Till now, I still see a lot of people doing direct sales in China, and from time to time, I meet people doing direct sales to talk to me and ask me why I don't do such a good business. As they are full of enthusiasm, in the QQ to talk about wasting time but also damage feelings, so I generally take avoidance policy. Here I will write in detail their own point of view, do direct marketing or ready to do direct marketing friends please refer to.
Is direct selling worth doing?
1, the product is good is worth doing?
First of all, I'm sure that many of the products of regular direct selling companies are very good. My family and I have long used Zhongshan Perfection's Aloe Vera Shampoo, Aloe Vera Body Wash, Aloe Vera Mineral Crystals, Sand Garlic Capsules, Amino Acid Tablets and Aloe Vera Gel, and I also buy Amway's Vitamins and Minerals, and Nu Skin's Glacial Mud and Bone and Joint Formula.
Each of the regular direct-selling companies has its own punchy products. Amway's strength lies in nutritional supplements containing natural plant ingredients and household cleaning; Nu Skin is strong in skin care products, and in recent years it has acquired Huamao, which is rivaling Amway in nutritional supplements; Perfection's products are suitable for the general public, and the price is more appropriate, with most of its products containing aloe vera; Zenith's shark liver oil and ostrich oil are imported from Iceland, and are of good quality and effect. I won't go into details about the other companies.
The question is, is it worth doing just because the products are good?
Many direct sellers tell me, "If the product is good, the market is big!"
But how many people are sharing this "big market" with you?
The direct selling system encourages the development of "downline", and its greatest attraction lies in the "passive income" brought by the downline, so that direct sellers feel that as long as the downline is large enough, they do not have to do all the money. So they must spare no effort to "development team". As a result, there are more and more people who work for the same direct selling company, and they compete with each other more and more.
To see how big the competition can be, just go to Taobao and search for "Amway". The vast majority of the merchants on Taobao are selling at a discount. I've bought them. But now I don't dare to buy online, because there are posts on the Taobao said fake, to real best to go to the store to buy.
Besides this, another subtext of the direct selling system is that it does not provide protection policies to the agents. On the contrary, other producers who develop agents and distributors have different degrees of protection policies, such as the prohibition of collusion, the prohibition of price cutting, advertising and promotion support, regional division, and the violation of the agents will be deducted and penalized deposit or even cancel the renewal of the qualification. Manufacturers will have a limited, planned to control the number of agents and dealers, in order to ensure that they can make a profit. If the number of agents and distributors is out of control and their interests are jeopardized, they will most likely not continue to distribute the manufacturer's products.
But what about direct selling companies? Direct selling companies welcome unlimited agents! I don't need to tell you how that turns out.
2, the pitfalls of the direct selling system
The biggest dream of direct sellers is not to have to work to have income, the so-called "passive income". The premise of passive income is that you develop enough downlines, when these downlines generate turnover, you will be able to get a certain percentage of the total commission.
The most common way of describing the program is called "642 program", that is: you develop 6 friends, each of these 6 friends to develop 4 downline, and then each of these 4 people to develop 2, then the total **** development of 6 X 4 X 2 = 48 (people), if each person produces 10,000 yuan of turnover per month, your downline team will be able to produce 480,000, according to 4% commission you can earn 19,200,000 yuan.
Looks like a wonderful example and takes into account non-exact replication. What in fact?
I think that only a sufficiently strong and dedicated sales mix can achieve the above assumptions. 10K sales per month is tough for the average person; it's achievable for professional salespeople, but it's so little that you need to convince them that they can make more money by growing their downline or they'll easily lose it.
If you are good at selling and have the ability to organize 20-30 strong salesmen, direct selling is indeed for you. But most of the direct sellers I've talked to don't have that ability, so they're just working for nothing.
Selling is very difficult work, and salesmen have to endure a 99% frustration rate to stick with it for long. I've been in sales for a few years, including insurance, and I know how hard it is and how much pressure you need to endure that the average person just can't handle. Before a direct seller develops a downline, please seriously consider whether your friend, the person you are developing for, has the ability to do so, otherwise it will only cause him to lose time and money.
