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Being an MK consultant who is quite familiar with MLMS....(Wendy you can chime in and correct me if you wish)..MK draws a fine line here when they say they are not MLM. People who have never been in MLMS wouldnt know but in a sense MK is more network marketing than it is MLM but in a sense it is MLM too. Wendy being a director I know you have to be careful of what you say on this issue so I wouldnt expect you to say that MK is MLM. In their literature they state they are not MLM but since they pay on one and two and three levels when you become a National they really are. I THINK the way they get around that is they are SALES based and you make 50 percent on the product a TRUE MLM you make very little on the product and more on recruiting for instance Mannatech, Amway, NuSkin? ect.....companies like Tupperware, Avon, Pampered Chef and MK you make more on the product and when you hear of the latter companies you dont think of the word Multilevel because they are more sales based and that is why you dont hear about trouble coming from the latter companies. Any company that bases MORE of the efforts on recruiting you usually hear about frontloading (that term means people being forced or manipulated into buying more product)... I dont know who Amway does it now but a long time ago in the 70s and 80s your upline payed you not the company. Most of these companies NOW you get your checks directly from the company and with ALL of them you are an independent contractor. All of the companies have retreats or conventions or family reunions or whatever you want to call them to motivate and inspire and get to know all of the people around you and what they are doing to make sales and just for camaraderie. In MK we have Career Conference, Seminar, and Unit Meetings and Leadership (which is for Directors only) Most well all of the things that are taught at Leadership to the Directors are told to the consultants there are really no secrets in MK although some people think that. I would have to say MK is more Network Marketing more so than MLM but they are basically the same thing. Most MLMS pay down to the 7th and 8th levels and Im still puzzled as to why when Nationals in MK have 4th and 5th levels they dont get paid on it. Im assuming that what happens is the bookkeeping would be horrendous OR if they did that they would be labeled MLM and they dont want to be OR they figure that some girls will drop out so the Director will in the long run make money on them anyway. Believe me if you agree with the corporate culture of MK they DONT want people dropping out but that is the nature of the business in any sales company anyway. When I sold computer software if you didnt maintain your Quota you were fired and there were no second chances no matter how long you were there...in these types of companies at least if you lose your Directorship or get rolled back to a lesser valued car or cash compensation you are not in danger of never being able to be with the company (unless you returned product or did something illegal),,,,that is one of the reasons salespeople are attracted to independent direct sales companies. I DARE anyone to find a company where you get 50 percent upfront in the other companies you have to work your way towards that and NONE of them (and I stand corrected) start out at 4 percent for recruiting most of them start off at 2 percent.

MK in my eyes really has no faults (with the exception of people who have misrepresented the company) the only beef I can say I have is that with the wholesale production that directors carry I think the bonuses could be a tad higher. I personally think the reason they arent is because when you become a director and your commissions are 13 percent plus a bonus they expect you to have a lot of personals therefore really paying you 26 percent. If you are a director and you have people who are active and if five of them place an order and you place a 600.00 order you get 13 percent on your personals. Which tells me that as a director MK constantly wants you to recruit and they know that and its no secret and directors know that when they go into it they know they cant sit back they get the tapes and the training and any Bozo can see that. If you have a big unit it still behooves you to keep recruiting unless you have TONS of superstars or DIQ's. Now the MK reasoning for recruiting is "Sharing the Opportunity" which I can agree with but we all know that really means get more recruits so YOU can make more money and so the company can make more money its just dressed up in prettier wording (Wendy you dont have to agree with me but you know im right)......I think the ONE think MK did that was wonderful was to have those cars very few companies offer that especially at a 4500 wholesale level and that was smart because it shows a symbol of the effort you and your team put in and you dont have to be a director to get one. Some people dont want to make that type of commitment. MK really got it right with the incentives that they offer and the praise because women like that kind of thing (myself included) and most jobs dont offer that even when the money is big people want praise and friends and family and all of that stuff to share it with.

I have to say that yes in any leadership position that there is stress MK included but I just think that the rewards are so great that its worth it. Thats my take I stand corrected if there is any rebuttle on this issue,,, Stephanie

Whoa. I am not at all familiar with mlm's so, may I ask if am I getting this right: that the main difference between MK and "true" mlm's is a matter of higher percentages on direct product sales, and number of actively paying levels?

For someone not familiar with mlm's or network marketing, these sound like distinctions without much of a difference; it sounds more like an explanation of why MK is a BETTER mlm, not an explanation of why it isn't one.

But maybe I'm misunderstanding an important part of the analysis ... thanks for your post, but I'm still confused, I think.

Bunny - 17 Feb 2004


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