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How to Build a Downline In Network Marketing

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Want to know how to build a downline in network marketing?  Well you’ve reached the right place.  Big income is made in networking marketing from recruiting or sharing the opportunity.  Paul Getty once said that he would rather have 1% of the efforts of 100 people versus 100% of his own efforts. That is called leverage.  This is what makes recruiting so important in the industry.

Recruiting results in new people coming into your organization. Your organization needs the excitement and energy that new people bring.  The energy that a new person carries can re-ignite some of the older folks on your team.  Recruiting new people also helps to advance the momentum of your organization.

How to Build a Downline in Network Marketing

First you have to understand that there is a difference between Recruiting and Prospecting.  Signing on or enrolling a new recruit is Recruiting and it is the result of Prospecting, which means exploring, looking for or interviewing the right candidate.  In this industry, people do not recruit a lot of people because they don’t spend enough time looking for them or prospecting.  The key to becoming a master recruiter is to spend more time prospecting, or mining for gold. Remember that you’re looking for quality people.

I can remember when I was looking to get to the next level in my business, I wrote down on a piece of paper exactly the type of person I was looking for. That paper read something like this: I am looking for like-minded business women just like me, people who want to go all the way to the top.”  I kept that piece of paper in my wallet and took it with me everywhere I went and read it often throughout the day, and those were exactly the type of people I began to attract.

What Is a Quality Prospect?

A quality prospect is someone who will give the time, money and commitment necessary to grow their business.  They must want to build a business, and they must have the resources and skills necessary to do so.  There is no getting around this fact.  An unemployed person is not necessarily a quality prospect, because while they may have a lot time, they most likely do not have a lot of money.  The old cliché is correct: it takes money to make money.  And while a person doesn’t have to have a ton of money to be successful in this industry, it does require a certain amount of resources.

A quality prospect is also available.  That is not to say they aren’t busy; busy people actually make great consultants because they know how to get things done with a small amount of time.  However, if a person doesn’t have time to work his/her business, then that’s not a good person for your team.  A quality prospect is also committed to the business and to the team. They show up and they move up.  They have strong reasons for being committed and their whys are big.  Once again, time, money and commitment are three strong characteristics that you should look for in prospects to make your job of building a large network of distributors a lot easier.  These distributors will begin to duplicate themselves, and you will end up with a large organization of quality prospects versus having the opposite occur.

Build a Network Marketing Downline Like An HR Professional

Networkers could learn a lesson or two from professional recruiters in Corporate America. When someone from the Human Resources department of a major corporation is looking for a candidate to fill a position, he/she has a listing of required skills that are necessary to perform the job according to the job description, and this ensures that they make the “right” match.  In the network marketing industry we don’t always seek out quality prospects; we look for anyone who can breathe and that is not necessarily the best way to build your business.  If you want a network of individuals who can duplicate your success, then you’re looking for a particular type of person who will fit a certain requirement to do the things that you do.  Therefore, it is a good idea to list out the kinds of skills you would want your prospects to have, such as:

  • Money to be able to finance their investment
  • Great Presentation Skills
  • A Good Personality
  • A Detail-Oriented style
  • The ability to Multi-task
  • Good Follow-up skills
  • Dependability
  • A Job
  • Credibility and Integrity

These are just some of the qualities you might look for.  But it is up to you to decide the type of individuals you want to work with and once you have this decided, you want to begin to think about all the people you know who have these qualities.  The names that you come up with when you think about these skills and traits are those that you want to contact first to share with them your business opportunity.

Create Your Hit List

Developing a hit list of people to contact when you begin your business is great. You want to make sure you’ve contacted all those people on that list and when you’re seeking to go to the next level, if those folks on the list have not yet become a part of your business, you might want to give them another call because timing is everything.  The first time you called may not have been good for them, but this time may be better.  And if it is still not a good time for them to participate in the business with you, then your job is to ask for referrals.

Prospecting individuals to participate in your business is a process. You have to take prospective distributors through a series of steps before they can make a decision regarding whether or not they will want to become a part of your organization.  Even though it happens, it is rare that a person who is first introduced to your opportunity immediately decides to jump on board.  Beware of people who make these kinds of quick decisions because while you can get excited by the idea of signing on a new recruit, if this person does not produce, you will end up disappointed.

