Archive for November, 2009
Your MLM Company Thrives Even Though You Struggle
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Today I want to talk about how your MLM company makes money and grows while the company’s distributors are struggling to earn enough to even pay for their network marketing product that comes on auto-ship and what you can do to turn things around with your home business.
Every company on the planet makes money the same way. By selling their product or service to others. Your MLM company is no different. They make money each and every time someone purchases their network marketing product or service. That’s why some companies prefer using the multi level marketing business model.
Here’s how it works: Your MLM Company gets you to join a business opportunity giving you the idea that you can make money from home by simply getting others to join YOUR business.
You buy the network marketing product in order to get into a business opportunity and they make money every month because you are on auto-ship. Now, they urge you to get others to join your business. They don’t want to scare you and tell you that you now have to become a sales person so, they get you to make a list of everyone that you know. With your list of 100-200 names, you are once again urged to contact everyone on that list and SHARE (not sell but share) your opportunity. For every 100 names that you have, you will probably find 1 or 2 people that will join your business and for every person that you get to join, they buy the network marketing product and the company once again makes money.
Sounds great right? But now that you have used up your friends and family, what do you do? Your company is still making money because you are buying product and the 2 that you got in are buying product and those 2 MIGHT get 2 who will also buy product.
This cycle goes on and on and on. As you can see, your MLM company can make a killing using this method. But you only got 2 people and those 2 might get 2 more or they may not. How are you supposed to build a thriving business with only 2 people that don’t have any more skills at making sales than you do?
So how do successful network marketers make money?
When it comes to growing a home based business, we all have to start at the beginning. The key to growing any business lies in your knowledge. Knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.
The first thing that you must have are Sales Skills. You have to be able to identify your target market (here is a hint, it’s not the person standing within 3 feet of you)
You have to know how to get their attention (here is another hint, it’s not beating them up with stories of how much money you are GOING to make)
And you have to know how to close a sale (last hint – it’s not by 3-waying them in with your upline)
So, what exactly do you have to do to grow a business. You have to have selling skills. Now, if you didn’t happen to be born a natural born salesperson, then you are going to have to get some training.
At the very minimum, you are going to need training in:
- Prospecting (the art of searching for customers who already want what you have)
- Presenting (the art of delivering a message to your prospects) and
- Closing the sale (the art of getting your prospects commitment to make a purchase)
That’s it. It doesn’t matter what business you are in or what network marketing product you have, you have to know who your audience is, where to find that audience, present your audience a message, and finally ask for the money.
How to Sell Your MLM Product to the Masses
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009In order to be profitable with your network marketing business, you have to sell your MLM product to people. The more you sell the more money you make. Here is how to sell your MLM product to the masses.
The more people you get your message to the more chances you have to sell your MLM product. The key to MLM selling is to get your message in front of as many people as possible. And to do that you have to know how you want to deliver that message. In order to make MLM sales, you first have to have people to talk to, that would be your target market. The second thing that you have to have is the right message to deliver to your target market. The more people you reach the more sales you make. The more methods you use, the more effective you will be. There are four main ways to deliver your message to your target market.
- Face to Face – this is the method that is typically taught by our MLM companies. Of course, they usually have you starting out one-on-one with your friends and family. That isn’t a bad method to use when you are first starting out in fact because you are talking with people you know, you will be more relaxed with your presentation. But it isn’t very effective at reaching the masses. You can reach more people using the face to face method by going to trade shows, giving seminars and so on, however, that can get expensive. All in all face to face isn’t a bad way to go but it can be expensive and it can be slow at making those MLM sales.
- Telephone – this method seems to scare off a lot of marketers. I’m not sure why something like picking up the telephone can be so scary but it is. I can relate because for the longest time, I didn’t want to pick up the phone. I think it may be because in my first network marketing venture, I called so many people and heard so many “no’s” that I got turned off from using the phone. However, the telephone is a great tool. It’s cheap, effective, easy to use, and you don’t find too many people that don’t have one. Win, Win, Win.
- Internet – the Internet has the potential to reach the most people in the shortest amount of time but it is the hardest to master. It takes technical skill to be able to build a website and then drive traffic to that site. Not to mention that you still have to be able to convert that traffic into MLM sales. Using the Internet can also get expensive depending on the methods that you are using. If you have the technical skills, I recommend using the Internet. Even if you don’t have the technical skills, you could always hire it out for someone else to do. But here is a word of caution: You do still have to have marketing skills in order for it to be effective. This whole thing about “if you build it they will come” just doesn’t work. This method is primarily about copywriting. Delivering the right message to the right audience.
