Thirty One Gifts is probably the biggest personalized gifts MLM

Thirty One Gifts is a direct sales company in the party planning industry, with most of its products being personalized gifts.

The company markets primarily to women customers and gets its name from Proverbs 31, which describes a “virtuous woman.”

Cindy Monroe founded the company in 2003 in her basement, and since then it has grown to include roughly 100,000 sales representatives in North America.

The company has endured plenty of tough times, in terms of lay offs and the inability to signup new members, both of which have occurred within the past few years. However, Thirty One Gifts has continued to grow into one of the most successful companies in the party planning industry, and it has not been shy about donating both money and products to worthy non-profit organizations, giving the company an optimistic outlook for the future.

Sign-Up Cost: $99

Global Revenue: $643 million

The Good: Customer satisfaction with products; valuable startup kit and training; donated millions to non-profit organizations.

The Bad: Over-saturated markets; monthly quotas; customer complaints regarding billing issues.

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Products

Thirty One Gifts offers over 100 different products. Most of these items fall into one of the following categories:

• Accessories – A collection of cases, bags, and pouches, as well as key fobs and a scarf.
• Home – A variety of home goods, including storage bins, pillows, baskets, and more.
• Jewelry – A collection of necklaces, charms, chains, and other types of jewelry.
• Purses – Roughly a dozen purses of all shapes, sizes, and colors.
• Thermals – Roughly a dozen thermals, many of which are new.
• Totes – More than a dozen totes and bags.
• Wallets – A handful of wallets geared towards women.

Most of the company’s products can be personalized to include your name or someone else’s name if the product is intended as a gift.

Opportunity

Thirty One Gifts sells its products through independent distributors who the company calls Consultants. Becoming a Consultant requires a startup fee of $99, which comes with over $400 worth of products and supplies to help a distributor get their new business started. Once onboard, Consultants are encouraged to host parties where they can sell their products to a large group of people at one time.

Consultants with Thirty One Gifts earn 25% commission of the products they sell. There are also incentives and discounts available for Consultants when they host parties. Consultants can also build a team of distributors and earn commission based on the sales of team members, although the company’s website isn’t specific about those commission rates.

The Good

The startup kit and training offered by Thirty One Gifts is one of the company’s best assets. The signup cost of $99 is perhaps a little high for some people, but receiving roughly $400 worth of products and supplies makes it worthwhile if you have an interest in the company and its products. Thirty One Gifts also gives its Consultants a personalized website where they can make sales, as well as training on how to use it. This is more training and support than many other MLM companies, and should help ease your mind with regard to the $99 signup cost.

Equally important to the support and training the company supplies is how its products are received, which for Thirty One Gifts is quite well. Online reviews indicate that most customers are satisfied with the products they purchase from Thirty One Gifts. To be fair, there’s not all that much that can go wrong with the type of products Thirty One Gifts sells; what you see on the company’s website is what you’re going to get in most instances. Still, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of customer satisfaction, especially in the MLM industry.

Finally, the fact that Thirty One Gifts has donated millions of dollars in money and products to a variety of non-profit organizations, most of which benefit women and families, is a positive sign (1).

Donating millions of dollars worth of profits isn’t necessarily unique to companies in the MLM industry, but it’s always good to see. In the case of Thirty One Gifts, it’s obvious that they dedicated to helping and empowering women; you can see it in both the company’s culture and in how they spend its profits.

The Bad

Thirty One Gifts hasn’t received a lot of customer complaints, but they’ve received a reasonable amount, and most of them have involved billing issues. There may be glitches in the company’s online ordering process that double charges customers for products or bills them for the wrong product. These types of complaints can usually be resolved, but it can be a turnoff for some customers and create headaches for the distributor, so it’s best to avoid them if possible.

Another issue that distributors have to be wary of when getting involved with Thirty One Gifts is the possibility of over-saturated markets. The company has over 100,000 Consultants in North America, and having this many distributors can lead to an over-saturated market in some places. If there are already a significant number of distributors in your area, it may be difficult to find customers, and thus your ceiling for making money may be limited. This isn’t necessarily the company’s problem, but it could deter some from signing up as a Consultant.

Finally, Thirty One Gifts has a quota that Consultants must meet, as well as several rules and regulations they must abide by that aren’t necessarily standard with MLM firms. The monthly requirements are reasonable compared to most other MLM companies, but they still exist and distributors should be aware of them. There are also several rules with regard to the role that spouses, assistants, and others can have in your business. You are also not allowed to run your business as an LLC, which other MLM firms allow. These policies may not affect everyone, but distributors would be wise to look into them before signing up with Thirty One Gifts.

Recap

Thirty One Gifts is one of the more upstanding companies in the MLM industry. The company has a clear mission, donates millions of dollars to charitable organizations, provides plenty of support for its distributors, and sells products that receive positive reviews. Outside of the $99 startup fee, it’s a safe venture that’s relatively risk free. Only in rare cases will it become a full-time job, but it has the potential to be a fun side project that produces some economic gain.

Like any other multi-level marketing company, it’s important to do your due diligence before signing up. But most of the concerns with Thirty One Gifts are relatively minor and shouldn’t stop you from becoming a consultant if you like the company and its products.

It may not be a life-changing experience, but it’s a potentially fruitful venture.

via http://mlmcompanies.org/thirty-one-gifts/