The Biggest mistakes I’ve made in network marketing
I am now beginning several blog entries regarding the biggest mistakes I have made in my network marketing career. The first mistake I ever made was having a short term view of the business. Here’s what I mean by that.
I was first introduced into network marketing with a nutrition company. I went to the meeting, I got all hyped up and I thought within the next 30 days I was going to be making a lot of money, after all the person on the stage had did it in record time. This caused me to look at my business as a 30-60 day sprint to see if I could make it work. When it didn’t happen that fast I was discouraged and I decided this wasn’t the right business for me.
Here is what I missed with this approach. I didn’t see the little gains I was making that were helping me move toward my goal. When I quit I now had to start all over and all of my gains though they were small were gone.
I think back now and say what if I had just kept making those little gains each month over the course of the next 3-5 years imagine where my business would be. So in your business, have a long term view
and don’t despise the little steps you make. I challenge you to be excited when you generate your first lead, your first sale, your first $10 commission check, because if you stick with it remember what you did to get it and repeat that process you are on your way. It may not happen next month but it will happen.
Oh No, not again……
Have you ever felt this way about your online network marketing business? You are excited, you get started, you’re working hard and then BAM, life gets in the way. You get that feeling of “Oh no, not again.” Well this happened to me recently as I began taking new strides in my business and then boom, life happened. I asked myself a question, how can I prevent this from happening? I came up with a simple solution that I am implementing now into my business. I call this my “BAMA” stategy.
BAMA stands for Be Always Moving Ahead
What does this mean? Very simple and it follows one of the laws of physics which says a body in motion tends to stay in motion. How I apply this is simple. Sometimes in my business I get discouraged when I can’t sit down and commit the time I feel I need to commit to it and I let things rest. Wrong action. You need to work on your business everyday, whether you have 2 hours or 20 minutes, this is what keeps your business in motion.
I recently read a book about a study of people trying to lose weight. One group weighed themselves everyday, the other group weighed themselves once a week. The group of people who weighed themselves everyday actually lost more weight and kept more of it off than those who weighed themselves once per week. Why? Becaause the ones who weighed everyday were able to respond to changes in their weight immediately. If you apply this to your business this can allow you to respond more quickly to any changes you need to make in your business.
So the next time you feel pressed for time don’t think “Oh no not again” but think BAMA. Don’t feel bad if you can’t spend 2-3 hours everyday on your business. Spend that 15-20 minutes but make it productive and you will be moving your business ahead.
By the way I just started implementing this today into my business so I will keep you posted on the outcomes.
Don’t look for suspects look for partners…
Are you struggling trying to do network marketing online. One of the challenges I have seen and experienced in network marketing online over the years is seeing people myself included, sponsor 10, 15, 20 people this month and then those people either leave within 30 days or they do absolutely nothing. Why is that?
I believe one of the reasons is people are often sold or “closed” into the business. I call these people suspects. In my mind a suspect is a person who joins your business for all the wrong reasons and it is not their fault it was how they were recruited into the business. For example I see all types of ridiculous things to “close” people into joining their business.. like
…”We’ll build your downline for you or get in now and I will place everyone else beneath you because you’re at the top…”
These are the wrong reasons to join a business. People that come this way are suspects. Remember if you have to sell people to join your network marketing business you will have to sell them to do everything else in your business. In fact I don’t “close” anyone into my business. I look for partners . Here is the difference. The partner is joining because they see the opportunity not because I sold them. They have an ownership mindset in their business and understand it takes effort to make it work. These are the people I look for, because these will make your business grow.
I like to approach people like this is a business and they are intelligent business people. Give them the pros and cons and allow them to make an intelligent decision. After all if they join for their reasons they will perform better. It doesn’t guarantee they will be successful but you won’t have to spend your time trying to get them to take any type of action.
Why can’t I keep my downline? – Last Part
You must have a system that works and is not dependant on you. Here is
an example of a system that is dependant on you. Having to do your own
conference calls, doing 3-way calls, buying and calling leads to try to
close. To me these things sound like work. Network marketing is
supposed to be about the system and the simpler the system the more
attractive your opportunity becomes. The truth is you can’t talk to
everyone and you can’t train everyone, but an automated system can.
Now I’ve seen advertisements for automated systems that promise to do
95% of the work for you and I don’t know how accurate that is but I do
know automation can take care of the overwhelming majority of the work.
If your system is simple it takes you out of the equation and frees up
your time now I can spend time working with all my new recruits and
remember I am only looking for 3-4 each month and teaching them to do
the same. So get automated and make the process simple and you will
attract more people and most of all you won’t have to ask why can’t I
keep my downline.
Why can’t I keep my downline? – Part 4
Set realistic expectations. I have been in network marketing for 15
years with varying degrees of success and the one thing I can say
without a doubt is people get set up for failure by unrealistic
expectations. Here is what you commonly hear in network marketing,
This person sponsored 1,000 people his first 2 days in the business…
She made $100,000 in her first 90 days…
He grew a team of 40,000 reps in 2 weeks…
Now can these things happen? Absolutely. Will they happen in the
timeframe given above. Probably not. What they don’t usually tell you
is that the person who did this great feat had already built a downline
in another network marketing company and switched them over. Or they
were hired by the owner and any new recruit automatically went in their
downline. Or they spent a ridiculous sum of money to get those
results. These things are not going to happen to the little guy in
that time frame.
