Usana MLM Review

Hey there Sea Changers, and welcome back to my series of MLM reviews. Today we are going to look into another within the extremely lucrative online supplements market with my Usana MLM Review. As I have mentioned a number of times within my posts (and especially MLM reviews), supplements are a great way to make money online as in many cases, the products do not need to be touched or felt prior to purchase. So, is Usana a MLM program worth looking into? Let's have a look and find out…

What is MLM?

Multi-level marketing (MLM) programs are the mainstay of the ‘party plan' world of products such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Amway etc. and, of course within the supplements and Beauty/Cosmetics markets (I forgot to mention, Usana does have a smaller skin care range as well). MLM has become a little more popular lately – mainly due to the fact that much of the sales and marketing is now being managed online – alleviating the need to run parties – and, more importantly, not hassle everybody you know to join (you can of course, but you don't have to).

The ‘multi level' aspects of MLM come from its hierarchical nature in which you make commissions based not only on those that you sell to, but also the sales of those whom you ‘sign' into membership arrangements as well.

In short, the process works as follows:

1. You join the program, either via referral from another person (known as your up line) or directly through their website.
2. You promote the products of the company via parties, workshops or online.
3. As you make sales, you offer incentives to your customers to sign up as a member of the program (there are different names for this but they all mean the same thing).
4. That new member is then placed ‘underneath' you in a hierarchical arrangement (known as your down line).
5. You, and a number of levels of your up line, then gain extra commissions for everything they sell as well.
6. If they manage to refer their customers into memberships, they also become a member of your down line allowing you to make up line commissions as well.

The number of levels of your up and down lines will vary depending on the program you have joined. Commission rates will also change as your down line grows or contracts and many will also offer other incentives such as total company sales percentages and/or access to membership prizes as your own business grows.

Who are Usana?

Usana was established by Dr Myron Wentz in 1992 as a direct selling company focusing on nutritional supplements, healthy foods, and personal care products. Their mission is to “develop and provide science-based health products of the highest quality, distributed internationally through direct sales”. Usana is based in Salt Lake City, Utah in the U.S. with contact offices in 25 countries around the world.

The company runs on the core values of:

• Excellence
• Community
• Health
• Integrity

What do they Sell?

As mentioned above, Usana offers a catalogue of products based around health and nutrition with some skin care options included. Their main range includes:

Nutritionals

• Dietary Supplements – For most uses and requirements
• Vitamins
• Children's supplements
• Chewables

Food and Energy

• Meal replacement shakes (weight loss)
• Energy boosters
• Protein powders and bars
• Weight loss snacks

Skin Care/Beauty

• Skin products
• Hair products
• Moisturisers
• Toothpaste

To be honest, the list above does not really do the site justice however their site categorisations elaborate as follows:

MLM Program outline

The Usana MLM program calls their members Associates. Their compensation plan is ‘kind of' available on their website via a brief outline on the opportunity page although I was able to locate a more comprehensive version via an online search (I am not sure of the currency so happy to be corrected in the comments if any of the information below is inaccurate). Regardless, the program appears to be fairly standard for a MLM program within this niche albeit with a few differences to do with their down line commissions. The basics are as follows:

Base Commission rate: Up to 18%

Down line commission rates (Weekly Commissions): 16% to 20% of down line sales

Minimum monthly spend to qualify for commissions

Associates are required to initially generate 200 PSV points to open a ‘Business Center” in order to generate commissions. From there, at least 500 GSV points per month (split within two legs) is required in order to earn downline commissions.

Payment terms: Weekly and Monthly.

Application required?: Yes, Initial application form on website.

Purchase requirements to join: Yes

New Associates are required to purchase a welcome kit for $29.95 at time of enrollment. There are however no product purchase requirements.

Marketing materials provided: Back office tracking and coaching.

As is common with MLM programs, commissions and rankings are determined by the total Personal Sales Volume (PSV) that Associates and their down line generate in a calendar month. Most MLM programs manage it this way in that commissions are paid on the points assigned to a product rather than the entire sales total. Based on the information within the compensation plan, Usana appears to calculate its PV allocations at around 100% of the USD sales price which is really quite good (many don't) .

So, using this example, if a product retails for $50 which gives it a 50 PV rating (these generally vary from product to product and are adjusted based on the currency that the purchase is made in) then the commission is calculated on the full sales amount. If the commission rate then for a product is 10% it will generate a $5.00 commission payment (i.e. 10% of the $50 commissionable amount).

Business Centers

The Usana Compensation Plan manages many of its commission structure under a ‘Business Center' arrangement. In general, a Business Centre is just a fancy name for a downline leg however within this program, they are managed as follows:

Generate 200 PSV points (via personal and/or customer orders) and a business center is opened under the name of the Associate with two down line legs allowing for placement of new referrals as follows:

Associates who can generate 400 PSV within the first six Fridays of operation qualify for a third business centre effectively giving them two extra legs under which to place down line referrals and earn commissions. This works as below:

How can I get paid?

