How To Avoid Network Marketing Pitfalls
“Discover the Pitfalls & Traps in Network Marketing that
You Can Avoid – Saving You TONS of Time, Money &
Mistakes!”
Introduction
Dear Network Marketer,
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.
This blog is targeted at the general network marketing community. This blog is a
must read especially if you haven.t break even in your business. After you finish this
blog, you will be able to:
Understand the typical cash flow to building a network marketing business so you
can plan your business long term
.
Understand how the majority of people who fail in Network Marketing fail
because of lack of cash flow to run their business in the short term
.
Reduce overheads so you can break even faster
.
Reinvest your profits wisely to power-up your business
.
Duplicate these principles to your downline and let your company work for you
“How sure are you that this blog will work for my company?” you ask? Well, the content
here is:
100% Generic yet applicable to any company you are in. I realize that most
companies have their own system, yet the ideas here are meant to COMPLIMENT and
not contradict your training system as well as give you IDEAS TO SUCCEED.
Straight forward and to the point. People who purchase e-books usually want
information fast and straight forward. I want my readers to have a quick read and catch
the main points fast because I know that you have invested time reading this and I know
your time is precious.
Task Oriented. Just follow the instructions. I have done all the work for you so you can
save time and effort.
If all my readers can get just one good idea from the contents of this blog, I feel I have
accomplished my task. Do not just keep this information to yourself or your downline.
Share them with your upline, sidelines and people who are in other network marketing
businesses.
THINK ABUNDANCE and you will be well on your way to financial freedom!
Here we go…
Note:
If you are familiar with the Network Marketing series you would have come
across titles like Network Marketing: Survival or Network Marketing: Pitfalls. Easy Network Marketing At No Cost as a stand alone blog but the lessons learnt from those within the
series will definitely help in further understanding the principles within this blog to
power up your business.
A Business Just Like Any Other
What is the purpose of starting a business? To make profit.
Most businesses spend more money than they make that.s why they go belly up.
So why should network marketing be any different?
The common belief is that network marketing is a business that appreciates in value
over time. In other words, if I have a group of 100 to 1,000 people under me buying the
product and recruiting more, I.d be getting richer and richer! But we all know that.
It is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It.s SURVIVING the first 6 months to 2
years!
It is common that most network marketers in a new industry typically go through a 6
months trial and error period, therefore, it is crucial to ensure that during those 6 training
months, you manage your cash wisely so you can learn and make money at the same
time.
Just like in normal business, most of them fail within their first 2 years of operation and
struggle to make profit even if they do survive. The key to survival is CASH FLOW.
In other words, it can be summed up in this equation:
Cash today, downline tomorrow.
People in network marketing usually run out of cash flow normally after 3 months and
they quit because they spend more as they build. But by breaking even as fast as
possible, it gives tremendous mental strength to the distributor and he or she is less
likely to drop out.
First, we must understand the mindset which is the most important starting point in
getting by the first 3 months.
The Mindset of a Business Builder
(Don’t proceed any further in this blog until you ingrain these into your brain!)
It takes TIME to build a successful business. If you make ANY money in the first
few months (even if it is just a few dollars) it is PERFECTLY NORMAL.
It is MY BUSINESS. Not my upline.s business or my downline.s business.
Everything depends on ME putting effort to succeed.
Invest in TOOLS that brings in revenue (lead generators, viral e-books, generic
information, etc). Don.t buy books and tapes just for the sake of buying them.
Don.t use your own money if possible. Most successful businessmen use other
people.s money (borrowed money either from relatives or financial institutions) to
build their business. Remember that cash flow is more important than revenue.
Don.t blow all your money on advertising that doesn.t bring in cash flow as well.
Direct response advertising is one of the most effective ways.
A smart businessman doesn.t spread himself out too much. Build the LOCAL
market first. Never venture outstation unless you have a steady income. If you
can.t even take care of yourself, how can you take care of your downline far
away from you?
Focus on solving other people.s problems. Don.t recruit people just for the sake
of recruiting them. Try and understand what problems they are going through
first.
Enjoying the journey! People who love their job always outperform those who do
it grudgingly. If your prospect sees you doing your business so grudgingly, will
they join you?
