I once heard someone say that 90% of all business is marketing. At first, I didn't fully grasp it. Now, after years of working in direct sales, I do. And it changed how I think about everything.
Not if no one knows about it. You can have the most effective, highest-quality product on the market — but if people don't know what it is, what it does, or where to find it, it will collect dust on a shelf.
That's the role of marketing. Not selling. Marketing. There's a difference, and it's important.
Our industry has a naming problem. Officially, it's called direct sales. But within the industry, we use the term network marketing — because we market products through our personal network. Then there's multi-level marketing (MLM), which simply describes the organizational structure where compensation flows through multiple levels.
Three different terms for what is essentially the same business. No wonder people get confused.
You've heard them. "It's all about getting in early." "Only the people at the top make money." These are the myths that follow our industry everywhere.
Let me address them directly.
Success in direct sales is based on productivity and the size of the network you build — not on when you joined or where you sit in a hierarchy. Every business in the world has a hierarchy. Every CEO earns more than entry-level employees. That's not unique to direct sales.
What is unique is that in direct sales, anyone can build their own business within the business. Your ceiling is determined by your effort, not by your job title or your manager's opinion of you.
Here's what I've come to understand: the actual work in direct sales is about 90% marketing and 10% selling. Most of what we do is inform people. We share products and services that can help them. We have conversations. We educate.
The selling — the actual transaction — is a small part of the process. By the time someone decides to buy, the marketing has already done the heavy lifting. They know what the product is. They trust the person recommending it. They understand the value.
All business requires sales to survive. But in our industry, the work is 90% marketing — informing people about products and services that can help them.
When you shift your mindset from "I need to sell" to "I need to inform," everything changes. The pressure drops. The conversations become natural. And ironically, you end up selling more.
That's the difference between marketing and sales. And once you understand it, you'll never look at this business the same way again.
Network Marketing: The Untold Truth
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