A Network Marketing Veteran’s Guide for New MLM Distributors

Interviewer: Minu Chandran, Senior Industry Research Analyst

Interviewee: Danny Wanzeele, Independent partner,Zinzino

Watch the full interview here

What advice do you have for aspiring network marketers while choosing a company to start their career?

Hi everyone, my name is Dani. I'm from Belgium. I'm 33 years involved in network marketing now, full-time, and I'm going to tell you three things about our industry today, but I'm going to start first with my story.

When I got involved in network marketing, I was 26 years old. I had failed miserably at school, left school without a degree, didn't find a good paid job, and I actually hated my situation at that time. When somebody called me one day to talk to me about a company coming from the United States, and he was really excited about the opportunity that company gave, I wasn't really interested in the beginning.

I became a customer of the company, the products worked, so the products were really important to me, and after the product results happened, well, I started to pique an interest in the company, and I saw the concept of network marketing, and when I saw really the concept, how beautiful it was, it was called free enterprise, I was thinking this could be my escape out of the rat race, leave my bad paid job, leave my situation, and create something new. I didn't have a degree. I didn't have many contacts outside my own village.

I was living in a village at that time of 900 people, so really small. Everybody knew everybody there, but I didn't have international contacts whatsoever. I had never done business in my life.

I was a social guy, but you know, sales is something different, network marketing especially something different, and to be honest, I didn't even understand the compensation plan and how it worked in the beginning. So my approach was pure product-based. I got involved.

I started to reach out to people. One year later, because of a great mentor, I had a business in more than 10 countries international. I quit my job actually after four months.

I went full-time network marketing. This has been now more than 33 years. I have traveled the world thanks to this lovely industry, an industry that most people don't yet consider as a valid, legal, honest industry, which is completely wrong, because this industry now represents almost 150 million people around the world who do this part-time or full-time.

There's about a 200 billion turnover made by all the companies in our industry, so it's an incredible, incredible industry to be in, and the beautiful thing is that you can work whenever you want, wherever you work, with whomever you want. It's complete freedom, and that's actually what most people dream about. They're dreaming about passive income, residual income, and that's possible with network marketing, but to create that, of course, you need to take care of a couple of things that are really important.

The first one, and I'm going to talk to you about that in a minute, is how to choose the right company, and the second one you need to know is what are people looking for when they come to see you, because one thing is how you look at them. The second thing is what are they expecting from you when they are a prospect, and you want to get them on the products, or you want to get them involved in the industry. So what we're going to talk about first is how I made the choice about my company, what are the criteria, the ingredients I need to see, and afterwards I'm going to tell you a little bit more what people are looking for when they come to meet you.

So when I look at a company, there has to be a certain number of ingredients, characteristics, criteria present. For one that is really important for me, and I told you through my story, is I'm a guy that looks at the products first. If I can't promote the product because I don't believe in them, I'm definitely not going to go with that company.

For me, a company product needs to be unique. It needs to be a concept that not everybody has. It also needs to be a concept that attracts outside customers, people that consume the product because they love the product, because they can afford it, because they see the value of the product, not because they want to participate in the compensation plan.

And when you have a concept or a product like that, you will be able also to create retention, because it's all about retention. If you want to create a passive income, if you want to create a residual income, an international income, you need to have people consuming that love the product so much that they keep consuming. So you build up a portfolio of happy customers on retention and you increase it month after month after month.

What I see today in many companies is that they create a product and they make it so expensive just to pay the pay plan, to pay people in the rewards plan, and people stick around for a while. But then it's when the cart house starts tumbling down, you know, they don't have loyal customers Mainly it's own consumption.

It means that their distributors are the consumers and they don't have outside customers. You know, you also see often that when people don't want to pay the full price, they always ask for discounts. It's because they don't value your product or your concept worth the money as a retail customer.

So I always look at products concept that people consume and buy as a retail customer. That's one. Second thing, there needs to be a balanced compensation plan.

Most compensation plans, especially in the binary section, you know, they pay about 30-35%. They pay on the weak leg, not on the strong leg. I find that dishonest.

When you are in a binary compensation plan, you need to be paid on both legs. And a company that pays 30-35%, that's not bad, but more is better. But it can't be more to an extent that you say, how are they paying this? How can they afford this? There needs to be a balance in the payout between the company, what the company is making.

So they have cash, they can, you know, finance the growth of the company and keep financing it. But you as a distributor need to be also rewarded in an honest way. And for me, a payout around 40-45% is really something that I aim for.

If it's a little bit below, but I love the company, I love the products, I see that retention, I will go with it as well. Now, what I didn't say yet about the products is that when you think about the unique selling proposition, when you don't have something that everybody has, well, if you can prove the results of your products, that's a big plus. You know, most products are sold today by hype, you know, marketing, blah, blah, blah.

And that works also to a certain extent. But when you can show results and prove results, well, then you have something valuable in your hands. And then you will see it also being rewarded through the compensation plan.

You know, when retention is there, it's because the products has all the features I just described. Now, for me, it's also important, and that's my third part, is that there is not one single owner in the company, that there is more than one owner in the company. Because if a company has only one owner, one guy or lady that takes the decision, and they do a stupidity, it might ruin the whole company.

