THE WAY IT WAS

Written by Lon Lindsey


Let me, first mentionrepparttar history ofrepparttar 122613 MLM/networking industry. Networking was founded onrepparttar 122614 principles of great products andrepparttar 122615 sharing of such. In fact,repparttar 122616 oldest direct sales company in America is now a network marketing company based onrepparttar 122617 sales of products and sharingrepparttar 122618 concept of retailing products to make money, but through a strategy of networking in order to find others who will dorepparttar 122619 same.

The answer torepparttar 122620 "Which Comes First" question really rests withrepparttar 122621 business opportunity seeker based on how he wants to build his business. What I am about to share with you may help you determinerepparttar 122622 kind of networking company you may want to align yourself with.

Let me start by saying "the face ofrepparttar 122623 network marketing industry has changed drastically inrepparttar 122624 past 15 years." Withrepparttar 122625 emergence of computer technology, network marketing has taken on a new look in terms of what is onrepparttar 122626 "front door" as you come knocking. Withrepparttar 122627 introduction ofrepparttar 122628 Internet as an additional medium for networking,repparttar 122629 whole MLM industry has seen a new emphasis.

PRODUCTS, PRODUCTS, PRODUCTS!

Just to give you an idea what I am talking about, 20 years ago a prospective sponsor would sit down acrossrepparttar 122630 kitchen table with you . .pull out his catalog of products ... show you some sample products or may even have a small home meeting demonstratingrepparttar 122631 excellence of their product line and then tell you how you can make money, not only sellingrepparttar 122632 products, but having a distributorship. In so doing, you could set other people up with a distributorship which would allow you to retail products AND earn commissions fromrepparttar 122633 products sold by your distributors you signed up under you. In other words, they led withrepparttar 122634 products first. There are companies that continue to use that approach today and with certain companies, that is a necessary approach to take and certainly makes sense.

HOW ABOUT A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY?

Inrepparttar 122635 eighties we started seeing an emergence of "business opportunity" inrepparttar 122636 headlines as a way to attract people to MLM. This emergence led to a new approach in network marketing ...

"Mail Order." No longer was it necessary to have local meetings or to meet acrossrepparttar 122637 kitchen table with people. Simply send out a mail piece and sign people up. Companies hadrepparttar 122638 ability to manage databases of people and to run commission checks so "business opportunity" becamerepparttar 122639 lead-in rather than products. Although these type companies were backed up by products,repparttar 122640 emphasis on products was notrepparttar 122641 same for some companies . . . and in fact . . .brought on certain companies that were "here today and gone tomorrow" becauserepparttar 122642 products were not good enough to keep people involved. Remember, it’srepparttar 122643 sale of products that generate commissions forrepparttar 122644 distributors.

LET’S MAKE SOME MONEY!

Inrepparttar 122645 early nineties,repparttar 122646 personal computer became so popular that it was possible for "John Doe" to start up his own program . . .right from his own kitchen table. With this came onrepparttar 122647 "Make Money" approach to MLM. Many timesrepparttar 122648 word "business" was not even mentioned. It was about making money regardless ofrepparttar 122649 products and in some cases illegal MLM schemes were developed withrepparttar 122650 intention of going out of business at some point . . .even being put out of business due to attorney general probes or postal regulations. It was this phase of MLM that started giving MLM a questionable name becauserepparttar 122651 good,repparttar 122652 bad,repparttar 122653 ugly were all grouped under MLM . .even if they were illegal pyramid schemes or ponzi schemes.

At this point, I might add that there were still legitimate product oriented MLM companies continuing to prod along just as they have been doing for years, but due torepparttar 122654 hype of "make money" people were being lured toward these "make money" type companies. So what began to happen wasrepparttar 122655 truly product oriented MLM companies began having competition fromrepparttar 122656 short lived "make money" type programs.

LET’S MAKE MONEY, AND I'LL DO IT FOR YOU!

Something else happened at this time as well. The "Make Money" programs hypedrepparttar 122657 "don’t work hard" image and in some cases . . "we’ll do it for you." Let’s face it. If people could make money without working very hard . . either due to their not having time or their just not wanting to work hard . ..certainly people would jump onrepparttar 122658 bandwagon ofrepparttar 122659 "make money" type companies overrepparttar 122660 slower to build product oriented companies and that is exactly what happened. The result was, many people getting a bad impression of MLM due to a company going out of business or due to lack of focus on whatrepparttar 122661 company had to offer other than just making money. This is why you will see ads that say "this is not MLM" because they know many people have been hurt inrepparttar 122662 "not so legitimate" companies. Unfortunately it takes only a few bad experiences and negative publicity to giverepparttar 122663 whole industry a black eye.

MAKE MONEY . . . FAST!!

