Jun 27

There are companies that tell you straight out in the MLM policies and procedures just how tuff they are going to make things for you. I guess they just figure you will never read it any way.

Several companies have statements like,

[Company] may terminate a distributor for any reason or no reason at all.

If you read that, I hope you are smart enough to run the other way.

But a lot of companies like to hide what they tell you. Put it so you don’t understand it when you read it. Like this.

[Company] reserves the right to suspend or terminate any Distributorship at any time for cause…

Usually they tell you right before this, lot’s of reasons they could terminate you. And those reasons usually make sense. Then they add the one above.

There is one word in there that you may not understand. A simple looking word.

Keep in mind that your mlm policies and procedures are a legal contract. What does that little word “cause” mean in legal terms?

From Black’s Law Dictionary, page 212 of the 7th eddition, says “CAUSE – Something that produces an effect or result”.

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: ,

Jun 25

Ooops, do you have a problem.

Did you miss the gotcha on line one?

This little one.

All Independent Business Owners (IBOs) are required to read, understand and comply with ALL [Company] IBO Polcies and Procedures..

Do you really think they put it in your contract, your policies and procedures, for no reason?

Why would they want you to read and understand your policies and procedures anyway?

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , , ,

Jun 22

Most network marketing applications have one or more boxes that you check right before finalizing your sign up as a distributor with the company. If you don’t check them, you can’t sign up.

Why are you being asked to check the boxes?

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , , , ,

Jun 21

The MLM Dream and Your Policies and Procedures. What do they have to do with your MLM Success?

Throughout the world of MLM, there is one dream that almost everyone has in common. They have the dream to build a big MLM team with a big income and then retire from their MLM responsibilites and continue to earn that big check.

Does that sound like you, or people on your team?

In the almost 30 years that I have been in MLM, this dream of retiring with a big MLM income has been a big selling point for bringing people into the business. Thirty years ago it may have been true. But is it still true today?

Check out this example from a company’s policies and procedures. In this policy, IMC is the company’s designation for their distributors.

IMC Supervisory Role. Any IMC who sponsors other IMCs must fulfill the obligation of performing a bona fide supervisory role in the sale or delivery of product to the ultimate consumer and in the training of those sponsored. Each IMC must have ongoing contact and communication with their sales organizations and also provide management supervision. Examples of such supervision may include, but are not limited to: written correspondence, personal meetings, telephone contact, voice mail contact, electronic mail contact, providing training sessions, accompanying individuals to Company training, and sharing genealogy information with those sponsored. Each IMC should be able to provide evidence to the Company semiannually of his/her ongoing fulfillment of sponsor responsibilities.

I see similar statements in almost every company’s policies and procedures that I read. They may be worded a little differently each time but all say the same thing that you don’t want to hear;

YOU CAN NOT RETIRE AND KEEP YOUR INCOME.

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , , ,

Jun 16

This is one of the worst policies ever included in an MLM company’s policies and procedures.

The Famous #9 Enroller Policy!

As far as I know, this policy can only be found in one company’s policies and procedures. So there is no need for me to name the company. Just look in your company’s policies and procedures to see if you have it. Do be aware that they may move it from the 9 position to another position which they have done at least once already. I have removed the company name and replace it with [Company].

9. Enroller Policy
Should an individual personally enroll someone and place that individual under another person in their downline, [Company] reserves the right of the personally enrolling individual to later regain that placed individual for other placement options should the situation deem necessary. This policy is enforced at the discretion of the [Company] Corporate Sales Manager.

Let’s take a look at this policy. First you should know that the company encourages distributors to place personally sponsored people somewhere other than their first level. There is nothing wrong with doing so in my opinion as long as the person being placed agrees to it.

Now notice that the policy is talking about these people that have been placed in the distributors downline. Now the really bad part. Later the company can take those people and place them somewhere else should the situation deem necessary.

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , ,

Jun 14

Let’s take another look at policies and procedures. This one could be a part of your company’s policies and procedures and could cause you some major difficulties. So hang on to those sales receipts.

Here goes, and as usual I have removed the company name and replaced it with [Company] so I wouldn’t hurt any ones feelings.

Retail Sales Receipts
Federal law requires that you provide each customer with a Retail Sales Receipt at the time of sale. [Company] requires that you use authorized Retail Sales Receipts that can be purchased from [Company] for each sale of [Company] products. A sample is included in your Distributor Kit.

