EIRO Research Leadership and Marketing Training – You’ll find no unethical or illegal MLM tools business scams here!

I completed a few rounds of MLM-related forum searching and posting today.  It never hurts to read up on new industry news and offer your advice and opinions from time to time.

I came across a topic focusing on the debate of MLM leadership training and whether or not it’s fair to continually charge your team members for such services and materials.  Although the action may not necessarily be “unethical,” in most circumstances, I would agree that asking your team members to fork over large amounts of money for the act of simply doing what a responsible upline would do is NOT acceptable.

Our team at Eiro Research does its best to provide free leadership and marketing training to all our members.  There are live business overview calls that you can send all your prospects to almost every night, and many leaders contribute towards weekly marketing strategy and development training calls.  We believe that supplying the resources necessary for our team members to grow their business is the professional method to adopt.

When an individual joins you as a “leader” in network marketing business, you are expected to help them to the best of your abilities and refrain from advising them to take any actions which may cause unnecessary strains on their finances and development.  Since most individuals join MLM companies for the purpose of earning money, a leader or “upline” should be very careful what he asks his team member’s to purchase as “helpful materials.”

I would agree that many training and leadership materials related to the MLM industry are worth the price-tag.  Over the years, I’ve purchased a number of materials that have significantly improved my MLM knowledge and skills.  However, it’s one thing to recommend a special tool or material to your team on occasion; it’s quite another thing to constantly attempt to sell them on “materials of the week” for the sole purpose of hoarding up extra sales profits, affiliate commissions, referral fees, etc.

Here’s the truth about what’s really out there…

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The Ancient “training systems”

Many MLM veterans and researchers may recall a Dateline special in 2004 featuring Quixtar that shocked millions of people.  The investigation revealed that some high-level distributors not only make excessive profits from pushing tools and function tickets on their members, but also that the majority of their income may actually come from this “secret side business.”

No, I’m not here to bash Quixtar, since they aren’t the only company with similar “systems” involved.  The company itself does sell useful products and it is currently a legal MLM company in the eyes of the FTC.  It’s also not fair to paint all the “training systems” associated with Quixtar and other similar companies with a broad brush.  However, it is fair and true to warn others that companies such as Quixtar do have specific IBOs (Independent Business Owners) or distributors that heavily rely on income from their “tools business” to live the kind of life they portray in their promotional materials.

Personally, I think there is some wrong being done to distributors within such “training systems.”  A seminar presenter will preach about the “power of owning your own business,” and “the power to work from home.”  Then he will end by asking you to buy more $6 tapes or CD thats could have actually been reproduced in a downloadable, internet format, therefore allowing all members to access it for FREE.  Members are forced to attend and pay for rallies and various meetings if they want any kind of leadership training or motivation, when the so-called “kingpins” or high-level leaders could have hosted a FREE teleconference or webinar allowing others to “meet together as a team” from the comfort of their own home?

Beware of the ancient “training systems.”  I acknowledge that some of them are far more ethical and reasonable than others, but realize that “tools businesses” are primarily designed for one sole purpose:  Extra income toward the pockets of the “top guns.”  If these “leaders” cared about helping their members achieve by earning profits, they’d incorporate Information Age technology into their supplied materials to help all members save on these unnecessary business expenses.

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Affiliate Pushers

Turing the corner and looking at this topic from the world of online marketing, you may have noticed that specific authors, leaders, and MLM “mentors” are creating internet business related materials that have drawn quite a crowd.  Some of these materials are definitely worth the pretty pennies you’ll pay for the information, but sometimes you can be led to buy far more than necessary.

Some so-called internet marketing “leaders” in MLM companies don’t even bother to teach a thing.  Instead, they simply refer their entire team to the new “lastest and greatest” ebook or random internet material of the week.  Why?  Because each time they convince one of their team members to purchase a copy of the promoted materials (through a referral link), the leaders receive a commission ranging anywhere from $5 – $100!

It doesn’t take an “expert” or a “leader” to throw out referral links to new products every week.  If these leaders really wanted to focus on strengthening the team instead of draining their wallets, they’d summarize important key concepts of the materials that they already studied.  They would create articles, videos, and maybe even hold regular training calls to help personally teach their team without forcing them into the red.

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High-Ticket Training

Occasionally, I’ll notice a marketing “leader” that attempts to hype up and push a high priced training materials or course on his entire team.  These “high-ticket” items can cost several hundreds of dollars.  Most of the time when the team members feel compelled to purchase the item, regardless of the price-tag, they find that the course provided some helpful information but could have easily been explained in a summarized format by the “leader.”

Why does the “leader” push the expensive course?  Once again, because a juicy commission awaits him/her.  In some instances, all team members who purchased the high-ticket training may even be pressured into selling the same thing to others.  Now we have multiple items being sold by multiple people at the same ridiculous price.  Starting to see how things can become scary in this situation?

Personally, I remember purchasing a so-called “unique marketing training” tele-seminar for $500 about 4 – 5 years ago to see what all the ranting and raving was about.  After listening to the seminar, I remembered thinking- “This was good…but worth $500?  Not a chance.”  Without the “opportunity” to resell the course for commissions, I doubt there would have even been a business.  I was even further disappointed when I discovered that I could have learned the exact same marketing principles discussed in the $500 tele-seminar through FREE materials offered by a different MLM training group.

To make a long story somewhat short, be very careful with this one!  Just for a little comparison from my point of view:  My team recently hosted a one hour online marketing training tele-seminar (free to all our members) that walked all attendees through a step by step process of effective article writing, blogging, and SEO benefits.  I sat in as a “participant,” (I was NOT a presenter, so don’t think I’m bragging about my own work here!  ) and can honestly say that the free training offered that day was more exciting and more valuable than the $500 course I bought.

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Within the structure of the older MLM companies, excessive pushing of training materials could turn into an illegal MLM tools business, and FTC actually considered some of them “side (2nd business) scams.”  Today, within the realm of internet promotions, MLM leaders can associate themselves with a vast number of different “side programs;” therefore, distinguishing major internet “tool pushers” isn’t always as easy.

Some readers may think back to a common saying- “You get what you pay for.”  In some cases, that is very true.  However, I don’t believe that MLM team members should be forced to pay an arm or a leg for leadership and marketing training.

A true leader should recognize the potential of effectively training his entire team.  If you put the team before your desire for some additional “quick cash,” your organization will grow and you will reap the rewards for supplying them with proper training, while allowing them to keep any obnoxious, unnecessary fees that may have been associated with ancient “tools,” affiliate pushing, and high-ticket items.

If you have a team that is constantly growing, why should you need to worry about making “extra money” through tool or affiliate commissions?  Keep your team happy.  Keep developing them into leaders that focus on helping others, instead of helping themselves to “side profits.”

As a member of EIRO Research Leadership, I’m seeing a lot of leaders that are willing to spend extensive periods of time working with people 1 on 1, supplying free training, and offering assistance without promoting “everything under the sun.”  It’s encouraging to watch the EIRO Research company grow in this way, and I believe that the continuation of this team training model is what will define our success in the end.

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- Mr. Ryz

RyzEiro@yahoo.com

www.MrRyzMarketing.com