MLMLegal.com is famous for squashing MLM myths, spreading knowledge about the network marketing industry, and distributing resources to anyone who visits our website.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (depicted here in true Babener-fashion by Jeff Babener’s grandson, Sammy) are famous for battling petty criminals, evil overlords, mutated creatures, and alien invaders. MLMLegal.com is famous for squashing MLM myths, spreading knowledge about the network marketing industry, and distributing resources to anyone who visits our website.

Every year MLMLegal.com adds a comprehensive project to its website. Whether it is videos on network marketing, well-researched articles, library of legal cases, or a video miniseries, each year our website is expanded upon. This year is no different.

In 2014, MLMLegal.com committed the highly-regarded article “BurnLounge Appeal Decision: Guidance on Pyramid v. Legitimate MLM and the Role of Personal Use in Pyramid Analysis” to the website.

In 2015, we plan to add 63 new videos to our website and Youtube Channel on the topic of MLM education. Below are some of the topics to be discussed by MLM Attorney Jeff Babener in this new video series:

• What’s the Difference between MLM, Network Marketing, Party Plan and Direct Sales?
• What Is a “Pay to Play?”
• How Much Does It Cost to Start a MLM Company?
• How Do I Raise Capital to Start My MLM Business?
• What Is the Benefit of Recruiting Experienced Distributors?
• What about Gifting Clubs?
• Why Do I Need an Experienced Network Marketing Attorney?
• What Do I Do with Distributors Who Go Passive (for MLM Executives)?
• What Do I Do with Distributors Who Go Passive (for MLM Distributors)?
• What Key Factors Determine the Growth of Network Marketing Companies?
• Do You Have Some Tips for Generating Network Marketing Leads?
• Do You Have Some Tips to Become a Successful Network Marketing Distributor?
• Are There MLM Companies That Have Achieved Success on a Low Budget?
• Since You Are a MLM Attorney, Why Would You Host the MLM Startup Conference for the Executives of Startup and Existing Companies?
• If I’m a New Distributor Then Should I Focus My Selling In Areas Where Other Distributors Are Successful Or Should I Focus On Untouched Territory?
• I Own a MLM Company. How Can I Determine Cost of Goods? In Other Words, How Do I Price My Products for Retail, Distributor and Direct-To-Consumer Sales?
• Do I Need To Worry about Merchant Account Processing? Should I Have Just One Merchant Account?
• If a Sales Kit or Startup Fee Is Several Hundred Dollars, Then Is This Considered “Frontloading”?
• How Do I Create a Compensation Plan That Guarantees That I Am Legal?
• I’m Starting a MLM Company. I Am Going to Have Distributors Earn Income by
  Referring Others, Is This Legal?
• What Should I Look for When Hiring a Vice President of Marketing?
• What Is the Typical Price of an at-Cost Starter Kit in the Industry?
• Can I (as a MLM Executive) Pass the Costs of Website Development, Marketing Materials, Etc. Down to Distributors?
• How Do I Find Top Distributors?
• In an Absolute Nutshell, What Are the Two Main Causes of a MLM Company Failing?
• As a Distributor, Can I Use Display Booths to Sell My Company’s Products? Is There a Limit on the Time I Can Spend Selling at a Booth?
• In Regards to Event Sales, Such as Fairs, Kiosks, Vending Machines, Etc., Am I Authorized to Sell My Company’s Products at Such Events?
• Why Do MLM Companies Require Distributors to Use Replicated Websites Rather Than Distributor-Created Websites?
• What about Raising Capital to Start Your Network Marketing Company?
• How Many People Would I Need in My Organization to Make Over $10,000?
• Are Network Marketing Companies Mostly Moving to All-Digital/All-Online Starter Kits? Can It be Done in a Way That Ensures a High Perceived Value?
• What Regulatory Changes Are Affecting Network Marketing Companies?
• What Should I Look for in a Company When Choosing Back Office Software?
• How Important Are Celebrity Endorsements? Do They Help Marketing or Is It a Double-Edged Sword?
• How Often Should Companies Renew Their Policies and Procedures to Make Them Relevant in Today’s Marketplace?
• Do You Want to Attract MLM Professionals or MLM Junkies into Your Direct Selling Company?
• How Have Raiding Rules Evolved in Direct Selling Contracts and Policies and Procedures?
• What Happens if Consultants Raid Anyway?
• What Are the Most Important Things to Remember When You Host a Distributor Recognition Event?
• Do Incentives Increase Sales? How Worthwhile Are Consultant Incentives?
• What Do Startup Companies Think about Long Term Professional Relationships?
• What Is the U.S. and International Trend in Recognizing the Validity of Personal Use by Distributors in Pyramid Cases?

