MLM Lead Scandal, Part 1

Where do you find a high quality MLM lead?

This is a continuing debate in the MLM Network Marketing industry. Many Network Marketing Systems and MLM trainings are designed around specific lead generation programs.

So, where are the best leads?

Some Network Marketing coaches feel very strongly that the ONLY way to build a solid organization is through your own warm market - the people you already know.

So step one in your business is to make the famous "list" of 2,000 of your "closest friends."

They'll even give you a "tickler sheet" that will help bring to mind all the people you have ever known.

Though not as popular as it once was, this approach does have merit.

The biggest "plus" is that these are people you already have some sort of relationship with. In that sense they're "warm."

This is very important since no effective Network Marketing occurs until rapport, and a relationship of trust is first established. Working your "warm market" gives you a head-start when you need it - at the beginning of the contact.

But there's a downside to the warm market approach:

Although your list is warm because they know you, they are COLD in the sense that they haven't expressed an interest in your product or in a business opportunity.

Additionally, your warm market is limited. After you go through all the people you know, then what?

Sure, you can "tap root" down through everyone they know, and everyone they know, and everyone they know ... but sooner or later that well runs dry and you'll exhaust your circle of influence.

So at some point you'll have to consider other lead sources ... and that's what Part 2 will address.

Best Time For Sponsoring is NOW!

Happy Holidays Everyone,

People often ask me, "Barry, what's the best time of year for sponsoring?"

My answer is always the same:

"TODAY!"

However, there is one time of year, that's extra special. And that's the New Year, for an obvious reasons:

This is when people make their New Year's resolutions.

And what are the most common resolutions?

1. "This year I'm gonna make more money."
2. "This year I'm gonna lose some weight and get healthy."

So if you happen to be promoting a MLM nutrition program, this is the BEST time of year for you!

Pull out all the stops, be more assertive, crank up your sponsoring efforts, open wide your advertising efforts.

The primary objection you'll get is: "I can't afford it right now because I have to pay off all the credit card bills from my Christmas shopping."

But as you know from the last post, we know that's not a legitimate excuse. It's just another way for people who aren't going to do anything to procrastinate their dreams ... yet again.

My approach to people is this:

• "What are your New Years resolutions this year?"
• "Did you keep your resolutions last year?"
• "Are you really serious about them this year?"
• "Okay, let's make them really come true for you this year ... together."

Yes, it's a bit direct. But leaders are that way. Be a leader and use these questions sort the winners from the wanna-bes.

"I Can't Afford Your Biz Opp"

Have you ever had a prospect tell you they don’t have enough money to join your business? Well, let me tell you right now …

IT’S A LIE!

I’m not saying they’re intentionally trying to deceive you, though sometimes they are, But whether or not they mean what they say … they’re WRONG.

Here’s how I know:

I used to own a telemarketing room. I had 20 people working the phones calling tens of thousands of leads for various MLM network marketing companies. We worked massive numbers and over time saw some clear patterns.

One of those patterns was that we could market a program that had a small or even no sign-up fee, and the most common “objection” we received was some form of “I can’t afford it right now.”

However, in following up with those same people, we found that they would sometimes sign-up in another program that had a buy-in of over $1,000 up front!

So why did they tell us they couldn’t afford a low-cost program, and then turn around and join a high-cost program?

Belief.

If people BELIEVE they will succeed, they’ll find the money to do a business.

Read that again – whether or not they actually have the cash (and most times they do), if they believe they will succeed at your business, they’ll FIND the money to get started.

Here’s another example:

I ran ads and had people call and listen to a qualifying voicemail message. On that message I told the callers that our business was MLM, what our product was, and that it would cost $200 to get started. Then I invited them to leave their name and phone number if they liked what they heard.

I’d call those people back the same day they called me, and still the #1 objection I got was; “I can’t afford it right now” … even though I told them how much it would cost on the recording before they left their phone number for me to call them!

