product.  I want them to just go to the skin care site.  All they want is an anti-aging facial cream and they are getting older by the minute just navigating through the web site!  These companies, who are not really marketers, put all of the stuff into one confusing labyrinth of a web site.

What led to this way of doing business?  This is a concept that was popularized by department stores.  You can see this for yourself.  Just go to the mall and find one of the major department stores and walk around.  The layout of the store is designed to be confusing so you will spend more time shopping for products.  You are confused as to where the exit is, so you just buy more stuff.  That’s the idea anyway. 

This may work for department stores, but it does not apply to shoppers on line today.  The Internet is an entirely different marketplace.  Nowadays, this cheap trick does not work.  The marketer must actually capture and hold the attention of the potential customer, not simply hold the person’s body captive in the maze.   Shoppers do not need to spend time looking for the exit.  They simply need to click that little red and white box with the X in the top right-hand corner of their screen.  And presto.  “Now it’s time to go find what I was actually looking for.”  This is precisely the behavior that businesses want to avoid.

Here is the problem with this.  The well meaning network marketer gets frustrated about the poorly developed web site and starts building their own web sites.  They get some mild success and they decide to go out and buy a really great web site creator and “get this thing done right.”  Or so they think…  This is where the distributors get into trouble.  These distributors think that if they do not mention any company or product names, they can make a bunch of claims.  “This stuff grows your arm back!!!… cures cancer!!!… blind people can see!!!…If you’re four foot tall this stuff will make you six foot tall by tomorrow!!!”

The company should supply the site so these people do not get themselves into some real trouble.  But they don’t.  Now people are lost.  Then, the company begins to receive complaints that there is a guy out there that is making all of these bogus claims.  There is a federal government agency that monitors when companies make product and income claims for their validity.  The guys in the dark suits can come along, lock up the company leaders, and shut the company down. 

That comes, in part, due to the fact that the company is not intelligent enough to design the web sites so they can protect the distributors by asking them to just use these sites.  These are approved sites.  You can not alter them. They are safe to use and will not get anyone into trouble.

So how important is it to have great web sites?  They can make or break the success of the business.  The web sites should be safe, user friendly, and designed to sell.  Many network marketing companies do not have anything that can do that for them.  They don’t even have a clue.

THE BUSINESS MODELS DRIVE THE BEHAVIOR IN THE FIELD

Kristopher Curry

Mentoring For Free

“Be a mentor with a servant’s heart.”