MLM Success 101: It’s a Numbers Game – Know Your Statistics!

Sunday, June 27th, 2010 at 11:40 pm

Over the years, there have been many tidbits of advice, both small and large, that I have learned from others and have incorporated into my MLM success plan. But one of the most important came during my research into the MLM industry in general as a viable income opportunity. During this time, I learned to use numbers, or statistics, to my advantage.

I absolutely love statistics. The reason I love statistics is that they are just numbers that represent data that’s been collected; and once the data has been collected, their meaning can be interpreted in a number of ways. The same statistics can be used to both prove and disprove a point, depending on the author of the report and the audience being targeted. Let me show you what I mean…

Statistic: Over $100 million U. S. was lost during the Stock Market Crash of 1929

Now, there are several ways you could use this statistic, depending upon how you want to sway or validate the opinions of the reader. You could focus on the losses, and use the data to promote a bias against the stock market. Or, you could look deeper at this statement and focus on the gains. Money is NEVER lost; it merely changes hands. $100 million didn’t just disappear into thin air. Although many Americans lost their fortunes during this event, quite a few Americans (and some foreigners as well) got RICH during this time. Can you see how the same statistic can be interpreted in two different ways?

Now, let’s get back to our MLM success stats. Here’s a great one:

MLM Success Stat #1: 97% of all new MLM distributors fails to produce a profit.

If you are biased against the MLM industry, you could use this statistic to “prove” that MLM is not a viable income opportunity. You could further suggest that people should steer clear of anything remotely related to MLM. But the statistic says 97% of new reps. What about the other 3%? If MLM is not a viable opportunity, then how do you explain the other 3% who ARE making money? What are THEY doing that makes their results so atypical, and can it be duplicated? Maybe if more reps had the “Yes, I can” attitude, maybe the number of successful MLMers would be higher. Just a thought.

Here’s another one I like:

MLM Success Stat #2: The average rep will only sponsor 3-4 down line distributors before they give up.

This statistic is significant because many compensation plans require a minimum of 20 front line reps in order to ascend to a rank high enough to draw a decent monthly income. (When I use the term “decent,” I mean a replace-my-current-income type of compensation.) Many MLM nay-sayers use this statistic to suggest that the compensation plan is designed for failure. But again, where they see doom and gloom, I see opportunity. Because of this stat, I approached my MLM opportunity more cautiously. Rather than run out and try to sponsor every person I ever said hello to, I developed a target market, and then qualified my prospects BEFORE making the pitch, and I encourage my distributors to do the same. Where it typically requires 20 sponsored reps to get to level 5 in my company, my distributors get there with just 3 to 4. Again, this is just one more example of how a statistic that was designed to dissuade me actually served me.

This last statistic is my absolute favorite:

MLM Success Stat #3: 97% of all MLM recruits quit within their first 90 days of signing up

Those who are biased against MLM use this statistic most often to argue for staying away from MLM. After all, any sane person might turn away if they knew that, even if they sponsored 100 people in their first month, 97 of them wouldn’t be around at their 3-month anniversary. But I took this statistic and used it to my advantage. I created a fast-track plan designed to get new recruits to a level 5 distributor within their first 90 days of signing up. I take advantage of the emotional momentum to get new reps excited about our products and our income opportunity, and I help the reps back up their claims with tangible results.

The bottom line is this: MLM success begins with the decision to be successful. But once you’ve made that commitment, it helps to understand that MLM is a numbers game, and if you know the numbers, you can use them to suit the purpose you lay out for yourself and your down line reps. And, as usual, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!