MLM Plans
MLM compensation plans breathe life into a multi-level marketing business
A multi-level marketing (MLM) compensation plan is a structure that determines how distributors or independent representatives of an MLM company are compensated for their sales efforts and the sales efforts of their downline organization. MLM compensation plans aim to reward distributors for both their personal sales and the sales made by the distributors they recruit and train.
MLM compensation plans typically consist of various components, including:
Retail
Commissions
Distributors earn commissions on the sales they generate directly to retail customers. This commission is usually a percentage of the retail price of the products or services sold.
Wholesale or Preferred
Customer Commissions
Some MLM companies offer distributors the opportunity to earn commissions on sales made to wholesale customers or preferred customers who purchase products at a discounted price. Distributors earn a commission based on the difference between the wholesale price and the retail price.
Performance-based
Rewards
MLM companies may offer additional rewards or incentives for top-performing distributors, such as trips, cars, or other recognition-based rewards. These rewards are typically based on achieving specific sales or leadership targets.
Leadership
Bonuses
MLM companies may offer additional bonuses or incentives to distributors who achieve specific leadership ranks or milestones within the organization. These bonuses are often based on the sales volume or performance of the distributor's entire organization, including multiple levels or generations of downline.
Royalties or
Residual Income
Some MLM compensation plans provide distributors with ongoing residual income or royalties based on the repeat purchases or subscriptions of their customers or downline. Distributors earn a percentage of the sales volume generated by their customer base or downline over time.
Overrides or Downline
Commissions
MLM compensation plans often provide incentives for distributors to recruit and develop their own downline organization. Distributors can earn commissions or bonuses based on the sales volume or performance of their downline team. These commissions can be calculated based on a percentage of the sales volume generated by their downline or through various other structures, such as binary, matrix, or unilevel plans.
Types of MLM Plans
Each MLM Plans has its own unique characteristics and MLM organizations choose to decide which plan to employ based on their business interests.
MLM Plan 1
Unilever Plan
What is MLM Unilevel Compensation Plan?
The MLM Unilevel plan is a popular compensation structure used in multilevel marketing (MLM) companies. It is characterized by its simplicity and unlimited width, allowing distributors to build a wide and deep organization.
Here's an overview of the MLM Unilevel plan:
Structure
In the Unilevel plan, distributors can sponsor an unlimited number of frontline distributors directly. There are no restrictions on the number of distributors a person can recruit in their frontline. This creates a wide organization with multiple levels of distributors.
Depth and Levels
The Unilevel plan typically has unlimited depth, meaning distributors can build their downline as deep as they want. Each distributor recruits new members directly, and there are no limitations on the number of levels in the organization. However, some MLM companies may set a maximum number of levels to ensure manageable growth and fair compensation.
Commission Structure
Commissions in the Unilevel plan are based on the sales volume generated by the distributor's downline. Each level of the organization may have a different commission rate or qualification criteria. Distributors earn commissions on their personal sales, as well as on the sales volume of their entire downline organization.
MLM Plan 2
Binary Plan
What is Binary Compensation Plan?
A binary compensation plan is a popular structure used by multi-level marketing (MLM) companies to reward their distributors for selling MLM company products or services and recruiting new distributor into the organization.
In a binary compensation plan design, each distributor can have only two direct downline directly beneath them, commonly referred to as "legs" or "teams." These two legs can continue to grow as new distributors are recruited by the original distributor or by their downline distributors. This creates a binary tree structure for computation bonuses.
The compensation plan typically pays distributors based on the total sales volume generated by their weaker leg. The weaker leg is often known as the "pay leg" while the stronger leg is known as the "power leg". The main objective of this structure design is to encourage distributors to balance their recruitment efforts on both legs, as they can earn commissions and bonuses based on the total sales volume of their weaker leg.
MLM Plan 3
Breakaway / Generation MLM Plan
What is Breakaway / Generation MLM Compensation Plan?