It might be the end of the whole company. And I have seen that happening. So you put at risk everything into the hands of one person, that's a dangerous aspect.

So I always look for companies that are run by multiple owners, or a board of directors, or that is a public company, a public company listed on the stock exchange, where you have investors besides the owners. Now, for me, the owners and the founders need to be experienced networkers, because they don't need to run this company just as a cash cow to make money. They also need to love the industry.

So if they have experience in this industry, it's a big advantage. And that's something I look for. And then my final point, because I have many, many, many more points, and I do some trainings about that.

But my final point for this small video today is, it needs to be an international company. What I've seen in the past is, when you bring a company to your country, and something severe happens for one reason or the other in your country, well, they might close down the company, and you lose all the business in one day. To avoid that, it's really good if you have an international company, a company that is present in multiple countries, so that you don't depend on the income of one single region, or one single city, or one single country.

So an international business where you can expand your network is an enormous, enormous advantage. And in the beginning, I wouldn't have looked at that, because I didn't know anybody outside my country. But once you start learning the techniques, how to expand, and how to duplicate your team, well, you will get into other countries very rapidly.

And if you have an income spread over 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 countries, you are secured, believe me. If you can build it the way you should build it, based on the right principles, and the right principles to me has always been trust, honesty, respect for your network, and then from time to time some self-reflection. What did you do good? What did you do wrong? Where can you fine-tune? If you build your network based on those principles, you're going to succeed, sooner or later.

So next point I want to talk to, and then I'm going to close it down for today, is what are people looking for when they come to meet you?

What are people looking for when they come to meet you?

So, final point for my video today is what are people looking for when they come to meet you. And this is based on my own experience. I am now 33 years full-time in this industry.

I have traveled all over the world to more than 90 countries. I have been working with people from different cultures, different languages, different religious points of view, you know, different mentalities and I've seen quite a few differences. But when it comes to prospecting, trying to recruit people, trying to build a team, people come to see you mainly and they need to find four things.

The first thing they want to see when they come to meet you is they want to see a nice person. Are you a lovable, joyful, nice person? Because they are looking to escape, like myself maybe, the rat race. They want to escape their job and they don't want to see another boss or another guy that is nasty, telling them what to do every single day, telling when they are doing something wrong.

They want to see somebody they want to work with, where they could have fun with, which is, you know, fun to be around, which is a nice person with a good heart. And so that's an important thing which you at least should have when you get involved in this industry. Now the second point is they want to see somebody that they can trust, you know.

Are you a trustworthy person? Yeah, because some people involved in our industry have made bad decisions before, they have been scammed, it didn't work out like they wanted, they were disappointed very much, maybe they left even the industry. So they are looking for somebody they can really trust to work with, because when they are going to put their own lives and their family's lives into your hands, they don't want to put it in the hands of a crook or somebody that has been named or called a scammer for many years. So trust is fundamental.

And then I come to my third point. They also need to see you're a professional and not an amateur, you know. They are hoping that you might bring the change into their lives that they wish for, for them and their kids and their family.

So they don't want to see somebody that is a real professional that can do it for them, you know. It's the difference between an amateur putting money into this activity or a professional getting money out of it. And now I would give you an example.

Imagine that, and I hope it never happens to you, but imagine that one day you would need open heart surgery. And thank God it's not for you, it's not for me. But imagine you're not going to go to the first doctor around the corner neither.

You're not going to say, oh in my street there's a doctor, let's him do it. No, you're going to consult with many, many people. You might even go on the internet, you might talk to friends and family, you might call a few surgeons or doctors because, you know, this is a life-risking operation, surgery, and it might cost you your life going with the wrong person.

So the same happens with people when they come to see you. They want to see a professional, somebody that is capable of doing it, somebody that has done it before. And that leads me to my fourth point.

You need to show them the money, you know. They come to look how to make an income, so you need to be able to show them how they will make an income, how fast they could make some of the income they desire so, because it depends on the amount of course they go for. But if you can show them, you know, how to make money, you can show them a plan and a strategy, you can show them that you have a system, that your company is the right one, you can show them also that your products are bringing results, you can prove it, you know, there's some scientific testing, some clinical testing on your products, and you can show them they really work, and they also keep people on the products, well, that's how they're going to make money, that's how they're going to create leverage, that's how they're going to create a passive income, and that's how they will decide to come with you.

Now, I hope for all of you out there looking at this small video clip that you already have found maybe a company that is perfect for you, because, you know, you also have to understand that a company that is perfect for one person might be not perfect for the other person. It depends on those valuable criteria. What are you looking for? But believe me, when you are going to talk to people, nice, being a nice person, being trustworthy, being a professional, and being able to show them a plan, a strategy how to make money is fundamental.

I hope you enjoy working in network marketing. If you haven't really looked at something yet, this might be your chance. Network marketing has survived every economical crisis around the world.

It's an industry that is very stable, very steady. Look at it long term, and you will love the life you could create for you and your family. Hope to see you soon.

Bye-bye.