Here’s a very different example:

A man I knew was out of work for 3 months, going through a divorce and being evicted. He truly had no money! He went to a friend to borrow $200 to join a MLM company. He went on to become one of the top earners in the company, making millions and millions of dollars.

His story represents the story of many others who, though they truly didn’t have the cash … they had massive desire. So they FOUND the money and went on to be wildly successful.

One of the benefits of our business is that you can get started for a pittance. If a person isn’t willing to make the puny investment necessary, it merely means they don’t believe the investment will bring a return.

“I can’t afford it right now,” is simply a knee-jerk reaction to protect one’s wallet. It’s the easiest excuse most people can think of. And they think it’s bullet proof.

Actually it’s full of holes.

Anytime a prospect uses that excuse, a sale is made. Either they sell you that they don’t have the money and cant’ get it, or you sell them on the fact that the resources are available if they have enough desire.

Never let them sell you, because the truth is, money is NEVER a legitimate objection. Whenever a prospect says that to you (and they’ll say it a lot), you need to translate it into “Reality Language.” And the translation is:

“You haven’t helped me believe I’ll be successful at your business, so of course I don’t want to commit my precious greenbacks to it.”

MLM Is Easy This Way

Most people try way too hard in MLM Network Marketing.

When you try too hard, you come across as desperate. Prospects can smell desperation a mile away, and once they pick up the scent they will NEVER join with you.

Why? Because desperation means you aren’t successful, and every prospect wants to be enrolled by a MLM leader who is successful.

Successful leaders are confident, not desperate.

Your attitude in the prospecting process must be one of great interest for the person, but indifference as to whether they join with you.

Personally, I don’t care if any given prospect signs up or not. In fact, most of the time I hope they WON’T!

The only time I want them to enroll is if I truly believe they will succeed, and I know most of them won’t, so I don’t want most people to sign up.

Think about it. What good does it do you if they enroll, but fail? They have taken up your time and energy and you get a few bucks in commissions.

Not worth it.

If they’re not going to succeed, I don’t want them to join.

That attitude serves both them and me.

It’s no secret that Multi-Level Marketing has a bad reputation in some circles. I’m convinced this is because distributors have been enrolling anyone who would sign a membership agreement, without qualifying them first.

That’s irresponsible and inevitably leads to unhappiness for everyone.

Sponsoring people who aren’t right for your business hurts your business. You spend time and energy with these people who won’t produce and who will eventually quit anyway.

That’s time and energy that could have been spent searching for the right people, who would follow-through and build a large downline for them and you.

By qualifying your prospects quickly, and eliminating the majority who aren’t a match, you have more time to sort through big numbers and find the few who will become your leaders.

This is what you must do to become a network marketing success because the numbers we deal with are a bit daunting. Leaders are rare, so you need to spend more time sorting and less time convincing.

As a Match Maker, and not a salesperson, it’s your job to find a marriage made in heaven and not put together a shotgun wedding!

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Some people resist MLM because they don’t want to be in sales.

That’s a good sign they may be perfect for this business!

Your image should never be that of a salesperson. That is not what you are.

“Sales,” as it’s typically practiced, isn’t conducive to network marketing success and a good MLM training program will discourage distributors from learning cute sales techniques.

The pros who coach MLM distributors know this very well.

To fully understand this, let’s first define “sales” as it’s commonly practiced (as opposed to skilled sales which is on the endangered list).

When most people think of sales, they imagine trying to change people’s minds and getting them to do something against their will. That is bad sales, is irresponsible, and should not be practiced in multi-level marketing or any other profession.

So what should our self-image be, if not that of a salesperson?

I identify myself as a “Matchmaker.”

My job is to find people who are looking for a home business, and then through a friendly interview, determine whether we have a match.

