Three Mistakes That 99% of all
Networkers Make and How You Can Avoid
Them!
If Andy Rooney were writing this article, he might
start out with a statement like, “Have you ever wondered why you’re not
recruiting as many people as you thought you would? How after you spend a bunch
of money to send a bunch of people a bunch of brochures or email, they never
respond?”
Many of us fall victim to the hype of Network Marketing. We get
an exciting letter in the mail or an email promising us untold riches if we will
only enroll in a ground-floor opportunity. Or, maybe someone calls us, all
excited and breathless about a new opportunity they just heard about and want us
to join.
Well, we catch the enthusiasm fever. We join, start mailing out
lots of postcards, advertising in hundreds of places on the Internet, send
emails to everyone we know, and hoping, hope against hope, that others will
catch the fever and join too. A week later, reality brings our feet back down to
earth, weighted in disappointment. Leaving us to wonder what went wrong? Why
didn’t others see the opportunity that we saw?
Then, our “self-doubts”
steps in. We start asking questions, “Do others know something we don’t about
this company? Is there something wrong with the service or product that I don’t
know about? Did my sponsor lie to me?
Well, I am going assume that you
are not an “MLM Junkie” and that like most of us you carefully study an
opportunity before getting involved. With that assumption; let’s take a look at
three places where you may have gone wrong.
MISTAKE #1
First,
let’s look at the mailing piece that you are sending out to others through Email
or regular mail. Pull yours out if you have it handy, and let’s see if you have
any of the following in it:
1. A warm and friendly letter telling abut
the benefits of the product and service. Contrary to popular trends, most
intelligent networkers don’t fall for a lot of hype. The first thing they want
to know about is the product or service. What is it, how does it work, and why
would others want it? What proof do you offer that the product or service and is
of high quality? That the product and service is competitively priced to sell?
Or, how it works?
We’re not talking about company literature or websites
at this point. We are talking about your own personal experience with the
company or products and services. People want to know that you have used the
products yourself, and taken advantage of the services. They want to know what
they can expect when they use them.
2. Next, do you have any testimonials
or endorsements from users? No one wants to be the first person to use a product
or service. People want to know that there are others using it. Of course we
have this on line with our business. Just go to the sites and look for
testimonies of others. Recent
testimonies are online at this link
3. Lastly, your letter
should have information on how the reader can easily contact you for more
information. Give your name, complete mailing address and email address, and
phone number and best time to call you. Be sure and tell them what time zone you
are in.
Notice that nowhere did we mention for you to send out company
sales literature. Nowhere did we mention compensation and marketing plans. Not
do we mention how one of our upline sponsors made a million dollars their first
week in business and recruited a zillion distributors who enjoyed the “thrill of
the spill”.
What your initial mailing piece should do is entice and
qualify the reader to see if they have any interest in the product and service
of our fine company. If they are not interested in the product or service, then
why bother telling them about the compensation plan.
It is well-known
fact that you must believe in your product and service before you can sell it.
Your initial mailing should be designed to entice the reader to ask for more
information. It should arouse their curiosity.
Life is too short for you
to waste your time on someone who only gets excited about a compensation plan.
Their eyes are too filled with dollar signs to see the amount of work needed to
build a business. A couple of weeks later, when someone offers them a better
compensation plan, they'll be running after that one and forget all about
yours.
MISTAKE #2 Australian Matrix Doubled Trilex
If you don’t
know what it is or how to explain it to others, then how do you expect your new
business associates to figure it out?
One reason many of us have problems
recruiting others is that we assume they know what we are talking about. We
think they already understand the “lingo” or “jargon” of the industry.
Surprisingly, very few people really understand Network Marketing or
exactly how it works. Many of us joined because a friend of ours introduced us
to it or because we were just curious.
When I was new in network
marketing, it took me a while to figure out how it really worked. I did not
recruit my first distributor for quite a while. I could have and should have
started recruiting my first week. The problem was that the first person who
sponsored me into another network marketing company did not understand it any
better than I did.
