MLM Success - Become Unstoppable!

So I was asked to do a morning “Training” call the other day for an online marketing group I am part of about achieving MLM success.

I was told it was supposed to be short, inspirational, and full of gems of usable content. So I dusted off my online marketing arsenal and tried to narrow it down to what I thought were the most important factors for MLM success. But then I started thinking, and of course that always gets me into trouble.

MLM Success – Technical Skill or Mindset?

I could have done the MLM success training on how to generate 500,000 followers in Twitter in 4 months or how to use Facebook to generate 5 distributors a week, or how to blow the doors off your income using PPC marketing, but those are all just the simple mechanics of how you get from A to B. They don’t really address the most important factors that you must have to achieve success. So in the end it was a training dialogue about the most important factor for success in life, Becoming Unstoppable As we move forward into the new year I encourage you to dream big dreams, and set goals so big they should scare you. Then change the channel, step outside of your comfort zone, and as Captain Piccard used to say in one of my favorite TV science fiction programs, Star Trek, “Make it so”! Check out the Video I did. I hope it gives you a shot of inspiration.

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MLM Success

MLM Success - The Tyranny Of The Deal

The phone rang and it was yet another hopeful Network Marketer courting MLM success, calling to tell me about the next game changer to enter the MLM universe. Well for Network Marketing Professionals who have been around the game for a while, we have all heard it so many times it just kind of seems like business as usual. We get the call and listen to the short rapport building niceties, and then onto the pitch. It is of course the deal of the century, the next mega-viral hyper-growth company in the raw. A Pre-launch? No this is better, this is the pre-pre launch, or soft launch, or private launch only shown to key leaders. Over the months and years, the deals stream on and on in a seemingly endless succession, all absolutely guaranteed to make you rich and famous, but of course you have to act now while there is still time. Now before you get the idea that I am dumping on the Network Marketing industry here, let me assure you I am not. I am a 7 figure earner in the Network Marketing Industry and I have lived the MLM success stories and also of course the failures. I love this industry and the way it can empower the individual to take control of their financial destiny and develop the income and lifestyle we all deserve. However there are just some things about the Network Marketing industry that just rub me the wrong way. Every industry has its seedy underbelly and MLM is no different and I hate to see people chasing an illusion. So the question of the hour is, are the deals driving us or are we driving the deals. I mean it’s kind of like the chicken and the egg discussion.   Is the deal the critical element that drives MLM success in the marketplace or is it the involvement of the hard driving business builders that actually delivers success to the deal. Which is actually the critical factor? If we are to believe the caller who breathlessly tells us in hushed tones, of the legendary Network Marketing leaders who are uniting to drive the deal (it’s kind of funny that usually I don’t remember ever hearing of any of these people in the industry before). Now I know the standard thought process in the industry is that MLM success is a function of the unique opportunity, the once in a lifetime chance, the mega viral hyper-growth company that drives the MLM success curve, and all we have to do is to hitch our collective wagons to the next rising star and our financial future is secure. But is it? I refer to this as “The Tyranny of the Deal”, the belief that it’s the once in a lifetime opportunities that we stumble across as we search for MLM success and financial freedom that makes or breaks our financial lives. That if we are bright enough to recognize opportunity when we see it, then we become one of the fortunate few. Humm… if that were true then how come we have all joined those companies and we have many times still hit the wall? Well I used to be in that camp, I have sold the benefits and the urgency of ground floor deals so much that after a while I actually started believing in them myself. The truth is that the hottest deal in the universe is not going to make any difference to you if you don’t know how to achieve MLM success, if you don’t have a step by step process to get that new business ramped up and off the ground. You need a 7 Figure Business Plan.

MLM Success

  Now if you take a look around the industry I think you will start to see the truth of this. Look especially at the leaders in the industry, you know,  the ones you love but hate at the same time. They are on one hand an inspiration to you that it can be done, but at the same time let’s face it, we’re jealous of their MLM success and of those gaudy $83,000/ monthly checks they get. How the heck can they do it over and over again? They join one company and …boom, almost overnight they are a success. They leave that company and join another and boom … lightning strikes twice! How do they do it? Look closely, and you will see that as the famed success coach Tony Robbins says “Success Leaves Clues”. If we examine what they do,  it soon becomes evident to us that they have a plan, a template actually, on exactly what they need to do to achieve MLM success in any network marketing business. So it’s not a hit or miss deal, it’s an actual business plan that they take out, dust off, and implement time and time again. The company, the timing, the product, all of that is in reality secondary in importance to the real success factor. They have a 7 Figure Business Plan that they know like the back of their hand. Now compare what you do?  Hummm….. probably embarrassing isn’t it! Most people don’t really have a clue on how to develop a successful business plan, they just stare in awe at the photocopied check for $96,000 from the upline, take out their credit card without a clue of how they are going to do it, and there they go again. Another spin of the wheel of fortune! They run out filled with the energy and enthusiasm of someone that’s just been introduced to energy drinks, and frantically try to beat their friends and neighbors into submission. After all, it is for their own good.  You have seen the light! Tired of standing in line to spin the wheel?  Maybe its time to change the channel. Let me repeat myself: The company, the timing, the product, all of that is in reality, secondary in importance. Wait you say, that’ nuts! What do you mean the product’s not important, the company doesn’t matter?  That’s not what my upline told me!