The Usana MLM program promotes 6 ways in which Associates can make money when they promote and sell their products. Most of these are actually quite standard for a modern MLM program with a few interesting differences around down line commission calculations and payments.

Let's run through them all now…

Retail Sales

Retail Sales commissions are the base profits earned by the general day to day retail sales that Associates generate via either of the two main ways as follows:

• Earn a commission of up to 18% of the purchase value if done so at retail prices and sold via the website.
• Purchase products at the discounted rate and on-sell them at retail prices (or whatever price point they choose) within a shop front, market stall or kiosk – or even the traditional party plan method.

Note: Associates do not need to meet minimum purchase target of to earn retail sales commissions/payments.

Weekly Commissions

Weekly Commissions of 16 – 20% are paid on the lowest total downline sales (Group Sales Volume – GSV) within both legs of the Associate's Business Centers. These payments are reliant on minimum GSV targets as follows:

Weekly Commissions are paid to the point where the GSV of both legs match. For example, if the total GSV of the Business Center left leg is 350 and the right leg is 450 then commission is paid on 350 GSV (the lowest GSV point). Unused points however (in this case 150 GSV from the right leg) are carried over to the next week's calculations (i.e. the week starts with 150 GSV within the right leg).

Lifetime Matching Bonus

The Lifetime Matching Bonus is paid to all sponsors who's downline Associates become Premier or Platinum PaceSetters. Once this occurs, Associates earn a 15% match of the commission volume of the down line Associate.

• To become a Platinum PlaceSetter, an Associate must generate 1,600 PSV from four or more personally sponsored Associates who have activated their Business Center.
• To become a Premier PlaceSetter, an Associate must generate 800 PSV from two or more personally sponsored Associates who have activated their Business Center.

Payment scales are as follows:

Leadership Bonus

The Leadership Bonus is a common option within many MLM Programs in that a percentage of total company sales is paid to those who reach the higher ranks within the program. In the case of Usana, 3% of the total company CSV is divided among qualifying Associates ranked Gold Director or higher each week.

Elite Bonus

Each quarter, 1% of the total company CSV is divided among the top 60 income earners of the previous quarter.

Incentives

The final payment option of the 6 outlined within the compensation plan is in the form of extra incentives. These include luxury travel, prizes and other cash bonuses on a promotional basis for top earners.

Ranking structure

Based on the Compensation plan outline above, Usana does not appear to rely as heavily on rank assignment as many other MLM programs within this niche (such as the Isagenix and Plexus MLM programs for example). There is however reference to ranks of “Gold Director or higher” within the Leadership Bonus outline so with that in mind the Usana ranking structure is listed as follows:

Note: Associates can qualify to open extra Business Centers whenever they maximize a current Business Center by generating 5,000 GSV points in both the left and right sides.

What is good about it?

So, after a good look around the site and looking at all the options I could find, I do like the following:

• Base and downline commission rates are good.
• The generation of new Business Centers allows for greater earning.
• No ongoing personal purchase requirements.

What is no so good about it?

There are also some things to be aware of including:

• The compensation plan is not readily available on the website.
• The Business Center arrangement can leave unearned commissions continuously rolling over

How much can you make?

Usana provides projected income figures on its website as follows:

These figures confirm that like most MLM programs, the percentage of members making the upper rank levels – and hence earning a living – is very low (usually less that 1%).

My final thoughts

Look, MLM is not an easy platform to make money in at the best of times and there is really nothing that I can see to make this one easier than others. From an online business point of view, you still need constantly attract customers, down line Associates and sales to be successful.

Associates can also earn commissions and retail profits without the need to personally purchase products (apart from the initial Welcome kit purchase). This means that they can get their business off the ground without any of the initial out-of-pocket costs that can strain the finances at this time. However, if I am being honest, I think that to be successful in any MLM program, you will need to have a good understanding of the products, hence personal sales may be necessary – especially if monthly targets cannot be met with customer sales alone.

That said, there is nothing here that would make me tell you to avoid this one completely as long as you go in with your eyes open to the fact that success in MLM is not easy and takes a good amount of time, patience and often, financial commitments as well.

I was unable to locate any negative reviews in terms of non-payment etc. however there was some negative comments about the quality of products and the MLM program itself – although it was not really anything that is uncommon in regards to MLM programs or products within this niche. They have had some legal issues in regards to the trading of their stocks but none that I could find in regards to their products.

Conclusion

So there you have it, my honest review and appraisal of the Usana MLM program. I hope it has been of assistance but as usual, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out by commenting below.

Are there any other programs you have been looking at but want to know more about? If so, please comment below and I will do my best to get some details for you.

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Until next time

Have fun

Paul

Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price. This may include sales made via Wealthy Affiliate.