Scams ruin entrepreneurial point of network marketing

WHAT’S BEHIND THE SKEPTICISM?

Many people have different reactions when network marketers approach them. Network marketers are those people who recruit members for a distributor network to increase sales of the products it sells.

But what’s with the huge skepticism about the business of networking?

It is because many people believe that these networking firms are scams, according to Ericson Maranan, chief executive of networking company BIG 500 Corp.

While it is true that there are scams in the guise of network marketing companies out there, Maranan stressed that such negative notion towards the industry must be changed.

“Para mawala yung skepticism ng mga tao kailangan nilang maintindihan kung ano yung industry. Kasi kapag di natin alam ang industriya, ang pakikinggan natin ay yung experience ng ibang tao na hindi sila kumita sa networking,” Maranan told a press interview yesterday as company officials announced the firm is expanding its operations in Cebu.

What many people don’t realize, he said, is that networking is an ideal entrepreneurial venture for those seeking to be financially stable.

“Ang networking ay nagbibigay ng equal opportunity,” said the chief executive, sharing that he himself became a businessman through networking.

“You don’t need a big capital, ang kailangan mo dito is yung skills. More than that, what’s important is paano mag-isip ang tao. You have to change the way you think,” he added. NETWORK MARKETING

The idea of network marketing is that a distributor network – like BIG 500 – needs to build the business of selling certain products and in order to achieve that, it has to recruit people to increase its sales opportunities.

Subsequently the employed members will also recruit more sales representatives to expand connections.

Networking firms are generally adopting the multi-level marketing system in which members are given payouts based on sales they and their recruits generate. Payout is the expected financial return from an investment. NEGATIVE MINDSET “Maraming mga kababayan tayo na kapag sinabi yung networking anong pumapasok sa isip: hindi maganda like scam,” Maranan noted, although claiming that there actually bogus networking firms.

These bogus firms, he lamented, have added to the doubt that people have on the industry. Thus, legitimate ones are affected, he added.

Bad network marketers are also to blame, he said.

Educating people how networking really works will help lessen the cynicism on the networking business, Maranan told The FREEMAN after the conference.

In fact, the concept of networking is already being taught in some universities in the country and in other countries, he said.

He also hoped to see more Filipinos venturing into entrepreneurship rather than just staying as employees.

He said: “Kailangan po na ang mindset natin ay entrepreneurial kasi mahihirapan tayong lumaban sa ibang bansa. Yung ibang countries pumapasok dito as entrepreneurs pero tayo lumalabas as employees.”