Glossary of Direct Selling Terms

Starting with "R"

Whether you are a new social influencer, brand ambassador, or a successful business builder, we're sure you've had a time when you heard a direct selling term you didn't know the meaning of or weren't sure if you were using the word correctly.

Here is a comprehensive glossary of industry terms used in the direct selling, multi-level marking (MLM), influencer marketing, and networking marketing industries to help you sound like an expert from day one.

If you found we missed a term, please let us know here!

Rank

It is the position of distributors in the MLM genealogy tree. The rank is based on the performance and experience of the distributor, starting from leader to upline and then downline members. Distributors increase in rank just like in a traditional sales organization where growing sales and team members' success are rewarded.

Recruiting

In a direct selling business, recruiting is the addition of new members by a distributor to the downline. Recruiting, in some ways, overlaps with prospecting, as more or less the same marketing techniques are applied while adding new members to the downline.

Referral Marketing

In referral marketing, a company encourages the consumers to share their product with their family, friends, and community members to become new customers. It's a word-of-mouth strategy that depends on loyal brand customers and advocates.

Replicated Website

A replicated website is a template that can be reused and customized for many users. MLM companies generally provide replicated websites to each of their distributors to help them grow their business. Typically each distributor has the same personal website, with differences only in name, photo, and contact.

Retail Sale

The meaning of retail is the sale of goods from a business to a consumer for consumption through independent retailers. As far as the strategy is concerned, there's almost no difference between retail and MLM businesses, one relying on independent retailers and the other on MLM consultants or distributors. However, the distributors don't have a shop, unlike retailers.

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