Today, I want to teach you about the money producing activities in network marketing. This information could be life changing if you actually learn it and APPLY it in your network marketing business.
I learned a long time ago that not all activities are created equal. Some activities grow your network marketing business while other activities completely waste your time.
You have to understand that there is a huge difference between being productive and being busy. Everyone is busy, yet few people are really productive. You can do busy work with your job and not get fired. But, if you are an entrepreneur you will NEVER get paid for busy work. Instead, you have to focus on income producing activities.
I.P.A. baby. Just like the Root Beer.
Since you are more than likely building your network marketing business part-time, you have to learn how to work smart. There is only so much time in a day and you want to make sure you are doing things that will actually make you money and move your business forward.
Let me start by telling you what is NOT a money producing activity:
- Talking with your upline
- Talking with your cross-line
- Watching YouTube videos
- Searching the internet for information
- Cleaning your office
- Spending time on Facebook
- Getting ready to get ready
- Calling the same person 20 times
- Sorting your files or leads
- Sitting at your desk staring at the phone
- THINKING about your business
- Color coding your leads
These are just a few examples of activities that do NOTHING to actually grow your network marketing business, but they do keep you busy. I’m not saying these activities aren’t important. I’m not saying you should never do any of these things.
Just realize you should only do these “non income producing activities” AFTER you focus on the money producing activities in network marketing. They should be done during your non-productive time, ignored, or outsourced.
What Are the Money Producing Activities in Network Marketing?
So what are the money producing activities in network marketing? Here they are, as I see it.
- Prospecting
- Inviting
- Presenting
- Following Up & Closing
- Launching New Distributors
- Promoting Events
- Retailing
I will cover each topic in greater detail below.
# 1: Prospecting
Prospecting includes any activity where you are meeting NEW people to share your products or business opportunity with. Here are a few examples of prospecting.
- Calling leads
- Contacting your warm market
- Handing out drop cards
- Placing ads in newspapers
- Private messaging prospects in Facebook
- Talking with people on LinkedIn about your business
- Attending networking events
It does not include calling your Aunt Nelly for the 40th time to see if she is finally ready to sign up. You should set aside an hour a day for prospecting. At a minimum, your goal should be to have TWO real-world conversations per day about your business opportunity. If possible, learn marketing so you can automate some of this and have people contact you first.
# 2: Inviting
Inviting is one of the most important activities you can focus on if you want to build a big and profitable network marketing business. This is when you invite someone to attend a presentation, watch a webinar, join a conference call, etc. Show me someone who can master this one skill and I can show you someone who will be very successful in their business.
# 3: Presenting
Presenting is a very important step in the process. This is where you share “the complete story” with your prospects. I highly suggest you use a third party tool for all presentations. This includes conference calls, webinars, hotel meetings, videos, etc. Remove yourself from the equation so you can be the messenger, not the message.
# 4: Following Up & Closing
The fortune is in the follow up. You’ve probably heard that before. The truth of the matter is you will probably have to follow up with your prospects 7 to 20 times before they join or buy.
Every time you follow up with someone, they are one step closer to buying or joining. Whatever you do, don’t expect people to sign up on the spot. Most people won’t.
In addition, closing is an important skill to master, if you want to succeed in network marketing. Please do not confuse closing with hard-selling or pressure. That is not what you should do.
Closing is being able to LEAD your prospect to a decision. It’s asking them if they would like to get started. Here are two of my favorite closing questions.
What questions do you need me to answer before we get you started today?
Or…
This sounds like it would be a great fit for you. How about we take five minutes and create your account right now?
There are plenty of books and videos about closing. I highly suggest you study sales/closing, so you can master this skill.
# 5: Launching New Distributors
Launching new distributors RIGHT is vital to your success in the business. Help people start right so they don’t have to start over. When you sponsor someone, tap into their warm market right out the gate. Schedule several launch parties at their home. Help them make their name’s list and invite people to their event. Put them through your getting started training and make sure you do a quality enrollment.
