Here is the awful truth that your mlm companies hope you don’t find out. There is a 95% failure rate in the network marketing industry. All the best mlm companies know it and now so do you. But even though you may not make a dime in growing your home based business, most people who sign up with a network marketing company will sign up on average 2 people before they quit and even though you may quit working your business you are 16% likely to continue to use the network marketing product or service offered by your network marketing company.

So what does all of this mean for you and your business. Listen; there are plenty of people that make it in their network marketing business. But I guarantee you that the leaders, the so called heavy hitters, of the best mlm companies are not using the same strategies and methods that they teach. If you want to make the big dollars in your home based business, you had better get the skills that are needed to get the job done.

What skills you ask? Sales and marketing skills. There are some people that are natural born sales people and then there are people like me that have to learn the art and science of marketing. If you really want to grow a huge downline and actually make money with your home based business, then you had better learn the skills needed and master the tools that will get the job done.

If you continue to do what your upline tells you to do, your mlm company’s business will continue to grow but will yours? Think about this, would you go looking in the classified ads for a sales job that you don’t have any experience in doing? If you were an employer, would you hire someone for a sales position that doesn’t have any experience?

Then I ask you, why do we join a network marketing company where the money is in selling a product or service. And why do we ask anyone and everyone with a pulse to join our business without any sales experience? Because that is what our upline is teaching us to do.

Stop doing what your upline tells you to do and learn the art and science of marketing. Learn how to systematically add reps into your network marketing business. Once you learn how, you can grow any mlm business that you want.

When you first get started in network marketing, you will more than likely be taught to do 3 way calling to grow your business.  I’m about to let you in on a little MLM secret about that particular method.  First let’s look at…

What is 3-way calling?

Basically, it is a tool that you can use with your phone. First, you have to make sure that you have that feature on your phone plan before you can use it. What it does is it allows three people to talk to each other on the phone.

Three-way calling is used in network marketing because it is supposed to help you to: build credibility with your prospect; validate you and your MLM products or service; and let someone stronger than you to do the selling and telling; and finally it is used as a training tool.

How does 3-way calling help?

Let’s look at building credibility first. What does it say to your prospect when you have to get someone else on the phone to close the sale? Whose credibility does it build? If I have to ring someone from my upline in order to tell my prospect about how good this MLM opportunity is, then that just tells the prospect that I don’t know what I am doing and have to run to the expert for help. Why would the prospect want to join with me?

Does it really validate you and your MLM product? Well, I don’t think that it validates you at all. You have already proven that you don’t know enough to build your own home based business. Does it validate the MLM product? Maybe, if you can actually get your upline to talk about something besides the business opportunity.

What about letting someone else stronger that you to do the selling and telling about the MLM company and products? Actually, 3-way calling will do this for you. That is if you can get anyone in your upline on the phone. However, you are telling your propect that you aren’t a leader. I ask again. Why would the propect want to join you in your network marketing venture?

3-way calling used as a training tool. Okay, I’ll give you this one. If you have a new MLM distributor that has no experience in network marketing, then having them listen to you make prospecting calls and do close attempts is a very powerful training tool.

Why is the 3-way calling technique used in network marketing?

Most of us get into network marketing thinking that all we have to do is share our product or home-based business opportunity with all of the people that we know. When we are getting starting, no one says anything about having to do sales. So, I think, that the 3-way calling techniques was brought into network marketing in order to soften the blow.

Many people aren’t comfortable asking for the money and therefore shy away from doing sales. I have to say that if you don’t have good skills in sales, then asking for the money may be difficult for some to do. But getting the skills is way easier and a whole lot better for your home-based business than relying on someone else to close the sale for you.

Be the leader your prospect is looking for.

No one likes dealing with the trainee. In network marketing, you are the owner, the sales force, the manager, the bookkeeper, you are everything. As an owner, you have to treat your home based business as such. Don’t give your power away willingly to someone else. Become the expert that the prospect needs you to be.

If you don’t have all of the skills needed to run your home based business successfully, then go out there and get the skills. Pick up the phone and call me if you don’t know where to go.