Typical MLM cash flow
Only for illustration purposes only
Typical Average American worker's annual salary
Hour $19.13
Day $153.04
Month $3,316.25
Year $39,795
Expenses:
Joining Fee $50 - $5,000
Auto-ship $5 - $500
Petrol $300
Training Material $200 - $500
Meetings and Rallies $50 - $8,000
Phone Bill $100 - $500
Leads $200 - $500
Miscellaneous $200 - $500
Depending on the network marketing company, do you see how typical it is for an
average builder to spend somewhere between $1,000 to $16,000 as a STARTING
INVESTMENT? You can estimate how much you have to make in the long run then only
will you break even. But let us see how we can minimize these overheads to generate
more cash flow.
What is Your Profit Margin?
One of the key strategies to generate more cash flow is relating to your
COMPENSATION PLAN.
Different plans may differ from company to company. Some companies may boast of
their high payout. They will say something like this:
Our company is the best because we pay out 75% of our commission to all the
distributors! It is like saying for every $100 sale; $75 is paid back to our people. You will
never fail with this company!
I urge you to make intelligent financial decisions and NOT emotional decisions because
responding to emotional appeal can cause a lot of heartaches in the future.
I can.t cover all the mechanics on plans, but it is better to refer to the book series called
Show me The Plan!,How To Market Online, Where I will explain more in depth about marketing plan mechanics.
But for the purpose of this topic, I will list down some principles (marketing plan related)
to follow.
Don.t look at the total payout of the company; look at the first 2 levels of payout:
How much you get for recruiting someone, and how much you get if THEY recruit
someone. It is no point dreaming how much you make as a „Rainbow Diamond
Leader. if you can.t even succeed at the lower levels
.
Examine how much you have to spend to RECRUIT someone. Some companies
require you to either pay for their training program first, or require you to
accompany them into the training session (and you have to pay your own way)
.
If you have little cash flow but wish to join a company that requires a large
inventory investment but high profit margin, make sure those products can be
used to SPONSOR your downline so you can recuperate as much cash as
possible
.Can you afford the auto-ship?
Downline: An Asset or Liability?
What is the income you are expecting from your business? Do you know that you have
to invest time and money in your downlines? Yes, it is true that you make money when
your downline joins you or makes a sale, but most of the time, to build a long term
business; you have to invest heavily in their education.
Network Marketing is a business of duplication and although many people will pay the
price to build their network, you must be very selective of whom you spend your time
with. You can.t possible be everything to everyone and you must select who are the
people that you are going places with!
It makes sense because they time you spend with one means time where you could
either be developing another or recruiting a new distributor. Furthermore, you have to
drive out of your house to see them or accompany them in training and counseling
sessions.
Are you prepared to pay the price for „this guy.?
Most of the time many people quit network marketing is not because they can.t recruit,
but because they spend too much time with a recruit thinking they can change a duck
into an eagle. You quack with ducks but soar with eagles, if I am not mistaken. So if you
spend too much time with a duck that quacks a lot but doesn.t do anything else, you
have no choice but to leave him behind if you need to soar with the eagles (or else you
will be like the „duck. as well).
The key point to remember is this:
If you are doing 99% of the work in your network while the rest is doing 1%:
START FINDING NEW DOWNLINES, They will spend less of your money (and free
up your time to make more).
In the next few chapters, I will show you how by erasing some of the expenditures on
Network Marketing, you and all your downlines can save time and money (so your
downlines will not quit easily due to lack of cash flow and your business will survive
better in the earlier stages).
Eliminating the Burden
Here is a step by step instruction to ways you can tackle the expenditure above.
Joining fee and auto-ship:
Instead of going out to start looking for people to join your opportunity, one of the fastest
ways to ensure cash flow is to LIQUIDATE your products!
See that stash of products lying around your house? (Your health supplements, skin
care or water filters, etc) A lot of people leave their stocks lying around the house while
going on a recruitment spree forgetting that once you sell off all your stocks, you will
break even on your investment!
If you are wondering whether to keep those products so you can try them yourself, don.t
worry. There is more where that came from. If you work hard to eliminate your
investment costs, you can always purchase more products from the company later on
and those products will most likely contribute to your sales volume as well.
The key is to get your WARM MARKET started on the products, and not pitch the
opportunity to them straight away! If you try a good product at the supermarket, I am
sure you will tell them all about it. Why should you treat your network marketing products
any different? Are you afraid to talk to your uncle bob,jimmy,robert because your products are from a
network marketing company?
Once you get your family and friends started on the products (It doesn.t cost you that
much considering that those are money set aside for your business whether you sell or
give them away), once they see results from it, they will start promoting the products to
the people around them!
