The MLM Dilemma
By: Steve Lowell | Posted: 16th August 2005
The MLM Dilemma
Copyright 2005 Steve Lowell
Does this sound familiar...?
You have taken ALL of the company training, listened to the
tapes, recorded phone calls and live conference calls, read
all the company materials and tried the products. You
bought some inventory, made business cards, set up the web
site that the company provided for you.
You have purchased leads, set up an e-mail campaign and
told everyone you know about your awesome company, the
cutting edge products and the lucrative compensation
plan...you were exited, motivated, dedicated, enthusiastic,
positive and committed and yet...your results are dismal.
If all of that sound familiar, I have news for you...you
are one of the roughly 95% of people in MLM that have been
completely wasting your time, money and infinitely more
important...your life! Keep reading...there IS hope!!
I know that there are people in your company who are doing
well...making tons of money...but here's the question...can
you REALLY duplicate what they are doing??
What is it that the people who are on top have that you
don't have? Well, there's bad news...and there's good news!
The bad news is that if you were to take a close look at
the top performers in your company, you might notice a few
things such as:
1. They have above average communication skills. They can
walk into a room or stand in front of an audience and
command attention. They just have that skill. Most people
can't do that! In fact, the number one fear in North
America is public speaking!
2. Maybe they are able to work 22.5 hours per day without
sleeping. Some people just have the metabolism that allows
them to do far more in a day than others. Most people
can't do that either!
3. Maybe they had money to begin with and were able to
purchase a position in the company which allowed them to
maximize their income potential...most people can't do that
either!
4. Maybe they are great salespeople. Maybe they don't mind
getting 100 rejections in order to recruit one person, but
most people can't do that either!
The point is that there are any number of things that allow
some people to just outperform others and usually it's
because they really do have some quality, characteristic or
skill that others just don't have. This allows them to
build enormous organizations only a VERY small percentage
of those people actually earn them the big money, and it's
normally people who happen to have the same outstanding
skills.
After I studied this over many months of failing miserably
in MLM...I asked myself this question; "Where the heck does
that leave an average guy like me??" That brings us to the
good news!
The good news is that there are people just like me;
average people with average skills making a substantial
living with Network Marketing, and so can you.
You don't need the "gift of gab" or tons of money to buy
your position and you don't need to work 22.5 hours per day
or to withstand an onslaught of rejection. So what does
the average person need to make a fortune in Network
Marketing?
You need only two things:
1. A System that can be duplicated by anyone
2. Education as to how to properly deploy that system
The system can be either automated or not as long as the
process takes the prospect through specific steps and
brings them to a point where they can decide weather or not
they are interested in seeing more.
A good automated system will walk the prospect through the
following steps:
1. Attention: I have found that the best way to catch
attention is to reduce the flashiness of the presentation.
The best attention grabbing tool is a very well written
introduction abut YOU, the marketer.
2. Interest: Maintain the prospects interest by providing
something with which they can relate. Claims of riches
tend to alienate most qualified prospects who are not
interested in the hype…they are interested in content.
Your system needs to provide strong content which allows
the prospect feel that they know you a little.
3. Education: The prospect should learned something new.
Some actual valuable information that makes them understand
that you have a legitimate business opportunity. Education
regarding Network Marketing would be best because it can
help you pre-qualify your prospect and eliminate that
"pyramid" objection.
4. Desire: By the end of the presentation, your prospect
should want more information from you. If your system
gives away to much information, the prospect will have no
reason to speak with you again.
This is where most people drop the ball, especially when
using automated systems. Most people think that their
on-line system is going to do the recruiting for them.
I have seen many times when a marketer considers the flash
presentation on their company website to be their entire
automated prospecting system. The problem with this is
that the company website gives away the entire story and
rarely leaves the prospect in a state of desire. The
prospect can make a final decision without ever having to
get to know the marketer. This puts the company, product,
or compensation plan in the forefront of the prospect's
mind, instead of the exciting potential of the Network
Marketing business itself.
A strong automated prospecting system is just that…a
prospecting system, not a recruiting system. We can not
exclude personal relationship building from the Network
Marketing equation. Which brings us to the second
requirement for success in Network Marketing…training.
Training is perhaps the most neglected part of our
business. Rule number one is that you should never ever
lead with your company, your product or your compensation
plan...the reason is very simple...NO ONE CARES!!! Here's
why...
When you lead with your business, your products, your
opportunity or your comp plan, you are talking about what
is important to YOU, not to the prospect. They might
listen to you out of courtesy or respect for you, and you
might sign up a few people along the way, but your chances
of building a solid business in the manner are slim because
this approach is not "duplicateable" by most people.
In order for the prospecting process to be effective, you
really must build a relationship with your prospect before
you introduce your company. This can be done using a
combination of your automated system and personal follow-up.
Network Marketing success requires that you deploy a
balance of properly designed automation, and training on
how to develop a personal relationship with the prospect.
If the automated system is properly designed, and the
training is effective in teaching the basics, then the
average person can do exceptionally well in Network
Marketing.
About the Author:
Steve Lowell is president of SJ Lowell Inc. in Ottawa,
Ontario Canada; a business consulting firm and founder of
The MLM Executive Round Table at www.MLMRoundTable.com.
Contact by email at steve@stevelowell.com or go to
www.SteveLowell.com
About the Author
Occupation: business
Steve Lowell is president of SJ Lowell Inc. in Ottawa, Ontario Canada
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Tags: e mail, dilemma, bad news, audience, mail campaign, business cards, time money, salespeople, communication skills, wasting your time, tons of money, phone calls, metabolism, north america, cutting edge products, top performers