So, keep your eyes on MLMLegal.com this year. We will have a lot of new content added to our website and we want you to be a part of it! Run, learn and get lost at MLMLegal.com!

For more information on any topic on network marketing that comes to mind, please visit www.mlmlegal.com and www.mlmattorney.com.

MLMLegal.com is bustling with educational content for direct sellers and startup/existing MLM companies! Be sure to visit us often!

If you are interested in attending the Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company conference visit our conference page, view our speaker list, or get more details. All executives/owners of direct selling companies are welcome to attend. Call 800-231-2162 to register.

Our next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference takes place October 27 and 28, 2016 in Las Vegas. View our conference flyer and speaker list online. Participate in our Innovation Campaign for your chance to receive TWO FREE TICKETS to attend our next conference.

If you’re reading this blog post and the conference dates above have passed, check our website for the current conference dates.

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Visit us at www.mlmlegal.com to learn more.

As one American troubadour notes, “money talks, but it can’t sing and dance, and it can’t walk…” For the direct selling industry, in 2013 the markets and money managers have swung to the positive by billions of dollars. But industry observers always await for the “other shoe” to drop; lack of legislative and regulatory clarity means that the industry is only as secure as its last court opinion. Until federal legislation and the FTC rules are amended to recognize that distributor “personal use” of products is within the paradigm of legitimate direct selling, as opposed to pyramid scheme, the cloud will persist.

Click here to view Mr. Babener’s quote at World of Direct Selling.

MLMLegal.com has launched the Innovation Campaign for its February 2014 MLM Startup Conference. Read how to get your two free tickets by clicking HERE!

Visit www.mlmlegal.com and www.mlmattorney.com for more information on the network marketing industry.

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Our next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference takes place February 27th & 28th, 2014 in Las Vegas. Call 503-226-6600 or 800-231-2162 to register.

Visit us at www.mlmlegal.com to learn more.

Most MLM experts agree that you must have adequate margins to pay commissions and to make a profit.

Obviously, your cost of goods is calculated as your acquisition or manufacturing cost. The more frequent question involves pricing. Most MLM experts agree that you must have adequate margins to pay commissions and to make a profit. Different products and services carry different profit margins. In addition, smaller margins may be satisfactory with high-priced products because there is still room for profit. Most MLM companies are likely to pay total commissions equal to between 30 and 45 percent of price sold to distributors for resale, or prices for which consumers buy directly from the company. A typical company will try to achieve a minimum 5-7 times markup to allow for commissions, overhead and profit. Typical mark up for resale by distributors is 25% of their purchase price. A good place to visit this issue is at the Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference, offered by www.mlmlegal.com, where experts discuss margins, pricing, profit, proformas, and more for executives of startup and existing network marketing companies.

MLMLegal.com has launched the Innovation Campaign for its February 2014 MLM Startup Conference. Read how to get your two free tickets by clicking HERE!

Visit www.mlmlegal.com and www.mlmattorney.com for more information on the network marketing industry.

Find us on our social networks:

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LinkedIn

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Our next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference takes place February 27th & 28th, 2014 in Las Vegas. Call 503-226-6600 or 800-231-2162 to register.

Visit us at www.mlmlegal.com to learn more.

MLM Startup Conference in Las Vegas – February 27 & 28, 2014!

Fill out the short survey here to receive two free tickets (worth $345.00!) to the next MLM Startup Conference in Las Vegas!**

For over 26 years MLMLegal.com and Babener & Associates has hosted the most prestigious MLM conference for executives of startup and existing direct selling companies. In celebration of our 66th conference, we are offering two complimentary tickets* – worth $345.00! – to attend the esteemed event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In our ongoing effort to offer the absolute best network marketing conference available, we invite you to participate in our February 27th & 28th, 2014 Innovation Campaign. To receive your two free tickets, fill out our Innovation Campaign form below.

We invite the input, ideas and innovation from the very MLM company owners who are in the startup and launch phases of their companies. We strive to offer the best conference in the United States. MLMLegal.com always covers current issues and events at all of our conferences, but this time it is different! We want your input in the Innovation Campaign!

Are you an owner or executive of a startup of existing direct selling company? Do you want to attend the 66th Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference for FREE?! Fill out our short survey below! Share with us your experience as a network marketing entrepreneur!

