How Many People Do You Need To Sponsor?

That is probably one of the biggest questions in network marketing? How many people do I need to sponsor to be successful? Bob Schmidt who was probably one of the most successful network marketers of all time said you just need to find one strong leader a year to make a fortune in MLM. Than we got all these internet network marketers running around today saying you need 15 to 20 a month to be successful. After spending almost 2 years of my life in MLM, my thoughts are that if you could find 2 or 3 per month that would be very good. That would require talking to people daily, interviewing them, and sorting to find those that are ready. Think of yourself more as a talent scout who is looking for those individuals who you believe are qualified to do the job. Don't be a pushy sales guy. Pretend you are independently wealthy and you won't make any money unless someone stays with you for a long time. Try to keep in mind if you had to work with 15 to 20 people a month that would be challenging for even the top networking pros. I did it a few months ago and almost everyone quit, because I didn't have the time to work and develop everyone in my group. That was a good lesson for me, it taught me that in this business you need duplication, not alot of recruiting. If your just going to recruit a ton of people, my recommendation would be to just go become a salesperson, because most of your people are going to quit if you don't support them. This business is more about duplication, teaching, mentoring, and personal development than just signing people up to see what happens.

Business Language

If your in sales or network marketing and you enter the world of prospecting you are going to find that everybody has a preference of how to communicate. For example you may leave 3 or 4 messages for someone and they won't return your calls, but send them an email and you may hear back immediately. Just because one person responds well to the phone doesn't mean that another person will. I have one business partner who primarily only responds to email. I have a business client who only likes to talk on the phone. My personal preference is email, or chatting, but just because that is my preference doesn't mean that will be your prospects, clients, or business partner. Some people will only do business face to face, they are rare, but they are out there. So the next time you are prospecting or training, start to pay attention to how your clients, prospects, and partners respond and learn their business language.

Attraction Marketing

Well I am going to blow the lid off on a few people out there who are really fired up on attraction marketing. Let me just say before I do that, that I am currently consulting with a few businesses and many students on how to do Social Media. Yes people, Twitter and Facebook are different. If you don't yet know the difference, let me just say I have never made a dime on Facebook. Let me also say that, Social Media should just be one tool that you use for your business - BUT A VERY VERY BIG ONE. I have spent the last year focusing more and more on online methods for marketing, I have read, "The Renegade Markerter", taken online classes, read books, most recently picked up a copy of "Magnetic Sponsoring". They are all great and should be read, but what you will discover is no system, no amount of advertising is going to be more important than YOU simply becoming a leader. Or at least someone that people look up to and go, "Hey I want what he has".

Now, with all that I have learned on this subject, I could write a book. But why re-invent the wheel on blogging, and pay per click. When the next phase of attraction marketing is all going to happen in the world of Social Media, its already happening through Web 3.0. What worked 3 years ago online, or even 12 months ago, probably isn't working so well today. Also in network marketing if you purchase leads or participate in pay per click, where someone doesn't actually make out who you are when you contact them, your closing percentage will go down by 90%. In their minds you are just another salesperson or telemarketer. Unless someone contacts you directly about your opportunity you are always in a weaker position. And if you aren't a born salesman, it will be a grind, I can promise you that. I can also promise you that by just throwing videos or blogs on the net, people are not just automatically going to jump into your business. They need to get to know you first, and that can take months and in some cases years. I just brought a girl in on Friday who I have been talking to off and on for at least a few months. On the flip-side I've also had people call me directly and say they want to join my business before they even know about my business. You see you brand yourself and sell yourself and you don't need to worry about chasing people, they will chase you, but it will take many months before this will start to happen. This is also very challenging to duplicate for most. Out of all of the people I have sponsored in the past year. I have just a handful of students who are really getting the attraction marketing down. It's a bit complex and isn't for everyone.

