HBSA

There has been a lot of buzz about Arbonne International, and as the concept of having a successful home-based business is growing more popular each day, that buzz has grown progressively louder. Arbonne has been on a tear, and has added thousands of hopeful distributors looking to achieve financial success marketing their products and services.

There are also some concerns about starting an Arbonne business. I’m about to go through and give an unbiased review of the pro’s and con’s of developing a business with Arbonne, and see if we can find out whether Arbonne is a great opportunity… or if it’s a pass.

1. Arbonne Business – The Good

There are plenty of good things that come with owning and marketing an Arbonne business. The products, which were first developed by chemist Petter Morck, are top-flight by anyone’s standards. Their flagship product line of Nutramin C anti-aging has powerful testimonials and before and after pictures to show their effectiveness.

Of course, with any home-based business, the compensation plan is important, and Arbonne International claims that their average payout for their top-level distributor position, National Vice President, approaches $30,000 per month. Not too shabby.

2. Arbonne Business – The Bad

Compensation with Arbonne is delivered through the model of network marketing. Unfortunately, most distributors will be taught to leverage their “warm market” of friends and family members to grow their businesses. Their Starter Kit includes a place to write down a list of 100 people that you know who would interested in the Arbonne opportunity. They are also encouraged to hand out free product samples and have home parties to share their products with others. They are told that the “products sell themselves”, which is a load of bull. If the product sold itself, what would they need distributors for? They could just put the product on a shelf at the department store and let it sell itself.!

3. Arbonne Business – The Ugly

Over 97% of all network marketers fail. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t grow an Arbonne business, it’s just to say that developing a successful organization requires more than chasing your friends and family members. They have a great product to market, but there are plenty of companies that have great products, and many people that market good products never make a dime. There are also plenty of terrible products that generate millions of dollars in revenue (anyone remember the pet rock?) The difference is the marketer, and their ability to target their market effectively.

In closing, I would say that starting and growing an Arbonne business is a great opportunity if someone knows how to effectively use the telephone, the Internet, direct mail, and other effective marketing tools. It’s not a scam, but like any business, success will be determined by the skill-set of the marketer. Arbonne is not a lottery ticket or a stock option – meaning, you don’t just buy into it and wait for a payout.

If someone doesn’t have the first clue on how to market effectively, then I would suggest that they should either learn how market effectively, or else just become a product user and enjoy the products.