What tends to happen is people see this and
automatically set unrealistic expectations and when they aren’t met
they look for the next big overhyped network marketing company. As a
sponsor you should work with your new recruits to help them set
challenging but realistic expectations. Does this mean they will never
make $100,000. Absolutley not, it just may not happen in the time
frame of 30 days.
But again here is a question. If I sponsored you
and told you that if you worked consisrently over the next 12 months
you could build a 6 figure income and then gave you the specific
blueprint to do it wouldn’t you feel more confident and comfortable as
you begin putting the pieces in action and seeing the results. Now it
is possible it could happen faster but now your new rep is committed to
you for the next year. What if after a year they are making half of
that? They may leave but I doubt it, because you have created
realistic business expectations. On to the last installment..
Why can’t I keep my downline? – Part 3
It’s about them and not you. When you sponsor someone into the
business they are not a number. They are a person that has real issues
and had a whole lot of life before they ever joined your opportunity.
There is a reason they joined your network marketing business and it is
your job to find out what it is and work with them to achieve their
goal.
Notice I put their goals ahead of my own. Why? because they are
in business to achieve their goals not mine. To them my goals are not
important. People are usually guided by WIIFM, what’s in it for me,
and this in true in the world of network marketing.
Again, let me pose a question. What keeps people loyal to a company,
service, product or even a relationship? The result they get from it. Very few people
stay in situation that doesn’t benefit them. The same is true in your
network marketing opportunity. Create an environment where you truly
help people achieve their goals and they will stick with you and you
will also achieve more success than you could ever imagine in your
network marketing business. On to part 4…
Why can’t I keep my donwline? – Part 2
The next thing to focus on in keeping your downline is to stay away from the company training calls and train them yourself. On the surface this might seem crazy but I have been on enough company “training” calls to know that very little training actually takes place. Most of these calls are designed to do one thing, get people hyped and excited but they don’t produce any real results. Often the training calls are used to promote special events or company coops or lead prgrams but not really focusing on key elements that will really help you build your business.
Think about it! How can one generic training call meet the needs of reps when all of the reps are at all different levels of experience? Think about any new job you ever started. Most of your training came in a small group setting or one on one with a designated trainer. Why? Because this allows the company to really focus in on your specific training needs. As you recruit new reps you should do the same thing.
Why should I do this? Think with me. Who would you rather work with? The rep who signs you up and then says here is a list of all the company training calls try to be on as many as you can or the rep who signs you up and says I will personally train you on everything you need to get started so you can be successful in the business. I think it is safe to assume you would choose the second sponsor. In fact this is the kind of sponsor new reps are looking for. This is the sponsor you need to become. The good part is not many people are doing this so if you do it you will truly set yourself apart.
How will I be able to do this? Well the good part about technology is you can use it to help by automating part of the training. One of the things I do is I plug my new recruits into a system I use that teaches them about network marketing from a generic perspective and then they can apply this info into the company they work with. The other good part about this is it is very duplicatible and it doesn’t rely on the “training” calls from the company. You can now position yourself as a leader in your business instead of some voice on a conference call who doesn’t know your people, their needs or why they even joined the business in the first place. Remember the goal is to keep your downline. If you train them yourself, show them how to succeed and commit yourself to helping them you will.
P.S. – feel free to check out my training system at www.theonlinebizman.com
Why can’t I keep my downline?, part 1
If you are a network marketer you probably have faced this problem more than once in your life. You figure I am excited about my company and opportunity why can’t I get anyone I sponsor to stick with it more than 30 days. You understand the power of duplication but you can’t get anyone to do anything. How do you solve this problem? Here’s my first solution.
The first thing to think about is how did I sign up my new recruit. We live in an faceless age of internet marketing and business opportunities are everywhere. I must get about 10-15 of the latest and greatest opportunities sent to me everyday. 99% of them I delete but think of the new recruit who gets bombarded with these same ads. Each one promising the quickest easiest way to make money. Most of them are all hype and they promise very much but deliver very little. In fact people spend more money on pursuing new opportunities because they think it will be the one. I know because I have been there and done it myself. Because of the faceless overhyped internet there is no loyalty. People want to be rich overnight because that is all they hear about online. If they aren’t rich after 30 days they are on to the next program.
So the first challenge is to build loyalty into your new recruits. How do you do this? Well I am going to shock you but you can’t do this if you are trying to sponsor 30 to 40 new reps every month. Why? Because you won’t be able to work with them to get them started and successful. Most marketers spend their time chasing new reps instead of developing the ones they already have. Remember the old saying a bird in hand is worth 2 in a bush. What that means is the recruit you already have is much much more valuable than the one you don’t have or are trying to get. Let’s think about business for a second. Most companies spend large sums of money to generate a new customer, but they spend significantly less money to keep a customer. The key to making that new customer a repeat customer is to give them the best service and experience possible so they would want to come back. This idea is true in network marketing.
Here is what you should do. Focus on sponsoring a few people each month and spend your time developing these people and then teach them to do the same thing. Imagine what your business would look like 1 year from today if all you did was sponsor 3 people each month, train them and teach them to do the same thing. Well I will tell you if you did that and everyone did the same you would have an organization well into the thousands. More importantly you would never have to worry about keeping your downline. See you tomorrow with part 2.
Hello world!
Welcome to the world of the Online Biz Man. The purpose of this blog is to provide practical information that can help transform your online business into what you actually want it to be. I know there is a lot of information out there but what is it really worth. I mean who is benfitting from it. My objective is to give content that will help you as you begin an online business. The primary business I focus on is network marketing but some of these concepts will apply to any business. I hope you enjoy this blog and I look forward to giving and receiving great information out there.