Be Prepared When Prospecting to Grow Your Downline

Just like with selling, good prospecting begins with good preparation. If you want to have a good day of meeting new people, you must be prepared to meet them.  You should prepare yourself with company materials to share and possibly product as well.  Most network marketing companies offer a wide variety of collateral material for use when prospecting.  These items could include brochures, CD’s, product samples, etc., that you should always carry with you because prospects are everywhere. Prospects are in the grocery store, the library, the park, the laundry mat, the shopping mall, the bank, anywhere you can think of.  Everywhere you go, there are prospects, or people that you may run into that fit the description of the kind of person you’re looking to partner with in your business.  So make sure you’re always prepared.

Once you have prospects in your pipeline, begin working on closing them or recruiting them into your organization.  The best ways to close a prospect is by picking up the phone and inviting them to participate in a future event. These events could be upcoming opportunity meetings, three-way calls, sizzle or opportunity calls or 1:1 presentations, etc.  The key is to make sure the prospect has had multiple impressions of the business opportunity before they sign up.

Create recruiting systems that will move your prospects through the recruitment cycle.  Make sure that the systems are duplicatable.  Your goal is a create a duplication nation so that others can do what you do.  This is how you will successfully build your downline in network marketing.  This is how you will win and grow exponentially.

Most Importantly Build a Business NOT a Downline

When you focus on building a business, you don’t have to worry so much about a downline.  This will take care of itself. You have to build training structures and systems.  This will assist in building a downline.  Your ultimate goal is fill any gaps that your company may have forgotten and make your team (your brand) feel welcome and special.  This is how to build a sustainable network marketing business.

If you need more assistance, pick up a copy of my book and audio program.  It will help you to succeed.  Click here for more information.

In Network Marketing You Must Start With The End in Mind

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In order to achieve network marketing success you must work your business from the back to the front. In other words and you’ve heard it before, you must begin with the end in mind. Take a look at the compensation plan or marketing plan from your company and begin immediately building your business with the top or leading position in mind. Once you begin to understand exactly what the qualifications are you have to work to make it happen.

Network Marketing Success Starts With Understanding the Comp Plan

Understand that when you decide to work your business from the top position down, you have made the first step that would put you on the path to reaching it. There is a saying, and the first time I heard it, I was at leadership training with Gloria Mayfield Banks, a top producing National with Mary Kay and Joanne Barnes, another top producing Mary Kay National and that saying is, “Inherent in the seed of the tree is the tree.” What it means is simply this: Before a tree is planted, it is a seed, but when you plant the seed in the soil, is it not already a large oak tree?

Indeed, it is. Even before it was watered and it bloomed, it was a tree, but in the form of a seed, most people can’t see it as being a large beautiful oak tree that will provide lots of shade. Based on this analogy, isn’t that seed (you) already at the top position of the plan? The answer is Yes. When you decide to go all the way to top, you must begin to act as if you’re already there. You already are who you were meant to be or who you’re going to be. It’s just a matter of you deciding to walk in your destiny.

When you think about it from that perspective, you’re already a National Vice President or Regional Vice President or Sr. RVP  or whatever that top position is in your plan. It  doesn’t matter whether the documentation has caught up with you or not, that shouldn’t stop you from beginning to act like that top performer.

Network Marketing Success Leaves Clues

If there is someone currently at the top position in your network marketing company, begin to model that person. The beauty about this industry is that you do not have to re-invent the wheel, you can just look at the actions of those who have already made it and duplicate their success. And when you duplicate them, you have to duplicate just about everything.

Ask yourself, what kind of car does the top producer drive? What kind of clothes do they wear? How do they speak? What kinds of things do they constantly talk about or promote? Pay close attention to these factors because success leaves clues all over the place and you want to pick up on every clue out there so you can duplicate it.

Copying someone is the highest form of flattery in this world, so trust me when I tell you that if you copy someone in network marketing who has had a tremendous amount of success, you will certainly not create an enemy: what you will create is a tremendous amount of wealth for yourself. It is powerful, but don’t believe what I say, try it for yourself.