Don.t you see how by using your inventory when you first started off, you can potentially
create runaway word of mouth giving you free warm leads offline? The best thing of all,
you can choose from those groups of product users who can be a good business builder
because of their trust in the product, you can get them in easily.
Doing so will also eliminate your costs when it comes to auto-ship. When people are
actively consuming the product, all your downline will be on auto-ship and you will not be
afraid of them canceling their auto-ship because it is taken care off by their warm market
demand.
Training Materials
If you want to be successful in network marketing, your must invest in yourself. No I
don.t mean investing in stuff that goes below your neck because there is a tendency for
network marketers to eat a lot during group gatherings (and grow sideways!):
It is investing in what’s above your neck which is your mind!
Serious network marketers will always invest their hard-earned money in two things.
Leads
.
Training Materials to upgrade themselves like books and tapes
Since we know that people will be spending money on the second category, why not
make a profit from it to fund your business?
One of the ways is to obtain training materials is to join free membership sites that
provide free e-books or training material to help you expand your knowledge. These low
cost, methods will help you tremendously instead of spending your much needed funds
for surviving in your business on expensive hard-cover books that will cost $50-$300.
One website I highly recommend to generate leads and cashflow online below here
Click on this link for more information The Secret To Success
This boot camp offers a training system especially tailored for network marketers. The
best thing about it is 100% generic and works with any company.
His website comes with a built in lead capture system which will allow you to build
relationships with your prospects as well as generate additional cash flow for your
downline. You can promote this system down your genealogy chart so that everybody
will benefit from the cash flow.
Phone Bills
As soon as your network begins to grow, you must consider switching to a phone plan
that provides low-cost or unlimited access to all sub-lines. This is a great way to save on
phone bills when calling your downline. Some telephone companies offer unique phone
plans that give you a referral fee or even an overriding percentage over your referee.s or
your network.s bill.
Other ways to cut down on phone bills is to go online to coordinate team meetings over
the internet. Tools like Skype are useful to do long distance opportunity meetings and
counseling sessions with your upline.
Petrol
If you find yourself burning too much petrol when prospecting, then you must consider
QUALIFYING your leads. Not everyone who gets into your group will be a „CLASS A’
networker. It is wise to focus on recruiting people who have qualities to succeed in any
business. Opportunities do not make someone rich; hard work and persistence does.
If you are prospecting someone who is indecisive, lazy and complains constantly, it is
better to keep him or her in the back burner and focus on other people (follow up with
them on your spare time). You don.t want to find yourself driving miles just to talk to
someone and after two hours (or a few months later) you find out that they are not
interested or they are not the person you are looking for.
A very good way to qualify what type of prospect you are dealing with if to ask him or her
questions about their self-development. If you find that they have no energy in their
words, or are not doing anything to improve themselves then you can very well save lots
of time and petrol.
Leads
You don.t have to spend a fortune on leads. Here are some suggestions on how to get
leads for free.
Switching to a line of work that allows you flexible time and involves servicing
instead of moving to a sales oriented line. Why is this so is because a servicing
oriented line allows you to build rapport for free with your prospects and they will
generally have good feelings towards you contrary to a sales line where the
same customers you are selling your product will wind up being the same
prospects for your business (Don.t confuse them by selling many things).
Other network marketing companies. Join their Opportunity talks or rallies. You
will get to know many like minded people here and there and they will be more
than happy to be your friend because they want to get you into their opportunity.
You can sort and filter which are the people you want in your network later on. If
your convincing power is very good, you might bring over an entire network of
distributors over.
Attend highly motivational seminars (e.g. Anthony Robbins), you will meet a lot of
people here and they will be so highly motivated or fired-up, you will have more
chances to recruit them (they are so fired-up they believe they can conquer the
world or realize their dreams). Furthermore, they are most likely the ones who
will „go all the way. if you successfully recruit them.
Front-End: Consistent Stream of Income
A lot of network marketers make a very big mistake in their business. They don.t develop
multiple streams of incomes and they rely only on making money through one source
which is the company they are in. What do I mean?
Let.s say I am with XYZ Company. I feel that XYZ Company has the best reputation in
the world, the best product, the best marketing plan, has helped millions of people in the
world with the product and opportunity (you get the idea). Because I am so engrossed
with my company, I refuse to engage other streams of income like buying or endorsing
the other products of other companies. Some even go as far as to learn only within their
own network marketing community only.
Let me emphasize once again. Network Marketing is a BUSINESS. You must be
receptive to new ideas and constantly learn (even from other network marketing
companies!)
