The Longaberger Company takes one thing and one thing alone very seriously: baskets. In fact, baskets are such an integral part of Longaberger that the company’s home office in Newark, Ohio, is a giant basket. With this in mind, there is a logical question for you to ask yourself: Do you love hand-woven baskets and other housewares? If you do and you’re also considering an at-home career as an MLM salesperson, then Longaberger is a company you should look into.
Longaberger’s Long History
It seems to me that if a company creating baskets and other housewares is going to be successful, then it’s going to have to have a long history doing what it does best. That’s exactly what Longaberger is all about — a long history of basket weaving.
Longaberger as its known today was founded in the 1970s, but its history reaches all the way back to the 19th Century when the founding Longaberger family first began working in a basket-weaving factory. From there the company’s history began to take shape, and survived the Great Depression, two World Wars, and several shifting eras. The entire timeline of the Longaberger family and its company is too long to rehash here, but it’s available on the official Longaberger website.
Out of the Longaberger Company’s history grew a family that loves the craftsmanship of baskets, and according to the website, no one makes baskets in the United States better than they do. I’m not a basket aficionado, so I can’t speak to their quality. But then again, their home office building is a giant basket, so it’s safe to say they take what they do seriously.
But Longaberger is not limited to just baskets. In recent years, they expanded outward to make a name for themselves in other areas of the house-wares industry. Longaberger also offers tabletop accessories, wrought-iron wares, and pottery.
Longaberger’s MLM Opportunities
Not long after Longaberger was founded, the company realized they’d sell more products through targeted marketing opportunities. No one at Longaberger liked the idea of their baskets gathering dust on some retail shelf, so they decided they wanted to delegate sales to a team of independent “home consultants” to not only show Longaberger products to potential buyers, but to also explain the company history to help draw in purchases.
Currently, Longaberger has 45,000 home consultants throughout the entire United States. To make your life easier, Longaberger has an easy-to-use website with a lot of good information. But what it lacks are the nuts-and-bolts numbers covering commissions and company protocol concerning sales.
But like with most MLM companies, you’ll have to make an upfront investment by buying a starter kit. They range in price from $50 to $400, depending on how much you want to invest into your own individual venture with the company.
Last-Minute Thoughts
From looking at the Longaberger website, they look like a solid company with a long history and trusted products.
But what concerns me is Longaberger’s lack of upfront commission figures and protocols for sales demands. But if home wares interest you and you’d like to begin an MLM career, don’t pass up this company. Simply look into it more closely and never hesitate to ask questions.
This white paper was originally written for Content Prose to be published by the C Caldwell Group.
