Payoff Pointers
          
          
               All the above points are important, but you also
          want to make sure you understand the company's
          compensation and find it fair.  If you devote a lot of
          time and effort to MLM, and sales result, you want to
          be sure you'll be treated well.
               When looking at an MLM's compensation system, keep
          these points in mind:
               1.  Frequency of payments.  If you can promise
          recruits they'll receive money more than once a month,
          they'll be more likely to sign up.
               2.  Simplicity.  A bonus-override system that's
          too complicated to understand will discourage
          prospective recruits.
               3.  Long-term bonuses.  Such payments can give
          your recruits incentive to stay with the program.
               4.  Marketability.  If the product or service is
          relatively easy to sell to consumers, distributors can
          count on regular income, which will help your recruit-
          retention rate.
               5.  Stability.  Find out if the company has
          changed its compensation plan recently.  Has the
          qualifying level been increased, the payout rate
          decreased?  These are all signs that you're not dealing
          with honest people.
               Another negative sign is a large increase in the
          wholesale prices that distributors pay.  The company
          may say that price increases were forced by rising
          costs, but inflation has been relatively tame for many
          years.  In fact, it has been holding steady at 3% for
          the last two to three years.  Certainly, there's no
          justification for raising the price of mascara from
          $7.50 to $12.50.  When you see a move like this, it's a
          sign that the company just wants to make money from its
          distributors rather than work with them.
               6.  Minimums.  Generally, there will be some
          minimum amount necessary to remain a distributor and a
          minimum amount of volume needed to receive bonuses. 
          Find out if your downline must be a certain size for
          you to collect overrides and what levels of volume are
          necessary for bonus commissions, leadership
          commissions, etc.
               7.  Upside potential.  Typically, an MLM company
          will pay out about 35% - 60% of its sales volume in
          total commissions.  That is, out of every $10 order,
          $3.50 to $6 will go to commissions, bonuses, overrides,
          etc.  If your MLM company is not in this range, find
          out why.