As a businessman, you must be savvy enough to adapt to situations and do
WHATEVER IT TAKES (as long as it is ethical) to get the job done.
This means that your thinking must be flexible enough to come out with ideas that
accomplish the following steps:
Generate endless leads so you will have a large name list
.
Create consistent Cash Flow to stay alive in Network Marketing
.
Recruit downline and train them to execute all these steps
How do we accomplish the following steps?
(1) Adopt the mindset of abundance. Help other people to get what they want and
next time, they will definitely help you get what you want. Go all out to help others
and don.t be stingy or calculative.
(2) Focus on developing a customer base by servicing them through the product.
Focus on solving their problems with the product. Even if you have to spend time
to build the rapport with the customer, remember that when the customer sees
fantastic results from your product, they will sell for you willingly. A satisfied
customer.s testimonial is very powerful. Repeat sales from the satisfied customer
(and the people around them) will ensure a consistent cash flow.
(3) BARTER TRADE your company.s product with networkers from OTHER
companies! If I have loads of stock from my company (either through purchasing
in bulk or from my auto-ship), chances are, there are networkers in other
companies are more than willing to trade with you since they have loads of stock
also. With new types of stock in your hand, you are able to tap into other markets
and build rapport with them so you can introduce them to your main opportunity.
(If my company only sells cosmetics and no supplements, I can find a networker
in the supplement like and exchange products to tap the supplement market.)
(4) Join affiliate programs online that generate cash flow if you are Internet savvy.
Find affiliate programs that let you participate for a very low cost or free.
Remember the principle that you want to generate cash flow and help other
people solve their problems. This puts you in a position to once again, build
rapport with your potential prospects and generates you leads. Viral marketing
using e-books or e-mail is a good way to divert traffic to your affiliate programs
and they cost very little.
(5) Give away free information on network marketing (there are lots of free or low
cost e-books or viral marketing tools around the net) or write free articles on your
products and post them to your friends, associates or families. For example: If
you are in the health industry, write (or interview an expert) an article about
general health issues or health supplements that will give your potential
prospects awareness on their health and when they are curious they will ask you
for more information. You can share your product with them afterwards.
Developing Your Own Turn-Key System
Network Marketing is a business for yourself but not by yourself.
Although there no hard and fast rule or any magic formula that I can suggest, because
any system you decide to create will differ from company to company, you can develop
your own turn-key system within your organization.
What this means is this kind of system is designed with the team in mind where you and
all your downline all FOLLOW THE SAME SYSTEM as a general outline. Everybody
needs to head in the same direction as a team and a single minded focus on achieving
the team objective is crucial.
Here are some guidelines I can suggest to you:
Hold local training sessions besides the company.s training sessions online or
offline with all your team members
.
Educate all the team members about proper cash flow guidelines when building
the business. Give everyone free material to review.
.
Everyone decide how much effort must be put in, for example, a weekly or
monthly target volume to achieve.
.
Training sessions on how to use online systems that generate leads or using
affiliate websites (if your company sponsors one). You may even work together
to create your own team website.
.
Buddy system to minimize prospecting costs (like driving to the meetings
together or prospecting together)
.
Brainstorming ideas on other ways to save costs (for example: joining a phone
plan together as mentioned above)
The key point to remember is this:
Everyone must focus on following the same system in your team!
It is crucial for duplication. Can you imagine 100 people all going in their own direction?
It smells like a recipe for disaster.
The ultimate goal is to train a team of independent, cash generating downlines who are
MAKING MONEY and helping their downlines to do the same.
Because in the end of the day, how good your turn-key system turns out reflects heavily
on you through the success of your downlines.
What is the point of sponsoring 10-20 people, and the next week there is only 1 or 2 left
in the business? If attrition is very high in your network, it is even more so to create a
system for your downline.
Summary and Conclusion
Let me make a summary of all the principles in this blog.
(1) Cash flow is more important than revenue
(2) Cash today means more leads, more posture, more education and hence: MORE
DOWNLINE
(3) Expenses can be minimized. Spend only on what you really need for your business
(4) Make sure your downline succeed. When you help them make money, they will
help YOU make money!
The journey to success may be long and hard, but always remember that it is not WHEN
you finish the network marketing race, it is how you get there by helping others along
the way, join you at the finish line. Never finish the network marketing race alone
without your downline.
Good luck, and see you at the top!