# 6: Promoting Events
We are an event driven business. Attend every event yourself and promote every event like your success depends upon it. It does!
If money is tight, and you need to travel to the event, budget for it. Retail some products so you can make some money to attend. Attending events gives new reps social proof the business works. It helps build their belief in the business. Events are where people make the decision to build a big business.
I’ve often been told that for every person you get to an event, your group will multiply by 5x to 10x within the next 12-months. Of course, individual results will vary, but events fuel your business growth.
# 7: Retailing
MLM is not direct sales. You are not the Avon lady just trying to sell your product. Network marketing is a balance of selling and recruiting. I personally believe everyone should have two to ten legitimate retail customers at all times.
The best way to get customers is to (1) use the products yourself so you have a great product story you can share with others and (2) offer the products to all the people who tell you NO to the business opportunity. I am a big believer in leading with the business, and then defaulting to the products. However, depending on your company, leading with the products might be a viable option.
Take the time and learn how to sell. If you can’t make sales, you won’t be in business long.
Managing Your Time
What I think you should do is spend at least 90% of the time you work your business on money producing activities. For instance, if you are working your business 10-hours per week, you should spend nine hours of that time on money producing activities and the remaining hour on other things.
The more time you can spend on the money producing activities the better off you will be. And the more money you will make.
Do the most important things first and then do the remaining tasks that aren’t as important. A lot of network marketers really fool themselves. They spend all of their time THINKING about their business, or doing low priority tasks, and then they wonder why their business isn’t growing.
Don’t make the same mistake. Focus your time, money and effort on tasks that actually grow your business. Focus on the money producing activities in network marketing.
Final Thoughts
What are your thoughts? What do you think are the money producing activities in network marketing? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a super awesome day. Learn more about my business opportunity.
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.
Thank you so much for sharing so much value . This is fact about network marketing we all should start doing.
This is where it’s at! All too often people spend more time preparing and getting ready to start those money producing activities, but Never actually implement them.
I agree man. It’s easy for life to get in the way for most people.
People may think that training is not a money making activity, but it really is. The more time you spend investing in your team the more they learn. They are then able to take what they’ve learned through training and apply it in a way that makes the business money. Granted, you have to ensure that you are training people who have the dedication and interest otherwise you’ll be costing yourself by investing time and even money in training materials on people who have no real desire to do anything.
Training is important, as long as you don’t over train your team.
You hit a nail directly on the head with that statement Chuck. I have been involved in sales for a good part of my life. I have watched sales people get over trained and they are in worse shape than the ones who were under trained. In the home improvement company I worked for, sales people went through a short training. They then went with an experienced person for 2 demos, and they were then on their own. It worked great. Along comes this “hot shot” manager who wanted a longer training. It was a failure. Sales plummeted and sales people quit, all because there was too much training.
What people really need is more motivation, not more training.
This is something that everyone, not just network marketers need to realize. I often find myself doing things that are not money makers. I have learned to use time management strategies and use my time wisely. I believe one of the first priorities in network marketing should be getting customers. When people use the products or services, it makes it easier to get them to want to be distributors.
These were some great reminders. As business people, we always need to be aware if we are doing things that will make us money.
Focus on the right activities so you can work smart and make more money at the same time.
There are many things that need to be done that are not money making activities. I highly recommend outsourcing as many as possible so we can stay focused on the projects that are actually creating profits. Some things such as blog posts, tweets, cleaning the office, and other things can be outsourced. Yes, they cost money, but if you are spending more time on money making activities, it will be worth spending that money. If you figure out your worth per hour, and the hours you spend doing non-essential things, I believe you would agree.
Customers are what really make the business so they should be a priority. A good solid group of customers can make you more money than many distributors in some instances. Some people try so hard to get as many distributors as they can that they neglect the customers, and what good is a bunch of people willing to sell the products if you have no one to sell the products to?
I agree that everyone rep needs customers, and should have lots of them. It’s great to recruit as well, but most companies place no emphasis on customer acquisition. If there are no customers it isn’t a real business.