The Breakaway or Generation MLM Compensation Plan is another type of multi-level marketing (MLM) compensation plan. It is designed to reward distributors for building and developing large sales organizations by achieving specific sales or recruitment milestones.
Here's an overview of the Breakaway/Generation plan:
Generations
The Breakaway plan is characterized by generations, which are formed as distributors break away from their upline. Each generation represents a level of the organization. For example, the first generation consists of the distributor's personal recruits, the second generation includes the recruits of the distributor's first generation, and so on. The number of generations may vary depending on the MLM company's compensation plan structure.
Breakaway Structure
Breakaway plan, the distributor organization is structured into various levels or generations. A distributor starts as part of a group or "leg" and works towards achieving specific qualification criteria set by the MLM company. Once those criteria are met, the distributor "breaks away" from their upline and becomes an independent leader of their own group or team.
Compensation Structure
The compensation in a Breakaway/Generation plan is typically based on sales volume or team performance. Distributors earn commissions or bonuses based on the sales made by their organization, which includes the sales made by their downline distributors within specific generations or levels. The higher the generation, the lower the commission percentage tends to be, as the distributor has already "broken away" from their upline.
MLM Plan 4
Force Matrix Plan
What is MLM Force Matrix Compensation Plan?
The MLM Force Matrix Compensation Plan, also known as a Forced Matrix Plan, is a type of multi-level marketing (MLM) compensation plan that utilizes a matrix structure to determine how distributors are compensated. In a Force Matrix Plan, distributors can only have a limited number of frontline or personally sponsored distributors, and additional recruits are placed in their downline organization, typically in a specific matrix structure.
Here are the key features of the MLM Force Matrix Compensation Plan:
Matrix Structure
The Force Matrix Plan is based on a matrix structure, where distributors are organized in a specific matrix or grid. The matrix can be represented by numbers, such as a 3x3 or 5x5 matrix, which indicates the number of levels and positions in each level. For example, a 3x3 matrix would have three levels and a maximum of three positions in each level.
Width and Depth
The width of a matrix refers to the number of frontline or personally sponsored distributors that each distributor can have. For example, in a 3x3 matrix, each distributor can have up to three frontline distributors. The depth refers to the number of levels in the matrix, indicating how far down the organization can extend.
Spillover
Spillover is a key feature of the Force Matrix Plan. If a distributor has filled all their frontline positions, any additional recruits brought in by the distributor or their upline can be placed in the downline of distributors who have vacant positions. This spillover effect can help distributors in their downline fill their matrix positions more quickly.
Compensation Structure
The compensation structure of the Force Matrix Plan typically involves commissions or bonuses based on the sales or recruitment activities within the matrix. Distributors can earn commissions on the sales volume generated by their matrix organization, and additional bonuses may be provided for achieving specific milestones, such as filling the entire matrix or reaching certain levels within the matrix.
MLM Plan 5
MLM Hybrid Compensation Plan
What is MLM Hybrid Compensation Plan?
The term MLM "hybrid plan" refers to a MLM compensation plan that combines two or more traditional MLM compensation bonus structures. MLM companies designed various MLM compensation plans to incentivize their distributors. Each MLM plan has its advantages and disadvantages, and different MLM plans can be more or less effective depending on the nature of the product and the target market.
Some common Hybrid MLM compensation bonus structures include:
Binary Plan
Distributors are structured in a binary tree – each person recruits two other members, resulting in a left and a right subtree.
Matrix Plan
This is a fixed structure plan, like 3x3, 4x4, 5x5. A distributor can only sponsor a certain number of front-line distributors.
Unilevel Plan
A distributor can sponsor an unlimited number of front-line distributors, and commissions are typically paid on a limited number of levels deep.
Stairstep Breakaway
Distributors advance by achieving certain sales thresholds and "break away" to start their own group, and can earn overriding commissions from the group.