Are Some MLM Companies Protecting Themselves By Putting All Responsibilities On You? - By: Wayne Wu

What's your responsiblity as a network marketer? Our goal, long term residual income, is our reward for helping other people become financially independent. It's the result of us developing leaders in our downline organisations who in turn, foster leaders in their own downline organisations.

Network marketing is a leadership driven business. As such, you can only succeed when you lead by example. You cannot make your downline members do anything, as they are not your employees - they are independent entrepreneurs of their own accord. You cannot motivate anybody. That has to come from within others themselves. But you can lead people by teaching other people how to play the game.

Your responsibility is to develop yourself into a leader and lead. Period. However, some MLM companies want you to be the babysitter. They don't want to take on any responsibility in training their distributors or be accountable for their distributors' actions so they put all of that responsibility on you. And if you don't fully engage in your role as a babysitter, they can terminate you or steal your bonus check.

Again, the proof is in the policies and procedures. Many companies have the following clauses in their policies and procedures word verbatim. You'd think they all hired exactly the same lawyers to write their contracts. In fact, they do...

"Any Distributor who enrolls another Distributor into [Company] must perform a bona fide assistance and training function to ensure that his or her downline is properly operating. Distributors must have ongoing contact and communication with the Distributors in their Downline Organizations. Examples of such contact and communication may include, but are not limited to: newsletters, written correspondence, personal meetings, telephone contact, voice mail, electronic mail, and the accompaniment of downline Distributors to [Company] meetings, training sessions, and other functions. Upline Distributors are also responsible to motivate and train new Distributors in [Company] product knowledge, effective sales techniques, the [Company] Compensation Plan, and compliance with Company Policies and Procedures."

While the above clause does not sound too sinister when you first read it, it really is quite a serious statement. It's your job, not the company's, to make sure that new distributors get the low-down on its products, comp plan, and rules on an ongoing basis. If you don't do that, they can take away your distributorship and believe me, this has a happened.

I once heard a story of how a husband and wife team took some time out because the wife had fallen ill to cancer. She subsequently passed away. Three months after she passed on, the husband came back to continue building the business, only to find it had vanished because he didn't maintain ongoing contact with his team.

"Distributors must monitor the Distributors in their Downline Organizations to ensure that downline Distributors do not make improper product or business claims, or engage in any illegal or inappropriate conduct. Upon request, every Distributor should be able to provide documented evidence to [Company] of his or her ongoing fulfillment of the responsibilities of Distributor."

This clause means your responsibilities go way beyond being a leader. You are in fact now a compliance officer for your company and you're responsible for the actions of your entire downline, no matter how large it is.

What this means is if one of your downline members sponsors a drug addict who then goes and robs a service station, you're at fault because you didn't ensure that your rogue downline distributor did not engage in illegal conduct.

Oh, and they can make you prove that you are in regular communication and are enforcing the policies.

"As Distributors progress through the various levels of leadership, they will become more experienced in sales techniques, product knowledge, and understanding of the [Company] program. They will be called upon to share this knowledge with lesser experienced Distributors within their organization."

As you become more experienced in network marketing, you should pass down your skills to less experienced distributors. If you don't, your downline won't grow and your income won't grow. But this should be your decision and done at your liberty.

The fact that this above clause says "They will be called upon..." means the company can call you up, at the most inconvenient time, to train your organisation. If you refuse, you can terminate you because you've violated the policy.

While you may be thinking that I'm showing these clauses from a very cynical viewpoint, the sad reality is you have to look at them in a cynical way, because all of these clauses can be used against you if a company decides to enforce them.

Companies don't want to hurt their distributors, but they will if they have to. The companies who do not understand what MLM is about and just how important their distributors are, will always enforce their policies in their own best interest.

About the Author

Please read your policies and be aware of your rights and responsibilities as ignorance won't protect you. Wayne teaches network marketers how to generate an endless flow of qualified leads with powerful, low cost marketing. Learn how you can make money in less than 1 year in MLM, visit The Profitable Networker.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Wayne-Wu/66115

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