I’m a big fan of “Big Al” Tom Schreiter. I’ve read most of his books and one of my favorite books that he wrote is How to Build MLM Leaders for Fun & Profit. The book is really loaded with some great tips. Overall, I give it an 8 of 10 and consider it a must read for any new or experienced network marketer.
“Big Al” talks about lots of interesting concepts that would really benefit any network marketer. What I want to do in the paragraphs below is share some of my favorite quotes from the book. Each quote is in bold an italics. After each quote I will provide my own two cents. The quotes are listed in no particular order.
Top Big Al Quotes from How to Build MLM Leaders for Fun & Profit
# 1: Distributors come and go. It’s how many MLM leaders you have that count. Your strength, security and income depend on the number of leaders in your group, not the number of transient distributors passing through.
If you want to know if you have a good group, determine how many leaders you have. How many people are showing their own business presentations? How many people are independent of you? How many people are actively building their own teams without your help? These are the folks that will ultimately determine your success, not the person who joined looking to get rich quick.
# 2: If you don’t have downline leaders in your MLM group you can never rest.
If you’re just building a team of distributors (followers) you will probably burn out and eventually quit. If everyone depends on you and needs you to do everything for them, you will create yourself a low-paying job. Your primary objective is to find and develop LEADERS.
# 3: The smart MLM superstars have several MLM leaders in their downline. And their life is easy.
I would personally rather have five leaders in my team than hundreds of followers. Leaders are the ones that will go out and do the work and actually build a group, with or without you. When you have leaders you really do have leverage. Remember this: When you sponsor followers you add people to your team, but when you sponsor leaders you multiply your team.
# 4: You may have to invest in several potential MLM leaders to get your superstar.
People will fool you. People will tell you they are a leader or tell you they WANT to be one of your top leaders, but at the end of the day they are just blowing smoke. Watch what people do, not what they tell you they are going to do. If they tell you something, but don’t do it, go find someone else to work with. That being said, one good leader is worth a lot of money to you. Remember you have to dig up a lot of dirt before you find gold!
# 5: Great MLM potential talent will come to you if you do your job right.
Lead by example. Set the pace and do the things you want your team to do. Inspire people by your own personal example. Be the most persistent and consistent person on your team. Do that and you will naturally attract other leaders to you. Leaders want to work with leaders. Be that leader, even before you have a big group, and good things will happen in your business.
# 6: The longer an organization exists, the slower it’s growth.
In most cases, your organization will grow the fastest in the first few years and then it will eventually plateau. As long as you always have new people joining your team, it will continue to grow. If you stop building depth or stop sponsoring it will die a quick death.
# 7: Most leaders spread their efforts too thin. They try to reach levels of achievement and ranks too fast.
Pace yourself. This business is a marathon, not a sprint. Build one or two legs at a time UNTIL they are rock solid and independent of you. You can only work with two to five people at a time effectively. It’s better to work with two to three people at a time until they don’t need you any more, and then go start a new leg.
# 8: Focus on long-term steady progress.
Nice and steady is what will win the race, especially if you combine it with a 90-Day Blitz. Grow your group a little bit each month and repeat that for a few years and you will eventually have a big team. Whatever you do, be persistent and consistent , but also be patient.
# 9: Personal letters are hard to ignore, especially if they are sincere and handwritten.
Send handwritten notes to prospects and team members whenever possible. This is a quick way to differentiate yourself and stand out in the crowd. Most people get a lot of junk mail every day, but very few personalized letters. When you mail out a personalized letter to someone, the person will read it.
# 10: You only need a couple of good leaders to make a fantastic income in MLM.
Most top earners make 90% of their income from just one to three people on their team, even if they’ve sponsored hundreds of people personally. One good person really can change your life, financially. These folks are hard to find, but they are out there. In fact, they normally show up in depth.
# 11: Mail inexpensive for leads, then invest your printing dollars in the follow-up packages to these leads.
Once you generate a lead, your job has just begun. You must follow up with that lead over and over and over to convert them. What I like to do is generate a lead and then stay in touch with that person once or twice a week until they buy or die.
# 12: Too many distributors join just for the money and forget about product value.
If the product doesn’t make sense neither will the business. People who join a business to make money usually quit within 90-days or less. People who join because they love the products will keep reordering each month (normally) whether they ever build a business or not. That is where your residual income comes from.
# 13: If the product or service is not a good deal for the distributor on the bottom, he will drop out.
The product must provide a real value to the end user. If the only reason people are buying products is so they can qualify for a bonus check, you are really missing the boat. The products ARE the business.
# 14: Mail only for leaders. You can’t efficiently train and support distributors. Leaders can give their own meetings, train their people, and be productive without your presence. All they ask for is your coaching.
When you do direct mail like I do, focus your efforts on finding quality people: leaders. You don’t want to recruit a bunch of high maintenance distributors who don’t do anything. Focus on leader-type people.
# 15: The quality of the person responding is more important than the number of people who respond.
Quality trumps quantity. I’d rather generate one good lead than 100 bad ones.
# 16: Almost everyone is a prospect sometime during his life. However, he won’t be a prospect every day of his life.
Timing is key. Just because someone tells you no today does not mean that they will be a no forever. The fortune is in the follow-up. Every prospect is a prospect for life.
# 17: Low volume, hand-written prospecting letters pull up to ten times better than photocopied or printed form letters.
Mailing 100 personalized, handwritten letters is more effective than mass mailing 5,000 letters to strangers.
# 18: Don’t get into the herd mentality by following the followers. Be different. Recruit where you competition doesn’t recruit.
Be unique. Be different. Stand out in the crowd. Use your own unique talents and abilities to grow your business. That’s what leaders do.
# 19: When giving a presentation, they try to present the opportunity from the prospect’s point of view.
Tailor your presentation to your prospect. Before you give the presentation, spend some time to figure out their “hot button” and then focus on that. Remember, people do not buy a drill because they want a drill. Instead, they buy a drill because they want a hole.
About the Book
How to Build MLM Leaders for Fun & Profit was published in 1991 by KAAS publishing. It has 127-pages and is available anywhere books are sold. It is an out of print book so you might have to look online to find a copy.
Final Thoughts
In summary, How to Build MLM Leaders for Fun & Profit is an awesome book that every network marketer should add to their leader’s library. It is loaded with wisdom about direct mail and finding leaders. If you haven’t read it yet, you should.
What are your thoughts? What is your favorite “Big Al” quote listed above? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
P.S. Learn how to grow a successful network marketing business. Secret tips, training, and practical ideas. Free training delivered by email.
Longterm steady progress is a great aim. I think when I first started in MLM I was more interested in these huge bursts of growth and development and I didn’t really care much for the small developments. So I immediately saw things as failing if some drastic development had not occurred. As I have matured I realize that slow and steady progress is a better sign of a healthy business than these drastic periods of growth followed by these periods of dormancy.
Nice and steady is great for a business’s growth, but you must have the patience to stick with it.
This sounds like a great book. I am surprised it is out of print, because from your review, it is full of wonderful information.
It talks a lot about getting leaders in your down line. I believe we can make leaders. We can take followers and teach them how to be leaders. That is just my opinion, but I think we can show many we bring on board how to lead their people, and they will do quite well with it.
What do you think?
I think leaders are found, not made. But that is just my opinion.