Many distributors give sales presentations to every prospect they talk to:

· Our company is..
· Our product is…
· Our compensation plan is …
· Our support system is …

That’s the “sales” approach, but it’s disrespectful and a waste of your time. It’s an approach that will slow your business down.

As a match-maker, your first step should be to learn about your prospect.

· What are they looking for?
· What type of business would get them excited?
· Why do they want a business of their own?
· What motivates/inspires them?
· What type of time/money resources are they willing to commit?

Once their needs, wants and resources are established, then you evaluate together, whether your opportunity is right for them.

IS THERE A MATCH?

You come to that decision together.

It is a mutual decision made by equals who are exploring options with the same interest in mind.

If you feel that you're trying to get your prospect to join, but they're fighting you, then you’re doing something wrong.

You aren’t on the same side.

You’re in “convincing mode.” You’re trying to persuade, to change a mind. And that will never happen.

“A mind changed against its will, is of the same opinion still.”

When you prospect correctly, you and your prospect have the same interest and are after the same goal – to see if this is the right opportunity for them. Yes, or No, is fine. The objective is not to get them to sign up, it’s to determine whether or not this is a good match.

This approach has many benefits:

• It reduces frustration caused by trying to “convince” people.
• It eliminates the tension caused by the feeling of “fighting” prospects who always seem defensive.
• It takes responsibility off of you for being an “unsuccessful” salesperson.
• It removes pressure from the prospect who automatically goes on the defensive when being recruited.
• It takes pressure off of you because your goal is never to enroll anyone. It’s just to find whether you have a “match.”
• It provides many spiritual benefits as you seek the best for each person you talk with, and not just a pre-determined end-result.
• You enroll more people because by having prospects’ best interest in mind, you win their trust.
• The entire process is more fun!

Sales People Make Bad Networkers?

Years ago I remember reading a study that evaluated who tended to do the best and worst in network marketing. The research looked at people's vocational background for its measurements.

The results showed that:

• People with a sales background tended to do the WORST.
• People with backgrounds in nursing, teaching, and especially coaching, did the BEST.

These results surprised a lot of people who thought that salespeople would have the most network marketing success.

I'm not sure who conducted that study or how formal it was, but it makes some sense.

Sales persons are often after the one-time sale. They use techniques to persuade, motivate, overcome objections, move beyond people's defenses and go for the close. In short, salespeople have a reputation for doing and saying anything to get people to buy.

Actually, that's what BAD salespeople do. And most people in sales are bad at their game.

Here's what a great salesperson does:

1. Qualifies their prospect to make sure that the product or service is one that their potential customer could really benefit from.
2. Develops rapport (relationship) with that person to establish trust.
3. The close occurs naturally because it is the only logical outcome of the process once the legitimate need is established and the product/service is clearly the best solution.
4. Establishes a relationship with his or her prospects that lasts for months, years and even a lifetime.

Even when with big ticket, rarely purchased items, a superior salesperson will maintain a long-term relationship with clients because re-sales, are much easier than initial sales.

An excellent example of this is Joe Girard. The Guinness Book of Records named him "The World's Greatest Salesman" ... 12 times!

Joe was a car salesman. In a profession filled with men and women who will do anything to make a one-time sale, and then dump the customer, Joe followed up and maintained relationships with his customers for years and even decades.

You can read all about it in his book: How To Sell Anything To Anybody (a highly recommended read).

Background actually has very little to do with success. Your own attitude and how you relate to your prospects has everything to do with success.

Abandon hype. It doesn't work.

Embrace integrity. It’s what people respond to.

Interview your prospects to first understand them, their goals, their ambitions and their drive and motivations.

Only then can you decide if your opportunity is right for your prospect. If not, tell them so, and move on to the next lead.

The first step in the process is to QUALIFY leads. This will save you a lot of time often spent on giving presentations to prospects who won’t join anyway.

Qualify your prospects quickly and only give presentations to those who are qualified (which will only be about 20% of them). This allows you to move through leads more quickly and find your leaders more efficiently.

