I wrote this article a while back, but it still rings true for me.
There’s one philosophy of network marketing that says, “Sign up anything with a pulse.”
This is the throw-them-against-the-wall-and-see-who-sticks approach. The hope is that SOMEONE amongst those raw recruits will emerge as a leader.
I see two problems with this strategy.
First, it’s bad for the network marketing industry.
Why? Let me give you an extreme but true example.
I know a network marketer who enrolled 2,000 new recruits into his organization in less than two years. And not just any old recruits. These folks all purchased his company’s top starter pack.
He made quite a bundle on pack commissions, as you might imagine. Naturally, everyone wanted to know how he did it, and he became quite popular as a speaker for a while.
Later, I learned that his retention rate was a measly 10%. Surprise, surprise! He just didn’t have the time or the resources to work with all 2,000 of those people to help them succeed.
Okay, 10% of 2,000 is 200. That’s still a lot of people.
True, but let’s turn that around. It means that the other 1,800 people, who paid a lot of money for those starter packs, got their dreams shattered and are now probably telling their friends and relatives that network marketing is a hype and a scam.
Is it any wonder MLM has a bad reputation?
The second problem with this super-enroller approach is that it’s bad for the business of the person doing the recruiting.
How can that be?
I’ll answer that very simply: Lack of duplication.
If you’ve been doing network marketing for longer than five minutes, you know the importance of helping the distributors in your organization learn to do what you do and duplicate your efforts.
I doubt that many of the 200 surviving team members recruited by the mega-enroller were able to successfully copy what he did (which come to think of it might be a good thing, considering the negative impact his type of method has on the network marketing industry).
Unless he changes his approach, he’ll never reach a solid, residual income that will enable him to retire.
By contrast, here’s a completely opposite approach some friends of mine are using. In their system, a distributor finds ONE and only one new business builder per month, every month. No more, no less. (Product users, on the other hand, can be unlimited.)
Each new enrollee makes a commitment to do the same, and becomes part of a small team. Team members support one another and hold each other accountable to meet their one-a- month recruitment goals.
One a month. Hmmm. If you were doing it this way, you would have plenty of time to interview prospects, get to know them well, learn their strengths and weaknesses, and pick the ONE person among them who is most likely to succeed - the individual who will take her commitment seriously and continue the process of working with the team and finding ONE new person each month herself.
But one new recruit per month - can you really build a successful business this way?
Let’s crunch some numbers and see.
If everyone does what they’re supposed to do, your organization will double in size each month. Starting with the first month, there would be two people - you and your first new recruit. The second month you would each find another new distributor who would commit to following your lead, and there would be four people on your team. The third month there would be eight.
I know that so far this sounds really lame compared to recruiting 2,000 people. But get out your calculator and see what happens if you keep doing this for twelve months and everyone else does his or her part.
You’ll end up with 4,096 active distributors in your organization. Compare that with the 200 distributors the mega-recruiter was left with after the 1,800 disgruntled recruits dropped off his team.
Of course realistically it’s not very likely that you’ll end up with a perfect 4,096 team members after a year because there will always be a few dropouts. But what if you’re only half that successful and end up with 2,000? You’ll still have lots more active distributors than the mega- recruiter, and your numbers will continue to grow. What’s more, you’ll have achieved that success without destroying the trust of masses of innocent people in the process.
Now I certainly haven’t studied the compensation plans of every network marketing company on the planet, but I’m guessing that anyone with an organization of 2,000 - 4,000 business builders is making a pretty good income, regardless of what they’re selling. And it all comes from personally sponsoring just twelve new people - one per month.
The most important point is this: If you want to be successful in your MLM business, be a responsible sponsor. Take the time to select your business partners carefully, and support and train them so they’ll have the best possible start in their new venture.
In the long run, it will pay off for both of you.
No commentsBuilding a Team
Clayton Makepeace, the author of a popular copywriting blog, recently wrote a very detailed analysis of the current financial meltdown.