/The Secret To Success
Katongole Johnny
Internet Marketing Consultant
“Discover the Pitfalls & Traps in Network Marketing that
You Can Avoid – Saving You TONS of Time, Money &
Mistakes!”
Introduction
Dear Network Marketer,
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.
This blog is targeted at the general network marketing community. This blog is a
must read especially if you haven.t break even in your business. After you finish this
blog, you will be able to:
Understand the typical cash flow to building a network marketing business so you
can plan your business long term
.
Understand how the majority of people who fail in Network Marketing fail
because of lack of cash flow to run their business in the short term
.
Reduce overheads so you can break even faster
.
Reinvest your profits wisely to power-up your business
.
Duplicate these principles to your downline and let your company work for you
“How sure are you that this blog will work for my company?” you ask? Well, the content
here is:
100% Generic yet applicable to any company you are in. I realize that most
companies have their own system, yet the ideas here are meant to COMPLIMENT and
not contradict your training system as well as give you IDEAS TO SUCCEED.
Straight forward and to the point. People who purchase e-books usually want
information fast and straight forward. I want my readers to have a quick read and catch
the main points fast because I know that you have invested time reading this and I know
your time is precious.
Task Oriented. Just follow the instructions. I have done all the work for you so you can
save time and effort.
If all my readers can get just one good idea from the contents of this blog, I feel I have
accomplished my task. Do not just keep this information to yourself or your downline.
Share them with your upline, sidelines and people who are in other network marketing
businesses.
THINK ABUNDANCE and you will be well on your way to financial freedom!
Here we go…
Note:
If you are familiar with the Network Marketing series you would have come
across titles like Network Marketing: Survival or Network Marketing: Pitfalls. Easy Network Marketing At No Cost as a stand alone blog but the lessons learnt from those within the
series will definitely help in further understanding the principles within this blog to
power up your business.
A Business Just Like Any Other
What is the purpose of starting a business? To make profit.
Most businesses spend more money than they make that.s why they go belly up.
So why should network marketing be any different?
The common belief is that network marketing is a business that appreciates in value
over time. In other words, if I have a group of 100 to 1,000 people under me buying the
product and recruiting more, I.d be getting richer and richer! But we all know that.
It is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It.s SURVIVING the first 6 months to 2
years!
It is common that most network marketers in a new industry typically go through a 6
months trial and error period, therefore, it is crucial to ensure that during those 6 training
months, you manage your cash wisely so you can learn and make money at the same
time.
Just like in normal business, most of them fail within their first 2 years of operation and
struggle to make profit even if they do survive. The key to survival is CASH FLOW.
In other words, it can be summed up in this equation:
Cash today, downline tomorrow.
People in network marketing usually run out of cash flow normally after 3 months and
they quit because they spend more as they build. But by breaking even as fast as
possible, it gives tremendous mental strength to the distributor and he or she is less
likely to drop out.
First, we must understand the mindset which is the most important starting point in
getting by the first 3 months.
The Mindset of a Business Builder
(Don’t proceed any further in this blog until you ingrain these into your brain!)
It takes TIME to build a successful business. If you make ANY money in the first
few months (even if it is just a few dollars) it is PERFECTLY NORMAL.
It is MY BUSINESS. Not my upline.s business or my downline.s business.
Everything depends on ME putting effort to succeed.
Invest in TOOLS that brings in revenue (lead generators, viral e-books, generic
information, etc). Don.t buy books and tapes just for the sake of buying them.
Don.t use your own money if possible. Most successful businessmen use other
people.s money (borrowed money either from relatives or financial institutions) to
build their business. Remember that cash flow is more important than revenue.
Don.t blow all your money on advertising that doesn.t bring in cash flow as well.
Direct response advertising is one of the most effective ways.
A smart businessman doesn.t spread himself out too much. Build the LOCAL
market first. Never venture outstation unless you have a steady income. If you
can.t even take care of yourself, how can you take care of your downline far
away from you?
Focus on solving other people.s problems. Don.t recruit people just for the sake
of recruiting them. Try and understand what problems they are going through
first.
Enjoying the journey! People who love their job always outperform those who do
it grudgingly. If your prospect sees you doing your business so grudgingly, will
they join you?
