Would you like to drop in on some candid remarks regarding internet marketing, comp plans, uplines, community building, company loyalty and branding?
I’m going over my responses to an internal discussion about MLM and Team Building and wanted to share an edited version that you may find interesting if not helpful. So you don’t get confused, the edited comments begin with me responding to another person’s thoughts about the success rates of “trip wire” internet marketing systems, then the comments evolve to other subjects.
Let’s go into the Admiral Hardy Pub and have a talk over a beer. – London 1989 photo by Challen Yee.
EDITED: A CANDID DISCUSSION ON MLM
[ABOUT INTERNET MARKETING]
You spoke about a model of internet marketing using the ‘trip wire’ method and that is something that I have seen many times. That hasn’t been something that I have gotten involved in, I almost did but I decided it was took too much extra time for me, but that’s just a personal thing since I have so many fires burning. You also mentioned a number of stats that I will not argue with, but I find the value of the internet is one of Attraction Marketing, yes, “it takes time and it is unpredictable” (R. Higdon), but it can be a useful passive marketing tool to get leads and can be low maintenance and low cost.
[ABOUT HAVING A GREAT AND INVOLVED UPLINE , DO YOU NEED THEM TO CREATE A SOLID TEAM?]
I would agree with you, a great upline can be of great value (but then that is also not easily duplicatable), and given the ideal situation, of course, in our experience would have been valuable. Perhaps of greater value, though, is the community and culture of a team, which could be created by a famous person, but it can also be created through average people rising to the occasion and attracting supportive people.
[ABOUT HOW MLM’ers SUCK, THEN SUCCEED]
What is remarkable about Mark Yarnell’s book “First Year in Network Marketing,” it is conspicuously without any famous people (unless we’re talking about Mark Yarnell), or at least people who started out as famous MLM’ers. There are loads of stories of motivated people, who completely sucked in the beginning, who then finally crushed it.
[ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY]
Community has always been an important aspect of network marketing, from Avon to Amway. Having forums and accessible training through the internet and at local meetings, team/social building activities can help meet people in their daily or weekly need for community. That’s what will get people to stick. I believe creating this vision and being able to communicate this to recruits and reemphasizing and leading by example are critical.
[ABOUT KNOWING THE COMP PLAN]
Knowledge of the comp plan I think is important, but I don’t think it is critical otherwise, everyone including the cavemen would need to know it. As a team leader, I would agree, it would behoove me to get a handle on it, I currently have a decent understanding, my wife went through all the classes and she knows it much better than me.
I would say, yes, a team leader should know how to leverage the comp plan in order to give polite courtesy reminders to down lines if they are near achievable goals, I learned a cool technique from Todd Falcone, he calls that “Lighting a fire under your network”(or something like that). The comp plan should be accessible online. The problem with emphasizing learning the comp plan, is too much learning interferes with prospecting, I don’t want people going out thinking they need detailed knowledge of the comp plan before they start inviting people. Active leaders should be leading by example by continued prospecting and recruiting.
[ABOUT COMP PLAN QUESTIONS AND TEST CLOSING]
Most people will accept a general description of the comp plan and a look at the online calculators. Some questions will need to be looked up, but if that is the only thing hanging up a prospect, this becomes a good test-closing question, “If I can answer this question for you, are you in?”
[ABOUT COMPANY LOYALTY]
For us sticking with [company], there are emotional reasons, yes, achieving our goals would bring certain satisfactions not possible through other companies. Quite frankly, jumping to another company wouldn’t feel right and would trade one unknown for several. I had already considered this to work with [a famous person], but I can still benefit from industry experts through coaching and training…
[ABOUT BRANDING]
…Like the British Navy in the Age of Sail, like the American Revolutionaries, like Apple Computer, they figured out what everyone else was doing and then breaking the status quo, won the war. In the process of doing the tried and true method of building an MLM business, if we can figure out how to differentiate, how to be unique, then that’s another way of getting leverage, less effort for greater gain.
Best Regards,
Challen
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Challen Yee