Perhaps you have more scruples than many of the MLMers I've met. If that is the case, I commend you. Generally, everything that came out of their mouths were angles to get me to buy Noni juice, Symmetry, Pre-Paod Legal, or any number of Quixtar products. It varied from hard-sell to hard soft-selling. Ugh.
Absolutely I have scruples! One could never last 1 year, let alone 19 years in an industry like MLM without scruples and integrity. It's a very small world. The challenge isn't the industry itself, but rather the people in it. It's not for everyone, and due to the nature of many compensation plans, there are certain personality types who are able to withstand the rigueurs. C. Edward Demmings once wrote nothing will impact your finances more than the mechanism by which you are paid, and it's true. The compensation plan of a company will always drive the behaviour in the field, and will naturally resonate with one of the 4 basic personality types. Certain personality types are drivers who can take constant rejection, get back up on the horse and do it all over again. They thrive on the challenges posed by MLM. They also only represent 15% of the population, but seem to dominate the leadership ranks of MLMs. Infact, they dominate the leadership ranks of most industries. They are what we call the
'Red' personality type and they naturally attract other
Reds. As a result, you have an industry full of
Reds. Interestingly enough, each company you mentioned, employs a comp plan that only appeals to the
Red personality. Only the
Reds have the intestinal fortitude to manuever and jump through all the hoops in those comp plans. As a result, you get a very pushy, aggressive hard sell.
The remaining 85% of the population
HATES to be sold, ...but they
LOVE to buy. The only ones that like to be sold are
REDS. They expect it. They'll say...'Go ahead, give it your best shot.' Then they'll rate you on how well you did. They expect to be closed. It turns off everyone else though. The compensation plans demand sales, so as a result, only
reds can hack it, ..and they sell to other
REDS who repeat the cycle. The rest drop out or have a very difficult experience with those types of comp plans.
Then there are the comp plans that appeal to the
BLUE personality types. Companies that work on the party plan approach naturally resonate with the
BLUE personality types. They LOVE the social aspect of the business, and love to have fun... whether they make any money or not. But
BLUES are fickle, and they will jump in and jump out the next day. It's hard to build and grow a sales force with such a rapid turnover.
Then there are the comp plans that appeal to the
YELLOW personality types, ...the nurturers, the care givers etc. Problem is, ...they're so busy nurturing and caring for everyone, no one is making sales, ...but they're feeling loved.
Then there are those comp plans that appeal to the
GREEN personality types, ...the engineers. These plans are so complicated that it takes an engineering degree to figure them out. All but the
GREENS walk away from them. Trouble is, ...by the time the
GREENS figure out exactly how it works, ...they're too exhausted to do anything with it. As a result... analysis paralysis sets in.
This inevitably leads to an industry dominated by
RED personality types... the CEOs, movers, shakers, lawyers etc., who have neither the time, nor patience to dither, nurture, coddle or putz around. They want to get straight down to business... hence the hard sell.
It's been a challenge over the years to design a comp plan that meets the needs of all people. If you make it too easy to access the big money, you don't attract the
RED movers & shakers who drive the business. If you make it too hard to access the big money, ...all you get are
REDS and a whole bunch of discouraged
BLUES &
YELLOW who drop out. As for the
GREENS ...well they're not discouraged yet, ...cause they haven't even started yet, ...they're still analyzing the pay plan.
Then there is one of the biggest challenges... how do you market the product without insulting your prospects?
Products that have traditionally done well often fall within the realm of skin care, nutrition, or weight loss. Have you ever seen someone sorely in need of losing weight? How do you tell them about this great weight loss product you're selling without insulting them? How do you tell your friend with all the wrinkles that s/he really needs your skin care product to take at least 10 yrs off their face? Those are dangerous waters to navigate. lol.
The business side isn't for everyone, ...but the products and services offered by the industry are for everyone at some point in their lives. Some companies have a better offering than others both product wise and opportunity wise. If you find a company with a product offering that can appeal to a mass market, one that is easily understood that doesn't require marketers to become doctors or get medical degrees to explain it... one that doesn't require consumers to become researchers in order to understand the science behind it, ...is consumeable, and produces an emotional reaction, ...and a simple easy to understand and achieve compensation plan that can resonate with all 4 basic personality types, ...you will have found yourself a winner. Here's where the real work will begin.