Another most troubling aspect of the direct selling system is that it requires you to act in the manner of a boss, but does not provide you with the freedom to be the boss. What does that mean? First, there is no base salary for direct selling, no social security medical treatment; second, all promotional expenses, car expenses, telephone expenses, entertainment expenses, venue fees and other expenditures are borne by the direct seller, the company will not be reimbursed, when the salesman can be reasonably reimbursed; third, you are not allowed to advertise, you are not allowed to rent storefronts, you are not allowed to part-time operation of other companies' products.
No base salary, do not buy social security health insurance, all the costs are responsible for, in order to facilitate the turnover of products but also to pay for the pressure of the goods, said the boss is good to hear, bad to hear that is the reverse of the labor. Said the boss, why not let me rent a storefront, advertising; does not provide special protection policies, special preferential conditions of cooperation, why not allow me to part-time other companies products. Such unequal conditions of agreement are very harsh on people who have no experience in business.
So, the direct selling system looks very beautiful, in fact, is not suitable for the general public, unless you have a very strong sales ability, organizational ability, or you have excellent business ability, or you have a particularly wide range of interpersonal relations, can quickly establish a relatively large consumer groups. If you lack these basic conditions, it is better to give up doing direct sales.
3, network direct selling, network marketing
Domestic direct selling companies on the Internet do not do. You look at their products and systems to understand.
These new technology signboard network marketing companies, more than to participate in the people to pay dozens, hundreds, thousands of dollars to buy membership or products as a membership fee, and then you have to continue to pull people to participate in, from which the share to you. Such an obvious pyramid scheme, but also attracted a lot of network hope SOHO people to join.
Amway and other direct selling companies are considered to be formally selling products, you can do a good job of selling products, organizing a good sales team, you can still earn a little conscience money. Network marketing companies, on the other hand, is completely pass the money game, even if there is a product is just a front, using people's ignorance, greed, inertia to gather money.
Take an example. There is a network company claiming to do online distance learning, join the members as long as the payment of about 1,000 fees can be lifelong use of the network's distance learning content, members of the development of the downline can earn commissions and constantly upgraded, the use of multi-level pay system. Because the company has a product, the website production looks very formal, so it was able to quickly gather a large number of members. Come to think of it, can this kind of one-time fee really support the development of a regular online distance learning company? Secondly, I wonder if the members who joined have taken a serious look at the company's educational products. I've seen it, it's crap, it lacks a foundation for long-term development, and not many people would be willing to pay that price if it wasn't for the sake of making money. How many of those paid members are real users?
This "distance learning company" was finally banned by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce.
4, how to deal with direct sales
If you agree with the products of a formal direct selling company, and think that there is a certainty that a large number of sales, then you can try.
Regular direct selling company refers to the State Administration of Industry and Commerce issued a direct selling certificate of the company.
Informal direct sales and pyramid schemes advertised on the Internet should not be touched, unless you think there is no problem in making money by cheating people.
5, how to identify pyramid schemes, network marketing
There are a few very simple principles, ask yourself: if it is not because of this product to make money, you and others will spend money to buy? Are there end users, i.e. consumers who are not buying it to make money? Do I need to develop a downline to make money?
6. Business Opportunities Outside of Direct Selling
Most of the people who do direct selling are wage earners and lack business experience. They choose direct selling largely because they don't understand business.
In fact, direct selling is arguably the worst business model. For agents, there is fierce internal competition and a lack of necessary protection and support policies; for direct selling company owners, maintenance costs are too high and relationships are too complicated.
A good business should start with market segmentation and detailed planning of four aspects: product, price, channel and promotion. Those who lack this ability please be patient, patient, patient! Don't start until you have the experience and knowledge to be able to navigate the business. As long as you have the experience, knowledge, ability, even if the lack of funds you can find investors.
7, support the country to resist marketing, strict control of direct selling
Direct selling and marketing is the same thing. The country under strict orders to boycott pyramid schemes, strict control of direct selling because of the huge harm seen in this multi-level system. The concept of "passive income" promoted by direct selling companies and direct selling teams is a serious departure from the basic values of society. This so-called "passive income" is fundamentally different from interest income, dividend income, rental income and so on, and its development will only lead to ignorance, greed, laziness, talk and fantasy.
8, conclusion
I spend so much time and ink to elaborate on the views of direct marketing, the purpose is to let more people can make the right choice, not to be misled. If readers think I said there is still a point of truth, you are welcome to reproduce the full text, in order to help the brainwashed people to return to their senses.