Network Marketing Compensation Plans
What You Need To Know & Why Choosing The Right Compensation
Plan Is Critically Important To Your Success!
IF YOU’VE BEEN RESEARCHING DIFFERENT COMPANIES', YOU’RE PROBABLY FEELING A LITTLE CONFUSED RIGHT NOW. YOU’VE ALSO NO DOUBT NOTICED THAT EACH COMPANY HAS A DIFFERENT COMPENSATION PLAN, WHICH THEY ALL CLAIM IS THE BEST IN THE INDUSTRY. SO, YOU'RE LEFT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT MAKES ONE COMPENSATION PLAN BETTER THAN ANOTHER.......
This is a very common concern / question, especially if you’re looking at this industry for the first time. Don’t feel bad though, most individuals involved in our industry only understand about 50% of the compensation plan of the company they’re with, let alone the compensation plans of their competition or other MLM companies' in general.
While a company’s product is clearly important, it’s the compensation plan that will actually tell you more about its long-term viability, as well as, offering you a clear picture of the intensions of the owners / executive officers. A quality management team, whose pursuit is to build a solid long-term company, will design a compensation plan so that both novices and experienced MLM professionals can succeed in their business.
You need to understand right now, that executive management teams and the owners of Network Marketing / MLM companies' design compensation plans to do one of two things:
1.)They design it to strongly favor the owners and the reps get a weak, compensation plan.
2.)They establish a partnership with the distributors/reps, creating a win/win scenario.
PUBLIC vs. PRIVATELY OWNED, WHICH IS BETTER & WHY?
Inherent to public MLM companies' is the fiduciary responsibility to financially reward the share holders first (The owners are of course large share holders), so in these cases the independent distributors are not paid as well as they would be in the vast majority of privately held companies'. Two examples of companies' in the fields of nutrition and travel that have lower paying comp plans because they're design to be inherently owner / shareholder leaning on profits would be: Pre-Paid Legal, Herbalife, USANA & YTB. All reputable MLM companies, but their compensation plans are not very lucrative for their average distributors. So, the objective in selecting desirable network marketing companies, is to discover opportunities that offer a product you can get excited about sharing with friends / family. Also, the company needs to have a minimum of a 50/50 split, of the gross revenue between the owners and the independent distributors. If the company says that it has a 50/50 split ratio, check to make sure their statements are accurate.
LOOK FOR COMPENSATION PLANS WITH LIMITED BREAKAGE
MLM compensation plans are most often stated in terms of "levels of pay", having to do with organizational structure, or layers of distributor positions under you in the network of members. One key element to examine is the term "Breakage". Some MLM / Network Marketing companies' trying to be slick, will use wording such as "you can earn up to 75% on your overall volume", while in reality this doesn't take into account the computation process of breakage. Simply stated, breakage results in generating extra revenue for the company and puts less in your pocket. It is recommended that you seek companies with limited breakage compensation plans.
LOOK FOR NUMEROUS INCOME STREAMS WITHIN THE COMPENSATION PLAN
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What’s The Bonus for selling the standard enrollment product package relative to its cost?
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What Type of Fast Start Bonus program does the pay plan have?
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Does the Pay Plan have a Strong Front End (new sales) & Backend (residual), monthly reorders?
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If You’re a Builder, or Plan on Becoming One, Make Sure The Company Offers “Life Style” Monthly Bonuses (House, Vehicle, Travel, Medical, etc...), For Upper Leadership. This is a Very Important Item Since it Can Be As High As $3,000 to $6,000 a Month, which will be between $30,000 to $60,000 a Year in Additional Income on Top of The Normal Compensation Plan formulas. Every Good Company Will Have This in Place!
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How Strong is The Residual Income or Back End of The Pay Plan? The Back End of Any Compensation Plan is The Most Critical if You’re Truly Interested In Attaining long-term Financial Freedom. Don’t Get Distracted by Quick Front End Cash, Commonly Referred To as “Flash Money” in The MLM Industry. These Plans Rarely Allow The Average Person To Every Achieve Financial Freedom Through True Residuals. Instead They Leave The Rep on a Perpetual Hamster Wheel Always Having To Personally Sponsor New Reps to Make The Bonuses. If the Compensation Plan is Heavily Front End Loaded With a Weak Back End, You'll Never be Able to Take Your Foot off the Gas Pedal, Since You're Check Will Start Getting Smaller the Minute You Do!
The Most Common MLM Compensation Plans
Generally the pay plan type (design), describes the structure or design of the desired network of member participants. Each compensation plan has its inherent benefits and short comings, so let's run through a quick overview of the main compensation plans utilized by MLM company's.
BINARY - Watch This Video Before Proceeding Any Further: ( CLICK HERE )
This plan has been voted as the top compensation plan (easiest to build, quickest payout), design throughout the industry over the last 9 years by MLM INSIDER & NETWORK MARKETING LIFESTYLES MAGAZINES. Many of today's largest and quickest growing MLM companies utilize the Binary. The Binary plan generally pays out considerably more to the average distributor than most of the other models we'll discuss (the hottest comp plans in the industry are now combining Binary & Unilevels).
A Binary Design That Rocks, will only require that you build 2 teams / legs and there won't be a "weekly" or even "monthly" flush of volume points. Working to balance your 2 legs should be your only significant challenge in building a Binary for maximum earnings potential. One of the major advantages of a true infinity Binary, is the potential to receive “spillover” enrollments generated by your upline on your shared or common leg. Make sure there’s also a strong backend component to support long-term residuals and that the pay plan is not just front end money based only on the recruitment of new reps using large product order enrollments, otherwise known as "front-loading" within the MLM industry. Front-loading is used 99.9% of the time by nutritional MLM companies that promote high initial orders to secure higher discount pricing.
