It seems that the average person who grows tired of the rat race and decides to build an internet business has everything going for them when they start. The market is wide open, which it is. Training and information is everywhere, and it is. Hundreds of Millions, if not billions of people are seeking products and online opportunities at any given time, and they definitely are. Millions of great products to promote and numerous excellent business opportunities are all over, and this too is true. Since all of these things are true what is the problem? Why do only a handful of all the people who try have any level of income over expenditures, what we normally call profits?
This question can best be answered by separating two business models right away. There is a significant difference between the affiliate/product sales model, and the building a business model. Affiliate sales does not require personal contact to the degree that building a business opportunity or mlm organization does, simply because it is easier to sell a product than to convince someone to join your opportunity out of the thousands that exist. Some similarities do exist, however, and I will talk about those later in this article. For now, let’s focus on building an organization.
Multi-level Marketing, or MLM as it’s called for short, is perfectly legitimate, legal in all 50 US states, and most countries world-wide. It is simply a company’s way of building a sales force without having to pay everyone a set amount, or consider them employees. This actually helps everyone involved, since there is no huge tax obligation on the business beyond revenue (no unemployment taxes, or payroll taxes, or worker’s compensation taxes, and so on save for a small, administrative and technical staff) more money can be paid directly to the representatives. For the representatives, no contracted obligation, no specific sales methodology, and no direct accountability give them massive amounts of freedom that being an employee does not. All in all, it is a vastly superior system to any form of “job.” I bring this up because part of the communication problem that plagues internet marketers is not really understanding MLM and how it operates. Since it is difficult, if not impossible, to explain what one doesn’t understand, reps are put at a disadvantage right away.
The next issue is more distressing, and probably the largest issue on the web. Site after site after site says this damaging little lie: “No Selling Necessary!” or some variation of it. That’s a clever way of saying that their website will give the sales pitch, but no matter what, you absolutely have to sell yourself as a sponsor! Why should someone join you in business? What can you offer them? What will you help them achieve? Will you guide them? Educate them? Provide support? And will you hold them accountable? Will you keep them on their toes? Will you not let them fail? These are more important than any website presentation, and you must be able to communicate these things to a prospect. The good news here is that these things are almost always available through your company, if it’s reputable, and all you need to do is plug them into the team support. You must be able to answer these questions, however, so research them. Find out where the support is and use it yourself. Know the product in case a specific question is asked. Explain to them that you will be there for them at any time (within reason) and the harder they work the better they will do. And if a prospect seems too needy or difficult to pin down, they may just not be a good fit for you. Recognizing this, too, is part of good communication.
Don’t be afraid of questions and communication. Take this approach: Put yourself in the prospects place. What would you want from your business? From your sponsor? In a product? In a compensation plan. Once you can answer these questions for yourself, you can answer them for anyone else. Have fun with this! Take pride in what you are promoting and don’t hide behind a website. Put yourself where people can find you, because they will never try to look for you! In other words, make your presence known!
As for affiliate sales, the process is similar on the front end. Build a contact list and market to it. But on the back end, unless you are doing affiliate sales, and are also building an organization, that’s where the similarity ends for the most part. The exception is this: after you sell a product it is important to thank the buyer, and explain that you will answer any questions for them. Here you can truly allow the product to sell itself.
To sponsor people into an opportunity will require you to be a good communicator. Practice now, every day. Know all there is to know about the product, the systems, the training. Be prepared for any question. And when dealing with prospects, elicit their outcome! What is it they want? Then once you know this, show them how your opportunity is what they have been seeking. That’s when the questions will come, and when the questions come, you know they are interested. At that point, just walk them through the sign-up process and you are done.