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.

Entrepreneur Tips from Kwame

The first guy up was from West Africa, Kwame Kuadey,  who grew up in such poor conditions that I can only imagine.  Of course, if you don’t know any better are you really missing out?  Kwame lost his job recently and was up before the sharks asking for $150,000 so that he could get his home based business off the ground.

Kwame’s company Gift Card Rescue.   Gift Card Rescue buys unused gift cards from consumers and resells the cards at a lower value.  Here is what I got from Kwame to take and use in business today or in the future:

Don’t let your past dictate your future.  Kwame grew up even poorer than I did but from what I could see, he doesn’t let anything stand in his way from getting what he wants. 

Use the bad economy in your favor.  Here is what I loved best about Kwame’s idea.  Not only does he help people to make money by selling their unused gift cards but he also helps people who want to purchase gift cards to save money.  I didn’t realize that there were so many gift cards purchased and a good percentage of those bought never get used.

From an environmental standpoint, I think his idea is also a winner – a business model that helps keep items from going to the landfill is okay in my book.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that saw some great characteristics of an entreprenuer in Kwame.  He came in asking for $150,000 for a 30% stake in his company and left with $200,000 and two sharks, Robert Herjavek and Keven O’Leary, to help his reach his full business potential and he only had to give up 50% of his company. 

Entrepreneurial Tips from Gina

Second up in the tank was Gina Controneo.  Gina’s mission is to spread positive messages to the world with your line of gifts and accessories.   Here is what I got from Gina:

Don’t let your passion for something cloud your business judgment.  It’s one thing to be passionate about what you are doing and to get joy from it but if you are in business for yourself, you also have to be realistic.   One thing that I noticed about Gina is that her passion is so great for what she does that even when she gave herself some boundaries, she ignored them.  She said on the show that at her last trade show if she didn’t make a profit selling her items, that she would stop putting more money into her business and move on but she managed to talk herself into keeping it up no matter the cost.

After looking at Gina’s line of product, none of the sharks wanted in.  The numbers just didn’t add up.  They thought she had a good idea but didn’t think it would make any real money. 

Entrepreneurial Tips from Dan

Next up was Dan Claffey with Coffee Brand Gifts. Dan is hoping to use people’s love of coffee to sell his products.  Here is what I got from Dan:

Check to see if you can trademark terms that you thought were already trademarked.  Dan was able to trademark terms like; espresso, java, and latte.  I would have thought those terms would have already been taken.

Ask for the sale.  Dan made a huge mistake in that he hasn’t gotten any written commitments from anyone to buy his products.  His thinking is that he will make the products first and then sell them.  And while I think that having all of your ducks in a row is a good thing, if no one buys your product after you have spent a ton of money making them, you will be left with a house full of teddy bears that no one wants.

One thing that I have learned in network marketing is that you don’t have to have everything perfect before you launch your business.  Make sure that you have a market that wants your product before you spend all of your time and money making everything perfect.

The sharks didn’t bite and Dan left without a deal.  I had a question for Dan.  It’s been my experience that the majority of people that drink coffee are adults.  How many adults really want a teddy bear with the word “Java” on it’s belly?

Entrepreneurial Tips from Amy and Allison

The last entrepreneurial tip that I got from the show was from Allison Costa and Amy Feldman.  And that was to get a patent on your product if possible.  They had a really good idea that I think will become a standard item to buy for anyone that buys a playpen for their kids.  They call it CoverPlay and it is a slip cover for playpens (I noticed that they call them play yards now.  Did some kid get offended about being put into a pen?  Just wondering.) 

The ladies went with Barbara Corcoran who offered a deal of $350,000 for 40% stake in the company.  I think they wanted to work with Barbara even before they stepped into the room and would have taken any deal that she offered.

That’s it for last night’s Shark Tank, I hope you got some good tips that you can use for your home based business to make it as successful as you want it to be.  If you would like to see the show for yourself you can catch it on ABC Sunday nights at 9pm ET.