Sorry, I promise only to tell you the truth of MLM success, not that you are going to be happy with it.

There are of course variations in growth factors based on product type (Nutritional, Technology, Personal Care, Telecom), company age (early stage vs. industry giant), and business model (Standard MLM vs. Top Tier MLM), but hey we are talking about MLM success here which in most people’s book means putting $10,000 a month consistently into your bank account. You can’t win the game if you never get to first base. A successful business plan is the only thing that will get there. Look closely for a moment at what the top earners do.

The Pattern of MLM Success

Case in point, let’s take a look at Eddie I have known Eddie Freeman for years and he is in fact a true million dollar earner. So what is it he does that makes him so different? What is his 7 Figure Business Plan? It’s pretty simple really, Eddie has spent years in the MLM industry cultivating relationships, and building a list. Every time he goes to a company event, he networks and picks up business cards. Every time he does an opportunity meeting or training or attends any gathering of distributors he shakes hands and picks up business cards. He then goes home and puts them in a bundle, puts a rubber band around them and writes a note which he attaches to it giving the date and the event,  and also makes notes about key people who were part of that group. He then maintains relationships with anyone he considers a top performer, not from the standpoint of just hammering them to join a deal, he actually maintains relationships. Kind of a professional bonding. So now these people know him, they like him, and they trust him. Now for phase 2 of his business plan. When he goes into a new deal, he sits down with his phone, takes out his huge box of business cards all wrapped with rubber bands and prepares for battle. He knows that massive income comes from massive action so when he sits down to call he does marathon sessions and relentlessly hammers the phone calling everyone who already knows him and respects him about a new deal they should take a look at. If they don’t do the deal he does not throw out the card or tell them they are brain dead, he tells them he appreciates them and respects them and wishes them good luck. Then the card goes back into the pile, the relationship will be there for the next one. He does this for days, weeks, and months at a time. His drive and work ethic is admirable but look at how simple the plan was. Build a list, build a relationship with that list, and when the time is right, use it. This simple business plan is what he does to achieve MLM success with every company. So now that you know the secret of true MLM success  you pretty much have two options. One is to simply copy Eddie’s approach.  Top business coaches know that the easiest ways to achieve success is to simply find someone who is successful in your industry and copy everything they do, it’s an NLP approach that famed success coach Tony Robbins teaches called “Modeling”. The Eddie Freeman approach is probably going to take you about 10 years to amass a large enough following and build a list (it took him longer than that). The alternative is to shorten that MLM success curve down to less than a year and do it using online lead generation with an attraction marketing model. Now you have probably seen this before and probably did not understand it. Now the Attraction Marking Model has been around as long as time itself, but the online version was pretty much popularized by Mike Dillard with his E Book “Magnetic Sponsoring”. The premise is simple. Build a list of like minded people all interested in Network Marketing by using the power of the internet, and then use technology and automation to develop an ongoing relationship with that list by way of e mails, autoresponders, and videos. While you are developing this list you can skim the prospects who are open to looking for opportunity right now and will welcome what you have to say, and everyone else goes into your long term MLM success vault, “The List”. For those who have become a student of this approach, I have seem then develop lists of anywhere from several thousand to as many as 20,000 prospects within a year or less. Hummm… what do you think you could achieve with a list of 20,000 prospects who were all interested in network marketing and who you had a relationship with? Scary  huh? In my book this is the most successful approach in today’s market for the average person to achieve MLM success. There are several good out of the box systems out there such as  My Lead System Pro,  that you can use to do this and they will teach you how to market. Once you understand marketing and how to generate online traffic at whatever level you wish then you will never be at a loss for leads again. Once you have mastered this, you will start to understand that you and you alone are actually in control of your own MLM success, and suddenly the tyranny of the Deal will no longer have the power over you. With marketing skills you will have the ability to build whatever business or deal you wish. Now is there a learning curve associated with these systems? Of course, but with patience anyone can master it. Now I know that most people in Network Marketing are always looking for the quick fix, the rapid MLM success, the instant gratification. Sorry, haven’t found that secret yet. As a mentor of mine Richard Kall used to say, “If I could distill everything I know about this business down into a pill and you took it, you would be so excited you wouldn’t sleep for a month”. That’s how I feel about what I have learned in the world of online MLM marketing. What has always excited me, is when I see a business plan for MLM Success that actually works, when I can see a clear path to the money. Take the Pill.

