How My MLM Upline Lost a Great Recruit!

I try to warn people that are choosing the best network marketing business for them, to check out their potential upline.  You want to be sure that not only the person who sponsored you, but the people above them are going to be good leaders and provide you with what you need to build your network marketing business. 

If you don't, you might get stuck. 

Once you have signed on the dotted line, you usually cannot change sponsors.  The only way you can is to be completely inactive in your business for 6-12 months.  After that, you might be able to resign under someone else depending on your network marketing company's policies.

I was writing an article on this subject and it made me remember the exact moment I lost my drive in my first MLM.  I loved my sponsor and our director.  However, my director was closely associated with another director who was the one in the driver's seat.  This woman is very successful and I learned a lot from her.  But it was her way or nothing.

I was attending a weekend network marketing training seminar and was seated for dinner with several directors, mine and her associate included.  I was the only person at the table who was on the bottom rung, so to speak.  I don't even remember what they were discussing, but I chipped in with an idea of my own.  This woman looked at me, and before I could finish my sentence said, "When you are a director, you are welcome to contribute.  But right now this conversation is not for you."

I had been put in my place.  A lowly consultant.  My own director was very excited about me because she could see that I had the drive and initiative to succeed in the network marketing business.  Yet in that moment, she lost me. 

I didn't realize how much it had bothered me right away.  Over the next few weeks, I wondered what had happened to my enthusiasm.  It's not just that I had been embarrassed or that the comment was inappropriate.  What bothered me was the attitude that just because I had not yet achieved a certain level, that what I had to contribute had no value.  What if my idea had been brilliant?  I'm sure it was, even though I can't remember what the heck I was going to say!

Fast forward to yesterday, as I was writing my article on choosing the best network marketing business opportunity.  In the middle of writing, I got an email from my current upline.  She and several key team members are putting together some training sessions for the group. 

In order to avoid burdening any one person with too much to do, she sent out an open email to all team members asking for volunteers to train in one of several potential topics.  The email said, "Even if you are brand new to the team, you still have something to contribute.  If you feel you can put together a training session on business organization, the consultative approach, etc., we need you!"

Wow.  What a difference.  I immediately signed up for one of the topics.  I will now be conducting a training session once a week on  this one topic.  And I've only been in this particular business about a month!  But I know my topic well, nevertheless, due to my experience elsewhere. 

Our team is growing like wildfire.  That's why my sponsors need help in conducting the ongoing training for new mlm team members.  When you have good leaders, they will make it easy for you to be a good leader as well.  In the end everybody benefits.

If you have had any similar experiences, please feel free to share them here.  I'd prefer you not mention names or specific network marketing companies - just your thoughts on this or other topics related to business building!

To Your Success!

False Expectations Can Lead to the Demise of Your Networking Business

The business relationship is based on trust.  There is only one way to gain a customer or team member's trust and that is to deliver - no, make that over deliver - on your promises.  I can't emphasize enough how important it is not to build false expectations.  Sometimes, in our enthusiasm about our product or new business, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that what works for us will work for everybody else!

I spoke with a team member recently who was doing a consultation.  Her customer was eager and ready to buy several different products all at once.  Having listened to this customer's goals and experience level, my team member knew  she might become overwhelmed.  In spite of the temptation to make the immediate sale, she focused on what would best serve this customer's needs. 

She started her off with two beginner tools, explained how to use them, and then made an appointment to check in a couple of weeks later to see how it was going.  Then they could decide if it was time to move on to the next step.  At the end of the consultation, her customer expressed her appreciation that their time together had been focused on her and her needs, not on the "hard sell."  Now, the next time this customer needs something, who do you think she'll call?

The same thing applies to team building.  If you are not upfront about the time and money commitment, how long it might take for their business to take off, make it all seem so easy a child could do it, you are not doing them or yourself any favors.  If someone comes in to your business expecting immediate profits and they don't get them, they will give up.  