Typical MLM cash flow
Only for illustration purposes only
Typical Average American worker's annual salary
Hour $19.13
Day $153.04
Month $3,316.25
Year $39,795
Expenses:
Joining Fee $50 - $5,000
Auto-ship $5 - $500
Petrol $300
Training Material $200 - $500
Meetings and Rallies $50 - $8,000
Phone Bill $100 - $500
Leads $200 - $500
Miscellaneous $200 - $500
Depending on the network marketing company, do you see how typical it is for an
average builder to spend somewhere between $1,000 to $16,000 as a STARTING
INVESTMENT? You can estimate how much you have to make in the long run then only
will you break even. But let us see how we can minimize these overheads to generate
more cash flow.
What is Your Profit Margin?
One of the key strategies to generate more cash flow is relating to your
COMPENSATION PLAN.
Different plans may differ from company to company. Some companies may boast of
their high payout. They will say something like this:
Our company is the best because we pay out 75% of our commission to all the
distributors! It is like saying for every $100 sale; $75 is paid back to our people. You will
never fail with this company!
I urge you to make intelligent financial decisions and NOT emotional decisions because
responding to emotional appeal can cause a lot of heartaches in the future.
I can.t cover all the mechanics on plans, but it is better to refer to the book series called
Show me The Plan!,How To Market Online, Where I will explain more in depth about marketing plan mechanics.
But for the purpose of this topic, I will list down some principles (marketing plan related)
to follow.
Don.t look at the total payout of the company; look at the first 2 levels of payout:
How much you get for recruiting someone, and how much you get if THEY recruit
someone. It is no point dreaming how much you make as a „Rainbow Diamond
Leader. if you can.t even succeed at the lower levels
.
Examine how much you have to spend to RECRUIT someone. Some companies
require you to either pay for their training program first, or require you to
accompany them into the training session (and you have to pay your own way)
.
If you have little cash flow but wish to join a company that requires a large
inventory investment but high profit margin, make sure those products can be
used to SPONSOR your downline so you can recuperate as much cash as
possible
.Can you afford the auto-ship?
Downline: An Asset or Liability?
What is the income you are expecting from your business? Do you know that you have
to invest time and money in your downlines? Yes, it is true that you make money when
your downline joins you or makes a sale, but most of the time, to build a long term
business; you have to invest heavily in their education.
Network Marketing is a business of duplication and although many people will pay the
price to build their network, you must be very selective of whom you spend your time
with. You can.t possible be everything to everyone and you must select who are the
people that you are going places with!
It makes sense because they time you spend with one means time where you could
either be developing another or recruiting a new distributor. Furthermore, you have to
drive out of your house to see them or accompany them in training and counseling
sessions.
Are you prepared to pay the price for „this guy.?
Most of the time many people quit network marketing is not because they can.t recruit,
but because they spend too much time with a recruit thinking they can change a duck
into an eagle. You quack with ducks but soar with eagles, if I am not mistaken. So if you
spend too much time with a duck that quacks a lot but doesn.t do anything else, you
have no choice but to leave him behind if you need to soar with the eagles (or else you
will be like the „duck. as well).
The key point to remember is this:
If you are doing 99% of the work in your network while the rest is doing 1%:
START FINDING NEW DOWNLINES, They will spend less of your money (and free
up your time to make more).
In the next few chapters, I will show you how by erasing some of the expenditures on
Network Marketing, you and all your downlines can save time and money (so your
downlines will not quit easily due to lack of cash flow and your business will survive
better in the earlier stages).
Eliminating the Burden
Here is a step by step instruction to ways you can tackle the expenditure above.
Joining fee and auto-ship:
Instead of going out to start looking for people to join your opportunity, one of the fastest
ways to ensure cash flow is to LIQUIDATE your products!
See that stash of products lying around your house? (Your health supplements, skin
care or water filters, etc) A lot of people leave their stocks lying around the house while
going on a recruitment spree forgetting that once you sell off all your stocks, you will
break even on your investment!
If you are wondering whether to keep those products so you can try them yourself, don.t
worry. There is more where that came from. If you work hard to eliminate your
investment costs, you can always purchase more products from the company later on
and those products will most likely contribute to your sales volume as well.
The key is to get your WARM MARKET started on the products, and not pitch the
opportunity to them straight away! If you try a good product at the supermarket, I am
sure you will tell them all about it. Why should you treat your network marketing products
any different? Are you afraid to talk to your uncle bob,jimmy,robert because your products are from a
network marketing company?
Once you get your family and friends started on the products (It doesn.t cost you that
much considering that those are money set aside for your business whether you sell or
give them away), once they see results from it, they will start promoting the products to
the people around them!
