Hey there sea changers, and welcome back to my series of MLM reviews. Today we are going to visit the extremely popular world of CBD oils and products with my Verum Gold MLM Review. Frankly, the online sale of CBD oils is a booming industry and can be extremely lucrative with many making a good living selling items via online stores and affiliate marketing. Added to this obviously is the ever growing array of CBD based multi level marketing programs that are available. So, is the Verum Gold MLM worth checking out? Let's have a look and see what we can find…
What is MLM?
Multi-level marketing (MLM) programs are the traditional mainstay of the ‘party plan' world of products such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Amway etc. and, as mentioned above, increasing in popularity within the CBD Oils market as well. This is partly due to the increased interest and legality of CBD products worldwide but also because MLMs have become more popular in recent times – mainly due to the fact that much of the sales and marketing is now being managed online.
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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:
- You join the program, either via referral from another person (known as your up line) or directly through their website.
- You promote the products of the company via parties, workshops or online.
- 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).
- That new member is then placed ‘underneath' you in a hierarchical arrangement (known as your down line).
- You, and a number of levels of your up line, then gain extra commissions for everything they sell as well.
- 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 Verum Gold?
There is not a lot of information in regards to the company behind Verum Gold on the website however it was founded by Rod Smith, who does actually appear in many of the videos etc. There is however no details provided in regards to company management, compliance or history available – which is usually a fairly big red flag if I am being honest. Their “about” page however focuses heavily on their product and the fact that it “is the best in the world in absorption at up to 20-times more than most common CBD” and that it “is the ONLY nutraceutical CBD in the world that offers empirical scientific evidence, based on preclinical trials, to prove its Bioavailability and Stability claims”.
Verum Gold is based in Orem, UT in the United States.
What do they Sell?
Verum Gold offers just one product – Pure Crystalline Isolate CBD Softgels containing 10-milligrams of one-of-a-kind, highly-bioavailable Canabidiol (“CBD”).
These are available in vials of 30 gels or sample ‘cards' ranging from two to 96 two serving blister packs. Item costs (at approx /13c per ‘gel' ) appear to be a little cheaper than others offering soft gels within the MLM space such as Kannaway.
MLM Program outline
The Verum Gold MLM program calls their members ‘Advocates' who are part of what appears to be a fairly straight forward and simplified program that is however a little ambiguous and does take a bit of reading to understand – so if I have it wrong, happy for you to comment below…. Their compensation plan is available on their website so here are the basics as I have found them…
Base Commission rate: Look to be around $10 per sale
Down line commission rates: 4 – 10% to 7 levels (level 1 down line is 4% based on rank)
Minimum monthly spend to qualify for commissions
To qualify for downline commissions, Advocates are required to maintain ‘active' status via meeting Business Volume (BV) targets of at least 50 per month. This can be made of personal or customer sales.
Payment terms: Weekly, monthly and quarterly.
Application required?: Yes, Application form on website.
Purchase requirements to join: Yes
New Advocates are required to pay a $49.95 enrollment fee which provides access to a replicated website and training and support tool/materials:
Marketing materials provided: As per enrollment kit above.
Within most MLM programs, rankings and commissions are determined by the total Business Volume (BV) generated by the Advocate and their down line within a calendar month with points assigned to each product. These point allocations can range from 50 to 100% of the retail price of each product (before tax and shipping) and vary from item to item and currency of sale.
In the case of the Verum Gold MLM program, BV is calculated at 30 – 60% of the USD retail sales price. This means that if a product is sold for $29.95 with a BV of 20, then payments are calculated on $20 of the sale cost not the full $29.95. Hence, then if a downline commission rate is 4% then the payment to the Advocate would total $0.80 (i.e. 4%of $20).
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How can I get paid?
Ok, so from what I can garner from the compensation plan, there are 8 ways in which Advocates can make money when they promote and sell Verum Gold Softgels. These are outlined as follows:
1. Fast Start
These are paid on the Auto Delivery of Sample Box purchases by down line customers of Advocates. Payments range from $4 to $9 based on rank generations as follows:
2. Direct Sales and Online Sales Proft
These are the general profits earned by Advocates for the day to day sales of Advocates undertaken in one of two ways:
1 – Sell products online via discount coupons to auto-ship customers with profits to the advocates as below:
2 – Purchase products at bulk prices for sales via personal connections, kiosks, markets, popups or even the traditional party plan model. Products can be sold at a price set by the advocate. Bulk options include:
3. Qualifying Bonus
The Qualifying Bonus model is designed to reward Advocates for recruiting new members to their down line. As each new Advocate is recruited and in turn becomes active, a qualifying bonus is paid to the Sponsor as below:
4. Accelerator Bonus
Once a sponsor recruits five (5) or more personally sponsored active Advocates, they are paid an Accelerator Bonus of 10% of their BV down to down five generations.