People usually last around three months in a particular mlm before they start looking around for something else.  False expectations lead to frustration and defeat.  Realistic expectations lead to earnest people who know what needs to be done and are willing to do it. 

If a prospect expresses reservations about a given opportunity, listen carefully.  If you have real solutions to the problem, by all means offer them.  Do NOT discount their worries by saying things like, "fake it 'til you make it," or "don't worry, so-and-so made six figures by the end of the first year."  Your prospect is not "so-and-so" and they may not have the same success rate as someone else.  What you CAN do is to offer the tools that you know will help them. 

Point a new prospect in the direction of the least expensive, or better yet free, tools.  Let them get their feet wet.  If you are teaching them to market  on the internet, show them the easiest sites to begin - like Squidoo.  From there you can teach them how to blog.  By the time they are comfortable with these tools, they'll be ready to tackle a full website, if that is what they want. 

If you are not comfortable teaching these things yourself, direct them to the free training at Renegade University . When they are ready, they can upgrade to the Professional level.  What you are providing is the choice.  By presenting options that directly address your prospect's needs, you put them in the driver's seat for choosing what will work for them.

Be sure that you recommend only products you would use yourself.  You don't have to actually own a given tool to promote it, but you do have to believe it offers value if you are going to present it to someone else.  Remember, we are in the networking business - you want to build a stellar reputation not only with your customers but with your networking peers as well!  For the benefit of everyone in the network marketing community, if you have the know how, be willing to show how!

Team Building and High MLM Turnover

I had my first team member before the end of the first month of my business.  It was a friend of mine, but I had not actually tried to recruit her.  She simply called me up out of the blue and said she wanted to do what I was doing!  I thought, "Wow, this is going to be easier than I thought!"

At the end of three months, I had ten recruits.  In order to move up the ladder to the coveted position of "Director", I had to have 30, all active.  The problem became keeping the original recruits active as I added new ones.  With the exception of my friend, no one seemed to be as motivated to get their business off the ground as I was.  One signed up, got her starter kit, and then I never heard from her again.  Others were slow to put in orders, which meant they weren't "active" and therefore did not count toward my required thirty team members.

Meanwhile, I was out meeting new people and trying to get them to come to meetings.  Out of the ten recruits, two have been consistent in working their business.  The others have fallen away one by one. 

Here's the problem.  These people were interested in having a makeover, not starting a business.  In other words, they were a "cold market."  They heard the wonderful success stories and the incredible money being made, and decided they had nothing to lose by giving it a whirl.  There is a rush to get them to sign up within forty-eight hours, before the initial excitement has time to wear off.  But, if the desire to create a business is a fleeting one, the person is not a good candidate for building a business.  They're involvement will be temporary.

This works out well for the company.  Even if a consultant goes inactive, chances are they will continue to be a customer.  The company still makes money.  Does this mean that people are being deliberately misled?  I don't think so.  The fact is that for some, there is money to be made.  The successful ones I personally know all had some kind of background in sales or marketing.  They had time and the skills to organize that time.  They were highly motivated and self-disciplined. The ones lacking in these areas are far less likely to make a go of it. 

So, now what?  How was I going to build up this business against such odds? Note: Start by turning a deaf ear to all the hype.  Stop trying to recruit every person you meet.

Building a business, or a team takes time and patience.  Be honest about what is required in terms of time, money and commitment.  I can hear you now - "If I tell them how much time or hard work is really involved, won't they run away screaming?"  Yes, most probably will.  Those are the ones that are not cut out to be entrepreneurs.  But  the ones that stay to hear more want to know how you are going to help them reach their goals.  Answer this, and you'll have a team that sticks around. 

So, I took a deep breath and slowed down. Way down.  I could see that unrealistic expectations and ineffective sales and team building methods were part of the turnover problem.  I decided it was worth my time to do a lot more research and develop marketing skills which I could then pass on to my team.