Reliv is basically a health and wellness MLM. Like most companies in this field, Reliv offers a selection of different products that are meant to provide extra nutrition and improve health in that way. There are also some less common angles, although none of the products are entirely unique to Reliv.
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Countless people want to improve their health, live longer, and feel better. The health industry thrives because of these goals. In theory, the field is a powerful way to make money, as there is always plenty of demand and health is a priority for many people.
The biggest downside is the competition. With so many different products out there, companies have to strive to create something that customers are going to buy regularly. Creating a selling point is a key strategy, like having a product that is amazing value for money or a range that has something special.
While Reliv has some predictable products, the company does also has a few less common options as well. Their marketing approaches also give distributors some tools for promoting the products. But, is this enough to make Reliv a good way to earn money? That’s what we’re here to find out.
Two Ways To Make Money With Reliv
So, as always, Reliv offers two ways to earn. The first involves selling Reliv products to customers and earning commissions. The second approach is to work on building a team as well. Team building is a more complicated process, but it also offers increased income potential.
In this review, I’m examining both ways to earn money, along with whether Reliv has any potential as a sustainable income source.
Make Money From Product Sales
The first thing to mention with product sales is the products themselves. Your chances with the company are much better when you’re focusing on products that people will find desirable.
Reliv has three main product areas. The first is a set of nutrient shakes. While these look like protein shakes, the nutrient profile is very different. They only contain seven grams of protein per serving, yet offer between 100% and 300% of the Daily Value for most nutrients.
The shakes also contain a proprietary blend of plant extracts and similar ingredients. Whether these offer any benefit or not is debatable, but they do make the shake mixes different than what you would find with other brands.
The second product area is targeted solutions. There is a selection of options, including powders and supplements. The items are themed towards specific health benefits, like decreasing the effects of arthritis or providing free radicals to fight aging. Some of the products end up being fairly typical, while others are more unusual.
Reliv focuses on a supplement called LunaRich X that acts as a source of lunasin. Their marketing suggests that the supplement can help to improve your health by influencing your epigenetics. Lunasin itself has been linked to epigenetic changes, but there isn’t enough evidence to suggest the benefits that Reliv is suggesting.
Last, but not least, is the selection of hemp products that the company offers. These do broaden the product selection, but they don’t seem to fit in well with the rest of the company.
All-in-all, Reliv does have interesting products. The selection might be unusual enough to promote sales, especially with LunaRich X and the hemp products in the mix.
While Reliv does provide some scientific backing to their claims, it’s unlikely that the products will perform as well as the marketing suggests. Besides, this is hardly the first company to make radical claims. Consumers are starting to get jaded about such hype.
Regardless of how good Reliv claims to be, the reality is that the company isn’t all that well known and isn’t really recognized as being a company with unique and high-quality products. Let’s not forget the price either. None of these products are cheap, especially if people need to buy them monthly.
All of this means that if you want to try and sell the products from Reliv, you will have your work cut out for you. Direct sales isn’t a particularly easy field to begin with. Even distributors from well-known companies who have plenty of experience tend to struggle with making sales.
How You Earn
Reliv’s opportunity is somewhat amusing. The company talks about offering a business approach that ‘cuts through the hype’ and offers openness, yet details about how distributors earn are surprisingly difficult to find.
What is clear is that distributors earn between 20% and 40% commission from the sales that they make. Profit is based on sales per month in the following manner:
The term PGPV stands for Personal Group Point Volume and is an indication of your own sales, along with the sales of your team. Points are likely to directly relate to the dollar costs of products, but Reliv doesn’t elaborate on this area. If so, then you need $500 in sales per month to earn the 25% profit margin and more than $5,000 in sales to hit the maximum profit level.
Still, there are some advantages. Reliv is unusual in that the ranks are permanent. If you hit a rank once, you keep it. The only exception is Master Affiliate, which needs to be re-earned yearly.
It’s also interesting how your profit levels are calculated from your team sales right from the beginning. This could make it possible to decrease your own sales in favor of team building. Such an effect is unusual. Most MLMs require distributors to focus on product sales just as much, if not more when they start working on the team angle.
While the plan looks better than normal so far, there are issues too. The most immediate one is that Reliv doesn’t state how distributors earn. In particular, it isn’t clear whether distributors need to purchase products and then resell them or whether all customer orders are conducted through Reliv.
That distinction is critical. Reordering models tend to place much more pressure on the distributor. They create a situation where you have to try and figure out the amount of product that is going to sell. You can easily end up out of pocket as a consequence.
Thankfully, Reliv distributors do get a website (it’s just a replicated site, of course), which helps to extend their reach. Even so, it isn’t clear whether the site is the only way that distributors can make sales.
Make Money Building A Team
Reliv doesn’t just want people selling its products, it also wants people promoting the company as a whole. As such, any potential of earning significant income from Reliv comes from getting other people to join.
Team compensation plans are often complicated, but Reliv makes the whole process even more confusing still.
This is partly because they suggest that distributors order products from their upline, based on who has the highest discount. They provide this as an example of their system:
I swear, the whole process is far more complicated than it needs to be – and this is just looking at a distributor who orders from one step above them.
Another complicating aspect is that the same downline volume can’t be used to qualify more than one person for Master Affiliate. Instead, 1,000 unencumbered volume is needed on top of the qualifying volume. The process isn’t particularly clear and it isn’t explained well in Reliv’s marketing plan.
So far, we’ve just been talking about rank qualifications, which should give you some idea of how confusing the whole scheme can get. The next aspect is actually earning from your team. The basic structure for doing so looks like this:
The style is similar to other MLMs, where you’re earning percentages of the sales made in your downline. These start off fairly generous too, with 8% commission on your first tier. The catch is that you need at least one front line Master Affiliate in your downline to access this income. Getting even one Master Affiliate would take quite some time, as the qualifying volume needed is at least 5,000 PGPV.
I’m not going to talk about the compensation plan in more detail, although there are other ranks, bonuses, and requirements. The most important thing to note is that you end up needing a considerable amount of sales in your downline and your recruits also need to hit (and maintain) certain ranks themselves.
Can You Generate Reliable Income With Reliv?
The Reliv Review
Products
Business Opportunity
Final Review
While I've never been a fan of MLMs, the simple answer is that yes, earning reliable income with Reliv is possible. The company even has some advantages, such as a semi-interesting product range and an ability to increase profit level from sales alone.
The real question is whether you're earning enough to make all the complexity worth it. After all, the real income winners will always be the people who successfully build a team. Selling products through direct marketing is hard enough, team building takes that challenge to a whole new level.
Part of the problem is getting recruits. Most people will be very reluctant to seriously join an MLM. After all, most will have a job of their own already. Even if they joined Reliv, they probably wouldn't have the time to invest seriously in the process. Pitching a business idea is also pretty challenging in its own right. You need a decent amount of salesmanship skills to pull it off and Reliv is unlikely to teach you everything that you need to know.
If you do get people involved, what then? Reliv's model heavily relies on your team being successful in terms of sales and getting promoted.
This means that you need to rely on the success of other people. Have you ever tried to ensure someone else's success? It's not easy. There's only so much that you can do anyway, then the rest is down to them.
The end result is that the business model has severe limitations. Sure, you can make money, but you're fighting an uphill battle the entire time. Things only start to turn around once you get a decent team that's successful. Even then, there's no guarantee that your team will remain effective over time.
MLM Critic & Author: Nathaniell
What's up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. I have to be honest though. I'm not a big fan of MLM. Tried it. Hated it.
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