Warm Market vs. Cold Market

An age-old question for network marketers:

Should you market to your "warm market" (friends and family) or the "cold market" (through advertising, mailing, Internet, etc.).

Both approaches can work, so the first thing to consider is, which is best for YOU?

The warm market approach is great because it's essentially free. There are no costs of advertising, buying leads, doing mailings, etc. Also, you’re talking to people with whom you already have a trusting relationship.

The cold market approach costs money because you have to advertise, and you're going to be talking to strangers with whom you'll have to spend considerable amounts of time establishing credibility and bonding before they will trust you. On the other hand, your advertising can generate leads that already come with an interest in what you have to offer.

There is a third approach – which I call the HOT market.

This technique can begin with either the warm market or cold market. It involves developing a relationship with your prospects and offering them truly valuable information that they want (for free) before you attempt to enroll them in your opportunity.

There are specific techniques I use for this and it works especially well via the Internet if you know how. Too often people have used the Internet for direct selling of their business opportunities. Unfortunately that doesn't work very well.

The Internet has moved into a new phase …

As evidenced by the phenomenal growth of “My Space” and other social web sites, the Internet has become about connecting with people and developing relationships.

When you learn to use the Internet effectively in that way, then the world is your oyster.

MLM is Not a 4 Letter Word!

New distributors often ask me how they can avoid telling prospects that they're in a MLM business. Their fear is that as soon as they mention the term MLM, they'll turn off their prospect to listening any further.

So they often use different names: Network Marketing, Referral Marketing, Relationship Marketing, etc.

I'm not opposed to using alternative names for our industry, but there's no reason to do it out of shame. The best way to approach this perceived problem it to meet it head on, state clearly that you're involved in MLM and do it with confidence.

I love being part of the MLM industry. It's the purest expression of the American Dream.

America was founded on the principles of freedom and equal opportunity for all. Even though we haven't practiced that perfectly as a country, we're still learning what that means and moving toward it.

MLM is the purest "equal opportunity" business.

It doesn't matter if you're male or female, young or old, rich or poor; Your education doesn't matter, your race doesn't matter, your religion doesn't matter …

Everyone is given the same opportunity and the entry level is affordable to all. The only difference is what you do with the opportunity.

So feel proud about the business you represent. Present it with confidence, knowing that you're offering your prospects a real gift.

By the way, when I tell prospects up front that my business in MLM, I often get a very favorable response. It's when I try to hide the fact that's it's MLM, and they inevitably discover it later in the conversation, that I get the negative reaction!

Distributors or Customers - Which is More Important?

"Hey Barry, you talk about 'entrepreneurs' being the key to success in MLM, but isn't it really the customer base that is most important?"

Great question, and yes, customers are absolutely the cornerstones to your MLM business, and there are 2 reasons for this:

1. If everyone was a distributor, and no one was a customer, then you would have a Money Game, and not a legal MLM business.
2. Mathematically, not everyone in the business can make money! The numbers simply don't work. So you need MOST people to NOT make money so a smaller number of people can make a lot of money.

This would be unethical, unless the largest number of people weren't even trying to make money – they were happy paying for and getting the benefits of the products without seeking any monetary compensation.

So yes, customers are the cornerstones of any MLM business and of your downline. However, they don't give you leverage and therefore will never make you rich.

So if we need both, what do we do?

I run separate campaigns for customers and for entrepreneurs, however, customers are much easier to find than entrepreneurs. Therefore I focus on finding entrepreneurs.

Here's why finding customers is easy:

Most of the so-called "entrepreneurs" you invite into the business either will not be interested or will join the business, but never actually DO the business. However if you have a great product, many of them will become product users.

Therefore my approach has been to spend most of my time looking for the entrepreneurs (there are so few of them that if I don't focus on them, I'll never find them). But in that process, most of the prospects end up becoming customers anyway.