When I first started using online marketing systems I generated over 3000 leads, sponsored over 50 new reps and generated over $30,000 in affiliate commissions in just a few months. For a inside look at some of these powerful MLM Success marketing strategies check out my free Video Training Bootcamp below...

 

 

MLM Success

MLM Success - The Truth And The Illusion of Network Marketing

So Monday’s sometimes makes me a little philosophical, and yesterday morning I was thinking about the several calls I got last week where people who were still totally immersed in the MLM success business philosophy of traditional MLM, who had called and tried to prospect me. There is always the discussion of  the game changing product of course and then the description of the company’s latest MLM success stories, and how ordinary people finally hit it big time just by sharing this great Network Marketing opportunity. Get in now! Now in the early days of my MLM business career, I might have bit, but I found instead that I was totally immune to the pitches thanks in part to what I have learned over the years as I studied MLM marketing and found that the real opportunity is not so much in the deal as it is in the marketing (MLM Success-The Tyranny of The Deal Blog Post). Now if you look closely at the business models that are used in a traditional MLM building process and then compare it to people that instead build their business using MLM online marketing you will see there is really a huge philosophical difference. Traditional MLM success philosophy is that you need to build a huge group through the process of recruiting and duplication. It pretty common knowledge in the industry that entire MLM organizations can be split up into 3 groups. The 80% Percenters ,  the 20% Percenters, and the 1% Percenters. Now the ultimate goal to achieve MLM success is of of course to find the 1% Percenter, you know, that’s the person who comes into your Network Marketing organization and just explodes it overnight. The Japanese refer to it as “Lightning Striking”. Now sometimes they are a MLM industry leader who already has a following, but sometimes they are a nobody who has never had MLM success before, but this time something unique happened, a totally random occurrence. Then there are what I like to refer to as the “Naturals”. A “Natural” is someone who is either a major center of influence, (knows lots of powerful people), or maybe someone who just got really excited and was a natural networker. 1% Percenters come in all shapes and sizes but they are in fact the pivotal factor for your MLM success especially if you are working in a Standard MLM (as opposed to a Top Tier MLM). Now the standard MLM building process is to sift through the prospects to find your distributors, then sift through the distributors to find the 20% Percenters, and then with enough 20% Percenters working in your group, you should surface a 1% Percenter somewhere in your organization.

MLM Success & Compensation Plans

Now of course if you are in a unilevel Network Marketing compensation program, then you hope the 1% Percenter is near the top of your organization rather than somewhere downline out of your pay levels. MLM Binary comp plans of course are much more forgiving of a power player who comes in deep in your organization. The analogy I would sometimes use when I did MLM trainings to explain this building process needed to achieve MLM success was to visualize yourself on a big beach in Washington State, the kind that has those rocks all over the place, and you are out there picking up each rock looking underneath it for gold. Now there are thousands of rocks on that beach and it’s going to take you a while, so you need to develop the skills of focus, determination, and persistence. I used to call it the “Blue Diamond” mindset. Now once you have sponsored your first 20% Percenter, now there are two of you picking up rocks and so on. Once you have twenty or thirty 20% Percenters in your Network Marketing group and each of them has a few hundred people in their group, you now have a small army picking up those rocks looking for the gold.

