Network marketing is known by many other names, including multi-level marketing, direct selling, referral marketing and pyramid selling. These all refer to three basic network marketing jobs that involve buying a product, selling the product and recruiting others to sell the product. The different types of network marketing jobs include salespeople, recruiters and distributors.
Network marketing, at its simplest, involves independent salespeople purchasing goods and possibly paying a startup fee in order to sell those products for a profit. A good example would be a door-to-door cutlery salesman who gets inventory from a distributor and sells to customers. What makes network marketing different from normal sales jobs is the salespeople's opportunity to recruit other salespeople to work under them and taking a cut of the profit. Each of the three types of network marketing jobs entails elements of sales, management and logistics.
A salesman is the most basic of all network marketing jobs. In this role, the seller is in charge of purchasing the goods and selling them, normally keeping the profit for themselves in order to purchase more goods. The seller is also in charge of generating leads in order to find possible buyers for the goods. Sales jobs normally entail either at-home visits or online marketing, soliciting buyers via email or social networking sites.
A more profitable type of network marketing job, and often the next step up from a salesperson, is that of a recruiter. This marketing job still involves buying goods from a distributor, but this person normally finds workers to do the selling for them. This person manages a sales force, often acting as a middleman by purchasing the goods directly from the distributor and having the sales force purchase the goods from them. Often there is also a commission paid to the recruiter on a per-sale or annual basis.
If a person wishes to go directly to the top of this pyramid, a distributor offers more control than all other network marketing jobs. This person is in charge of collecting money from sellers and recruiters and distributing the goods for sale. Commonly, this person charges a setup fee to newcomers on top of the money needed to purchase the goods.
Some network marketing jobs have a bad reputation for scamming clients, and people need to be aware of the risk, no matter whether they have one of the network marketing jobs or are a customer. The biggest risk is that most distributors have a no-return policy, meaning that if a seller does not move the products, they will not get that investment back. Also, some charge large setup fees. Finally, some network marketing companies are just fronts to take money and never send any products to salespeople or customers, so doing background research is always a smart idea.