My Network Marketing Success Story

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My network marketing success story goes something like this:

When I decided to take my network marketing business to another level it felt as if I was beginning a Presidential campaign and I was running for the Oval Office. I knew that the team was ready to advance. I could tell by the energy and excitement in the air. All of the network marketing success key indicators were pointing to signs that it was time for us to move on up.

In my MLM company, getting documented at the top position was no minor feat. It required 75 people to be positioned in the right place, and all must be active with a minimum of $500 in group sales volume. So, when I say that it felt like I was running for president was real because I had to rally all of those people together to achieve success.

Moving Up and Achieving Network Marketing Success

Moving up in most network marketing companies is a team effort and as such it requires the support of the entire team. I began rallying up the troops months before I was ready to move. A group of us decided that we all wanted to move up the plan during the month of October. We sent out a call to action two months in advance and asked all those who wanted to go with us to raise their hands.

The response was amazing. The vision was clear. We had more than enough people on board with plans to go to the next level.  Our strategies were in place to generate sales and to recruit new distributors. We made it fun.

our efforts. By the time October 1st came, we all felt as if the promotions were a done deal. Everyone  had  their plans in action. The minimum amount of volume needed for the month of October in order for the promotion to happen was $72,500, and I knew that if we could generate half of that by the middle of the month, the promotion would definitely happen.

Network Marketing Success Plans in Action

The month began out with a lion’s roar. We worked! By the time of the mid-month checkpoint, we were halfway there. With a huge event planned for Oct. 17th and we were pumped. A huge turnout on that day caused a surge in recruitment, which further adding to our production for the month. But the last day of the month was a nightmare. It was October 31st, Halloween and it felt like it was our election night.

All of the key players were on post standing by the phones and in front of their computers or out signing up people and working to make this promotion happen. At 3:00 PM in the afternoon, I was scared because I didn’t see the numbers move and I was ready to throw in the towel.  However, by the time I took my kids trick-or- treating, the numbers were moving steadily. I felt comfortable leaving the house. I went trick-or-treating and to a Halloween Birthday Party with my kids. They had a good time. When we arrived home later that night, we were only a few orders away from our goal and I knew it was only a matter of time before it was over. By the time the clock struck midnight it was a done deal even though all of the orders were not showing up on my computer system but all of them were accounted for on my spreadsheet. (Yes. I kept a spreadsheet to keep track of it all).

The feeling of victory was better than anyone on the team could have imagined. I personally always wondered what it would feel like to document as a National Vice President. I had dreamed of it when I first joined the company and at that time there weren’t any National Vice Presidents in the company at all. When it officially happened for me, I received flowers from the corporate executive team, gifts from my upline sponsors and so many congratulatory wishes. It was over the top. It felt good. The memory of that Quantum Leap moment will be forever etched in my mind.

Let me help you create your own network marketing success story.  Join me in my new MLM.  Click here to find out more. 

 

The Diminishing Value of Network Marketers Who Jump from Company to Company

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Network marketers who jump from company to company should know that there is a diminishing value on your integrity as a leader that occurs with every move.  It’s sad to say but I’ve seen it time and time again in today’s network marketing environment where leaders will move from company to company and take their team and people with them (not all, but some).  I remember when I first started working on this blog, one of the first posts that I wrote was that Cedrick Harris was leaving Visalus.  Well now I hear that he’s going to Organo Gold.  It’s pretty much confirmed that this is where he is going.  I heard him say on a call that was hosted by Larry Beachum that this time he was following leadership vs chasing money and that he was going to a company with the number one money earner in the industry, which of course we all know is Holton Buggs.

But isn’t there a big contradiction in his statement?

First, he said that he was no longer chasing money, then he said that he was following leadership, but the leader is also the no. 1 money earner in the entire network marketing industry.  Hmmm…

Then he said he did his research and that he was going to plant his flag and stay with the company for 5 years.  That’s interesting too, because if he knew anything about Holton Buggs, I think he’s been with OG for longer than that and he will be with OG for life.  I give it up to Holton Buggs and his team at OG.  They’re doing their thing.  But they have the same problem that most of these network marketing companies have.  ATTRITION.

