To succeed in MLM, you need to keep things simple. The second you make things complicated or overly complex, and your team can’t duplicate what you are doing, you won’t do very well in this business. Your key is to keep things so simple that even an eight year old can do it. If you are the only one who can do what you do, your team will struggle!
This business is about DUPLICATION. And the only way you will have duplication in your business is if your team members have a simple and practical plan to follow. There has to be step-by-step instructions telling them EXACTLY what they need to do, how to do it, and when to do it.
What I want to do in the rest of this post is share some different tips on how to keep things simple in MLM. This is my five step formula for success in network marketing. Let’s get started.
1) Use the Products – I know this might come across as rocket science to some of you, but make sure that you use the products. Be a product of the product. Use all of your company’s products. Order products every month and be your own best customer.
Using the products will give you belief in the products and will help you build your story that you can share with others. Your personal story is your most powerful recruiting tool. If you aren’t using the products, you won’t do well in the business. PERIOD!
Why would you promote a company if you don’t like their products? If the products don’t make sense, neither will the business. If you don’t use the products, why should your prospect use them? Ultimately, you need to find a company with a product line you can get excited about.
Never use a competitor’s product, EVER. If your company makes it, you should use it.
Not using your own products would be like owning a Ford dealership, but driving a Chevy!
2) Talk to Three to Five People Every Day – The real key to success in network marketing is to EXPOSE your business and products to new people every single day. Make a commitment to talk to three to five NEW people every single day, at least six days a week, no matter what. Most network marketers fail because they don’t talk to enough people. You won’t build a big business by only talking to five to ten people per month.
As a part-timer, you should connect with minimum two to ten new people a day. You can do this by phone, email, SKYPE, Facebook or even in person. Your job is to ask them questions to pique their interest and see if they are interested in looking at a third party tool to learn more about what you do. It’s not your job to explain what you do. Let the tools do that.
The surest way to grow your business quickly is to connect with lots of people every day. Talk to 20 to 30 people a day, every day, and you can build a big business in less than one year. This truly is a numbers game and you have to work through the numbers to find your key people.
If you aren’t talking to new people every day, you are only kidding yourself!
3) Show 10 or Sponsor 2 Every Month – I learned this lesson while I was in Amway many years ago. Do this yourself and teach your team to show 10 business presentations each month or sponsor two new business builders every month (minimum), whichever comes first.
Do this consistently for two to five years and you will have the foundation laid to be a top earner in your company. Sponsor two people a month for five years and that is 120 people. How big do you think your team would be if you sponsored that many people?
Assuming you are talking to five people a day, you should find that one in five is open to learning more about what you do. I’m not saying they will join your team, but in most cases one in five will take a closer look. If you do that every day, you would have 30 people each month take a look at your business opportunity.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to show a presentation yourself. I don’t. I use tools to do that for me to remove myself from the equation and free up my time.
4) Get a Few Customers – You don’t need hundreds of personal customers. Start out by getting five to ten customers who order from you every month. Try to do this your first 60 days in the business.
Teach your team members the same thing. All businesses need customers. Having customers gives you immediate profits and keeps you in the game while you sponsor people and build a team.
Your ultimate goal should be to maintain 20 solid customers who order on auto-ship every single month. Of course, you will need to find more than 20 customers to get 20 loyal, repeat order customers, but do it anyway.
How much volume would your team do if every rep had 20 loyal customers? It would blow your mind.
5)Teach Others How to Do The Previous Four Steps – Do the four steps I mentioned above and teach your team to do the same thing. Most people won’t do it, but some will. Work with the ones that will. Give everyone the formula for success and then let them make their own decision as to whether or not they will do it.
The Key to Success
One of the biggest reasons people fail in MLM (and teams don’t duplicate) is because people want to make things overly complicated. Or, they are looking for an easy way to succeed. Or, the new distributors don’t know what to do.
Like I explained above, success in MLM really boils down to using the products, talking to a few people every day, sharing the business opportunity with others every month, getting a few customers and teaching others to do the same thing. It’s about a lot of folks doing a little bit CONSISTENTLY.
Final Thoughts
In summary, these are five ways you can keep things simple in your MLM Business. The key to long-term success in MLM is DUPLICATION. You want a simple, proven system (like the one I explained above) that everyone on your team can follow and succeed. Make the mistake of making things overly complex and your group won’t do anywhere near the results that it could.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below to let us know what you think about this process. 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.
The first tip may be rocket science to some people, but not all. I know individuals who have never used the products that they sell and it reflects in their business. People can spot a person who is truly passionate about a product they’ve used and believe in versus a person who is simply trying to make a product sound good in order to make a sale. I only promote products I use because I want to build a trustworthy relationship with my customers that I think is hard to accomplish when you aren’t a firm believer and user of what you sell.
If you owned a Chevy dealership, but drove a Ford you would be the laughing stock of your town. If you don’t use a product yourself, you shouldn’t sell it.
I agree: keep things simple. If the process is too difficult, or requires too many steps, not only might you lose some of your team members, you might lose interest yourself. I believe that people love processes, whether they admit it or not. (Processes give direction and you know whether you are doing the right thing or not, based on the process.) But once they require too many steps, they become cumbersome and give the impression of suppressing productivity