Today, I want to share some simple tips on how to find more MLM Retail Customers. I should start out by telling you that customers are the lifeblood of your network marketing business. Without people buying and using the products and services each month, your business won’t make money (or survive).
Many distributors are taught to focus ALL of their efforts on recruiting other distributors. I think that’s a big mistake for two reasons. First of all, a large majority of the people you approach will not be interested in your business opportunity, but many of them “would have” been interested in your product line.
Most people are not entrepreneurs, but everyone is a consumer.
Second, when people do join your business opportunity, most of them will quit within 90-days or less and stop ordering the products when they quit.
If you build your network marketing business the traditional way you will have a revolving door in your business. I know you don’t want that.
The best way remedy that problem is to be product focused. Instead, of spending all your time looking for distributors to recruit, look for people who will be interested in the products.
Personally, I’d rather have 100 happy customers who reorder each month because they like the products than have 100 people join the business just to make money.
Of those 100 people who join as a distributor, approximately 80 to 90 of them will be gone within a year! And when they quit the business, I can promise you that they will stop ordering the products.
People who join a network marketing company because they LOVE the products will be your best distributors.
Never forget that.
The key to finding more MLM Retail Customers is to be product focused and have a game-plan! You need a simple and effective marketing strategy you can follow. Here are ten of my top tips about how to find more MLM Retail Customers.
Top 10 Ways to Find More MLM Retail Customers
1. Focus On Your Target Market
Regardless of what your upline tells you, not everyone is in your target market.
If everyone is a prospect, no one is a prospect.
One of the best things you can do is make a list of the “types of people” most likely to use your products or services. If you already have a bunch of customers you can survey them and look for similarities.
Once you know the demographics of the people most likely to buy what you are selling, focus your marketing and advertising efforts on reaching more people in this demographic.
For example, my company offers natural and organic products, plus coffee and CBD. My target market is people who actively buy natural and organic products, not someone who shops at the Dollar Store and only buys the cheapest thing they can find.
That’s why I target people who currently buy natural and organic products, people who already buy weight loss products, and live an active lifestyle.
Trying to sell natural and organic products to someone who doesn’t buy similar items is like trying to sell a steak to a vegetarian.
2. Give Away Lots of Samples
Samples are your friend. Assuming your product is good, consider giving away lots of samples. Don’t just give your samples to a random person on the street though. Have a conversation with the person first. Make a connection with them first.
Pre-qualify them to see if they might be interested in learning more about your products. Only after you get their contact information should you give them a sample. If your products really are good, your samples will do most of the selling for you.
3. Know Your Product Line
Use your own products. Be your own best customer. I shouldn’t have to tell you that, but there are lots of reps in our industry who don’t even use their own product line. That’s like owning a Ford dealership and driving a Chevy.
The more you use your company’s products, and the more you know about them, the better off you will be. You want to develop your own product story and then you simply want to share that story with others.
You don’t need to know every detail about the products, nor should you. That being said, you do need basic fundamental knowledge about what each product does, what ailment it’s for, and a testimonial or story you can share.
4. Hand Out Lots of Catalogs and Business Cards
Always keep catalogs, brochures and business cards with you. They are your friend! Once again, don’t just give these materials away to anyone. They cost you money so you want to be smart about it. Have a conversation with someone first, before you give them a catalog, brochure or business card.
Pre-qualify them and see if they have an interest to learn more. Only then should you hand them a business card, brochure or catalog. Also, make sure you get their contact information so you can follow-up with them at your convenience.
5. Focus On Finding One Customer at a Time
This might sound crazy, but it’s true. How do you get 100 customers? You do it one person at a time. Make it a goal to find at least one new customer every week, no matter what. Talk to five or ten people a week and you shouldn’t have a problem doing that.
6. Create a Solid Referral Program
Your happy customers will be a great source of referrals, if you do things right. Your goal is to over-deliver and provide awesome customer service. You want your customers to know that you appreciate them. As you find new customers, launch a referral program where you give people free products or cash bonuses for referring others to you. Some folks will naturally give you referrals, but most people won’t do so unless you give them a reason to.
7. Set Up at Local Events
I love events. The beauty of using events to find new customers is that people come to you! You don’t have to chase anyone! If you can find a high traffic event, you could potentially meet with several hundred people in one day. You could sell products at the event or just focus on getting leads. If you can’t afford to set up at a local event, you can attend as a spectator and network with vendors and other attendees. Or, you could split the cost of a booth with a team member.
8. Leverage Home Parties
Home parties are a wonderful way to get lots of new customers. You can have one of your friends host a home party. You set up a product display, do a product demo, answer questions and take orders. With home parties you can work smart and meet with five to ten people at once. This is one of the best ways to get lots of new MLM Retail Customers fast.
9. Create an Elevator Speech
All network marketers need an elevator speech. This is a fifteen second to thirty-second speech that explains what you do.
You want an elevator speech so you can explain what you do clearly and concisely.
Here’s an example.
“I’m a wellness coach and I help people get healthy and lose weight.” Another example would be “I help women on a budget find the right makeup and skin care products to make them look and feel beautiful.”
Put your elevator speech on your business card and use it every time you meet someone new.
10. Video Marketing
I think video marketing is a powerful way to get more MLM Retail Customers. You can do product reviews and product demos online. You can set up your own YouTube Channel and post one or two new videos each week. Show people how the products work and explain the features and benefits of using the products. DISCLAIMER: Check with your company first to make sure you can do this. Also, don’t make any crazy medical claims.
Why Retail?
Before I close out this article, I’d like to take a moment to talk about why you should retail products in your business. Here is what another blogger had to say about it.
