WHY IS THERE SUCH STIGMA WITH SOCIAL SELLING?
For those of you who are not familiar with the world of social selling, direct sales, multi level marketing, and affiliate linking — listen up.
When you’re sitting at home watching the Bachelor and you see a commercial for a sale at Macy’s and then you remember the boots that you absolutely have to go get… what did Macy’s do? They paid to advertise on the Bachelor’s television hour.
The social selling opportunity is taking the internet by storm. Affiliate marking and the direct selling industry work the same exact way as the commercial you saw, but instead of paying a videographer and/or graphic designer to create a commercial, they are paying their loyal customers to share and advertise for them by word of mouth. Instead of falling in love with a product and not being compensated when you tell your friends and family, you get compensated. Who would have thought!? Being compensated for your work and influence?
You know all the influencers and bloggers on social media that have swipe up links and share their favorite outfits of the day? Yeah, they’re getting paid either straight from the company or through affiliate marketing and links. The only big difference is they don’t have a stigma and acronym attached to their business as does the direct selling industry.
So why does the term MLM have such a bad rep? Well there ARE certain MLM companies out there that have done some shady things. Guess what though, there ARE certain brick and mortar companies that have done some shandy things TOO!
Let’s break it down a little more.
When you go to Starbucks and spend a bajillion dollars on espresso a year, you’re supporting that individual Starbucks store. Now, if you have a bad experience with a Starbucks employee at that store… does that mean you’ll never go to another Starbucks? Doubtful unless it’s something super serious.
See what I am getting at here?
There are good and bad people, good and bad businesses, good and bad everything. If for some reason you have had a bad experience with a direct seller… or maybe you just read a silly article online, does that mean you shouldn’t support someone else’s business JUST BECAUSE it has a multi-level marketing business plan? No matter what business model a business has, no matter how they advertise… it’s still a business. It doesn’t make them any less of a business just because they advertise on television or if they pay their customers to advertise for them.
Simply share your link and earn your money. It’s a pretty cool concept. ;)
Direct selling marketing shares the profit. Instead of a big CEO earning all the profit and taking a huge paycheck then paying his/her employees, often pennies compared to the executive salaries; companies like my company pay commissions based off of sales and then more even commission based off of whole team sales. Not a scheme. Simple commissions. You know, car salesman? They earn commission when they sell the car. The more cars they sell, the more they earn. Most dealerships have different teams or even regions. The more that team sells, the more the individual salesmen earn.
So guys, the next time your friend shares a post about a product they are selling, support them!!! Don’t bash them. Don’t go behind their back and talk about how useless they are with their life by doing any kind of direct sales or not your average business. (Yes I’ve heard that before.)
SUPPORT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE MONETARY EITHER.
Support can be a simple like or heart or a comment about how awesome they are doing. They are busting their butt to make a difference for their family.