Well, if that wasn't bad enough,repparttar 122664 Internet emerged and it was no longer just "make money." Now it was "Make Money FAST!" It was no longer good enough to just make money. You had to make it fast . . . you know . . . like $90,000 in three months or become a millionaire in six months! In addition to that,repparttar 122665 Internet began to attract another kind of person . . .the person who could barely afford his monthly ISP service, but accessedrepparttar 122666 Internet inrepparttar 122667 hope of getting his share ofrepparttar 122668 Internet Gold. Along came people who not only could not afford products to buy, they could not affordrepparttar 122669 cost of adequately marketing their business in a way to build a solid foundation for that business. The result has been a majority ofrepparttar 122670 business seekers who join one program today to "Make Money FAST" . . find they didn't make it fast so they jumped torepparttar 122671 next company and so on. These "jumpers" are spending $50 here and $50 there, but they are not spending what is necessary to build a solid business . . time, energy, focus and persistence. Now I realize I just made a generalization and realize not everyone does this, but I have personally noticed a tremendous number of people who basically can't afford evenrepparttar 122672 products to build their business. In other words, there is no such thing as product loyalty because people often times join a company or program based only onrepparttar 122673 dream and hype of making fast money. So . .why do they get involved? Because we tell them they can make money FAST and it’s easy! In order to compete, networkers have had to learn how to hype and this hype has led to disillusionment and disappointment, especially torepparttar 122674 new networker who has no idea what it really takes to build a long-term successful business.

THE GOOD NEWS!

The good news is, there have been some legitimate networking companies that have come onrepparttar 122675 scene that have taken network marketing a step further. It isrepparttar 122676 new age of networking and leaves behindrepparttar 122677 days of stocking products, going door to door and emphasizingrepparttar 122678 retailing of products. This new approach is called "Referral Marketing." It is now possible for a distributor to simply refer customers and other "distributors to be" directly torepparttar 122679 company withrepparttar 122680 sponsor getting credit for any products sold from that direct referral. The question is still about do we lead with products first orrepparttar 122681 opportunity first, but with referral marketing, one can very easily lead with either one.

HOW TO ADVERTISE YOUR MLM OPPORTUNITY...EACH MONTH...FREE!

Written by Dale Calvert


The reality of network marketing is: It is easier to build your Business fast than it is slow!

Lots of prospects, create lots of presentations daily. Lots of presentations daily create results...results create momentum and ALL LARGE DOWNLINES ARE BULT IN A STATE OF MOMENTUM...

PERIOD...END OF STORY.

All heavy hitters inrepparttar industry understand this concept. I continually try to communicate to our leaders that you must create more leads than you can possibly handle.

You then funnel those leads through filters. What are filters?

Filters are self-qualifying tools designed for prospects to eliminate themselves from your recruiting funnel. The idea quite simply is to stuff your funnel full of prospects each day and then only communicate withrepparttar 122612 few people that qualify themselves by dropping out ofrepparttar 122613 funnel atrepparttar 122614 other end.

What can be used as qualifiers?

Corporate web sites

Send and email to your prospects telling them to visitrepparttar 122615 corporate web site, then email you back after they visit. If you never hear back from them, they have disqualified themselves.

You can also use conference calls, recorded voice mail or sizzle lines, audio cassettes, andrepparttar 122616 list goes on an on. One ofrepparttar 122617 very best generic pre-qualifiers I have seen is an online Flash Presentation. Check this site out, & make sure you readrepparttar 122618 testimonies, they are phenomenal!

http://www.homebusiness.to/affiliates/main.asp?id=8040

In todays market place we simply do not have time to CHASE prospects. MLM Professionals understand that they are looking for people that are looking for them! As Jim Rohn says, to be successful in sales or recruiting you must "Talk to lots of people EVERY DAY." The KEY WORDS BEING...EVERYDAY!

The problem with this concept?

Quality lead generation can be VERY EXPENSIVE. If you expect to create an endless flow of qualified prospects, you will have to spend money. Period. There is simply no way around it!

However there IS a way to recapture (and sometimes even profit from)repparttar 122619 advertising dollars you must spend. It is called "A Funded Proposal". My friend Joe Schroder was on this "Funded Proposal" campaign a few years ago. He isrepparttar 122620 one that actually sold me onrepparttar 122621 concept.

MLM Professionals simply find a way to recoup all or some of their advertising investment onrepparttar 122622 back end or their lead generation programs.

A great example of this is our generic training "Confessions of a Network Marketing Millionaire" series. Inrepparttar 122623 past, our distributors were allowed to send out a 4-page reverse sales letter to those who had solicited them for another MLM program. Many of us receive dozens of offers daily through snail mail and 20-30 through email. We immediately try to reverse sponsor them into our program. That is a mistake! Why not offer them a product or service ierepparttar 122624 MLM Marketing Center membership, which can enhance their productivity! Start developing a relationship with that person.

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