Fill out our Innovation Campaign form to receive your two free tickets today (via james)! Also visit this page for additional information on the February 27 & 28, 2014 MLM Startup Conference.

Visit www.mlmlegal.com and www.mlmattorney.com for more information on the network marketing industry.

Find us on our social networks:

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LinkedIn

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Our next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference takes place February 27th & 28th, 2014 in Las Vegas. Call 503-226-6600 or 800-231-2162 to register.

*Innovation Campaign Survey Participants will receive two free tickets to attend the February 2014 Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. This offer does not include hotel, flight or other travel expenses.

***This offer is only available to potential attendees who are eligible to attend the Conference, i.e., executives of a startup or existing MLM/Direct Selling/Network Marketing/Party Plan companies.

Visit us at www.mlmlegal.com to learn more.

We’ve been the advisor to hundreds of network marketing companies. They’ve been billion dollar companies that are household names and they’ve been mom and pop businesses that you’ve never heard of before. What sustains all of them is obviously sales, but what fuels their success is the ability of their distributors to recruit. And, at the foundation of all recruiting is good communication and person-to-person bonding. Technology is changing the game. But don’t sell short the old-fashioned hug or handshake as the best bonding and recruiting machine yet to be invented.

So what’s the impact of the high-tech tools like the Internet on your success in recruiting? Well, our experience suggests that we definitely have a step forward in communication, but not necessarily in closing the sale or recruit. There’s no substitute for what is often referred to as “pressing the flesh.” This is a “people business” and human contact is the necessity that cements the bond.

With the advent of television, a famous media observer, Marshall McLuhan, coined an interesting observation. He said, “The medium is the message.” Unless you are a university professor, that one may leave you puzzled.

What he was probably saying was that the way in which you say something may be as important as what you say. So when you send your message by spam, or by automated telephone device, or when your recruits respond to your ad and are greeted by a voicemail, or when you answer their email with an autoresponder, is it any surprise that you lose the recruit and/or the sale? You could have just lost someone who might have been pivotal in helping build your sales organization.

This is not to say that numbers are not important. The rule in the sales world has always been that you have to expect a lot of NO’S if you’re expecting to get a YES. In other words, you have to kiss a lot of frogs if you’re going to marry a prince. One ingenious networker applied the frog-kissing principle to network marketing.

The message is that network marketing is hands-on, and this old MLM fairy tale is entitled Network Marketing and Frogs. The tale goes something like this:

You’ve gotta kiss a lot of frogs to meet a prince. That’s the job and you’ve gotta kiss ’em. You can’t mail them a kiss. You can’t stay in the office and wait for them to hop in and kiss you. You can’t let advertising change them into princes. You can’t ask your secretary to kiss them. You can’t kiss the same one 40 times. You can’t spend all your time in kissin’ school.

You’ve gotta spend time with the frogs, and you’ll find them out there on the marshes, then when you find one you’ve gotta make contact. Remember kissing is a contact sport, that is, if you really want to meet a prince.

In other words, in a high-tech, high-touch world, in-person contact wins out over technology every time. Another industry expert likes to say that “although the follow-up on decisions are often driven by logic, people make decisions based on emotions.” Think about it for a second. He’s right.

Eminem doesn’t say play the music, he says lose yourself in the music. In other words, connect your soul. Computers, internets, answering machines, emails can’t do this. People don’t lose themselves in emails or auto-responders. People make the decision to commit based on visceral instincts. When they say reach out and touch someone, it resonates. Reach out and send an electronic message does not resonate.

All the studies done on why distributors join and stay with network marketing companies point to the top factors as being personal and emotional; bonding with company leadership, bonding with field leadership, bonding with company vision, and bonding with the product itself. All of these connections are visceral and personal. So use all those new high-tech tools for great communication.

But, don’t kid yourself. There’s no substitute for the personal connection if you intend to be successful in recruiting and network marketing.

For additional information on recruiting in the competitive world of network marketing, visit the following links:

Recruiting Advice from an Industry Expert – Companion video to this blog post

Learn What is Needed to Recruit Top-Selling Distributors – Video

How Important Is Recruiting to MLM Company Success? – Video

MLM Recruiting and Leads Resources

MLM Consulting: How to Build a Successful Direct Selling Company

Or, read some of our other blog posts on success in network marketing, MLM, direct selling, and party plan:

The Nine Basics You Need to Understand in Order to Succeed in MLM – Interview with Jeff Babener

Are you Starting a MLM Company?