- Direct Mail – this method is flat out expensive unless you have the right mailing list and the right message. Using this method is 90% about ad copy. If you aren’t good at advertising copy, you had better stay away from this method.
That’s it, you now know how to get your message to the most people. I can’t tell you which method is right for YOU. That is something that you will have to decide for yourself. If you are having trouble, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. Until next time – I wish you great MLM Success.
New FTC Changes Effecting MLM Industry
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009How many MLM sales meetings have you been to where you heard testimonials? All of them right? Well that’s about to change and soon. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is putting a stop to all of the hype that people have to listen to when they look at a network marketing program.
I’m sure you know what I mean. You go to a hotel meeting, webinar, teleseminar, or whatever to look at a network marketing program (although you probably thought it was about something else) and you hear one person after another tell you about how much money they are making with this wonderful business opportunity that has come along at just the right time and if you don’t get involved NOW, you are going to be missing out.
Well the FTC has made a revision to their guidelines as it pertains to endorsements and testimonials . Here is the excerpt from the FTC:
”Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.”
Frankly, I am a little upset about this new rule, only because now that people won’t be able to use testimonials without disclosing the typical results that someone can actually expect, marketers will be forced to use a different technique. I actually like it when marketers use hype to sell there network marketing program because when I come along and tell the actual MLM truth, it hurts their chances of making the sale. Now that marketers won’t be able to use this technique anymore, they will probably start using the methods that I have been advocating for years, creating more competition.
That being said, I am also glad for the changes because money shouldn’t be the main reason for someone to join a network marketing program. Yes, everyone wants to be rewarded for their efforts but let’s not make money the main focus. Instead, I prefer to help people get what THEY want and in doing that if I happen to make a dollar, well that’s okay too.
The new changes start December 1, 2009. That’s right, in just a few weeks! Are you ready to market your business without the hype?
Grow Your Network Marketing Business with the Help of Others
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Do you ever feel like you are all alone when it comes to trying to grow your network marketing business? Do you ever wonder if there others that are having some of the same issues that you are? I know that one of the things that attracted me to network marketing in the first place was that I could be in business for myself but not by myself. It’s a great feeling to know that there are others that are going through the same things that I am.
How to use others to grow your network marketing business
I read the book “Think and Grow Rich” about a year ago or so and one of the things that I came away with was the concept of a Mastermind Group. I was intrigued with the idea of getting together with others that were like me but with different skills and working with them towards a common goal – network marketing success.
How a mastermind group can benefit your network marketing business
I have to tell you that the benefits of being a part of a mastermind group are huge. Not only do you have people that help to support your business building efforts but you also get to help them. So, I would have to say that the number one benefit (for me at least) is the feeling of being needed and appreciated. Another benefit that’s really nice is having the perspectives of different people and everyone in the group also brings recourses and skills that you may not have.
How to create a mastermind group
It was easy for me form my very first mastermind group. I just contacted a couple of my friends that were also in business for themselves and asked if they would like to be a part of something bigger. They were willing and so the group was formed. There was only one problem. We were all in different businesses and so there wasn’t a common goal that we could work together on. It was a bust in just a few short weeks.
It was back to the drawing board for me. I don’t give up easily and I really wanted to be a part of something like what I had read from Napoleon Hill. This time I went in search of people that were in the same network marketing program as I and I also had a few other requirements as well. Things like; they had to be active in their business (not just hoping for something to happen), they had to have different skills than I had as well (it seems kind of silly to have more than one computer genius on the team), and they had to be team players.
Armed with these requirements, I was able to find two people to work with. None of us live in the same state so our meetings happen on the telephone. We get together once a week to make sure that everyone stays focused on their business (it can be difficult to stay focused when you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck). The best part is that when we get together we are able to work on projects together.
For example; since we are all in the same network marketing industry, we worked on an entire marketing campaign together. We were able to write our prospecting scripts, presentation, and closing scripts in record time. When the telephone campaign was completed, we worked on an Internet campaign together.
Some rules that you should know about forming a mastermind group
- Keep it small – having a group of more than five people can cause issues. I recommend that mastermind group have between 3-5 people.
- Look for different skills – if you are having trouble with a certain skill, look for someone that is strong in that area.
- Team player – it’s best to work with team players. If you see that someone keeps bringing the focus of the meeting back to themselves, you may want to ask them to leave the group.
- Brainstorm – come together to brainstorm from time to time. This is where the magic happens.
Forming a mastermind group creates a win-win situation for everyone involved. Everyone’s network marketing business will benefit because of the support and encouragement of the group. If you are feeling alone in your business, I highly recommend that you become a part of a mastermind group.
