Beware of Shiny Objects!
Benefits, scalability, and costs will be your main deciding factors.
Benefits (what the MLM software and provider can do for you)
First you must know your business objectives. Your software must support those. Your business decisions can dramatically affect the price of your solution if it means customizing your network marketing software.
Often new MLM companies will try to emulate or copy a promotion or compensation strategy of a larger more successful venture. The idea seems on track, but making this a rigid focal point of your business can be costly. Chances are, the company you are trying to emulate has used their success to pay for a unique distributor experience or a highly sophisticated reward system. While we build these for our clients, newer companies would be better served by more simplicity in their initial offerings and allow their business to grow to pay for more customized bells and whistles later. Such money could be better spent in startup on inventory, hiring for more infrastructure, or even website design.
Be more flexible in your business decisions. You could look to your software provider for help. A reputable software provider should be able to help you find a faster, smarter, or least expensive way to reach your end goals.
Beware of shiny objects. One more cool new feature or a pretty website can take many companies off their business objectives. Focus on finding software that meets most or all of your needs that is also flexible for customizations if needed now or in the future.
Scalability (choose MLM software that can grow with you)
In the network marketing and direct sales industry, most professionals that have been around a while will tell you it is very expensive and potentially a company killer to switch software providers mid-stream during growth. Sometimes it can help save a company that never got off the ground or one that is trying to re-invent itself. To save yourself from potential demise over technology, choose well at the start.
Most companies will experience growing pains with their technology, but a good MLM software provider will help those pains be as small and non-existent as possible. Chose an MLM software provider that has years of experience servicing multi-million dollar per month companies, and companies that operate in local currencies around the world. The provider’s ability to support such companies will help assure you that their network marketing software can handle any growth you throw at it.
Selecting MLM software that has built in scalability to grow as you grow can be one of your best decisions in your new venture.
Costs (keep technology affordable in your business model)
There are many complex moving parts in an MLM software system. So much more than a shopping cart and relationship tracker. The shopping experience, multiple paths of enrollment, complex genealogies, multi-streams of commission allocation and tracking, replicated marketing sites for each distributor, emailing and other communication systems, inventory presentation and fulfillment tie-ins to third party services, a support infrastructure, and much more are all interwoven into your MLM software solution. Plan to pay much more than $5 per month for hosting your website and free plugins you find on the Internet. :)
Many reputable MLM software providers have put years and lots of money into developing their systems. Select a provider that offers you multiple choices that can best meet your budget and still allow for the growth you hope to achieve. That may mean a bit of sticker shock to new MLM company owners that are just getting into the game. Think monthly maintenance, per-distributor, and transaction fees.
Some companies will say they offer a cap on their costs to you. Truth is, if you are costing them too much money to maintain your account, they will change the contract at their first opportunity (read the fine print and the meaning behind it). They are counting on you to not make it big. Truth again, if they are looking at the odds of any company succeeding (not just an MLM company) they are making a good bet against you and do not have a problem making such claims. Find a provider that is very transparent in their one-time and monthly costs they will be charging you. You do not want any surprizes. Most importantly, you want to properly provide for these costs when determining your profit margins and commission payouts.
Xennsoft is in a unique position with its new MLM software platform to provide a low cost alternative, in addition to their highly customized systems, that all provide for massive scalability. If you have a lot of investment capital, leaders lined up, and you’re ready to explode with a customized solution, we can help you. If you’re just starting up for the first time, resources are limited, and you want an MLM software solution and team that will help you scale as you grow, then Xennsoft has low cost, month-to-month solutions to help you succeed.