That’s the way MLM success works, with a large enough organization, you just can’t miss

Of course that just gets you there, there are numerous other factors that can make or break your MLM success such as product longevity, company viability, competition, and of course that nasty word, attrition. However those are all factors for another discussion. Now the goal of MLM online marketing involves that same process, it’s just that we can push more people into the equation much quicker, but it’s still the same basic model used to generate MLM success. So at this point there is no divergence of the business model. However the philosophy of how you get there differs dramatically and this is what I refer to as “The Truth and The Illusion of Network Marketing”. The truth of Network Marketing is that to find the people who are really serious and committed you need to be able to go through a large number of prospects to get to the gold. Another truth is that every approach to MLM prospecting and lead generation works to some extent, although some are painfully slow. The “Illusion of Network Marketing” is what we see when we go to company events and they parade the latest MLM success story up on the stage who says: “I just talked to 4 of my friends and they talked to a few people they know, and all of a sudden I have 10,000 people in my group and I am making $40K a month and this business is so easy and so much fun!” Now let’s be truthful here, you know it just kind of ticks you off when someone else succeeds big time and you don’t. So let’s see, our first thought is to go out to the parking lot and cut the tires on their car (just joking), and the next one is to go back to our warm market again and try to beat them into submission, there has to be gold in there somewhere. Now the truth is, it was pure luck that they found that much gold that easily from just a few prospects. The sad part of this truth is that there are so many people out there trying to build a successful Network Marketing business based on luck. They are out there every day hoping to stumble into MLM success by just by taking to a few people here and there. Sorry, that’s a total illusion.  

The True MLM Success Formula

  Network Marketing is a business and just like any other business you need treat it like one and learn how to market. Now there are many MLM marketing approaches that can get you there but your true MLM Success will be based on volume, the more people you can get information in front of the luckier you get. Now as I pointed out in a recent training webinar I did on blending traditional MLM marketing approaches with the online world there are lots of really good ways to generate high lead flows other than just doing it online, but of course online is the most powerful. Now the traditional MLM building philosophy at this point starts to stress things like bonding the distributor to the company, having lots of events and recognition (“Hey team, Bob just made his first sale and it only took him 2 years….. way to go Bob!). Now the entire culture is designed to form kind of a self reinforcing social cult, (yes I did call it a cult). Now if done properly, you now find yourself in a social group where you would never think about leaving even if you are not making money. The MLM company realizes that with enough foot soldiers on the ground, promoting the company, someone is going to hit “pay dirt” and they will succeed. They just have to keep everyone in place. (This of course is the same philosophy your upline uses). So what do you hear when you go to MLM company events…. Stories of perseverance, persistence, and luck. Funny story here, I talked to a prospect recently that was really excited when I called. She told me that she knew my MLM Success story and so did everyone in her upline, and they all loved the story. Then she went on to tell me about a story where I had joined an MLM and then after 6 mo got frustrated and then just stopped working, but of course stayed active. Then a year later my MLM organization had exploded and there I was making over a million a year because my organization went on without me, and also because I stayed active on autoship. Now of course you can sense the moral of this fictitious story, don’t ever quit, and even if you do, be sure to keep your autoship active because you never know what you might leave behind. Now she was a little surprised to learn the real story, which was that I did indeed get frustrated in my early days and probably quit 5 times just in the first 6 months, but then I discovered marketing and developed a high volume lead strategy using newspaper advertising. I then sponsored 250 dead serious people into my MLM group in about 2 years and I hit so much gold I couldn’t miss. Totally different story. I guess the thing that really ticks me off about the traditional MLM low volume building approach is that it kind of uses people. Now not that basing your life on persistence hope and trust is bad, on the contrary those are great principles to base you life on, but not your MLM business. As online marketers our philosophy is very different, we understand that  MLM success is volume related.

You see…. we have this magic fast forward button we can hit and shorten the growth curve and the time to achieve MLM success by years.

The average person in MLM usually brings in about 1 to 3 people per month. What are their chances of finding a 1% Percenter? Slim to none. With MLM online marketing mastered, you can push 10+ people into your deal per month and surface the key players with much more ease. It also gives you the ability to use that fast forward button to stress test the company’s business model and see if it actually delivers as promised. Now using this accelerated building process, I have learned that if I can’t get a company business model to sing and dance in 6 mo it’s probably not going to happen. Next …. Because of this bottom line business orientation, online marketers are both powerful and dangerous in a MLM environment. I wrote about this recently in a blog post called the “MLM Success-Why Your Upline Hates Online MLM Marketing”. MLM Online marketers slowly learn what entrepreneurs have always known, time is the limiting factor. They realize that there are many Network Marketing opportunities out there that they could focus their attention on, and also that it can be almost impossible to predict in advance which companies will fly and which will die. So rather than push a business plan based on luck and chance, and spend 5 years slow growing a company that just never makes it,

Just push the fast forward button…..

The good news is that you can learn how to use the internet as a tool and generate tons of leads to power your business and generate MLM Success by using powerful Online Marketing Systems like "My Lead System Pro" or "Empower Network" that will teach you how to use the internet as a powerful resource for your business.  

    MLM Success