Don.t you see how by using your inventory when you first started off, you can potentially
create runaway word of mouth giving you free warm leads offline? The best thing of all,
you can choose from those groups of product users who can be a good business builder
because of their trust in the product, you can get them in easily.
Doing so will also eliminate your costs when it comes to auto-ship. When people are
actively consuming the product, all your downline will be on auto-ship and you will not be
afraid of them canceling their auto-ship because it is taken care off by their warm market
demand.
Training Materials
If you want to be successful in network marketing, your must invest in yourself. No I
don.t mean investing in stuff that goes below your neck because there is a tendency for
network marketers to eat a lot during group gatherings (and grow sideways!):
It is investing in what’s above your neck which is your mind!
Serious network marketers will always invest their hard-earned money in two things.
Leads
.
Training Materials to upgrade themselves like books and tapes
Since we know that people will be spending money on the second category, why not
make a profit from it to fund your business?
One of the ways is to obtain training materials is to join free membership sites that
provide free e-books or training material to help you expand your knowledge. These low
cost, methods will help you tremendously instead of spending your much needed funds
for surviving in your business on expensive hard-cover books that will cost $50-$300.
One website I highly recommend to generate leads and cashflow online below here
Click on this link for more information The Secret To Success
This boot camp offers a training system especially tailored for network marketers. The
best thing about it is 100% generic and works with any company.
His website comes with a built in lead capture system which will allow you to build
relationships with your prospects as well as generate additional cash flow for your
downline. You can promote this system down your genealogy chart so that everybody
will benefit from the cash flow.
Phone Bills
As soon as your network begins to grow, you must consider switching to a phone plan
that provides low-cost or unlimited access to all sub-lines. This is a great way to save on
phone bills when calling your downline. Some telephone companies offer unique phone
plans that give you a referral fee or even an overriding percentage over your referee.s or
your network.s bill.
Other ways to cut down on phone bills is to go online to coordinate team meetings over
the internet. Tools like Skype are useful to do long distance opportunity meetings and
counseling sessions with your upline.
Petrol
If you find yourself burning too much petrol when prospecting, then you must consider
QUALIFYING your leads. Not everyone who gets into your group will be a „CLASS A’
networker. It is wise to focus on recruiting people who have qualities to succeed in any
business. Opportunities do not make someone rich; hard work and persistence does.
If you are prospecting someone who is indecisive, lazy and complains constantly, it is
better to keep him or her in the back burner and focus on other people (follow up with
them on your spare time). You don.t want to find yourself driving miles just to talk to
someone and after two hours (or a few months later) you find out that they are not
interested or they are not the person you are looking for.
A very good way to qualify what type of prospect you are dealing with if to ask him or her
questions about their self-development. If you find that they have no energy in their
words, or are not doing anything to improve themselves then you can very well save lots
of time and petrol.
Leads
You don.t have to spend a fortune on leads. Here are some suggestions on how to get
leads for free.
Switching to a line of work that allows you flexible time and involves servicing
instead of moving to a sales oriented line. Why is this so is because a servicing
oriented line allows you to build rapport for free with your prospects and they will
generally have good feelings towards you contrary to a sales line where the
same customers you are selling your product will wind up being the same
prospects for your business (Don.t confuse them by selling many things).
Other network marketing companies. Join their Opportunity talks or rallies. You
will get to know many like minded people here and there and they will be more
than happy to be your friend because they want to get you into their opportunity.
You can sort and filter which are the people you want in your network later on. If
your convincing power is very good, you might bring over an entire network of
distributors over.
Attend highly motivational seminars (e.g. Anthony Robbins), you will meet a lot of
people here and they will be so highly motivated or fired-up, you will have more
chances to recruit them (they are so fired-up they believe they can conquer the
world or realize their dreams). Furthermore, they are most likely the ones who
will „go all the way. if you successfully recruit them.
Front-End: Consistent Stream of Income
A lot of network marketers make a very big mistake in their business. They don.t develop
multiple streams of incomes and they rely only on making money through one source
which is the company they are in. What do I mean?
Let.s say I am with XYZ Company. I feel that XYZ Company has the best reputation in
the world, the best product, the best marketing plan, has helped millions of people in the
world with the product and opportunity (you get the idea). Because I am so engrossed
with my company, I refuse to engage other streams of income like buying or endorsing
the other products of other companies. Some even go as far as to learn only within their
own network marketing community only.
Let me emphasize once again. Network Marketing is a BUSINESS. You must be
receptive to new ideas and constantly learn (even from other network marketing
companies!)
