I know this has absolutely NOTHING to do with network marketing, but she IS my baby sister! Check it out!

As a counselor for network marketers in all types of MLM organizations, I have found that building a strong and viable downline fast can be the difference between great success and tiny MLM bonus checks. Additionally, I have found that the overwhelming reason for those that are successful is that these MLMers have taken the time to qualify their prospects prior to making their opportunity pitch. Qualifying is a fantastic way to save your time, your money, and your sanity, so that you can focus on what really matters in your MLM organization.

What does it mean to “qualify?”

The term “qualify” as it applies to network marketing refers simply to the process of determining whether or not the prospect is a good fit for your organization. On one level, qualifying is listening to the prospect to identify his or her needs and desires. It is discovering whether the prospect is truly interested in your opportunity, and, if so, what the prospect hopes to gain from participation. On another level, qualifying is identifying the prospect’s readiness to move forward. It’s determining whether you have a potential “eager beaver” or merely a tire-kicker. In short, qualifying is determining what category to place your prospect in, and you will see that this will have a great effect on what you do with the prospect from this point forward.

Why does it pay to qualify your prospects?

Prospecting is the single most important part of building your network marketing organization, and if you’re serious about building your downline fast, you will spend more time prospecting than any other active task you complete. Therefore, it makes the utmost sense to become efficient at prospecting so that you don’t waste your time. What do I mean by “wasting your time?” Here are some activities that, unfortunately, many network marketers continue to engage in that produce very little return on investment:

• Distributing flyers in public places
• Cold-calling random people using the phone book
• Pasting leaflets on car windshields
• Calling multiple family meetings to pitch your MLM opportunity
• Spamming your online social network friends with links to your MLM opportunity

If you are engaging in this type of prospecting, I urge you to cease and desist! Not only is it annoying to the people you come in contact with, it is absolutely a waste of your prospecting time and efforts. The people you come in contact with while engaging in these activities are not qualified in the least, which means that your chances of actually sponsoring these folks are slim to none. You are going to work extremely hard for little to no results, and your plan for building your downline fast will go right out the window. On the other hand, if you focused your efforts on targeting only the people that are truly interested in your opportunity, your chances of building your downline fast improve exponentially.

Qualifying is also about being a great salesperson. Let’s face it people. If you are involved in network marketing in any way and you intend to rise in rank from bottom feeder to top dog earner, chances are that you are not going to get there by simply sponsoring or selling to your friends and family members, so you had better become a good salesperson. The best salespeople use qualifying questions to learn more about the prospect so that an effective sales pitch can be created, and an effective sales pitch is one that presents the prospect with a product or service that will solve (or prevent) some problem the prospect has. Yet how can we show the prospect that our wares will help them if we do not understand what will motivate them to buy? We learn this through qualifying, because many of our best customers eventually become our downline reps.

Your chances of getting a "yes" are higher the deeper the prospect is.

Finally, it pays to qualify your prospects because a qualified prospect is further along in the sales funnel. As network marketers, we have a higher probability of making a sale or getting a sign-up the deeper the prospect is within the sales funnel because the prospect (by now, he or she is a “lead”) has already let you know that he or she is looking for what you have. You spend less time trying to convince the person to sign up, which frees you to recruit and train more and builds your downline fast.

How do we qualify a prospect?

Qualifying is done largely in part by asking the right questions. What are the “right questions?” The right questions are those that help you identify interested parties so that you are only pitching to those who are “ready to buy” so to speak. Remember to remain focused on the end result, which is showing your prospect how your MLM opportunity solves his or her problem. But be careful that you remain easy-going and allow your conversation to flow smoothly; otherwise, you run the risk of sounding like you’re gathering information for a survey (and survey-takers are not very endearing!).

The bottom line is this: qualifying your prospects is an excellent tool for building your downline fast. You make easy sales, get easy sign-ups, and create space for a positive experience for everyone involved. But as usual, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!

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People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.

Vince Lombardi
American Football Coach

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When it comes to network marketing prospecting, I’m not very different from many folks out there. Between my personal interactions and my online marketing, I probably “show the plan” about 2 dozen times a day. And just like the average network marketer, I am confronted with the following statement again and again:

“I’m just not into doing pyramid schemes.”

Now, normally, I respond to this comment by educating the person about legitimate MLM companies versus illegal pyramid or Ponzi schemes. But recently, while speaking with a family member about my business opportunity, the similarities between his job as a salesman for a semiconductor firm and my network marketing compensation plan became apparent. During our conversation, I became aware of a startling revelation, and here it is:

If you have a job, you are already participating in a pyramid organization!

