From FAILURE to SUCCESS in Network Marketing
by Barbara Laski
Do you ever wonder why some people are able to
consistently make money in Network Marketing while you
continue to struggle, losing more money than you've
ever been able to make? "I've tried everything," you
say, "and nothing works!" Does this sound familiar? Or,
"I've been in literally hundreds of companies, and
either people drop out faster than I can bring them in
or the company goes under before I get a check!"
What is it that the people who are making the big money
in mlm are doing that you're not? Do they posses
certain qualities that you lack? Are they just super
sales people, and you can't sell a chipmunk to a cat?
Did they just get lucky and get in at the beginning of
opportunities while you always manage to join companies
the day before they go under? Do they luck out with
super sponsors while you end up with someone who is
working 25 mlms simultaneously and thinks that "money
games" are the road to riches?
Before we go on, the first thing you need to do is some
"soul searching" to determine whether or not you are
cut out for this business in the first place. Sure, you
want to make money from home, and you desperately need
the extra income to make ends meet. You have heard
about all the millionaires being made from network
marketing, so you decide to try it. You plunk down your
initial fee, maybe mail a couple hundred postcards, and
then you sit back and wait for the checks to start
pouring in. You can hardly sleep, thinking about how
much money you are going to make now that you've gotten
in this super program.
Months pass, and maybe you get a check for a few
dollars, but more often you get nothing. You become
depressed and totally discouraged. Why doesn't everyone
see what you saw in this opportunity? "Ok, you think,
maybe I joined the wrong company. I mailed out 100
postcards per month for three months, and nothing
happened." You're depressed for several days, until
someone calls you with the most incredible business
opportunity that has ever existed! Tens of thousands of
people are supposed to be joining this company within
the first few months that the doors open, and you will
get a huge amount of spillover! And guess what? A
famous movie star is endorsing this company! So you
join. Again, you mail out a couple hundred postcards,
but after two months when you have not sponsored a
single person nor gotten anyone from spillover, you
drop out again.
The next program you join is different. This is a
passive mlm, and you never have to sponsor a single
person to make money! Sure, it costs several hundred
dollars to join, but in 3 months from now your money
will triple, even if you do not sponsor a single
person! No work, no sponsoring...just sit back and
watch your money work for you. You send in the $300 and
wait. And wait. The next thing you hear about the
company is that it was closed down by the Feds.
Now you are really depressed. All your hard-earned
money has gone down the drain. But instead of doing
anything about it, you continue to join one program
after another whenever 3 months go by and you haven't
made any money. You repeat this cycle over and over and
over again, and you continue to fail at every attempt
you make to get ahead.
Is this you? Come on, admit it, we've all been guilty
of doing some, if not all of these things. But don't be
too hard on yourself, because it may not be all your
fault! Yes, there are good companies and bad companies.
There are things you can do to change your vicious
losing cycle and become a winner. If you continue to
believe all the "hype" out there, and there is enough
of it out there to last you a lifetime, then I suggest
that you buy lottery tickets instead. At least with
lottery tickets you might get lucky!
But if you are willing to follow these 10 tips, you
won't need luck.
1). ADVERTISE
Never, ever stop advertising your business. In the
beginning, you may not be able to afford much when it
comes to advertising. You must work within the confines
of your budget, but the key is to advertise
consistently. Mail postcards, advertise free on the
internet, talk to people you know who are interested in
making extra money, place small classified ads in mlm
publications, etc. But don't quit after two or three
months! If you want to be successful in any business,
you must never, ever stop advertising. If you've ever
watched the Olympics or the Super Bowl, have you ever
noticed how many ads you see by industry giants such as
Coca Cola? Virtually everyone knows about Coca Cola!
Yet they still advertise heavily, every day, week, and
month, year after year. No matter how small your budget
is, you need to continue advertising. You never know
who is looking at your postcard, email or classified
ad. People may not act immediately, but I have had
people save ads and respond to them up to a year after
I placed them! Keep advertising, and eventually you
will get results.
2) COMMIT
If you have any intentions at all of being successful
in the business you start, you must be willing to
commit to your business for at least a year. Success
starts slowly in any business, so you can't let
yourself become discouraged. If you want to experience
that exponential growth that happens with
multiplication over time, you need to be there long
enough for the growth to occur. Can you imagine someone
who spends millions on a franchise thinking "If I don't
break even in 3 months, I quit?" If you're married or
plan to get married some day, are you thinking "I'll
try it, and if it doesn't work I'll just get a
divorce?" If this is the way you think, you've already
set yourself up for failure. Winners never quit, and
quitters never win.
3) CHOOSE YOUR COMPANY WISELY
You may be doing everything right, but you still cannot
get people to join your opportunity. Before you join,
examine the opportunity very carefully. Is this a
startup company? Most startups don't last a year, let
alone 3 or more years. New mlms are popping up daily,
and many will be out of business within six months. Do
you really want to risk all your time and money in a
company which may be out of business within a year? A
good company to consider would be one that has been
around at least 2 years and is growing steadily.
Second, are you choosing a company that is affordable?
If the monthly product purchase amount is over $50 to
start, you may be able to afford it, but most people
can not. Look for companies with beginning monthly
product purchase requirements no greater than $50.
Ideally, the purchase requirement amount will increase
as you make more money, which will lead to even greater
profits in the future.
Third, how much of the money is the company actually
paying out to distributors? Make sure that the amount
is at least 75%. And make sure that the recruiting
requirements just to break even on monthly purchases is
not too high. An ideal company would put you in profit
with 3 to 5 distributors and/or have an extra monetary
incentive for those who recruit, such as fast-start or
matching bonuses or increasing percentages of the
company's profits. If people have to recruit truckloads
of people just to break even on product purchases,
chances are extremely high that your downline members
will drop out in a few months. If people are making
money, they continue to buy products!
