Is Network Marketing Dead?

Has The Network Marketing Industry Changed? An Analysis

Well the internet is a very big place but I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I finally stumbled across the infamous “Coffeehouse Letter”. It was purportedly written by industry giant Mike Dillard in 2007. Wow! Interesting read. While I scrolled through it hitting the highlights all I could do was roll my eyes and shake my head in amusement but then bam! Some very insightful truths about the Network Marketing industry started to roll off the page and then they had me, I devoured every word and at the end I was pissed off. So why was I mad? It’s that thing we all hate, being slapped in the face with a truth we don’t want to accept. We know its truth because once you are exposed to it, you kind of realize that you have known it all along. It brings that level of doubt that you have been trying to keep out of your consciousness to the surface where you finally have to look at it, and deal with it. Just so I don’t leave you too mystified, let me summarize. The coffeehouse Letter is a treatise or a rant depending on how you want to look at it about the validity of the Network Marketing model as a success vehicle in today’s marketplace. It basically says:

“Network Marketing is dead, and the internet killed it”

Now the letter is not a condemnation of network marketing by some outsider but a carefully crafted argument by an insider that points out something we all already know and proposes an alternative business model called GPT or Get Paid Today. Now it’s pretty obvious to anyone that has been around MLM for a few years, that network Marketing today is a very different animal than it was 15, or even 10 years ago. The letter points out that the Network Marketing business model is a victim of its own success and of the internet age. Look if you are in the industry, you probably already know what the flaws are. Building an all volunteer sales force and then growing that team into an organization of 10,000 or more is hard. The recruiting is hard, the drop out ratio disappointing, the duplication difficult. Hey look, let’s be realistic here, any business is hard. However the rewards if you hit a home run are well known. If you can get that organization up and off the ground and you have a hot company with a hot product, the sky’s the limit and the rewards are legendary as I pointed out in my company review of Mona Vie, where top earner Brig Hart reportedly earns about $980,000 per month. Yes that’s not a misprint, I said per month! Now as you probably already know I am a big believer in MLM and the network marketing industry. It changed my life financially in a huge way and no other business even comes close to the reward you can achieve in a network marketing business. It is a world of challenge, personal development, achievement, friendship, mentorship, and incredible reward. It is a true win-win business model where you can only achieve if you help others to excel. Then what is it about today’s market that makes it different. Well in a word the internet. Now in a way the internet has made recruiting so much easier than it ever was before. Good grief, years ago to recruit someone long distance, I would have to mail a video tape to a prospect and wait 3 days until they got it. Today, I shoot them an e mail and they have the presentation in a heartbeat! As the title of Bill Gates recent book said: “Business at the Speed of Thought” But did the internet age also open a Pandora’s box of hurt for the Network marketing industry? Well in a word, yes. Today, network marketing companies can be started in the blink of an eye, competition for your downline can be as close as the next e-mail blast and leaders routinely jump from deal to deal today like a game of musical chairs.

But is Network Marketing really Dead?

And if so, what are the alternatives? Does the GPT model really work as a viable alternative and is it really the answer to all the problems of Network Marketing in the 21st century, or is it simply a business model with a different set of problems? I have to say that after studying the concept of GPT also known as “Top Tier MLM”, it is an attractive, powerful alternative, and I can see why it speaks to a lot of people, but I also believe MLM is far from dead, you just have to play the game differently today than you did in the past. You need to embrace the changes in the market, adjust your marketing approach but most of all learn how to build quickly. Now I guess in the final analysis, you pay your money and you make your choice. Which model you are attracted to depends on your overall financial goals and how long you are willing to work to achieve them. GPT offers a way to achieve very substantial money much quicker, a few months as opposed to a few years but realistically probably tops out at 7 figures a year. MLM takes longer but you are leveraging through a much larger group so the top end can be much bigger.

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For the full text of the Coffeehouse Letter go to http://www.coffeehouse-letter.info (opt in to get the letter)

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