I mean, think about it. The only major difference between my cousin’s sales job and my MLM company is that he has absolutely no leverage to build his income, and I have unlimited leverage. What do I mean? If he wants to make more money at his job, he has to go out and sell more. When I want to make more money, I can sell more product OR I can recruit other distributors into my organization and teach them to sell more product. I can leverage the time, experience, talent, and skills of others and reap the benefits of doing so; my cousin has no distributors. He only has himself. So if he wants to increase his income, it’s all up to him.

One of the major complaints about MLM is the idea that the people on the bottom level don’t make much money. But this is not very different from any average American job. In corporate America, the people at the highest levels of the company make the big bucks. That’s just the way it is. The CEO is compensated on a much higher level than, say, the guy in the mail room. And all the people in between the mail room clerk and the CEO make varying wages dependent upon the value their job brings to the company. But the huge difference between the average company and my MLM company is, for the most part, the only way for the mail room clerk to move up the ladder to a higher salary is for someone above him to create a position for him, either by firing someone else and re-allocating that person’s spot, or creating a brand new position and then choosing Mail Room Guy from a list of other competing applicants. Mail Room Guy has very little control over his ability to ascend the ranks in this company.

On the other hand, if I want to ascend the ranks, I can sell more product or sponsor more distributors and teach them to sell more product. My ability to ascend is completely up to me.  I don’t have to wait for a position to be created for me before I can get out of the “mail room.”  Furthermore, I don’t have to compete with my colleagues for a limited number of middle- and upper-management positions.  Upper-level positions in multi-level marketing are created by the reps themselves, not by some number-cruncher in a suit.

Another complaint is that much of an MLM organization’s profits are built on the efforts of the underlings.  Again, if that doesn’t sound like corporate America, I don’t know what does.  Let’s use my cousin’s job again as an example.  He’s a salesperson for a semiconductor company, and he reports to one of twelve area managers.  These 12 area managers report to 4 territory managers, who report to the VP Director of Sales.  And this VP reports directly to the CEO.  Now, tell me.  Within this convoluted organization, who is actually driving revenue?  In other words, who is actually bringing money into the organization?  Answer: the salespeople, like my cousin; and yet, all those folks up above him are drawing their salaries (which are much larger than what my cousin brings in) from his efforts.  Not one single person up above my cousin’s level is actually responsible for SELLING!

Now, parallel this with my MLM organization.  In my organization, every single person in my upline is responsible for driving a minimum amount of revenue each month.  Every single person has to be selling, teaching, sponsoring, and/or recruiting.  Which one sounds more like riding the backs of the underlings to you?

And I can go on and on with the parallels between traditional businesses and MLM organizations.

The bottom line is this: MLM has always gotten a bum rap for being a “pyramid” type organization.  But if you have a job, you already work for a pyramid organization, and chances are, that job brings you financial value in the form of income, just like my MLM company does for me.  So the next time your friend or loved one asks you to join his/her “pyramid” group, try to have more of an open mind about it.  After all, you’re probably already in one!

And, as usually, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!

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Over the years, there have been many tidbits of advice, both small and large, that I have learned from others and have incorporated into my MLM success plan. But one of the most important came during my research into the MLM industry in general as a viable income opportunity. During this time, I learned to use numbers, or statistics, to my advantage.

I absolutely love statistics. The reason I love statistics is that they are just numbers that represent data that’s been collected; and once the data has been collected, their meaning can be interpreted in a number of ways. The same statistics can be used to both prove and disprove a point, depending on the author of the report and the audience being targeted. Let me show you what I mean…

Statistic: Over $100 million U. S. was lost during the Stock Market Crash of 1929

Now, there are several ways you could use this statistic, depending upon how you want to sway or validate the opinions of the reader. You could focus on the losses, and use the data to promote a bias against the stock market. Or, you could look deeper at this statement and focus on the gains. Money is NEVER lost; it merely changes hands. $100 million didn’t just disappear into thin air. Although many Americans lost their fortunes during this event, quite a few Americans (and some foreigners as well) got RICH during this time. Can you see how the same statistic can be interpreted in two different ways?

Now, let’s get back to our MLM success stats. Here’s a great one:

MLM Success Stat #1: 97% of all new MLM distributors fails to produce a profit.

If you are biased against the MLM industry, you could use this statistic to “prove” that MLM is not a viable income opportunity. You could further suggest that people should steer clear of anything remotely related to MLM. But the statistic says 97% of new reps. What about the other 3%? If MLM is not a viable opportunity, then how do you explain the other 3% who ARE making money? What are THEY doing that makes their results so atypical, and can it be duplicated? Maybe if more reps had the “Yes, I can” attitude, maybe the number of successful MLMers would be higher. Just a thought.

Here’s another one I like:

MLM Success Stat #2: The average rep will only sponsor 3-4 down line distributors before they give up.