If the Binary plan has a solid front end (weekly cycles based on new product sales by your team), as well as, a solid back end (supported by loyal customers monthly re-orders), it’s likely to offer you the greatest earning potential of any compensation plan within the MLM / Network Marketing industry.
BINARY PAYOUT CAPS & REMOVAL OF VOLUME (What You Need To Look For)!
Make sure the Binary compensation plan has a weekly payout cap of no less that 50%, and no more than 70%, combined with a banking system. Product sales volume / points should not be removed (flushed) weekly or every month, but instead at the 180 day (6 month) to 270 day (9 month), threshold. A pay out cap of 50% to 70% and 6 to 9 months retention of volume from the day it is generated is more than enough to ensure a huge pay out to you, if you choose to work the business. These pay plan items will ensure the long-term financial health of the company. If you find a Binary setup like this, that also has a product which costs less than $100 a month to stay fully qualified & you can get excited about, you’ve hit the mother load, all you need to do is go to work!
MATRIX
(New 2 x 2 and 2 x 3 Matrix's are gaining in popularity, but only time will tell if the companies trying to make these models work will last.... If you're a strong builder, you can realize some significant money in these quick build models... just be honest with yourself and your team about their longevity).
- Older Matrix's are commonly referred to as a "Black Sheep" MLM Compensation model within our industry. Generally members build for example a 3x7 or 3x9 matrix ( 7 to 9 levels deep is to shallow to build a significant paycheck), which consists of three (3) positions, or legs, directly under you on your first level. Taking the "Breakage" factor discussed above, if people drop out, which is normal (attrition), then you earn far less on your Matrix (don't look at this model unless the MLM company plan allows you to fill in the cancelled positions with new members... but either way, straight Matrix's usually don't last).
People have made millions thousands of times in both the Binary and Unilevel compensation plans. Most do it in 2- 5 years if they're serious builders. But until just recently with the newer 3x15 Matrix and community spillover we never hear about Matrix lovers making a million dollars a year... There were a couple, but it took them 8 - 12 years in one of the bigger old fashioned Matrix's formed in the 1980's, which was Melaleuca! Melaleuca's pay plan (5x7 Matrix), leaves a lot to be desired. Join a shallow (7 to 9 levels deep), Matrix if you're looking to make a couple thousand a month, but that's going to be about it.
Most serious Builders that were foolish enough to join an old fashioned (7 to 9 levels of depth), Matrix walk away from it the day that they sign up a heavy hitter! The Builder wants the Big Hitter to be put on their first level where they could generate big $Dollar Sales from the Builder. But, since the Builder filled up his Matrix with those who rushed in to get in on the early spill-over... disaster hits! With some of the newer Matrix's however, you can fill in any cancelled spots so this problem will no longer exsist.
UNILEVEL (The Grand-Daddy of All Compensation Plans)
Unilevel pay plans are certainly not the most creative in structure... You see, this is the grandfather of all pay plans and typically is the simplest in that it allows a person, a distributor for a company, to sponsor as many people as desired and therefore go as wide as desired. What do I mean by going "wide"? I mean that if you sponsor 27 people you can be their direct sponsor and essentially have them all directly underneath you. Companies using Unilevels today (Tahitian Noni, XanGo, SOC and ACN ... All good companies, but they have very poor success records at building wealth for the average rep.... One company with a reasonably attractive UNILEVEL compensation plan in our opinion is Free Life, but we don't like their product, since it's another "juice" and the MLM opportunity around specialized juices is quickly disappearing due to mainstream production of exotic juices entering the local grocery store at half or even 1/3rd the price of the MLM products. If you're in a juice company, start thinking about a backup plan or go international where Costco doesn't exsist.
This type of MLM pay plan has an aspect of it that warrants serious consideration before delving in too deeply with a company that uses this unilevel type of plan. And what is that serious consideration? It's about the actual percentage of compensation that one gets with this MLM pay plan. You see, in order for a pay plan like this to give a good payout, it usually has to spread the pay out over many of these levels. Essentially, the payout goes deep, which is ok if you're a major recruiter, but no one else.... or the company has an incredible product that causes a huge customer base to develop!
LET'S TALK TAXES!!!
Think You Don’t Need A Home Based Business?
Take The “TAX QUIZ”: Did You Know…?
Taxes are the largest expense for most people. It exceeds what they pay for food,
clothing, lodging and transportation combined.
According to the American Taxpayer Union, in 1958, the average American paid 18%
of their gross income on federal, state, and Social Security taxes.
Today, the average American spends 41% of their gross income on taxes.
That means you are likely working 5 months of every year to support the government instead of your family!
What You May Not Know About the IRS...
As a small business owner you have more tax breaks available to you than anyone else. Unfortunately, these tax breaks go unused because most small business owners don't know about them - and the IRS isn't telling. Any home-based business, even part-time, that is not a hobby, and is in pursuit of a profit, can qualify for huge tax breaks - it's US Government law.
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The fastest way to get that raise you want is by just being able to keep more of what you make now. The only kind of income that counts is what you can keep. By owning a home-based business and taking advantage of the tax breaks available to you, you can keep more of your income, even if your business isn't producing a profit! You just need to know the laws, and how to apply them.
Could You Use an Extra $3,000 to $9,000 a year minimum?
Every American taxpayer who works a full-time job and does not have a side business is probably overpaying taxes to the tune of $3,000 to $9,000 every year. Even self-employed people who do have businesses are collectively overpaying their taxes as a result of lack of tax knowledge to the tune of about $160 billion annually.
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CPA and Former Top IRS tax attorney - As an IRS attorney Mr Botkin worked for the chief Counsels office of the IRS in Washington, and trained other lawyers on how to get more tax dollars from the public.
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