An Effective Marketing System – The BetterNetworker’s Antidote to Wasting Time Talking With Unqualified Leads

If you’re talking with people who are not ready to buy what you have, you have a marketing problem.

I’m obviously not talking about Holiday gatherings – that’s your social time.  I’ll talk about putting your friends and family on notice in another post.  I’m talking about the time and effort that many people spend “pitching” their opportunity to people who are neither interested not qualified when they employ such methods as “the three foot rule,”"the who-do-you-know game,” and “sizzle cards.”  These are methods of “marketing” that are still being recommended by sponsors in large portions of the industry.  The problem with them is that they depend the the salesmanship of the “marketer” and they are extremely un-leveraged activities.

Effective marketing systems are how we leverage our efforts and create a consistant flow of qualified individuals interested in our opportunity.  The more effective the system, the more leverage.  The more leverage, the more qualified individuals we are talking with.

And a BetterNetworker always uses leverage.  Imagine that you talk with 50 people each week, who have all been through an effective marketing system.  They have met specific criteria in order to progress through the system, so you know they are qualified.  The marketing system (salesmanship in print) has told them all about your business and your compensation plan.  The benefits have been laid out for them in black and white (or more commonly in video).

Now you call to introduce yourself and welcome their interest in your opportunity.  You don’t have a hidden agenda.  You can just be friendly and get to know them in an environment of “lead abundance” because you know that their decision is their own.  They can join your business or not and it really doesn’t matter to you – it’s all a numbers game.  You know that there is another qualified person for you to talk with as soon as you hang up.

Your prospect hears, senses, knows that you are simply making an opportunity available to them AND that you don’t need them as much as they need you.  This is a quality of leadership that is very attractive, so your rate of sponsorship goes up, your team grows faster and you can spend your most precious asset – your time – where it really counts.

As a BetterNetworker, you obviously have some options when it comes to the marketing system you decide to use.  Here are some questions for you to consider as you make your choice:  Does the system do all the “sifting and sorting” for me?  Does the system do all the “selling and telling” for me?  If the answer is “Yes” to both, your growing team will have a much easier time using the system and your rate of duplication will increase.

If you want to create it from scratch, we suggest starting with Mike Dillard’s MLM Traffic Formula 2.  It’s the most comprehensive resource we have found on the topic and it’s very well priced.  If you have the opportunity to purchase his MLM System Formula (currently off the market), do it, it will save you tons of work.  Go check out  Success Sponsor.

To Your Success

 

Be Passionate, but Maintain Some Objectivity

I admit it. I fell in love with my first network marketing opportunity. I won’t name it here (see, I still have a little crush), but it was marvelous. The product was beautiful, good for me and tasted great. It didn’t really lead me on. It didn’t have to.

I brought a sample home to share with my husband. We consumed it together, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes as we toasted our health and growing a home business together.

But before you get too misty-eyed, I have to break some news. The relationship was doomed from the start. It wasn’t that the product itself wasn’t great (it is), or that the compensation plan wasn’t generous (it is), or that our upline was unsupportive (they weren’t). It wasn’t that our family couldn’t accept it. They loved it, too.

The problem was bigger than me or my wonderful, flavorful, healthful product.

The problem with this opportunity was that it did not have the characteristics to be a vehicle for me to reach my goals by building on my strengths while minimizing my weaknesses.

What do I mean? First of all, my goal was to be financially free. That meant creating one or more passive income streams that were larger than my expenses. I’m not in the “save and minimize your spending” camp. I want to live large. That means big streams. Could this business produce the “big streams” I wanted in a vehicle?

In MLM, which is what this opportunity was, big streams mean big down lines. Big down lines mean big duplication.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the concept: Put one on your left and one on your right. Help each of them do the same. Repeat. Simple. It was that I couldn’t see it. That wasn’t how my upline had built their business. It wasn’t how anyone in our little group who was being even modestly successful was building their business. It wasn’t how my business was growing. What I saw instead was a few people working to grow their business, but almost no duplication.

No duplication, no leverage. No leverage, no big streams… I started to get concerned. I don’t blame the company or my upline. The truth is I wasn’t even doing what they were telling me to do. I wasn’t “sharing” the product with “my list.” I wasn’t hosting “parties.” I wasn’t giving out “free” samples.

I had tried all of those in the beginning. But I had a hard time having honest conversations with friends while the little voice in my head was asking me “Do I share it now?” When I planned a party, no one came. I shared a ton of free product with acquaintances, but I didn’t know how to qualify them, so I couldn’t keep that up without going broke.

You see the problem with this marketing plan (if you can call it a plan) is that it didn’t play to my strengths while minimizing my weakness, so it couldn’t effectively move me toward my goals.

I’m not a quitter. When it became clear to me that the current plan wasn’t working, I began to look for answers. I really wanted to make the relationship work. Then I did what I always do when I have a question: I googled it. What I discovered when I went online was a complete surprise. Instead of finding a way to strengthen my relationship with my “first love,” I learned how ill-suited we really were.

What I learned made me a BetterNetworker.  I learned that though my first love had shown initial promise, there were other opportunities out there that really did play to my strengths.  I discovered direct sales – a part of the industry that I hadn’t even known existed.  I learned that there were vehicles that were a better match for my path, where I could make a few sales each month, slowly grow my team and still meet my financial goals because I was getting paid now for what I did rather than for what my “massive duplicated team” did at some point in the future.

Most people in network marketing move through several opportunities before they find one that is a great match.  If you haven’t found it yet – keep looking.  This is an amazing industry with room for anyone who is willing to learn and to persist.

The process of discovery gave me the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most outstanding leaders in the industry.  I moved from the outer fringes of a large MLM organization to sharing meals with Jay Kubassek and Mike Dillard.  And through them, I discovered that a well-suited match will outperform first love any day.