The Name of the Game is BALANCE!

When it comes to evaluating network marketing opportunities, it's not which company, which compensation plan, which products, which support systems or which upline team is the best that really matters. If there's not a workable balance between ALL FIVE criteria, real leverage will be almost impossible to achieve.

Let's consider those five critical criteria you need to consider when analysing and evaluating network marketing opportunities.

1. The company -- always the Number One risk factor for network marketers.

2. The compensation plan -- can you make money, especially as a part-timer? This is the bottom line of any network marketing compensation plan.

3. The products -- are they MONTHLY-consumable, in-demand, safe, effective and outstanding value for money?

4. Support systems -- from the company and the upline team to make the opportunity 100% duplicable and to save time and effort.

5. The upline team -- do they value people and use money, or is it the other way around? Will they actively support, train and encourage you? When YOU need it?

Most opportunities excel in one or two criteria, but fall down badly in others. Typically, they have excellent products, but the reward plans are geared against the part- timer. Or they have excessive breakage to the company because of high group volume requirements.

After two decades in network marketing, more than fifteen of those years spent as a management consultant to M|L|M and party-plan companies, I've learned some valuable lessons. Of all those lessons, one is more valuable than any of the others. That lesson is that careful, intelligent BALANCE is the name of the game.

What about leverage?

Isn't leverage vital?

Yes, leverage is critically important. But leverage is all about balance, if you think about it. No balance, no leverage. Balance is the key to leverage. It unlocks it and makes it usable.

So tearing off in any one or two directions, while leaving others weak or vulnerable, can lead to serious imbalance and risk. Just because a business opportunity has the best products, or the best compensation plan, or the best support systems, is NOT reason enough to choose it over another if there are serious deficiencies in other aspects of the business, such as company management, management priorities, or an upline team that isn't serious about supporting its downline people, or chooses to exploit them.

You need to look for a well-balanced mix, so that the end result is a business opportunity that can actually be made to work, and to make you money in the process.

Sometimes the lack of balance applies only to the local scene. A company may be a solid success on its home turf, but face serious problems in other local markets, due to any number of causes, including those not of its own making, such as over-regulation, atrocious exchange rates (if the reward plan is seamless globally) or logistical problems with things like deliveries, collateral materials, etc.

How do you know if the right balance exists?

The simplest way is to rate the opportunity you're analysing in each of the five critical criteria for assessment. Draw up a simple grid, analyse each of the five criteria in turn, and rate them on a scale of, say, 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. This gives you a basis for comparison with other opportunities.

I realise that this isn't a totally objective method. I'm not convinced that there is such a thing. All personal decisions will have some degree of subjectivity. It's when subjective, emotional decisions outweigh the objective, rational decisions that imbalance occurs. As long as the balance is reasonable, you should be able to come to a realistic choice.

Name of Company
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Company 1 2 3 4 5
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Compensation Plan 1 2 3 4 5
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Products 1 2 3 4 5
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Support Systems 1 2 3 4 5
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Upline Team 1 2 3 4 5
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Prepare a small chart like this for each opportunity you wish to compare (perhaps on Post-It® notes), circle the rating you assign to each criterion, then see where the strengths and weaknesses lie. Which opportunity offers the best overall balance?

Remember... this is a basis for comparison. The ratings will only have relevance in comparing two or more business opportunities. But you'll find, as you compare and make adjustments and revisions to your initial ratings, that you'll gain a progressively better overall view.

Good luck. But remember -- success is only 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Do your homework. There's no substitute for factual, objective information for making informed, reliable business choices.

(c)John Counsel is CEO of The Profit Clinic MLM Success Centre, and author of two best-selling books on network marketing. Visit www.profitclinic.net to learn more. John also presents regular free webinars for network marketers at www.FREEcoachingonline.com, as well as bulletins and special reports by email. Subscribe at www.profitclinic.net/reports/register.php. Learn how to evaluate MLM opportunities at www.EvaluateMLM.com and www.MLMpayplans.com.

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