The way Holton has been able to beat a lot of this is due to the fact that he was able to create a lot of success around him.  He is someone who gets it.  He knows that the way to beat attrition is to help about 12-20 people around you to achieve overwhelming success.  So he helped to create other top money earners and that has been one of the biggest keys to his success.  He knows that it’s not about him. He understands the importance of not only having him as one of the top money earners in the industry, but to also have some of his team members to appear on that list.

Network Marketing Success is About Leadership

Here is my personal opinion about jumping from company to company and about what I heard on that call.  It’s not about following the leader, it’s about BEING the leader.  I don’t personally know Holton Buggs, but I’ve checked him out.  He’s a quiet storm.  He’s knows his stuff.  You never hear him out there bashing folks or anything like that.  He’s not an internet marketing genius.  He knows that network marketing is a belly to belly business and he knows how to create a T.E.A.M. environment.  He looks like he was trained by Delxino Wilson Debriano from TAG Team Marketing back in the old ACN hay days.  : )

Being the leader in a networking marketing company means this:

1.  Being 100% sold out for the company.

2.  Being 100% sold out for the team.

3.  Being 100% sold out for the product.

4.  Being 100% sold out for the compensation plan.

5.  Being 100% sold out and knowing that if you have 1% doubt , then you’re out.

You have to eat, sleep and drink it 24/7.  No if’s and’s or but’s.

When I went to the top of Warm Spirit back in 2005, that’s what it was all about.  I didn’t look at anything else, I didn’t get distracted by anything else.  All the systems that I had were company systems or home grown systems that I had created for the team. I taught my team members how to generate leads.  I got on calls and I trained them on personal development, and I taught them the principles of leadership and how to make money.  We had team outings and closed door meetings.  We knew how to start a grass roots movement that exploded from the inner circle out.

Organo Gold is lucky to have Holton Buggs, Mary Kay is lucky to have Gloria Mayfield Banks, and Send Out Cards is lucky to have Jordan Adler.  These are network marketing leaders who will never stray.  Other people may come and go, but these leaders have their flags firmly planted in their opportunities and that’s the difference.  They’re determined and they won’t quit. They have increasing value because of their leadership, because of their integrity, because of their willingness to stay with one game and see it to through to the very end.  You see when you sign up with a network marketing company, it’s like signing a marriage certificate, it’s a binding agreement with rules and like a marriage it’s til death do you part. Understand these basic concepts and WIN!

For more great insights on network marketing, pick up my book Quantum Leap: How to Make a Quantum Leap in Your Network Marketing Company.

 

 

 

 

Has the Internet Killed Network Marketing?

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I am not sure if the internet has killed network marketing but I can tell you that it has certainly thrown the industry a curve ball.  The biggest problems that I see today in the industry is high attrition, no company loyalty, new companies being launched everyday causing too much competition and no one is focused on retailing the product anymore.  Well I know that this is a mouthful so let me break some of this down.

  1. High Attrition – One of the biggest problems that I’ve seen lately in network marketing is high attrition.  People quit the industry day in and day out.  Some people quit before they even have a chance to get started.  Some people quit before they even receive their starter pack.  It is very discouraging to the average network marketer to see people leave on such a regular basis.  It’s almost as if there is a hole in the bucket and as fast as you sign on a new recruit another one is leaving, which makes it feel as if you’re constantly working on patching up holes.
  2. No company loyalty – It seems as if people are leaving network marketing companies on a regular basis.  Loyalty doesn’t exist, especially amongst leaders.  For some leaders in the industry they seem to have jumping from company to company as a part of their income plan, especially in light of the fact that some many of them receive huge signing bonuses when they leave and promise to bring a whole lot of people with them.  Doing things like that is never a good thing.  A good leader that’s worth his or her salt would simply start over with a new company from scratch versus trying to raid their downline and wreck havoc on an organization.
  3. Too much competition – It seems as if everyday there is new company being launched.  Every time you log on to your email there seems to be some new deal waiting in your inbox.  The trick to having success is to find the individual that wouldn’t be tempted by all of this.  But when you’re struggling at the bottom and an opportunity comes along that guarantees that you will be at the top because you’re one of the FIRST to get involved in the opportunity, then it may be hard for reps to resist.  Your job is to find the ones who will.
  4. No one is interested in retailing product anymore.  The internet has killed networking from a retail perspective.  It’s hard to find a single soul who is out there actually selling product.  Because getting out there is so much more expensive now than it used to be, reps are finding it difficult to find shows and find people who are genuinely interested in using their products or services.  Besides, most people think that they can just send out a link to their website and that it will do all the work, but it just doesn’t work like that at all.  People still want to sit down and chat, they want to touch and feel product and they definitely want to try it before they buy it, so the better thing to do is to get out there the goal ole fashion way and begin to do some retailing.

