For the past few years, I've been involved with a few MLM companies and, for the most, it's been a positive experience. Nonetheless, the emotional instability of the business is always there, the coming-soon products that never arrived are always there, the over-hyped convention meetings... Well, you get the point. All MLM companies have more or less been behaving this way since the dawn of Amway.
For us Home-based Business Owners (MLM'rs or Network Marketers, if you prefer) that's just the way it is and we have learned to cope with it. Now ask yourself this: how many times have you heard your "Mentor" preach: "If you want to make it big in Network Marketing, you've GOT to sell the opportunity, not the product." And then when your potential customer runs away and never wants to hear from you again (even if they are family or friends) they say: "Oh well, you have to focus on the big picture" or worse yet: "You have to be willing to sacrifice..." No! I think it's time we really changed our approach with potential customers and even with people whom we believe would be excellent prospects for our business.
Here are a few pointers for you to start taking control of your business:
First of all, YOU have to realize that your business is exactly that: It is YOUR BUSINESS. You run the show. And as such YOU should take sole responsability for the highs and lows that may arise as a product of your own actions within it. You cannot pretend to buy into an MLM company, sell the opportunity to a couple of your friends and family and just wait for everything to fall in place magically and for the money to start raining down; nothing in life works that way! Why would you treat your home-based business different than any other business? Every business requires hard work (at least for a few years), and sacrifice (more hard work) if it's going to have any level of success.
Secondly, you have to believe that the product you are selling is, at least, good. I prefer to sell a product that I myself believe to be GREAT; but if we're going to be realistic about it, sometimes we have to sell less-than-great products and make them look like the best thing since toothpaste; and that's totally ok as long as we ourselves are willing to use them on a regular basis. Simply put: Why would you push a product that you wouldn't even consider buying for yourself?
And finally, if you have a good enough product in your hands, LEAD WITH IT! Yes, I said it! Don't lead with the opportunity if you want to have long-term success in network marketing, MLM or any other business for that matter. If you start pitching the opportunity to a potential customer who's just interested in your product, you will just scare him into thinking that you're marketing another get-rich-quick scheme with some bogus product. Believe me, he will run away! But, on the other hand, if you pitch your product and your product is good enough that you expose enough people to it AND they start to see you as an authority on what you're selling, people will believe you are a succesful entrepreneur who can probably help THEM do the same for themselves. Then they will ask you about the opportunity!
I know, I know. You're gonna say that this is not the right way and that the company has always done it a certain way and it has worked for them, etc, etc... But I'm talking to that 97% of network marketers who have never made any money and will probably not make it through their first year in the business before giving up. I'm just saying that there are other possible ways to make it happen for some of us. I'm saying that we should always be looking for ways to improve our approach and start seeing ourselves as Business Owners and not as MLMrs or Network Marketers.
from 4 votes
(August 2008) (