An Interview with Industry Expert and Advocate, Jeffrey Babener

The Top Two Reasons Why MLM Companies Fail

What Differentiates a Legitimate Direct Selling/Network Marketing Company from an Illegal Pyramid Scheme?

What Factors Make MLM Executives and MLM Companies Successful – Video

Learn What is Needed to Recruit Top-Selling Distributors for Your MLM Company

Passion, Patience, Persistence – Attitude in Direct Selling

NEW PRESS RELEASE – 63rd Annual MLM Startup Conference!

Paying Commissions on Sales Tools, Sales Kits, and Training Materials……No!

Explaining Your MLM Company to the Public: Answering the Hard Questions

Make sure to visit our blogs for the latest information on the direct selling industry: MLMLegal Blog Home and MLM Attorney Blog Home

Find us on our social networks:

Google Plus: http://plus.google.com/u/0/115279960045099999909#115279960045099999909/posts

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mlmlegal

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BabenerLawFirm

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mlmlegal

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=696968133

And, as always, visit MLMLegal.com, the best MLM resource on the web.The next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference is quickly approaching! On February 21^st and 22^nd, 2013 we are hosting the MLM Conference for the 25^th year! This is now our 63nd annual conference (held almost consistently three times per year over the last 24 years). All executives/owners of MLM, direct selling, network marking, and party plan companies are welcome to attend. This is the original MLM Startup Conference, hosted and perfected by direct selling industry expert, MLM Attorney Jeff Babener. Call 503-226-6600 or 800-231-2162 to register. (Can’t make this event? Keep an eye out for our May and October conferences as well.)

Visit us at www.mlmlegal.com to learn more.

You need to be honest with yourself. Do you, or those who are key owners in the business, have a MLM recruitment background? Without this talent the best products will continue to languish on the shelf. Companies like Amway, Tupperware, Mary Kay, and Home Interiors were not only founded on a very limited budget, but by individuals with strong backgrounds in direct selling.

Company leaders should develop a recruitment strategy. It may seem odd, but your top distributors may not arrive for many years. Those would-be leaders who come to you seeking special benefits or corporate positions do not pay high salaries to those who claim to be able to recruit but cannot demonstrate a strong track record of success. As a general matter, if individuals are strong recruiters then they would be distributors because the remuneration is much higher.

Track your warmest market then move on to lead generation systems and advertising. You shouldn’t expect initial advertising to bring you all of your distributors. Instead, consider initial advertising a foundational industry announcement that you (and your company) have arrived on the scene.

History demonstrates that direct selling will always be a person to person relationship business. The internet, direct mail, or mechanized recruiting campaigns do carry a lot of hype. However, there is no substitute for “pressing the flesh.”

– Jeff Babener

Watch the companion video to this blog post.

For more information on recruiting, visit the following links:

MLM Recruiting and Leads Resources

MLM Recruiting and Communication

Recruiting Advice from an Industry Expert Video

Are you Starting a MLM Company?

An Interview with Industry Expert and Advocate, Jeffrey Babener

The Top Two Reasons Why MLM Companies Fail

What Differentiates a Legitimate Direct Selling/Network Marketing Company from an Illegal Pyramid Scheme?

February 2013 MLM Startup Conference in Las Vegas

Is MLM For Real?

What Factors Make MLM Executives and MLM Companies Successful – Video

Passion, Patience, Persistence – Attitude in Direct Selling

Should I Launch my MLM Business Locally or Nationally?

Paying Commissions on Sales Tools, Sales Kits, and Training Materials……No!

Make sure to visit our blogs for the latest information on the direct selling industry: MLMLegal Blog Home and MLM Attorney Blog Home

Find us on our social networks:

Google Plus: http://plus.google.com/u/0/115279960045099999909#115279960045099999909/posts

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mlmlegal

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BabenerLawFirm

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mlmlegal

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=696968133

And, as always, visit MLMLegal.com, the best MLM resource on the web.The next Starting and Running the Successful MLM Company Conference is quickly approaching! On February 21^st and 22^nd, 2013 we are hosting the MLM Conference for the 25^th year! This is now our 63nd annual conference (held almost consistently three times per year over the last 24 years). All executives/owners of MLM, direct selling, network marking, and party plan companies are welcome to attend. This is the original MLM Startup Conference, hosted and perfected by direct selling industry expert, MLM Attorney Jeff Babener. Call 503-226-6600 or 800-231-2162 to register. Ask Charity how to get a discount! (Can’t make this event? Keep an eye out for our May and October conferences as well.)

Visit us at www.mlmlegal.com to learn more.