“That network marketing “thang”; I tried that and it don’t work”(Said with a twang!). Well, just exactly how many people did you expose to your new business opportunity, Billy Bob? “Well, the first person I talked to was my broke brother-in-law and he laughed at me and called me stupid. Then, I told my best friend how we could make lots of money in no time at all and all we had to do was count the money. Now, he avoids me when he sees me coming and won’t answer my phone calls. But, my mom bougth some soap just to help me out, once! She said it ruined her new dress.
Sound familar? If you have tried any type of network marketing in the past, I am sure your answer is, “affirmative”. You may even be guilty of making such statements yourself – ouch! So many let that “broke brother-in-law” or “best” friend steal their dreams.
You might be able to identify with how I got started in my first direct marketing business in 1980. I remember walking back from my parents home, about 9:30 pm, to my house next door, with a “decision kit” in each hand after a two hour presentation by their sponsor, “who drove all the way from Dallas to share this opportunity”. Each weighed about sixty pounds. I stopped walking for a moment, looked up at the stars and asked, “Lord, what have you got me into this time”? The bad thing was, my mom wasn’t going to buy any soap from me; she sponsored me and I was going to have to pay her for those two decision kits after I signed up! I was broke. Then it hit me! If this is going to work, then I am going to have to do the same thing that fellow drawing those circles did. How am I going to do that? I know many of you are chuckling at this very moment because you have “been there, done that”. Right? Well, to make a long story short, I sponsored approximately fifteen people and my organization grew to one hundred and twenty strong! Not near enough.
In 1995 I was sponsored into a vitamin company by you guessed it, mom and dad. Won’t be selling them any vitamins! Well I sponsored about twelve first level distributors and ended up with about sixty distributors in all. No near enough!
Well, how many does it take? A lot more than twelve of fifteen first level. Here is what the numbers show from over thirty years of data from the company I represent:
- Expose 10 prospects to your opportunity and/or product/services – You will get 1 assoicate and sell 2 or 3 plans/products (If you follow-up with in 48 hours; this is where most mess up).
- Sponsor 7 and you will have 1 that does something. (Something means make a sale or two and/or sponsor a new associate each month). In our business the average assoicate that does something sells 2 plans a month.
- That means you and/or your organization must expose 70 people to get one assoicate that does something. (10×7=70) or (10×7=1 that does something).
Well, just how many first level is enough? I suggest you expose enough people to get five first level assoicates you are working with on a regular basis. Five that are working the business will keep you busy because you will be working with them in the depths of their organization. When one organization reaches a certain level of success, in most compensation plans, they break away from you (become a closed organization), you need to add another first level so you always have five first level, open organizations, you are working with at any given time. Well, you say that looks like it is going to take 350 personal exposures to get those five (70×5). Not really. I consider the first person in any organization (leg), no matter how deep, that is doing something, my first level. So it is you and your organization doing exposures.
You work in depth where there is fire. Work with the willing! Spend your time with those that deserve it, not with those that want it. Everybody wants to be successful, but not everybody is will to do what it takes to be successful. Learn this early or late, but just remember it; you are not going to make anyone successful! So, don’t single handedly try to make everybody you sponsor in your business successful. It ain’t gonna happen! That is something they have to decide to do. Spend your time with those that follow the system; not those that do their own thing. You help and support them in every way you can. If they are “willing to work”, then it is your responsibility to do so, as their sponsor. You are a bridge to their dreams and that is an ausome responsibility. Don’t take it lightly. Too much depends on it.
Don’t get hung up on those that say “no”. You are looking for a “yes”; those that want to go now. Some of the ones that said “no” will come along later. Some will be “checkers”! They will from time to time check on how your business is going. Many are not saying “no”. They are saying “later”; not right now. Life happens and things change in life, so I never take anyone off my prospect “list” unless they tell me to never mention it again. That’s a “no”, but even then I leave them on the list.
Network marketing is like panning for gold. A good analogy of prospecting for associates and finding the ones that really help your network marketing business take off is like “prospecting or panning for gold”; a precious metal for sure. You may or may not have actually panned for gold. The reason it works is that gold is heavier than soil and rocks that surrond it or keep it from being seen. So, by taking the pan and scooping up a lot of muck, along with water, from a stream being prospected and continuously swerling it around and around, all the time letting some water wash the dirt and grime, along with the lighter rocks, over the rim of the pan, until all that remains is the precious mineral for which you were looking.
This is a great analogy of what it takes to build a successful netwok marketing business:
- Set a goal of finding some gold! If you just wander around looking down into the stream every once in a while, you will not accidentally stumble across a fortune.
- You have to pick up the pan. You will need tools to build your business just as you need the tools needed for panning for gold – a pan! Very simple. I really like this, because you need to keep it simple; something anyone can do. Stick to the basics.
- You have to go to work and scoop up some muck. You must get your hands dirty. The multitudes will sign up for anything, go to all the trainings, read all the books, listen to all the tapes, and sit on their hands and wonder why it is not working. Dumb. Question. Would you invest half a million dollars opening up a store front and not tell anyone you are in business? This is what the majority will do in network marketing. They get all prepared. They will do everything that is necessary but the most important thing - tell more than two or three prospects what they are doing; what they have to offer. There are many reasons for this, but the number one is the fear of failure. You must fail your way to the top.
- Don’t give up the first week. Prospecting takes weeks and months of constantly working and searching for the prize. Consistent effort over time will produce favorable results.
Currently, as of November 23, 2008, I have 532 associates in my organization in 43 states plus Canada and over 7,100 plans sold. Of the 532 associates, 221 are active, many have quit and most of my production comes from one organization. It does not take very many that do something. That one leg has produced over 2,300 plans this year so far. I had two other pretty strong legs, but for one reason or another, they fizzled. Because I have not built enough strength in width, over $100,000 in overrides have passed me up in the past three years. I am making some decent money, but it could have been a lot better. You never know who is going to be a superstar. One couple I sponsored, and placed under my nephew to help him out, turned out to be the sixth top producer out of 200,000 assoicates for the past three years. Be sure to learn exactly how your compensation plan works and build width and depth at the same time; width for profitability and depth for security, like there is no tomorrow. (I will have another post on compensation plans later).
So,don’t wait on anyone and remember this; the three most important things in network marketing are “recruit, recruit, recruit and don’t get them out of order”! Exposure is everything! One last thing – you have to go through the “NOs” to find a “Yes”. The more “NOs” you go through, the faster you get to a “YES”!
Your success is our success.