The Truth About Network Marketing: Why Your Sponsor Is The Last Person To Ask For Advice
Trying to find the truth about network marketing can be about as exciting as trying to find a needle in a haystack. Almost everyone involved in network marketing has one viewpoint or another which is different from the next person's viewpoint.
Things like..
- network marketing is a scam
- network marketing is a legitimate business
- network marketing involves sales
- network marketing is only word of mouth
- and many more
These are statements you'll hear every day made by network marketers.
With so many divergent views on network marketing, which one is the truth? Or, what is the real truth about network marketing?
This page is my attempt to answer this question. You will discover some of the greatest lies ever told in the network marketing industry. Not only will you discover the lies about network marketing, you will also come to know the truth about network marketing.
Sometimes I wonder why I'm still involved with network marketing.
Here's why:-
More than a decade ago I signed up as a distributor with an international network marketing company. This was one of those companies almost everyone would die to be part of -- solid track record and the best products one could think of. And to say the compensation plan was generous would be an understatement.
My sponsor had invited me to a business opportunity meeting, as they called it. The presenter was imported from Australia just for this purpose (we were told).
The presentation was good. To cut a long story short...
I joined.
I joined because I saw potential in the business opportunity.
But I was skeptical at first because the projections appeared too good to be true. My sponsor may have noticed this because he told me not to worry because...
What I needed to do, he explained, was to talk to as many people as I came across every day about my business. The larger the number of people I talk to, the more the number of people will join my business. And he called this the law of averages.
You see, he wanted me to believe that network marketing is a number's game. That the more people I talk to, the more will join my business.
He added that because word of mouth is what builds the business...
Everyone Was My Prospect
This made me be even more interested in the opportunity. I thought to myself, "Surely if everyone was my prospect I will build my business in no time."
I had burned my fingers at selling and asked whether any selling will be involved. "Nope," he said...
As explained earlier, all that was needed was to share the products using word of mouth because everyone was a prospect.
I was hooked. Who wouldn’t be?
But what tipped the scales in his favor is this...
Yes, "we'll build your business for you if you just bring a couple of mates into the business" is what makes many people join network marketing.
Fact is, building a network marketing business involves more than just sharing your products or opportunity with anyone you happen to come across. More on this later.
Very few people can build a business from scratch. Now when someone tells me he'll build a business for me, I thought I had no reason to not be part of the business.
I joined.
And up went my expectations.
I already saw myself earning at least six figures in under twelve months. Six months came and went, but not the money. Another six months came and went, but not the six figures.
Something was obviously wrong here. I followed my sponsor's advice almost to the tee. But I was making little progress. By the end of the twelve months I had less than five people in my downline.
It later dawned on me that what my sponsor told me was just a bunch of lies.
And the sad thing is I was expected to perpetrate these lies and other lies about network marketing to everyone I met. This is what many distributors do every day because they follow their sponsors' advises.
The point of my story is...
Network marketing sounds so good in theory, but it never seem to play out that way in practice.
And here's why...
When recruiting, many distributors put rose-colored glasses on prospects' eyes -- they are painting a rosy picture in front of prospects. They never tell the truth - the real truth - about network marketing.
Unfortunately, this practice is possibly responsible for one of the well-known facts about network marketing, which is...
About 97% of Network Marketers
Never Make Any Real Money
From Their Network Marketing Businesses
This can be understandable considering that we humans are inherently lazy. We always want the easy way out. It's hard for many individuals to refuse an offer which promises lots of money with little or no effort on their part.
Ann Sieg, who wrote what is quite possibly the most eye-opening book on network marketing ever written, "The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing" said:
"An appeal to laziness is a very strong appeal indeed. The promise of something for nothing is as old as time itself."
I agree with her.
The unfortunate thing is that these lies obscure the real truth about network marketing. As a result, many distributors are finding it hard to get by in network marketing. Many quit before their sixth month. Others, like me, stay longer.
And by stroke of luck they eventually manage to put the puzzle together and start making some money. They finally discover the truth about network marketing, which can be summed up in just one short sentence:
The Marketing in Network Marketing is Missing
The missing link in network marketing is 'marketing'. This, for me, is the whole truth about network marketing.
Marketing is what separates the "heavy hitters" from everyone else. The load of hogwash that we often hear from many of our sponsors is anything but marketing.
Word of mouth is not marketing. You've been lied to if you were ever told that you can build your business through word of mouth alone. You need to actively market your business.
Any business that does a better job at marketing its products will almost always succeed. But here's something many network marketers are not aware of...
As distributors, we are our own businesses. We therefor need to strive to get better at marketing our products. If anyone ever tells you anything different, run, don't walk, in another direction because he or she is not telling you the truth about network marketing.
Of course marketing need to be coupled with sales because...
Marketing is only a process of creating an environment in which people can buy on their own. It focuses on bringing in qualified prospects. It focuses on helping people buy the things they want.
But unless sales takes place, all your marketing efforts will have been in vain. Sales is the actual exchange of your offer for your prospect's money. It focuses on closing the deal.
One way of saying it is this...
Marketing pre-sells the prospect. Sales gets the sale.
Knowing the truth about network marketing is not enough. You've got to get out there and start marketing your business. And this is where the problem lies for many distributors because marketing is a skill which very few people have.
This problem is made worse by the fact that network marketing attracts all kinds of people, including people who have no clue about running a business.
The good news is that, like any skill, it can be learned.
Now that you know the truth about network marketing, isn't it time you started putting marketing back into your network marketing business? Here's a helpful resource which can help you get started.
Is Your Upline Holding You Back?
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