The Path to Success in Network Marketing

In any industry you will find that there are processes and procedures that you need to follow in order to be successful. Network marketing is no different, if you want to be successful, you need to follow a process or a path, and you need to walk that path daily.

The foundation of any network marketing business is building a strong down line because this is where the leverage comes from. If your opportunity is a retail one, sure you can earn money from doing the retail side, but your time is limited and therefore your potential income is limited too.

Someone once said, I’d rather have 1% of the efforts of 100 people than 100% of just my own. (words to that effect)

By building a strong team, and earning a percentage of the retail volume of this down line, you are leveraging the efforts of many instead of relying of your efforts alone.

Success in this part of your MLM business involves five basic steps.

1.      Prospecting

Prospecting is the embryo if you like of any network marketing business. To enjoy any growth in your business you are going to have to find people to expose the business to. Most businesses will encourage members to start with their warm market, i.e. people they know. The second tier of potential prospects is people that their warm market knows. Finally you can go for people that neither of you know.

With the first two groups, you would brainstorm your list of contacts and list their names and numbers. This could come from your email address book, your cell phone directory, diary, using a memory jogger containing a list of occupations or the yellow pages.

You would then invite these people to take a look at your opportunity and whatever the outcome, ask for referrals to people that they know who may be interested.

The cold market could come from advertising, internet marketing, people you meet when you’re out, leafleting, promoting hotel or house meetings etc.

The idea is that you find or generate leads and sort these leads into two groups, people who are open to listening to your opportunity and those who are not.

2.      Approach

The approach could be in a number of ways. Face to face, email, internet, phone etc.

The important thing to remember is to come from a place of integrity. You have to have the prospects interest at heart and you must find out if the opportunity is a good fit for them. You must not come from a ‘getting the sale’ mindset because those you do get probably won’t stay and integrity in business is essential.

3.      Present

This is where you tell the prospect about the company, the product and the compensation plan. However, while these are all really important features of any network marketing opportunity, the reason most people join a company is because of the person leading the presentation. People join people! So you need to have a really good presentation and you need to practice your delivery.

Your audience need to know that you are excited about your company and that you are the leader that can lead them to great success. They will know if you aren’t genuine, which is why you need to come from a place of integrity & have their interests at heart.

4.      Follow up

However you follow up, whether it is face to face, by phone or at another meeting, it should be a reconnection. The rapport needs to be regenerated and nurtured so that you can answer any outstanding questions or concerns. People can tend to follow up like a sales person, i.e. just to get the sale, and this often puts gets the prospect putting up the barriers and encourages objections.

5.      Decision

The final step in the process is to get a decision. Once again you are coming from a place of integrity by ensuring that the opportunity is a good fit for the prospect, but you simply ask for a decision, yes or no. Remember, in network marketing, no decision, no commission.

It’s also important not to get attached, some will, some won’t, so what, move on to the next prospect.

These five steps are the lifeblood of any successful network marketing business. Never underestimate the number of people you will need to talk to in order to recruit the number of people required to build a solid down line. It is also important to remember it is a marathon not a sprint. The key is to practice, to have total commitment and to never give up.

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