5. Leadership Bonus Pool
This is a common bonus option within many MLM programs where Advocates who reach higher ranks (in this case Silver or above) earn a pro rata percentage of 3% of Verum's quarterly gross sales volume (GV).
6. Rank Advancement Bonus
The Rank Advancement Bonus is another common MLM payment option where Advocates are paid a once off bonus for achieving and maintaining new ranks within the program. Rank payments are as follows:
- Manager – $250
- Master – $350
- Elite – $1000
- Copper – $2000
- Silver – $5000
- Gold – $10000
- Platinum – $25000
Ranks must be maintained for 90 days to trigger the Rank Advancement Bonus.
7. Expense Reimbursement Bonus
The Expense Reimbursement Bonus is paid as a monthly bonus to those in the lower ranks to maintain their business and build their down lines. These payments are as follows:
- Manager – $150
- Master – $300
- Elite – $1200
Rank levels must be maintained for three months to trigger this payment.
8. 5 x 7 Lifetime Commissions
5 x 7 Life commissions are the basic unilevel commissions that are prevalent within most MLM programs. Within the Verum Gold MLM program, commissions are paid to 7 levels based on the number of downline sales and BV reached. Commission payments are as follows:
Ranking structure
Verum Gold, as with most MLM programs, uses ranking structures on which to base commission payments and other bonuses upon. Rankings for the Verum MLM program are not available in a tabular form as per other programs so for the purposes of an example, I have included the requirements for the first qualifying (second lowest) and highest ranks below:
Again, as is common with almost all MLM programs, rank progression is determined by both the number of members within the Advocate's down line, and the total sales made by those members per month. Ranks can rise and fall based on the ability (or dis-ability) to reach the required member and sales targets.
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:
- CBD is a booming industry.
- Good range of payment and bonus options.
What is no so good about it?
There are also some things to be aware of including:
- There are some joining costs.
- There is only one product to sell.
- The compensation plan is a little confusing and ambiguous.
- There is no underlying information in regards to the company structure.
How much can you make?
Verum Gold does not provide an income disclosure statement on its website however as with most MLM programs, it has to be assumed from the compensation plan that the percentage of members making the upper rank levels – and hence earning a living – is very low (usually less than 1%).
My final thoughts
Look, MLM is not an easy platform to make money in and there is definitely nothing here to put this program above the many others I have seen. The compensation plan is a little confusing however once you get your head around it (at least I think I have) the program is pretty straight forward with common commission arrangements and the ability to make sales online or via personal sales options.
If I am being honest here however, there is just a little bit of information lacking that makes this program appear that not all is above board. There is no information in regards to overarching management teams or company background which is a common red flag often used to argue against MLMs in general. It may be just that the company is new however added to the ambiguity of the compensation plan and pricing I would be doing a bit more research myself if I was looking to join this one.
Once you have joined however, there are not the usual financial pressures of needing to make minimum personal purchases in order to qualify for commissions as long as you can make them within your down line. Although from what I can see, I think if you are going to succeed within this MLM program, you will need to have a good array of demonstration stock on hand. You may also need to bump up your personal purchase quota if customer sales alone are not enough for you to remain ‘Active' and qualify for commissions and/or discounts within a particular month.
I was unable to locate any negative reviews in terms of non-payment etc. although there were some negative comments (not as many as most others however) about the quality of customer service and the MLM program itself – although it was not really anything that is uncommon in regards to MLM programs or products within this niche.
CBD oil legalities
Finally, before you rush of into this program, I would advise that you do some solid research into the market in which you plan to promote these products. For example, where I live in Australia, the sale of CBD oil is still under debate with no clear guidelines (at time of writing). I can however promote into the U.S. (some states) via online methods. For this reason, you may even want to start by looking into affiliate marketing rather than committing to an MLM program in short term.
Conclusion
So there you have it, my honest review and appraisal of the Verum Gold MLM program. I hope it has been of assistance but as usual, if you have any questions or experience with this program please do not hesitate to reach out by commenting below – especially if any of my information is inaccurate.
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.
Do you want further assistance with any of the above or need help to build your own CBD based website?
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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.
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See you there
Paul