As a businessman, you must be savvy enough to adapt to situations and do
WHATEVER IT TAKES (as long as it is ethical) to get the job done.
This means that your thinking must be flexible enough to come out with ideas that
accomplish the following steps:
Generate endless leads so you will have a large name list
.
Create consistent Cash Flow to stay alive in Network Marketing
.
Recruit downline and train them to execute all these steps
How do we accomplish the following steps?
(1) Adopt the mindset of abundance. Help other people to get what they want and
next time, they will definitely help you get what you want. Go all out to help others
and don.t be stingy or calculative.
(2) Focus on developing a customer base by servicing them through the product.
Focus on solving their problems with the product. Even if you have to spend time
to build the rapport with the customer, remember that when the customer sees
fantastic results from your product, they will sell for you willingly. A satisfied
customer.s testimonial is very powerful. Repeat sales from the satisfied customer
(and the people around them) will ensure a consistent cash flow.
(3) BARTER TRADE your company.s product with networkers from OTHER
companies! If I have loads of stock from my company (either through purchasing
in bulk or from my auto-ship), chances are, there are networkers in other
companies are more than willing to trade with you since they have loads of stock
also. With new types of stock in your hand, you are able to tap into other markets
and build rapport with them so you can introduce them to your main opportunity.
(If my company only sells cosmetics and no supplements, I can find a networker
in the supplement like and exchange products to tap the supplement market.)
(4) Join affiliate programs online that generate cash flow if you are Internet savvy.
Find affiliate programs that let you participate for a very low cost or free.
Remember the principle that you want to generate cash flow and help other
people solve their problems. This puts you in a position to once again, build
rapport with your potential prospects and generates you leads. Viral marketing
using e-books or e-mail is a good way to divert traffic to your affiliate programs
and they cost very little.
(5) Give away free information on network marketing (there are lots of free or low
cost e-books or viral marketing tools around the net) or write free articles on your
products and post them to your friends, associates or families. For example: If
you are in the health industry, write (or interview an expert) an article about
general health issues or health supplements that will give your potential
prospects awareness on their health and when they are curious they will ask you
for more information. You can share your product with them afterwards.
Developing Your Own Turn-Key System
Network Marketing is a business for yourself but not by yourself.
Although there no hard and fast rule or any magic formula that I can suggest, because
any system you decide to create will differ from company to company, you can develop
your own turn-key system within your organization.
What this means is this kind of system is designed with the team in mind where you and
all your downline all FOLLOW THE SAME SYSTEM as a general outline. Everybody
needs to head in the same direction as a team and a single minded focus on achieving
the team objective is crucial.
Here are some guidelines I can suggest to you:
Hold local training sessions besides the company.s training sessions online or
offline with all your team members
.
Educate all the team members about proper cash flow guidelines when building
the business. Give everyone free material to review.
.
Everyone decide how much effort must be put in, for example, a weekly or
monthly target volume to achieve.
.
Training sessions on how to use online systems that generate leads or using
affiliate websites (if your company sponsors one). You may even work together
to create your own team website.
.
Buddy system to minimize prospecting costs (like driving to the meetings
together or prospecting together)
.
Brainstorming ideas on other ways to save costs (for example: joining a phone
plan together as mentioned above)
The key point to remember is this:
Everyone must focus on following the same system in your team!
It is crucial for duplication. Can you imagine 100 people all going in their own direction?
It smells like a recipe for disaster.
The ultimate goal is to train a team of independent, cash generating downlines who are
MAKING MONEY and helping their downlines to do the same.
Because in the end of the day, how good your turn-key system turns out reflects heavily
on you through the success of your downlines.
What is the point of sponsoring 10-20 people, and the next week there is only 1 or 2 left
in the business? If attrition is very high in your network, it is even more so to create a
system for your downline.
Summary and Conclusion
Let me make a summary of all the principles in this blog.
(1) Cash flow is more important than revenue
(2) Cash today means more leads, more posture, more education and hence: MORE
DOWNLINE
(3) Expenses can be minimized. Spend only on what you really need for your business
(4) Make sure your downline succeed. When you help them make money, they will
help YOU make money!
The journey to success may be long and hard, but always remember that it is not WHEN
you finish the network marketing race, it is how you get there by helping others along
the way, join you at the finish line. Never finish the network marketing race alone
without your downline.
Good luck, and see you at the top!
/The Secret To Success
Katongole Johnny
Internet Marketing Consultant