This statistic is significant because many compensation plans require a minimum of 20 front line reps in order to ascend to a rank high enough to draw a decent monthly income. (When I use the term “decent,” I mean a replace-my-current-income type of compensation.) Many MLM nay-sayers use this statistic to suggest that the compensation plan is designed for failure. But again, where they see doom and gloom, I see opportunity. Because of this stat, I approached my MLM opportunity more cautiously. Rather than run out and try to sponsor every person I ever said hello to, I developed a target market, and then qualified my prospects BEFORE making the pitch, and I encourage my distributors to do the same. Where it typically requires 20 sponsored reps to get to level 5 in my company, my distributors get there with just 3 to 4. Again, this is just one more example of how a statistic that was designed to dissuade me actually served me.

This last statistic is my absolute favorite:

MLM Success Stat #3: 97% of all MLM recruits quit within their first 90 days of signing up

Those who are biased against MLM use this statistic most often to argue for staying away from MLM. After all, any sane person might turn away if they knew that, even if they sponsored 100 people in their first month, 97 of them wouldn’t be around at their 3-month anniversary. But I took this statistic and used it to my advantage. I created a fast-track plan designed to get new recruits to a level 5 distributor within their first 90 days of signing up. I take advantage of the emotional momentum to get new reps excited about our products and our income opportunity, and I help the reps back up their claims with tangible results.

The bottom line is this: MLM success begins with the decision to be successful. But once you’ve made that commitment, it helps to understand that MLM is a numbers game, and if you know the numbers, you can use them to suit the purpose you lay out for yourself and your down line reps. And, as usual, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!

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Howdy do, all! It’s great to be back in Internet Land after a short sabbatical into the realm of Face-to-Face recruiting. And with all the great people I’ve met and all the fantastic conversations I’ve had with folks lately, I’ve got fresh article material for the next six months, easily!

One of the more heated debates I’ve had was over the classification of network marketing as “the perfect business.” My people, I hate to burst your bubble, but you all that have been reading my articles for a while should be used to this by now, so here goes…

MLM is absolutely NOT a business!

Now, before all of you start abandoning my downline, let me explain what I mean. I am a huge fan of Robert Kiyosaki, a fellow Phoenician, and the author of the New York Times Bestseller, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. In one of his other books, The Cashflow Quadrant, he talks about the four ways that people generate money: as employees, self-employed specialists, business owners, and investors. Kiyosaki cautions the reader to make a distinction between self-employed specialists and business owners, and he says that many self-employed people believe they are business owners, when they are not. According to Kiyosaki, if your business REQUIRES your presence in order to continue to run effectively, you are self-employed; but if your endeavor will go on even when you are not there, then you’ve got a business. Here’s a simple way to look at it: The late Henry Ford owned his own business. The late Jack Kevorkian owned his own job.

Now, back to the MLM connection. The average MLMer does not own their own business — they own their own job. Due to the incredibly high attrition rate that is inherent to the industry, an MLMer that wants to experience full-time success MUST continue to prospect and sponsor. Even if it’s just one distributor every quarter, or one distributor for every one that quits, if you don’t continue to add new blood to the organization, it doesn’t matter how large it is, it will implode!

MLM is probably closer to being categorized as an investment than anything else. And what do we do with investments? We buy low, hold for a time, and sell high when the market shows signs of change. We mine the gold out of the opportunity. We flip this house! We have a great time sharing wonderful products and services with friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, and others, and our MLM companies pay us for spreading the word. Then we take that money and move it to another vehicle that moves faster and more steadily with less potential of internal spontaneous combustion.

But understand this. I LOVE network marketing, and I am extremely proud to be a positive part of so many financial and spiritual lives that have changed for the better. But rest assured. I have no illusions about what type of financial vehicle my MLM endeavor happens to be. I’m not one of those people riding around in a Chrysler 300 pretending that it’s a Bentley. I know what kind of car I’m driving, I know what it’s designed to do, and I respect its capabilities wholeheartedly. I know that I have to invest time and energy into it in order for it to perform.

So why am I sharing all this with you good people. Here’s the reason: I’m hoping that this revelation is not an epiphany for you. I’m hoping that you are like me, and you have come to this MLM opportunity with a full understanding of what it is, how it really works, and what it can do for your financial life. However, if you have been shocked by what I’ve shared here, and now you “see the light,” at least you can proceed forward with a newfound sense of understanding and acceptance.

The bottom line is this: Stop treating your MLM opportunity like it’s a business. It’s not, and if you insist on doing so, I guarantee you a world of disappointment. Respect your MLM business for what it truly is: an opportunity to leverage your talents and relationships to create an incredible income stream that can be used to uplift and expand your financial well-being, and the well-being of your downline. And, as usual, don’t just take my word for it…take it for checking!

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“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight”

Jim Rohn
Motivational Speaker & Author

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A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.

Henry Ford
Founder, Ford Motor Company

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“You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.”

Zig Ziglar
American Author, Salesperson, and Motivational Speaker

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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
American Civil Rights Activist

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