Because my company offers products of real value, many people order them month after month for the health benefits alone, and everyone wins.

How To Sponsor Heavy-Hitters

Everyone wants leaders (entrepreneurs) in their downline. The big question is: how do you find them and get them to join with you?

The first assumption is that you would go to people who are already extremely successful in life. That's not a bad approach and I encourage you to do it. However, my experience is that very few of my leaders came from successful backgrounds.

The prospects I talked to who were already making good money with their jobs or another business were already fairly content.

Most of my leaders were people who were NOT making very much money at all, and were extremely unhappy with their financial situation.

In looking for "entrepreneurs" we're not necessarily looking for people who have been successful business persons in the past. We want to find those that have the entrepreneurial SPIRIT.

Most of these people will be UNHAPPY with their current situation in life. They usually have some type of pain that motivates them to run from. This highly motivates them to change their station in life.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the best prospects come from skid row!

They must also believe in themselves and the possibility of doing better.

They must be SELF- disciplined and SELF-motivated.

It's true that you should never judge a book by its cover. Your next leader can come from anywhere. Spend the time with each prospect to find out who they are, how they are suffering, and how motivated they are to change their life. It's their determination to make a major change that is more important than anything else.

In his famous book, All You Can Do Is All You Can Do But All You Can Do Is Enough" A.L. Williams summarizes all of success into one word: "DESIRE."

The good news is that these people are the easiest to sponsor! They believe in themselves, they are open to a new opportunity and they are highly motivated. In fact, these people ARE going to join a business, it's just a matter of which one.

Appearances can be deceiving. Take time to know your prospects. Talk to them, get to know their thoughts, feelings, pains, struggles, hopes and desires. It's what in their heart that matters.

If you'd like to learn more about the key to sponsoring Heavy-Hitters, check out my Special Report: "How To Sponsor Heavy-Hitters" which reveals the inside scoop on this subject.

A Few Good Men (or Women)

What's the SECRET to becoming successful in MLM? It's found in learning how to use the unique leverage in network marketing.

That unique leverage is "OPE:" Other People's Entrepreneurship.

Remember, without leverage there is no wealth.

So, what is the key to wild MLM success?

Is it focusing on finding customers for your product?

No, because customers, by definition, focus on consuming your product, but they don't focus on getting others to consume your product – therefore they don't provide any leverage.

Is it focusing on finding other distributors for your opportunity?

No, because most distributors don't do anything after they enroll, so there's not leverage (duplication) there.

The secret to success is to enroll honest-to-goodness "entrepreneurs."

What exactly do I mean by an "entrepreneur?" Here's my definition:

"A self-disciplined, self-motivated go-getter who has made a "no going back" decision to making a business successful."

Those are the people who will succeed. They're the ones who will sponsor others and sell lots of product. They're the ones who will duplicate. If you have a few of them in your downline, then you're all set because they will do a tremendous amount of work and provide the leverage you need.

ONE entrepreneur in your downline can make you THOUSANDS of dollars every month for years to come. Now that's leverage!

"O.P.E." - Secret to MLM Success

We all know that "MLM" stands for "Multi-Level Marketing," but I've never thought that was a very good name for this business. It describes the structure of how we're compensated, but misses the unique aspect of our business.

MLM would better be understood as "Multi-Leveraged Marketing," because leverage is the key to success in this business, as it is with any other (as described in the last blog entry).

With real estate, investing and traditional business, leverage comes with a huge risk, but in MLM that risk can be avoided.

• In real estate we are leveraging a tangible property.
• In investing we are leveraging an investment.
• In traditional business we are leveraging other people's time and skills.

In MLM we are leveraging "OPE:" "Other People's Entrepreneurship."

If you fail, you do not have a huge, illiquid property to try to unload, you don't get a margin call, and you don't have to worry about paying back a business loan.

It's the only business I now where you get the leverage without the risk. That is a dreamy combination!