Reflecting back on my MLM Career so far, it hasn't been a bed of roses. I spent 12 years in sales before getting with my first company back in 2006, and to this day have never closed 1 pay per click lead. I've also never closed 1 purchased lead. I have personally sponsored over 50 people in the last year, not customers, business builders and the majority have all come from Social Networking sites, MySpace, Facebook, and most recently Twitter. I still am not sure if I have even brought in anyone from any of my blogs? I have brought in a few from Craigslist, but that took me awhile to master.

I personally think that online marketing is a better fit for certain individual types, but I know many network marketers who are still doing it old school who are making a ton of money. Old School Networking still works and to be honest if you have the gift of gab and are a born salesman, I wouldn't even go into online, I would just talk to everyone like you always have, people are still buying. Just keep in mind if your going to do network marketing old school and teach people those methods, you will have to find others who have the gift of gab to work under you. As old school is really tough for the non-sales types, unless someone comes into your group with a huge sphere of influence.

Remember Network Marketing is a contact sport. It's all about you. Are you a leader? If your not a leader, you will struggle in attraction marketing and offline marketing. The great thing about network marketing is if your not a leader or not making a huge fat paycheck, just partner up with someone who is, and just be the messenger for the first few years and work on yourself. That way you won't go broke and will have a lot less pain. TAKE THEM TO YOUR LEADER. You can't enroll people effortlessly until you become one anyhow, whether your offline, online, uptown, or downtown. The average networker only enrolls a couple of people into any given program. In my first company, I just had customers and didn't get one business builder under me in 8 months. Most of the people I sponsor today bring in 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, it is rare to get anyone who sponsors 20 or more. Believe me, I am looking for them everyday, but they don't grow on trees. Most of them are already playing on other teams, I have to wait till their contract expires - ha ha.

In closing, at the end of the day, this business has always been about relationships and it always will be. The internet has just evened the playing field a bit.

You are Self Employed

Do you guys realize that whether you have your own business, work for an employer, or do network marketing, that you are all self employed. That's right we are all self employed and until you start believing that, your success will be limited as you will never be completely in charge of your destiny. You will always be dependent on that company or boss.

If we are going to become successful in life we have to get that through our head and realize that no matter who signs our paycheck we are self employed. It doesn't really matter whether you are a 1099 Independent Contractor, or an employee, you must get this. Because, if you don't you will never feel important and you will always depend on your employer or company for your success.

Let's say that your company or network marketing company went out of business tomorrow. It does happen believe it or not - especially in today's world. I was selling real estate in Australia around this time last year when my real estate office I was working for went bankrupt and closed their doors. I could have been devastated, but I knew how valuable I was and just re sold my talents to another office and was back to work within a few weeks. If you depend on your employer and never saw yourself as a valuable player, than you could become devastated and may not recover from your loss. If your company goes under, or you lose a valuable client than you will just say, I'll find another employer, or company to go to work with - no big deal. There is so much freedom once you get this - that it will be liberating to your success.

I read a story about how Dustin Hoffman the actor used to go around and tell everyone he was a professional actor before he even made a dime at his profession. So why don't all of you go around and tell everyone that you are a realtor, life coach, network marketer, or whatever it is you want to be, and start to realize that your job or current situation is just a means to get you to where you want to go. We are all self employed.

Getting Your People To Stay???

Ok, you've joined your MLM opportunity. Your past the point where you know how to sponsor and train, but something happens, the person you spent hours, or weeks with who you thought was going to be a rockstar vanishes. Your sponsor, or company didn't tell you about how to deal with the people you bring on board that quit? How many quit, I don't want to give you a real number as to scare anyone new who is thinking about getting into MLM, but the number is very high. I know of professionals who expect it, and to become a network marketing pro you should too. If you honestly think that everyone you recruit into your business is going to stick around for longer than a few months, you have another thing coming. MLM is one of the toughest endeavors out there, not because it is really hard, but because most people are lazy by nature, and they are attracted to MLM because of the hype that shows you how to get rich quickly. Working for someone and getting a paycheck is easy and working for yourself, or on straight commission is hard. I know I have done it for years as both a business owner, salesperson, realtor, musician, and network marketer. I've also spent a number of years in Corporate America and a salary is much easier compared to straight commission. At least you know you are getting paid whether you perform or not. Of course you may get fired if you don't perform. You can probably fake it for alot longer than you could if you were only paid for your ability to perform and produce.

