A better technology for Network Marketing

July 23rd, 2009

Now that people are turning towards businesses that give fast return on investment and require minimum start-up costs, the network marketing industry is growing faster then ever before. Not only does this mean that people quit their traditional jobs and join multilevel companies, it also prompts that many enterprises with traditional business models quietly add MLM to their portfolio to incentivize their sales in times of slowdown

MLM industry has its own peculiarities, and a lot of them. One of these is the speed, the crazy speed of network marketing. MLM structures "take fire" quickly if managed correctly, but the quality of the company organization usually suffers from this pace. How many times have you seen low-quality sites or obscure descriptions of an MLM product? This is the price one pays for the speed. The service companies adapt to the needs of their client: run like there is no tomorrow, and snatch whatever you can get on the way

Alas, when it comes to software development this approach is a death sentence. You cannot develop a quality software in two weeks instead of one year only because the client demands it so. And yet the MLM companies are in need of the software, and quite often – in an urgent need.

A company that does direct sales outgrows the spreadsheets to manage the business very quickly. Paying out a network of distributors and selling products calls for sophisticated software to manage the process.

The other issue to address is web availability of the system to the sales network, which is becoming essential. MLM professionals are constantly on the move and their business has to follow them, so "24/7 at hand" feature becomes a must.

Having said this, what is the most common way out? Exactly what do the MLM companies hold with to manage the technology? Few of them opt for the in-house development which ensures the maximum flexibility, but has its own caveats. One is the elevated cost, estimated around 600K to 900K USD, another is the time investment, which can span more than a year.

The second and far simpler solution is to buy the software to do the job. No wait, lower costs. Still there's a problem here, the technologies that are around in this segment are a bit outdated, since nobody can pay much attention to the user experience at this speed. Few big players seem interested in this market, which is understandable – short life of the most enterprises and their reluctance to invest in technologies doesn't inspire much interest.

In most cases, the available software "in the box" offers extensive statistics and analysis tools, but lacks the minimal usability of the interface. The software either does not offer any user interface at all, or puts forth a completely non-intuitive one. The catch here is that technology is only important as long as majority of people use it, and when the system is complicated to use – no one does.

The other downside is that most solutions are hardly customizable. You receive the "as it is" look and feel, and what is worse – there's no way to change it. The part meant for the distributor, in this case the "end client", is largely disregarded – you are offered a commission calculation and a tree view. That's it.

So let's draw a line here – the network marketing segment defines the rules for the whole infrastructure, including software development. Most ready solutions to manage an MLM business cannot keep the pace with the software for other industries, which is why many multilevel companies, whose business model urges an extensive web presence, are either stuck with an outdated solution or have to re-structure and heavily invest in the in-house development.

The new approach for the network marketing web industry is to create a completely web-based software, offering high level of usability and full customization of the interface.

We at Treebune do just that. Our goal is to take the fuzz out of technology for the MLM owner, and do it elegantly. We aim at companies that face the decision on whether to purchase an MLM software or try to build their own. We offer a product for those, who have grown out of their existing tools and systems, companies who know how to turn customer satisfaction into profit.

Our profile is a software company that develops and backs business management software for MLM enterprises. The change that we are trying to make is to show that network marketing companies can be different from what one might remember – both the established ones and the new faces at the market. We put our hopes into the idea that people who work in the industry can deliver products actually seeing their future as an opportunity, rather than a bare dollar sign perspective.