I’m pretty sure he knows a great deal about what he’s saying – he’s been researching and writing advertising copy for financial advisors for decades and apparently has learned a lot in the process.
He finished his post by offering five bits of advice on how to avoid being swallowed up in the impending monetary maelstrom. I’ll give you the first two. (If you want to read the rest, you’ll have to read Clayton’s original post.)
Item #1 was “Rake in every dollar you can.”
Item #2 was “Save every dollar you can.”
In other words, circle the wagons and hoard like crazy because you never know when your resources are going to run out.
This might seem like common sense, given the current state of things, but let’s all take a deep breath and put this in perspective.
First, network marketing is the best industry you can be in during a recession. Over the last fifty years, MLM companies have boomed every time there’s been a downturn in the economy. People rightly see a home-based business as a good hedge against a shaky job market.
Second, if you’re in network marketing at least partly because you want to make a difference in other people’s lives, you’re going to find lots of chances to do this in the next few months. Your opportunity and the training you provide could allow many other families to avoid ending up on park benches. And the more people you help, the more you will thrive.
Third, here’s a great chance to practice the abundance mentality we network marketers are so fond of. The more you can keep focused on your positive expectations of success, the better off you and the whole world will be. Know that you’re going to be fine.
Fourth, what if everyone stopped spending? Consumer hoarding is just another falling domino on the path to economic ruin. I’m not suggesting you take on additional debt or spend your resources wildly, but clutching your wallet with white knuckles is not going to get you through this with your positive attitude intact. And it will not help the economy upon which we all depend, either.
So I guess the bottom line is, relax. Don’t be scared. The world as we know it may change around us, but you and I will survive and thrive.
1 commentNetwork Marketing -- The Mental Game
When it comes to money, I go back and forth.
On the one hand, I very much want an abundance of it. I have no problem imagining what I’ll do when I finally get those big, fat residual income checks coming in. My sixteen-year-old son, the aspiring PGA Tour golfer, will be able to finish out his high school years in Florida where he’ll get to play year round and hit the ground running in college. His older college-age brother, our other aspiring PGA Tour golfer, will have no money worries when he turns pro in a couple of years. My husband will be able to retire early and do whatever he wants to do. His dream is to buy an RV and follow the kids around to their tournaments.
My personal vision is to be able to devote myself full-time to volunteering with my favorite non-profit, an organization that promotes the message that real peace is something you find inside yourself. And of course, it would be nice to fix up the house.
On the other hand, so many times in network marketing the emphasis is put on getting rich so that you can buy a lot of stuff – the cars, the mansions, the trips to exotic locations, and so forth. Even the video, “The Secret,” enlightened as it is in so many ways, still appeals heavily to that “get stuff” approach to life.
(But come on. You know in your heart of hearts that having “stuff” isn’t going to satisfy you in the long run.)
Apparently, this is a source of conflict for me. And maybe I’m not alone. According to a national Yahoo Small Business poll, 2/3 of Americans have thought about starting their own business in the last year, and the number one reason? To do something they love.
My father, I’m proud to say, set this as his priority fifty years ago. He was a chemistry professor at a state university in the Midwest. He loved teaching, loved working with young people. He could have earned double the salary if he’d gone into industry, but making a difference in the world through the lives of the students he touched was more important to him. I never once heard him complain about his job.
When I was growing up, we didn’t have a lot extras. At the time, this was a source of a lot of frustration for me. Looking back on it now, though, I feel differently about it. Suppose, solely for the sake of a higher income, my father had taken a different route, had gotten a job that had no meaning for him with a big chemical engineering company. I imagine I would have heard a lot of complaints. I imagine my world view would be very different today. So I wish to thank my dad for being an exceptional role model for me and my siblings.
But as I said, my parents struggled financially. Is there a way to find a balance between financial abundance and leading a deeply meaningful life? Network marketing could be a perfect solution, as I discovered recently.
Last week, I participated in a teleseminar called “The Champaign Bistro.” It was billed as “Goals Without Guilt.”