So, you be the judge, Is the internet killing network marketing?

I don’t think that the internet is killing network marketing.  People are killing network marketing with their greedy and thirsty ways.  The internet can do nothing but enhance your marketing efforts if you learn the right steps and use the right systems.  You can win.

 

Network Marketing is not for the faint at heart

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I can tell you from personal experience that network marketing is not for the faint at heart.  Bear with me while I tell you my story of how I climbed to the top of my network marketing company’s comp plan back in October 2005…It was October 31,2005, a Halloween night and I was soooo close to the getting the final numbers that I needed to become a 3 Diamond National Vice President with my company which was called Warm Spirit.  (Warm Spirit is now currently closed as an mlm, but I believe one of the founders still sells a few products via the website.)  But I felt like I was running for office.  The good part about the team that I was working with was the fact that they were all committed.  They wanted to be a part of the experience of breaking a National Vice President.  They also wanted to promote themselves up the compensation plan.  You see I had poured so much into the team that they were excited and ready to take their commitment to the organization to the next level.  We had something back then which so many network marketing organizations lack today and that is a commitment to the team.

Become a Network Marketing Leader

 

We operated on the concept of “One Band, One Sound”, which is a concept that I got from the movie Drumline.  I firmly trained and communicated to the team that our success was dependent on the success of each other and that if one person was presenting the opportunity wrong, then they were ruining the opportunity for everyone.  So I constantly explained the importance of all of us doing the same thing and saying the same thing.  I also trained that one person’s success represented everyone’s success.  It was a T.E.A.M. thing.  We understood that Together Everyone Achieves More.  Also, if there was one thing that our team understood it was that they could count on me to be there in the trenches holding it down for them, which is the reason why when it came down to pulling out a successful win and a title of National Vice President for me, Executive for several of them and Emerald Manager for so many others, they were ALL IN.

So on that night, everyone was all in.  The phones were ringing like crazy.  I looked absolutely crazy and I was thankful that it was Halloween.  That night the team pulled in over $100,000 in production.  I received my first 5-figure check and became the first and ONLY 3 Diamond National Vice President on the East Coast.  Bam!  We did it.  But like I said, it felt as if I was running for office.  I was constantly checking the volume and working my spreadsheets to see if all the numbers were falling in the right place.  I was on the phone with corporate constant checking and double-checking to make sure that when the clock turned and the numbers were ran that I didn’t fall short of what I needed to qualify.  It was nuts.  It was exhilarating and it was also fun.  But it’s not for the faint at heart.

I was recently told that if you want something bad enough that you will do what it takes to get it done and that the difference between those who make it and those who don’t is that those individuals who will have – THE WILL TO DO IT!  They have the burning desire in their hearts to make it happen.  I had that.  And in network marketing you need that.  You need to be committed.  But you also need to be a leader.  Those individuals that constantly sit in the audience and take notes but never put anything into action won’t win.  But those who execute on the information and then have the courage to get up in front of the room to take about it and train about it are the ones that you will see rise to the top.

I have found that the key to network marketing success has everything to do with, creating your own success story, becoming the person that everyone wants to follow and to share, share, share.  The best thing you can do when you find something that works is share it.  Don’t hold anything back.  Become the go to person and make yourself irresistible.  Build your team on a solid foundation of trust and follow the “One Band, One Sound” mantra and you will not only succeed, but you will go straight to the top.  Take it from me because I did it.