MLM Bolts and Nuts vs. MLM Lies
In this series of articles I will show you the difference between MLM reality and the usual Hype Campaigns directed by unprofessional Networkers to a widely untargeted audience. In fact, I will describe what happened to me and you could well find that you have gone through similar situations. The most important will be to draw the right conclusions and to adopt a professional and business like view about your Networking Business.
MLM Lie 1: Everybody can do it – Even a Monkey can do it!
Maybe every monkey can, but definitely not every human, which does not mean that those who can, are monkeys…:-).
When I started looking into networking a few years ago I held a University degree, had a solid Business Experience after years of building a career in international banking, I had gone through management courses, sales curriculums from some of the largest institutions such as Citibank and UBS and I had acquired a solid expertise and a track record of successful corporate business building. I was no newbie in economics nor in legal matters and there came my big surprise when I met one of the greatest Networkers of the last 30 years, John Peterson.
John had built massive wealth in Networking. As the number 1 Distributor of a Nutrition Company opportunity, he and his wife made millions every year from an activity, I was told ” Everybody can do”!
Everybody can do it means: no need for higher education, no need for particular skills, no need for a business background, no need for a special interest…just everybody can do it. I read John’s testimonial about his start in Networking, and learned that because of networking, he came out of debt and built a real fortune.
Later I learned, that before Networking, John was successfully selling real estate till the crisis hit Texas in the early 80ies and where the market just worked against this successful agent, driving him into debt. But fundamentally, John had previous sales experience and skills…
Everyone can do it means that no qualification is required.
In John’s case you can see, that he had sales skills and experience selling real estate. And yet, my first approach was to say: what good is it going through 20 years of school, univerity and post graduate studies, if everyone can make more money without spending the time, money and energy on a solid education?
It was revolutionary for to me and I read all these testimonials of people who apparently were complete failures and who made it to the top of the mountain from where the money was cascading into their bank accounts.
Wow, wasn’t that something! This was the opportunity that would feel the world, that would make of everyone a rich man and that would let all the extravagant dreams come true.
I went out and did as I was told and I played the role of the world saver and Messiah to enlighten those who still were struggling in the dark cave of corporate America and elsewhere with their 9-5 job. Everyone became a target, everyone became the victim of my enthusiasm for a business model that would build a fortune for everyone. Every friend and contact got my mails about that great business I had just joined because it allowed me to share the biggest money printing machine everyone could spin.
My enthusiasm fired back when I got the reactions and the down-turns and the No’s and the “this is nonsense” and the “don’t bother me with such scams”.
In fact, I had just discovered the first big MLM Lie: Everyone can do it turned out to be rather a flop and while in the beginning I was wondering why people did not want to make the promised easy money, I then realized that, those who I succeeded to attract, did not succeed. The truth was: I was marketing a great business model to the wrong people.
It’s like when you need a doctor and you go to the carpenter to take care of your health problem. The carpenter is just not qualified to take care of your health problem as much as the doctor is not qualified to build a new piece of furniture for you.
The same applies to Networking: not everyone can do it! As a matter of fact only a minority of people out there can do it. Looking at the statistics of MLM companies, you will notice that only 2-3% of Distributors break even or write black numbers. That’s a fact. And that means: 97% of all networkers recruited do not qualify for what they are doing. However those 97% are essentially paying for the success of the 3% …. and that’s comparable to the real world and economics.
This is probably the biggest contradiction in MLM: not everyone can do it but you need the unqualified to build your check!
The question remains: what is needed to qualify?
In general you can say: someone who is successful in traditional business has a good chance to be successful in Networking. I have not seen any successful Networker who came from nowhere or who had been a failure all his life long before getting involved with MLM.
People who succeed in Networking are people who have sales skills, who have communication skills, who are consistent, focused and teachable and who can follow instructions. These are also people who give themselves the means required to build a Network or a Business and people who have a strong desire to succeed.
Boil it down to the simple formula: Time, Money and Interest
Time, everyone understands: you need to invest time, the more the better. With an 8 hour per week you will not go far since you will need at least 1-2 hours a day just to be in production mode and market your business. You will need to add to that some time for trainings, support and business socializing.
I came to the conclusion that to build the necessary momentum and to execute the basic tasks every networker needs to execute as well as to take care of the additional tasks, you will need a minimum of 18-20 hours a week.
Money: your financial input does not stop with the acquisition of your Distributorship or License or Franchise: in fact, that’s where it starts. To build a Business you need a Marketing budget which you will spend month after month. You need some infrastructure such as hardware and software and you probably need some budget for trainings and for the expansion of your skills to keep up with the evolution of the market and with technology.
The monthly budget will depend on your Business, your skill level and the degree of automation you are working with. I have not seen a successful marketer spending less than $200 a month for basics.
Interest: it’s the strong desire, the motivation that drives us and the interest we have in that particular business opportunity or the products we market. The interest drives us also to learn more about whatever we do and how we have to do it. Your interest drives you to acquire the skills needed to succeed. This point is may be the most important of the three and in your screening process it should be a decisive factor to either spend your time with a prospect or to simply torn down his request to join your business as an associate networker.
In general: if you network targeting people who do not have the Time and or the Money and or the Interest necessary to reach goals of reasonable expectation, then you are hurting your business, wasting your time and energy on people you will have to pull up the mountain and if you don’t pull them up, they will drop out, giving YOU bad marks and claiming: your business, your system and your products don’t work. They will hurt your reputation as well as the reputation of the Business Opportunity you have talked them into.
The main problem with the “Everybody can do it” is that we create wrong expectations in prospects minds; people join based on wrong assumptions, expectations and without awareness of the actual means you need to succeed…not only in networking – but anywhere.
To learn how to target people who qualify for your business, join the Ycademy Online Seminar which will take place on October 25/26, 2008 via worldwide online conferencing and which is dealing with Networking and how to make money with anetworking opportunity. While the seminar uses the DubLi Opportunity as the live example, the curriculum applies to any Networking Activity. Have a close look at the agenda:
Ycademy: Make Money with DubLi
Yorgo
YORGOOpublishing.com