It’s no secret that multi-level marketing (MLM) and direct selling have garnered a bit of a reputation in recent years. With exposés on well-known MLMs such as Lularoe and Herbalife making the rounds, the direct selling industry has some negative press to reckon with.
However, a shift is happening in the space that is quietly replacing what people know as direct selling and returning the industry to its roots. This paradigm shift could be just what the industry needs to repair its reputation and solidify its legitimacy.
Rachel Kellogg, Vice President of Sales of direct selling company Beyond Slim, is aware of the optics issue that direct selling is grappling with and believes that a new perspective can change the industry. “The reason the direct selling MLM market has gotten a bad rap these past few years is because the product and a customer focus has been lost. It’s been overshadowed by ‘an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity,'” Kellogg explains.
By returning to a business model focusing on great products and a new way of selling that emphasizes social referrals and the natural sharing of preferred products online, Beyond Slim is ushering in a new age of direct selling. Their hope is that the reputation of the industry can be bettered with a more ethical sales approach and amazing product offerings.
“We’re doing things in a brand new way that hasn’t been done before,” states Ray Faltinsky, Founder and CEO of Beyond Slim who wrote his graduate thesis on the direct selling industry at Yale Law School. “In our model, providing great products that change customers lives is our primary mission. Then, instead of spending millions of dollars advertising those products, we reward our Coaches who recommend those products to customers with extraordinary commissions and bonuses. It’s a win-win for everyone!”
The Social Referral model
In old-school direct selling, a multi-level approach was utilized, wherein salespeople created downlines of sellers in order to make money. Some companies rewarded people not for selling the product but for buying products to create stock and, in turn, getting their downlines to purchase products as well, with very little focus on real customers.. It is this complete disregard for customers and the quality of the product that direct-selling companies like Beyond Slim are looking to change.
“When you see people pushing 10 different opportunities, you wonder, ‘Is this product any good?'” says Kellogg. “We are going back to the heart of why direct sales started — word of mouth sales, product as the focus, and sales to customers at the center — and ultimately that’s what makes a great, long-term business for everyone.”
The main focus of the Beyond Slim model is the products themselves — tried and tested nutritional products that aim to help people feel healthier, fitter, and happier. In August 2020, the company launched its product Zipslim™, a delicious way for people to support healthy weight loss, reduce cravings, and lose up to three times more weight than dieting alone. The product has become the center of the company’s social referral program campaign.
The Social Referral model that Beyond Slim is pioneering leverages the power of personal and social media connections. People naturally refer products and services that they are crazy about to their friends and close connections, and this is the magic that Beyond Slim is hoping to capture with this novel sales method.
“Traditional sales puts the bulk of its money into advertising and marketing,” explains Kellogg, “whereas direct sales put its money in the pockets of normal people and allow them to be the marketing voice rather than a billboard or commercial.”
The ethical difference
The main issue people have with MLMs or direct sales is that some operate like pyramid schemes. In fact, there have been a whole host of companies that claimed to be simple “direct sales” models that turned out to be pyramid schemes, such as BurnLounge and MetaboLife, to name a few.
The main difference lies in the structure of the salesforce itself. Pyramid schemes require upfront investments with a promise of significant returns if the initial “investor” recruits more investors — the product factors into the scheme very little. Often, the product the company purports to sell is simply a cover for the pyramid scheme itself.
The Social Referral model returns ethics to the equation. First, there is a product involved that is worth referring. Beyond Slim’s goal as a company was to go above and beyond anything that had been offered before in direct sales regarding transparency, ethics, and fairness. In many traditional MLM structures, 99% of participants lose money. Those staggering statistics have harmed the industry, casting a pall over anyone new to the game. However, with the Social Referral model, the focus is on rewarding the 99% — the part-timer, the side-hustler, or those just looking for a couple of hundred dollars a month for referring products that they use and helping others achieve health goals.
The traditional model that has given direct sales a bad name in the past can be shifted. By putting people first, Beyond Slim is succeeding in rewriting direct sales history. To the company, it all boils down to a simple concept: putting the money where it matters most. As Kellogg says, “Why should a billion-dollar marketing company get all the dough when you can give it back to the hardworking people?”