That is enough about work, what to do when your downline vanishes? I was hanging out with my friend the other day who has earned a 7 figure income in network marketing and he said he is The General and he is just looking for a few lieutenants to join his squad. He said he doesn't expect to find anyone who can out perform him, but he expects to find a few leaders. You might have to go through 10, 15, or even 30 people to find one lieutenant. This is after you have already done lots of sorting to find your 30 to 50 to join your training camp. So here might be a better way to think of your MLM Business versus just trying to bring everyone with a pulse into your business. Think of your business like you are building a team, no different than a NFL Team. You are sorting for your superstars, but many won't make it out of training camp onto the field. Why is that? A few reasons, but here are my thoughts. Many won't do the work necessary to be successful, many don't have the skill-set or the desire to develop the skills, many lack serious ambition, and many just quite frankly are LAZY. Lots of people want what few have, but aren't willing to do the work. There is a reason this sport is called NetWORK Marketing.

The Power of Images & Goals

Recently I printed out a picture of a surfboard I wanted to purchase, but rather than just buying the board, I wanted to see if I could attract the board to me. Funny enough, less than 2 weeks after printing out the picture of the board and staring at the image almost every day, I found the exact same board, different color less than a mile from my home. A guy was selling his board on Craigslist, I knew without a doubt that it was meant to become my latest surfboard. So, I simply went down to the ATM Machine and drove over to his home and purchased the board. This is just one example of a few that I am exploring.

About 10 months ago, I had started a new position as a real estate salesman down in Australia and had printed out images of my home back in Carlsbad, CA and posted them in front of me to look at every day. Many of the salespeople I worked with commented on why I would live in Maryborough, when I could be living back in my home in California only a mile and a half from the beach. I subconsciously, thought that they were right and within a few months, I was living back in my house.

Recently, I read a book called "The Answer" by John Assaraf and he spoke about how he had a vision board that he had created several years earlier and when his son came across his board one day accidentally, John studied it and noticed that he was living in the exact home he had posted on the board. Are the above just random, or can our minds really attract what we want out of life?

I'm sure most of you reading this have heard the story of Jim Carey the actor/comedian. He had post dated a check for 10 Million dollars and carried it around in his wallet for many years before hitting it big in Hollywood. He put at the bottom of the check for acting services. You see, these are just a few examples of what can happen if you begin to create your future with images. I personally believe that images are way more powerful than words. Yeah, you can write down goals on a piece a paper, but my challenge to you is rather than just writing down a goal, take an image and dwell on it for weeks or months and imagine having that object or thing, and see where you end up?

The mind is way more powerful than anything you can imagine. It has the ability to make you, or break you. Most people fail not by unfortunate circumstances, because somewhere deep down they sought failure and not success. Let images and create thoughts that will override those negative feelings and fears.

If you don't believe me, just start with something small like a surfboard or a pair of sneakers and see where you end up.

What Type of Pay Is Realistic In MLM

I met with a friend of mine the other day. We were discussing MLM and the future of our industry. He has been in the industry for over 18 years as both a distributor and a company owner, and has made as much as a 100K per month as a distributor. We talked about a new person coming into the business and what they could expect. He said he had studied pay plans and had discovered that most every pay plan in our industry has a pay out plan on average of 10% of your overall monthly volume.

He went on to claim that whatever your monthly volume is, more than likely will reflect your yearly income. So in conclusion, if you want to make a 100K per year in MLM, you will more than likely need a 100K in monthly volume, 1 Million a Million in monthly volume and so on. I don't know if this is factual, but it did line up with all of pay I have received from the few companies I have been with. It is also very consistent with every company I have worked with as a salesperson over the past 10 years.