Although Matrixes, Downlines, Uplines, Unilevels, etc,
may sound exciting to the few of us who understand them, not everyone does. And
when people don’t understand something, they tend to gloss over it. Much like
you do when you read a book full of long complex works you don’t know. When you
are bombarded with too many of these words, you tend to put the book down
thinking that it’s over your head.
That’s exactly what happens to your
mailing piece. Your reader looks in confusion at all this information that they
don’t understand. And since most company hype is based on industry jargon, they
tend to throw away the whole thing.
The compensation plan is not half as
important as the product and service. Focus the excitement on the products and
service you are offering.
It is very rare that anyone will ever join the
first time they receive your information. That’s why it is important to begin by
qualifying their interest in your product or service.
Then be ready to
follow up the information with more details. Encourage the reader to send their
questions to you. Write a personal letter to them answering their specific
questions. Then share with them a few selected websites, that tell of the
products and services you have to offer. Do not dump the whole load on them.
Entice them to ask for more information.
Note that we still haven’t
mentioned the company compensation plan. Most successful networkers have
discovered that it is best not to discuss the compensation plan until the person
asks about it. in the monthly
club newsletter.
I’ve recruited people that were so excited
about the product of my company that they never asked about the compensation
plan. They even went on to recruit others who also never asked about the
compensation. Serious Networkers get excited about products and services not
compensation plans.
MISTAKE #3 Your Mailing List
When you have a
dynamite opportunity like we have, you want to share it with the world, and who
do you tell?
Many of us make the mistake of sending our business
opportunity offers to other Networkers. These are people who either sent us
information in the mail or email or advertised their business in a trade
publication.
There is nothing wrong with this. However, it’s a lot like
playing solitaire with yourself. Although it can be done, it doesn’t guarantee
your success. Most of those whom you are sending your business opportunity are
temporality committed to “their” business opportunity. That’s why they sent your
their information or placed the ad about their business opportunity. They are
not interested in your opportunity at this time. So, where do you find good
solid prospects?
Well, we are going to have to go back to the basics on
this one. Back to making a list of your family, friends, and co-workers. I can
almost hear your collective groans. Before you flip the page to another article,
let me tell you about a unique twist I discovered that works like
gangbusters.
When I was first getting started in Network Marketing I was
extremely hesitant about contacting family, friends, and co-workers about any
business opportunity. First of all, I didn’t know what to say to them. Second, I
was afraid they would laugh at me or worse. And lastly, I was afraid of failing
in my business and them knowing that I was a failure.
So, what to do? I
made a list of everyone I knew. I wrote down their full names, addresses, phone
numbers, email addresses, and a comment about their interests. I then tried to
recruit a stranger by mail or email. The incentive I gave the stranger was that
I would give them a list of leads they could immediately follow up
on.
Guess what? Not only did I recruit four people with this offer, but
the four of them recruited 17 of the 49 names that I provided them. They
recruited these 17, by making their own list of friends, family and co-workers
and offered this list of leads to those who enrolled.
If your first
instinct tells you that you can’t approach your family, friends and co-workers -
don’t! Give your list to your new recruits. Chances are pretty good that your
new recruits won’t know the same people you know. They won’t take your friends’
rejections personally. And they won’t care if your friends think of them as
failures because they will never meet your friends.
This idea alone will
provide you and those under you with an endless supply of leads. Never again
will you have to try to teach an old Network dog “new tricks” You will have an
endless supply of leads that are open to new ideas and are ready and willing to
duplicate your success.
WHAT NEXT?
Go back through this article
and print it out. Read it again. This time, underline the new ideas that you are
not currently using. Then compare what you are currently doing with the
suggestions in this article. Are there any places that need improvement?
Once you finished with this article, file it away for future reference.
Refer to it, whenever your recruiting efforts start to fall off. Again, compare
the suggestions with this article with what you are doing to get back on the
right track.
(This article first appeared in Leap Publications, by Dr.
Leonard A Manion who is CEO and Sr. Marketing Consultant for ExecuQuest
Marketing Consultants. His firm specializes in helping novice and experienced
entrepreneurs realize their maximum profitability. I have modified the article
to adapt it to the DHS Club. For more information on these fine folks, who gave
permission for me to use this, please contact me for their
addresses)