4) LOVE YOUR PRODUCTS
Are you joining a company simply because of all the
money you are supposed to be making but you could care
less about the products? Again, chances are slim that
you'll have any sustained success with this company. If
you are buying products on a monthly basis that you
love and/or need, you will be more likely to continue
to purchase them. Most companies/opportunities that do
not have good products or services go belly up in a
short amount of time.
5) DUPLICATION
Does the company you are choosing have good recruiting
materials that are available to all reps? Do they give
you camera-ready flyers, postcards, etc and other sales
aids which can be mailed or handed out such as product
brochures? Does your company have weekly or at least
monthly conference calls for training and questions?
Does your company offer free online training and
resources for people who are on the internet? Do they
have affordable co-op shares? All of these things are
extremely important if you are to market your business
successfully. You also need to look upline to find out
what successful distributors in your company are doing
to be so successful. Don't ever use the excuse "I have
a terrible sponsor who does nothing for me!" Of course
we'd all love to have the best possible sponsors, but
perhaps your sponsor is also just beginning or simply
does not know what to do. In that case, go upline. Find
out who in your upline can help you, and pass that
information on! There are always successful
distributors in your upline who will be more than happy
to show you what they are doing.
6) AVOID "ONE-TIME PAY PROGRAMS"
These programs are often wildly popular, especially
when the joining fee is less than $50. They claim that
you make your money by cycling people through them and
generating money each time you cycle. If you happen to
be one of the first persons in a program like this, you
will probably make money. But in order for companies to
continue to issue checks, more and more people need to
be brought in to cover the increasing amounts of
applicants. Not only is this illegal, but after a while
these numbers become astronomical and the money dries
up. If you don't have monthly product/service
purchases, you are involved in a Ponzi scheme and will
never be able to make a residual income. Product sales
are what keep a company in business and you in profit!
7) DON'T COUNT ON SPILLOVER!
Please get this word out of your vocabulary if you plan
on becoming a success in network marketing. If you sign
up for a company simply because you are hoping for
massive spillover, then you will most likely end up
dropping out when you don't get it. Yes, spillover does
happen if you are one of the lucky ones who gets into a
good position in a company or under a super recruiter,
and some company compensation plans are more likely
than others to lend to spillover. But counting on
spillover for success is a sure road to failure. When
you join a company, you must have the attitude that you
are going to work for your success and do what it takes
yourself to achieve that success. If you get spillover
along the way, great! But don't count on it and don't
join a company under the promise that you will get
massive spillover from all the people who are expected
to be coming in to your company.
8) SET REALISTIC GOALS
Do you expect to be making hundreds of dollars your
first month in business? Do you get frustrated and feel
like quitting if you are only able to sponsor one
person in a month's time? Are you planning on quitting
if you are not successful in two or three months?
If the answer to these questions is YES, then perhaps
you need to look at a different kind of business. Some
people do manage to always be in profit their first
month in any company they join, but the majority of
networkers are not "heavy hitters" and do not have
instant success. If you continue to feel this way,
chances are that you will become an "mlm junkie" and
will spend your time hopping from one opportunity to
the next. Months become years, and when you look back,
where has this past pattern gotten you? Are you much
better off or much worse off from repeating this
pattern? Chances are it's the latter.
What you need to do is get off the roller coaster, once
and for all. Think of your first year as your building
year. Think of your second year and beyond as the years
to reap profits. Instead of dropping out of your
current company and spending more money to join another
when you get frustrated with your progress, use that
money to do an extra emailing, buy another co-op share,
or take out a classified ad for your current program.
Do this consistently, month after month, and eventually
you will be making some very serious money. Jumping
from one program to another every two or three months
is a sure way to financial suicide! Not only will you
lose the money you've spent on your previous company,
but you've also just thrown away lots of valuable time.
Isn't your time worth more than that to you?
9.) STICK TO ONE COMPANY IN YOUR BUILDING YEAR
Some people manage to work several opportunities
simultaneously and do it with success. Generally these
people are successful networkers who have large
advertising budgets. But if you talk to these
networkers you will find that they originally worked
one and only one opportunity until it reached a success
level that enabled them to branch out. If you have deep
pockets and can afford the monthly product purchase and
advertising for more than one company at a time, then
go for it! But if you're like most people, you will
need to concentrate on one program at time and should
not try to switch directions until your first
opportunity has reached the success level you desire
and is still growing. Working too many programs can
lead to confusion, frustration, and leave you more
broke than you were when you started. Most people are
not successful at working one, let alone two
opportunities simultaneously. Throwing money at every
program that comes your way and hoping one of them will
work is simply gambling. There are literally thousands
of companies out there and the grass may always look
greener to you when you're frustrated. No matter how
tempting the next program looks, stick to your original
plan!
10). PASS THESE TIPS ON TO YOUR DOWNLINE!
Have you ever heard of the "Power of One?" The facts
are, that if you and everyone you recruit is only able
to recruit one person a month, then in one year's time
you will have 4,096 distributors in your downline! The
sad fact is that most people only last an average of 3
months in any program and are never able to experience
this growth. For once, do yourself a favor. Follow
these tips and pass them on to everyone who enters your
downline. You will soon realize that they work! If you
are unable or unwilling to follow these guidelines,
then you should quit while you're still ahead and try
to find another type of business. Better yet, buy
lottery tickets because you probably are not cut out to
run your own business. Maybe you'll finally get lucky!
No comments:
Post a Comment