Today, I’d like to share 20 simple tips on how to develop a long-term MLM Income. These are “guidelines” I’ve done my best to follow on my journey to becoming a six-figure earner.
Keep in mind, I’ve broken many of these rules when I didn’t know what I was doing. I learned mostly from the School of Hard Knocks. I hope you will study these tips and do your best to follow them as you grow your network marketing business. Keep in mind these tips are listed in no certain order.
How to Develop a Long-Term MLM Income
# 1: Always set the example and do the things you want your team members to do. Never ask your team members to do things you aren’t willing to do yourself. Be the most consistent and persistent person on your team. Be the type of person you want to sponsor and be the type of sponsor you wish you had. Set the example so high that even if your team members do 1/10th what you do, you would be happy.
# 2: Share your vision with your team and prospects as often as possible. Let them see the big picture and how they fall into that picture. Talk about the products and side hustle money but put your major focus on where the company is going, how fast it is growing, and the potential it offers.
# 3: Keep things simple and follow a system that works. Teach that system to everyone on your team. Do not deviate. Do not have a “flavor of the week” and teach a different business building strategy each week. That will only confuse people. Keep things so simple even an 8-year old could do it. Remember, confused reps do nothing!
# 4: Find ways to recognize everyone, even for the smallest of things. Do not just recognize the high achievers and top reps. Recognize the behaviors you want everyone to do more of. Recognize people when they get a no, when they get a no show, when someone joins their team, when they make a sale, when they rank up, when they help a team member, etc.
# 5: Create a team culture where people feel appreciated, respected, and important. Remember, everyone wants to feel important and belong to something bigger than themselves. Create a positive environment where people are encouraged, appreciated, and recognized, and will want to stay, even if they stop building their business.
# 6: Have contests with your team whenever possible. Have contests ANYONE can win. Don’t just recognize the top performers. Example contests might include get 5 No’s this week, hand out 10 drop cards, mail 20 postcards this week, hand out two samples, etc. The prizes don’t have to be expensive. Even recognition is fine.
# 7: Serve others. Find out what your team members want and help them get it. Don’t expect others to want what you want. Ask each person what their goal is with the business and help them reach that goal (if they let you). Never guilt trip or pressure someone because they aren’t as committed as you are.
# 8: Have fun whenever possible. Spend time with your team. Teams that play together stay together. Plus, no one wants another boss. Take your business seriously, but do not take yourself to seriously.
# 9: Keep your ego in check. Never forget what it was like to be a brand-new rep. Do not let your rank or success go to your head. Never think you are better than someone else. Stay humble and always be approachable.
# 10: Train people on the products. The more you educate people about the products, the more products your team will purchase, and more frequently. Incorporate product training into everything you do. On every conference call, webinar, or event, spend at least a few minutes sharing product testimonials and doing some type of product training. This will create a surge in sales and commissions.
# 11: Get people working on their own personal development. One of the best things you can do to develop a long-term MLM Income is to encourage each person to work on their personal development. Encourage people to read books, watch videos, attend events, counsel with their coach, and listen to audio training programs. This will help improve their attitude, mindset, and skills, which will in return make them a better business builder.
# 12: Practice and teach edification. It’s extremely important that you teach edification if you want to build a big MLM Team. Edify your upline and company leadership team. Edify people on your team, cross-line leaders and even other companies. Make it a goal to never speak negatively of anyone. When there is an issue, go upline. Never, ever share negativity with your downline.
# 13: Launch new reps properly. Signing up new people is great, but if you don’t help them launch their business properly, you will have a revolving door in their business. Walk every new rep through making a name’s list, completing the getting started training, and sponsoring their first two people. Instill a sense of urgency in everyone in your team.
# 14: Taproot and drive depth. Typically, your best people will show up in depth. Drive each leg of your organization two to three levels deeper every month and do not stop. Make it your end goal to drive two to five legs hundreds of levels deep. This is how you find your best people and create long-term security in your business.
# 15: Find and develop leaders. Keep your eyes and ears open for leaders and potential leaders in your genealogy. Scan your back office daily to identify “up and comers” and reach out to them. Treat them as if you personally sponsored them. Build a friendship with them. Leaders are so rare, that when you find one, you don’t want to let them slip through the cracks.
# 16: Be unified with other leaders. Do not leg your ego get in the way. Make sure you and the other leaders in your team are unified and are teaching the same things (and edifying each other). Do not let petty personality things destroy your group. If there is an issue with another leader, talk with them in private, apologize, and fix it. The last thing you want is your group to fall apart over something petty.
# 17: Train your team. Train, train, train. You really can’t over train your team. Schedule a weekly training webinar or conference call each week. Have a standardized getting started training. Have monthly and quarterly live events. Do SKILLS training whenever possible. The more trained reps you have on your team, the more freedom you have as a leader.
# 18: Teach everyone to service two to five customers. How much would your team grow if every rep had two to five retail customers? The answer: A LOT. Teach retailing to your team. It shouldn’t be their primary focus, but all reps need at least two to five retail customers. The commissions from this should cover the cost of their auto-ship.
# 19: Make every leadership decision based on what helps the “little guy” win. Never forget the little guy on your team. Make sure every decision you and your leaders make is in that person’s best interest. There are no top earners if there are no little guys.
# 20: Have events. We are an event-driven business. Have team events whenever possible. Never miss an event yourself. Promote events to your team and get as many people as possible to attend each event. The more people you have at events, the more stable and secure (and profitable) your business is.
Bonus Tip # 1
Help as many people as possible get their products for free each month. Teach people how to earn enough money to cover the cost of their auto-ship order each month. Assuming people love the products, and it isn’t costing them any “out of pocket money” each month, there is a high likelihood they will keep ordering for many months to come. Imagine what your group would look like if hundreds, even thousands, of people were earning enough money to get their products for free each month?
Bonus Tip # 2
I probably should have shared this tip as part of my top 20 tips, but better late than never. If you want to develop a long-term MLM Income, it is vital that you join the right company. Most companies in our industry do not stand the test of time. It seems like each day another company goes out of business and five more open up.
I highly encourage you to work with an established company with a solid reputation, or if you are working with a younger company, do a lot of studying on the company’s ownership. Look at their reputation, past experience in the industry, and financing. Of course, there is no guarantee any company will survive the test of time, but you can drastically increase your chances of finding a good company by doing your due diligence up front.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, these are 20 things to help you develop a long-term MLM Income. What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with me? 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.
Being good to your customers can certainly go a long way. In my clothes selling business, I offer discounts to customers who have shopped with me more than twice and of course they keep coming back. People like to feel valued and when they do feel valued they will invest more into your business. And the likelihood of them singing your praises to others will dramatically increase which means new customers for you. I can attest, it is a great strategy.
I agree that it is important to develop relationships with the recruits on your team. See them as people, not just numbers, and let them see the same of you. I never thought it was a good idea to recruit people that you would not speak to otherwise. You want to have a long term, positive relationship with your team members, and this will only happen if you put time and effort into that relationship. It is far better to find and retain a good recruit than constantly replace the ones who simply went away because they never thought you cared.
Make a friend, meet their friends and make money. That’s how it works. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.