Network Marketing Beyond the Older Methods
The Network Marketing industry is changing rapidly, but is it going down a new path or just Re-Inventing Older Methods?
Network Marketers of all types are flooding to the Internet to find their place, in what some are calling the "Network Marketing Immigration" of the Web, but what is really driving this change and are Network Marketers learning the truth about past practices and how not to apply them online?
When I talk to Network Marketers about their failures in this industry, almost every answer revolves around the older methods of how they were trained to build their business. Let's look at some:
- Buying expensive dead end leads through systems where what you pay for, you never get.
- Bugging friends and family to the point that Uncle Tom takes you out of the will.
- Dragging anyone you know to late night Hotel meetings, where the speaker arrives in a Mercedes, but wears ripped, holey jeans and a Hawaiian shirt with a blazer.
- Approaching your "Warm Market", before you knew they were even warm.
- Wearing buttons, hats, t-shirts, flashing ear rings, and ties that promote your product or business.
- And the last one, probably one of the toughest ones to deal with, Approaching Strangers, no matter where you meet them, a bar, the mall, Taco Bell at midnight, you get the picture.
These are just a few of the examples that people have shared, and don't get me wrong, there are many people out there that have done very well by purchasing leads, or working through their warm market or even approaching strangers, but is the number of successful people in Network Marketing a true representation of the total number of Network Marketers as a whole? The answer is most definitely No.
The 7-Great Lies of Network Marketing
Ann Sieg, a successful Network Marketer and business entrepreneur shares the struggles of people in this industry and offers solutions to the problems that the older methods create. In her Free E-Book, "The 7-Great Lies of Network Marketing", Ann addresses seven areas of mis-thinking and why most people fail before their business even gets off the ground.
#6 of Ann's mis-truths is one that this author can relate past experience to. "You Just Don't Have Enough Belief!" This is a statement that most have heard and might have said themselves, if you were the Up-line. What is odd about this statement is that normally it comes up when trying to lift up a person who is struggling and not producing. In most cases the intention when saying this is not to belittle, but if you think about it, what your assuming is that this individual only has to believe in themselves, the product, the pay plan, the company, and they will achieve financial freedom. What happens when they don't succeed?
What is Network Marketing anyway?
To understand how to build a successful Network Marketing business, you first have to understand the basic principle.
Like conventional business, products are produced, products end up in a consumers hand. Marketing and Salespeople help to facilitate this exchange. In Network Marketing, the salespeople are Independent Representatives, selling the products to the end consumer and, as their own business, provide the opportunity to do the same for other Independent Representatives. The initial Rep earns a commission on the sales volume of those that they bring aboard.
It's a pretty basic plan to move a product to an end consumer and actually a plan that affords a very lucrative financial opportunity compared to the traditional brick and mortar business, both for the consumer and Representative.
Why does the Internet make sense for today's Network Marketer?
Learning the newer methods of Attraction Marketing affords Network Marketers a way to attract prospects who actually want to be involved.
The fears and anxiety of the older ways are taken out of the picture, allowing for people to actually see, feel and taste success. Imagine the possibilities if people knew what you did, knew what you sold, knew what your opportunity was, and still contacted you, wanting to be involved? Quite a bit different from the endless rejections experienced in the other model.
The Internet can connect Network Marketers with people who want what they have, but they first must learn the basics of Internet Marketing and how to combine Attraction Marketing principles to provide value and relationship. Both principles working together could just bring floods of people seeking to have what you can provide them.
To Your Success,
Mike Witt
Mike Witt