MLM Online Training Resource

Is Stampin Up Losing Ground?

Posted on 24. Oct, 2009 by admin in MLM Review

Stampin Up is a network marketing company that has helped many achieve dreams of success, but can it help you with your goals of financial independence?  Is there a solution to generating success in a company like Stampin Up?  There is a solution and the answer is included in this article.  Read on.

Stampin Up Overview:

According to the Stampin Up website, it was founded in 1988 by Shelli Gardner and her sister.  The company is based in Utah and has 500 employees.  They have expanded their company to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.  Stampin Up introduces more than 100 new stamp sets and accessories annually in its full-color Idea Book & Catalog.

Stampin Up is a direct sales company that has been around for 16 years.  It is a 200 million dollar company.

Stampin Up Products:

Basically, Stampin Up offers various products of stamps as well as accessories for home decor, handmade greeting cards, scrapbook pages, and more.  Their product line includes:

- Rubber stamps
- Card stock paper
- Embellishments (ribbon, brads, buttons, Eyelets, and Rub-Ons)
- Ink-Cetera (pads, ink, markers, watercolors, pastel, cartridges)
- Stampin Memories (scrapbook memory products)
- Definitely Decorative (custom home decor)
- Tools (adhesives, applicators, cleaners, cutters, punches, and more)
- Storage (Organize space using Stampin Up storage options)

Opportunities:

Stampin Up promotes its products through home demonstrators.  As a demonstrator you host parties and invite family, friends, etc.  You invite people over to show them the various techniques and products by Stampin Up.

If you believe that you don’t have the skills for crafts, Stampin Up’s demonstrators come in all levels of expertise and with the many available resources that is provided by Stampin Up, if you have a passion for crafting, you can succeed as a demonstrator.

The Benefits Of Being A Demonstrator:

- Get Product discounts.  As much as 20% discount on all Stampin Up products, including the stamp sets, paper, and accessories.
- Extra Income.  You earn income from the sales and recruiting.
- Flexible Hours; after all, this is your business.
- Support from Stampin Up.

To become a demonstrator, you need to purchase the Starter Kit.  Inside the Starter Kit are:
- Five complete stamp sets
- A Stampin Around Wheel, handle, and ink cartridge
- Stampin Pastels
- Card Stock
- Eastern Blooms Decor Elements and applicator tool
- Five Classic Stampin Pads
- VersaMark Pad
- Stampin Scrub and Mist
- Blender pens
- Business forms and tools

To sign up as a Stampin Up demonstrator, you contact a demonstrator that showed you the opportunity or use the Demonstrator Locator to find you a demonstrator near you.

Compensation Plan:

Stampin Up compensation plan is very involved.  To learn about it will require you to do your own due diligence.  The company does provide an explaination along with a table of the compensation plan.  To learn about the compensation plan will require you to visit their website.

Some Alarming News:

I did come across some information that stated that the Stampin Up is experiencing some issues because of the current economic climate.  The article stated that employees at Stampin Up were begin laid off.  They had a 10% decrease in sales over the past two years, which has forced them to make this difficult choice.  How truthful is the information is up in the air.  This particular article was written in March 2009, so things could possibly be better now, but again, this is why it is necessary to do your own due diligence prior to moving forward with any decision about a business opportunity, even one with as much history as Stampin Up.

In Closing:

In general, Stampin Up appears to be a viable company, for those interested, to generate either part time or full time income.  Keeping in mind the issue of layoffs, the company has managed to come through a lot, this acknowledgment stemming from the fact that it started in 1988.  This is quite a long time, in regards to most direct sales and network marketing company.  Most companies like this fail within the first 2-3 years.

One thing lacking is training provided by Stampin Up.  They do provide trainings on learning various techniques to creating arts and crafts projects, but not much on how to build customers.  Unless you have a large list of family and friends, you are going to experience difficulties finding people to send invitations to.  You will more than likely need to acquire communication skills so that you can learn how to talk to people. I know most people won’t ever feel comfortable talking to strangers, either face to face or over the phone.  So, if you are one of these individuals where engaging in “belly to belly” marketing style is not working for you or you are just not interested in learning, altogether, there is another way.

If you don’t mind using the computer and learning some new, more technical skills, you can learn online marketing skills that can allow you to generate leads and customers for your Stampin Up business.  In addition, you could be earning an income while you are learning these skills.

Most online marketing systems do provide trainings and online webinars so that you can learn how to market using the internet.  The better marketing systems, also have, what is referred to as a, “Sales Funnel”, to help you generate an income while you are learning how to build a business on the internet.   Marketing systems are the new wave of the direct sales and network marketing industry.  This is because of the increase in popularity of the internet and its ability to give entrepreneurs a way to connect with millions of people per day, on the internet.  If you find that doing primarily offline marketing methods is a struggle for you, using an online marketing system, just might be the one thing missing in your home business success.