In addition, you must keep copies of each Retail Sales Receipt you issue for one year after the date of the sale. [Company] may, at any time, request that you provide your Retail Sales Receipts to [Company] in order to verify retail sales for a given pay period. If you fail to provide Retail Sales Receipts to [Company] within 10 days of a request, your Distributorship may be suspended or terminated, at the sole discretion of [Company]. Submission of falsified Retail Sales Receipts will be grounds for termination of your Distributorship.

First paragraph, no big deal but I wonder how much they make selling distributors those sales receipts that they can not get from any other source.

Second paragraph is a big big problem. The requirement to keep those sales receipts comes from the company, not the law. They want to be able to verify a distributor’s retail sales because distributors have agreed to do retail sales in order to receive compensation from the company earned in the compensation plan.

If distributors can not provide these retail sales receipts then company can take actions against the distributor. I forgot to mention that the reason I chose this particular company’s policies is because they have taken action against distributors. The action; termination. The distributors that I know about were all top distributors in the company.

This company just stole the distributors checks.

Continue reading »

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: ,

Jun 08

Have you ever seen disclosure statements on an MLM web site?

There are two basic reasons an MLM company has disclosure statements.

One is to dazzle and confuse you with charts and graphs into believing that they have the best program of any network marketing company on the planet.

When you see this type of disclosure and you have been around network marketing for a while then youCaution sign should be able to recognize that they are telling you that the success rate of distributors in their company is way beyond what you have ever seen before. It will appear that almost everyone who joins makes lots of money.

All they are doing is reporting partial information. The favorable part. I have had distributors from one company that believe after looking at their company’s disclosures that one our of every 30 distributors will make $10,000 per month. That of course means that you would have to make more than $300 off of each of those 30 distributors each month. Since the average distributor does not even approach $300 of personal volume each month, then that would not be possible. Companies don’t pay more than 100% back to distributors. The numbers average around 50%. And this is MLM, you don’t make all the money from everyone in your downline. Others share those profits too.

The good news is that if you do have some success with the company then it is just a matter of time till you learn that they have deceived you. What else are they willing to lie to you about?

The second reason for disclosures is companies that are required to report this info because of a court order.

Continue reading »

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , , ,

Jun 05

Build it Once, Build it Big, Build it to Pay Your Children’s Children is my motto.

I read Success In 10 Steps and joined Mentoring For Free three years ago and learned how to put myself inMentoring For Free LOGO the best possible position to be successful in network marketing and it has really paid off. It starts with choosing the company that puts you in the best possible position for success.

So when I was searching for my last network marketing company, the following clause could not be in my new company’s policies and procedures and should not be in yours either.

“Distributors must renew their Agreement each year…”

“The Company reserves the right to reject any applications for a new distributor or applications for renewal.”

When I checked, had I seen this type of statement in the company’s policies and procedures, I would have quit reading and rejected the company as a possibility for me.

Why? Because the company has given themselves a way to Continue reading »

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , , , , ,

Jun 03

We are going to continue examining MLM company policies and procedures in bite size pieces today.

The policy below could present a serious problem to your MLM success in the future. This is right from a major network marketing company’s policies and procedures. I changed the company name to [company]. If you think it could be your company, just go to your policies and read 10.3 but also be aware that when the company does a revision they may put it in a different section.

Read it, then we can take a closer look at it.

10.3. AGREEMENT TERMINABLE AT WILL
You may terminate your relationship with [company] at any time by providing a signed written notice to [company]. [Company] may also terminate the relationship with you (including any partnerships, corporations or other entity) at any time by providing written notice. You or [company] are not required to have any reason, nor do you or [company] have to claim or prove any cause to terminate this relationship. If and when the relationship is terminated, you shall have no claim against [company] nor any right to claim or collect lost profits, lost opportunities or any other damages. Termination will result in the loss of all benefits as an [company] Independent Consultant.

So what do you think? It starts nice. You can terminate your relationship with the company. If you are making money, why on earth would you want to do that? Of course you would not. If you have any recurring income, then even if you change companies you don’t want to quit, if they are sending you checks because the checks would stop coming if you terminate.

Fair is fair, or is it?

Continue reading »

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , , , ,

May 29

You will hear about company’s policies and procedures over and over on this blog. We are going to look at them in bite size chunks.

These policies and procedures are your legal contract with your MLM company. You really need to know what you are signing and how it may affect you long term.

So let’s start with an easy one. This one is found in a lot of policies and procedures so instead of naming a company I have inserted [company] where you would normally see a company name.

[Company] expressly reserves the right to terminate all Agreements upon thirty (30) days written notice in the event that it elects to: (1) cease business operations; (2) dissolve as a corporate entity; or (3) terminate distribution of its products and services via relationship marketing.

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written by Don Standard \\ tags: , , , , , , , ,