During the call we were guided to imagine ourselves one year from now, sitting with a friend in our favorite restaurant and celebrating our accomplishments of the past year. We were asked specific questions about what we were drinking (for me it was Perrier with a twist of lime), the view from the window (the beach at Wildwood Crest, New Jersey),and what we were hearing (Joshua Bell playing the violin), smelling (lilacs), and tasting (chocolate mousse). For each of these sensory impressions, we connected an accomplishment and imagined exactly how it made us feel – joyful, proud, tingling with excitement, etc.
I was delighted when another participant on the call shared his own main business goal – to help a lot of other people become financially free.
Suddenly, something clicked and my own business goals became crystal clear for me. All I have to do is focus on helping other people become successful (which I can totally get behind), and in the process, my needs will all be met – handsomely.
I’ve known this all along — even written articles about it — but somehow I hadn’t connected with it on a really deep level until that call. It’s no longer just a business strategy for me – it’s a MISSION.
1 commentNetwork Marketing -- The Mental Game
If you read my first blog post, you know that I stuck my neck out on May 1 and announced that this month I intend to ask 150 people who they know that might want to earn extra money. Specifically, 150 people all from the Greater Washington DC area — just to see if the US capital region is really the Bermuda Triangle of network marketing. I was planning to give daily updates on my progress, but it didn’t work out that way. So this is my first report.
Right after I threw down the gantlet for my personal challenge, after the post got posted, after I’d already started getting emails from readers congratulating me on my guts, I made the discovery that I don’t actually know 150 people in the DC area. After making an “exhaustive” list, I came up with only about forty names – not counting spouses. Granted, I keep thinking of a few more people as I go, but I’d be pretty surprised if my list grows much beyond sixty.
No problem, I thought. I’ll just go out and meet new people.
(Of course, I know lots more people outside the DC area, but for the purpose of this little experiment, they don’t count.)
The Mall Adventure
So the second day, I went to a large, upscale, indoor shopping mall with the intention of generating new acquaintances. Hey, lots of people there, right? But what I discovered was that folks generally don’t go to shopping malls to meet strangers. It’s as if they’ve each got an invisible protective bubble surrounding them, guarding against encounters with wackos. Like, um… me. Honestly, I couldn’t blame them. I would do the same thing in their shoes.
I suppose I could have dispensed with the nicety of actually connecting with them on a personal level and just blurted out to passers-by, “Hey, excuse me, but do you know anyone who needs some extra income?” But I didn’t for several reasons — it goes against everything I believe about network marketing; it would have annoyed the heck out of the other shoppers; and it would have been cheating. I mean, why not bring a bullhorn and check 50 people off the list all at once? I’d prefer there to be an actual chance that the person I’m asking will respond positively.
Anyway, the mall experience was very disheartening. I began to think I’d done something really dumb in taking on this project. For the next two days I was a nervous wreck – stomach in knots, lying awake at night, snapping at loved ones – all because of a sense of impending doom. I was on track to fail miserably and what was worse – I was going to fail miserably right out in public. In front of people I’m trying to impress, no less. (That would be you and the rest of my readers.)
In addition to the fear of failure, I had to contend with all the usual fears of rejection — not knowing how the folks on my list were going to react to my asking for their help. Would they be offended? Would they think I was weird? Would they accuse me of being socially inappropriate? (Turns out I had nothing to fear in this regard.)
So basically, this blitz pushed me hard against the wall of my own subconscious limitations. And believe me, it was painful. But as the saying goes, “Anything that doesn’t kill you outright makes you stronger.”
Dumping the Trash
I did get stronger. In desperation, I took a hard look at what I was doing and decided it was time to start digging. I uncovered a lot of subconscious emotional baggage I’d been carrying around and got rid of a whole bunch of it. Stuff about money and my worthiness to ask for and receive it. Stuff about guilt and dragging around the burden of responsibility for everyone else’s happiness and well-being.
[I confess — I could not have done this without the help of an awesome process called “Emotional Freedom Techniques” (EFT). I’ll be writing a post about it soon.]
