Do You Know What MLM Is?

Do you know what MLM is?

Ask the average person that question and they'll answer something to the effect of:

"MLM is any program with a commission structure that is split up into multiple tiers or multiple levels".

That's the general consensus among most marketers. There are reseller programs
with one or two tiers, and then there's MLM.

The legal definition, however, is simpler, and more accurate. According to the law MLM is any marketing program in which resellers are compensated to recruit other resellers .

Repeat that a number of times in your head, because it bears repeating.
Repeat that a number of times in your head, because it bears repeating.

The law knows that any program where resellers are recruited to recruit other resellers is designed to be marketed to infinite levels, and is not concerned with commission structure.

Example:

These 1-up, 2-up, 3-up, Up-Yours programs sprouting up all over the internet most certainly are MLM. They were created to obfuscate the fact that they are MLM.

Check out this chart from Coastal Vacations, an Aussie 2-up program demonstrating their compensation plan.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v704/jnapier/Coastalmarketingplan-a-small.gif

If it looks strangely familiar, it should. It's MLM. 2-UP program are designed to get resellers to recruit more resellers to...

Any program in which resellers are compensated to recruit more resellers is MLM.

Two-tier programs such as K&B or IMC, despite all the claims to the contrary, are , per letter of the law, MLM. Most people who join up with these companies do not think of themselves as members of a downline, when they really are. Because of the sub-dealer program, the programs are marketed by chain selling. Resellers will recruit subdeals who recruit sub-dealers who....The product owner/ company benefits greatly from the recruitment efforts of others.

Gurus. Don't listen to what they say watch what they do. They use MLM. They create products with "resale rights", which people purchase and then sell to others, who in turn sell...

For example, read the sales copy in Marlon Sander's "Amazing Formula". Notice how he explicitly encourages his customers to resell the product? That's just slipping MLM through the back door.

Another example. Here's a snippet from the sales copy in IMC's ebook Pro

"Look at these remarkable results after only three generations:
First generation: 10 people read your eBook
Second generation: 100 people read your eBook
Third generation: 1,000 people read your eBook "

That's MLM.

Additionally major companies like Paypal have used MLM-chain selling to itself. They did something simple. They gave a $5 credit for referring a friend, who in turn referred a friend who... Worked like a charm.

My point in all of this? I dunno, guess I don't really have one other than most people don't really understand what MLM is.