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MLM really began in the 1950’s.
It owes its development to two men: Rich Devos and Jay van
Andel. These men came across a cleaning product which was
pretty well non-toxic and was biodegradable. (Biodegradable:
a word indicating that the product will easily break down
after use or after discard without harm to the environment.)
They knew that the product was a winner. But, they also
realized that having just the two of them selling it was not
efficient. Putting the product into stores can be very
expensive, including buying shelf space in stores; and
possible buyers might just walk past and never notice the
product. They decided that it would be more efficient to
reach out to the consumers directly.
They developed a marketing and sales plan which allowed
others to join with them to sell the cleaning product. These
new "distributors" would earn discounts and commissions for
sales.
Rich and Jay then added a new twist: Any distributor who
found, signed up, and trained another new distributor would
be able to earn commissions and bonuses based on the Total
Sales Volume of the newly formed group of distributors.
What company did Rich and Jay develop? The Amway
Corporation. Amway is still one of the biggest and most
successful companies in Multi-level Marketing.
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