I began to notice how I’d been subtly sabotaging my efforts to earn money. For example, in the beginning of the blitz, I usually led with a story about how I’d done something really “wild and crazy,” committing to call 150 people in the month of May. It was kind of a way of getting myself off the hook for calling them. After all, everyone’s done something dumb like that at some point, right?
After ditching the emotional baggage, however, I found myself skipping that part and simply asking if they knew anyone who needed or wanted to earn some extra income. My posture had improved tremendously. In the core of my being, I just don’t feel guilty anymore about asking the Universe for money.
And then it hit me. My “wild and crazy” excuse was nothing but an apology. And I just don’t feel the need to apologize anymore. And guess what? I get just as good results without the apology as I did with it.
Speaking of which – I’ve been really impressed with how supportive nearly all my friends and acquaintances have been. Impressed and a little surprised! I think it helped that I wasn’t putting them on the spot and asking THEM if they wanted to earn some extra money. (It turned out a couple of them expressed a personal interest anyway.)
So this blitz has been a real growing experience, and no matter what the outcome, I’ll be grateful I did it. Will I talk to 150 people by May 31? Maybe, maybe not. Fortunately, I’ve lost that gut-wrenching fear of falling on my face.
1 commentThe Network Marketing Blitz
This is the first post in my brand new blog.
I live right outside Washington, DC. I’ve also been doing network marketing with the same company for over 13 years.
A long time ago, I decided that the DC area is not compatible with MLM. Too conservative, too think-inside-the-box. Furthermore, the county I live in is one of the wealthiest in the country – not a lot of people around looking to earn extra money in their spare time. And in fact, in my downline organization, most of my active team members live somewhere else.
Is the DC area really the Dead Zone when it comes to network marketing, or is this just the way I’ve come to think of it? As I’m sure you know, whatever you think has a way of coming true for you. I would certainly prefer to live in an area where prospects are popping out of the bushes, demanding information about my opportunity. Is it just a matter of changing my thinking?
So I’ve decided to put it to the test. Is it DC… or is it me? In honor of my first day of blogging, I hereby announce that I am going to do a personal blitz for the entire month of May, getting the word out to at least 150 local people that I’m looking for one new business partner this month.
Why only one new business partner? you ask. Because I would rather have one REALLY GOOD new partner who will stick with this for the long haul, who I can take the time to train properly, and who will duplicate what I’m doing – than a whole bunch of semi-interested people whose arms I had to twist to get them to sign up.
I’m following something called the “I CAN” program, a system developed by one of the upline leaders in my company – a leader whose #1 priority is to change people’s lives and make a positive difference in the world.
As a follower of the I CAN program, I’m committed to finding ONE AND ONLY ONE new partner each and every month for one year. And of course, each new partner commits to the same thing. Along the way, there is lots of small-team support, training, and hand-holding.
Right now you may be thinking that the one-a-month thing is not going to get me very far. In most network marketing systems, it wouldn’t. That’s because most network marketing systems have at least a 90% drop-out rate in the first few months. But we have reason to believe that the I CAN system is going to cut that rate to almost zero.
That means that my organization will double in size every month as each person in it finds one new, equally committed person. Get out your calculator and see what you get if you start with 2 and multiply it by 2, twelve times. The answer may surprise you.
A system like this could probably be used in just about any MLM opportunity there is. And then a new day will dawn for network marketing. No more 90% drop-out rate. No more arm-twisting. We could get a whole new public image.
If you would like to see the details of how this is being implemented in my own company, you are welcome to take a peek at my I CAN website – www.icantoo.net/liz. (Click on the orange “So What Is I Can?” button to watch a video.)
So back to my personal blitz. I’m going to be posting a running commentary on the results I get each day (or don’t get). You are welcome to follow along and either cheer me on or throw rotten tomatoes, as appropriate. Making my effort public will definitely help hold my feet to the fire. And perhaps we’ll both learn valuable stuff.
No commentsThe Network Marketing Blitz