There’s a lot of profit to be made from selling your network marketing products as the margins for customer sales are great. In average, you can earn about 30% on each product your customers buy. This means that if you’re not building a solid customer base for your MLM products, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.
Also worth mentioning is that up to a certain point, in most compensation plans, you’ll make far more money by having customers than by having the same amount of distributors. Percentually, the commissions from customer retail sales in network marketing are way higher than the ones earned from your team’s volume, because companies try to incentivize distributors to get more customers. Your team’s volume needs to be very high in order to compensate for that and, in the early stages of your business, it’s won’t be.
Let’s talk numbers using the average numbers in the industry. For example, in a company that pays 30% on customer sales, on a total volume of $10 000 you’d earn $3 000. But if that $10 000 was instead team volume, it would usually qualify you to a rank where you’d get about $1000 to $1500, considering the average compensation plan out there. That’s half of what you’d make on customer sales! Feel free to do the math on your own compensation plan and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, as you rank higher and higher, those percentages change, volume increases, and you get paid more and more on team volume, but that’s further down the road. In the beginning, the real money in MLM is in getting customers for your products!
Source: Ernest Kulcsar
The bottom line is that retailing gives you IMMEDIATE money, is very profitable, and helps legitimize your business.
Final Thoughts
There you have it folks. These are my top 10 ways to find more MLM Retail Customers. Looking back over my past 17+ years in this great industry, one of my biggest regrets is not being product focused.
Just promoting a business opportunity is a waste of time. Rather than trying to sponsor your next heavy hitter, focus your efforts on finding people who love your products.
If you do that right, your business will naturally grow and you will have much higher retention rates in your business. You will also make more money and have more fun. Just remember, if the products don’t make sense neither will the business.
What are your thoughts? How do you find more MLM Retail Customers? 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.
It’s cheaper to do business with a current or former customer than it is to go out and find a new customer. Never forget that. Keep in touch with your customers every month with a newsletter. Send them thank you notes. Give them a call every month. Provide world class customer service. Make them feel important and appreciated. Do that and you will retain your customers for a longer period of time.
Getting Customers
• Every rep should have at least 10 personal customers and ideally much more than that
• Create a referral program
• Treat your customers like gold
• Identify a target market who is most likely to be interested in your products and focus on them
• Hand out free samples
• Use company tools, such as brochures and flyers
• Be a product of the product
Even if you show someone the plan and they want to join, if you don’t ask them to BUY they won’t sign up. The same things holds true with your prospective customers. Whenever you give a presentation ask them to buy.
People need to be told EXACTLY what to do next. You can simply say “what questions do you need answered before we get you started today?” That is my closing statement. I don’t believe in pressuring or hard-selling anyone, but if you don’t ask for the sale you typically won’t get it!
One of the most fun techniques used in the high-quality skin care direct sales is to offer a free facial. People respond to this with the most positive feedback. Who doesn’t want a free pampering time? This gives them a relaxed atmosphere to interact with the product in a no pressure context.
I agree. Using free samples is a great way to strike up new business.
You mentioned video marketing at the end of this post. I believe this is the newest form of marketing that still isn’t being used to its full capacity. I am finding many youngsters who have started playing with stop animation, and I think it could be used in video marketing and be highly accepted. Stop animation is simply using objects such as small dolls (barbie, Gi Joe, Lego pieces, etc) doing small movements that can be used in video. If a network marketer was to develop a unique stop animation video, I bet it would work.
Video marketing is definitely a way to get new customers. Your video can’t be a sales pitch though. You want to focus on educating people.
Samples are great. People LOVE free things and I have found it is the best way to really get people to see the value in your product. As hard as I try to explain it I can never get people to really understand a product unless they experience it for themselves. So I always provide a bit of information on the benefits of the product and what sets it apart and couple that with samples so they can see for themselves. It is a winning combination. Saves me from having to convince anyone to do anything because the product speaks for itself.
Using samples is a great way to get more customers!
It is a great thing to hand out samples. As you know, I am a writer and have over 50 books published. Almost all of those books are in Kindle format also. There are occasions when I provide the eBooks for free for 1 or 2 days. I often find my sales skyrocketing after doing this. When we give free items, many people feel an obligation to purchase something.
Great post Chuck.
It’s true, you reap what you sow. Giving out some free books is a good strategy to build up goodwill with people and get your name out there at the same time.
You also mentioned a referral program. This also works very well too. When a customer knows that they can get the product they love for free by getting another customer, they will jump through rings of fire to find someone. Free is one of those words that can make people do absolutely crazy things.
I really like the part about 1 customer at a time. It is easy to get into a mindset of thinking we need say 50 customers. The stress makes it hard to get 1 customer. If we keep it at 1 at a time….no stress.
Yes, getting referrals from happy customers is a great way to strike up more business.
I have always wondered if referral programs were really successful. I mean I would love to know how many customers a business really gains via a referral program to determine if it was really worth implementing. But I guess if a product is really worthwhile people would go above and beyond to recruit others for the free incentive.
It is a short one or two sentences at the end of a presentation or just a talk. “Do you have friends or family that may be interested in these?” It may surprise you just how many referrals you will get. If you create a habit of asking this of everyone whether they purchase or not, you are apt to get many leads. People talk to each other. They may remember Aunt Martha was looking for a way to lose weight, or Uncle Jerry was searching for a better hand cleaner. It never hurts to ask because the worse thing they can say is, “no, I don’t know anyone.”
Affiliate marketing is very popular, so I don’t see why referral programs wouldn’t be popular as well. It’s the same concept.