The reason is quite simple, really. 95% of all would-be
MLM'ers fail because they don't have a clue about what
they are really selling.
In the past, most MLM'ers were taught that they must
emphasize product above all else. That may have been
true 30 years ago when people worked programs like Amway,
Mary Kay Cosmetics, Avon, and Tupperware in their local
areas.
The compensation plans of those programs were built around
retailing product. People sold to family and friends (their
warm market)and through parties in which the product was the
focus. Recruiting downline members was not a primary activity.
Retailing was how most people made money. Recruiting usually
happened when a retail customer decided they also wanted to
earn extra money.
Most MLM plans today are far different. They pay the lion's
share of profits to those who build a sales organization of
people who consume the products themselves, and who may or
may not retail a small amount on the side. Yes, it is
definitely important to be in a program that supplies good
products at a fair price. Please don't misunderstand me.
BUT, if you are trying to build a sales organization,
emphasizing product as the major selling point is never
going to build you an organization of people who understand
how to maximize their profit potential - - - and make you
the most money.
If you want to retail product, your sales efforts should
emphasize products. But when you are trying to recruit members
for your downline, this is the wrong approach. You are not
trying to sell product to a potential recruit, so why should
that be the major focus of your sales presentation?
When you are recruiting, you are really trying to sell three
things: 1- Yourself, as a potential business partner; 2-A
business opportunity; and 3-Their dream of a profitable
business.
Product is a very distant fourth! Your prospect will want
to be assured that they will be representing a good product
that people want. This is a given. You don't want to spend
your time with programs that produce inferior products at
inflated prices.
But hundreds of MLM programs have great products. You aren't
trying to find a retail customer, you are trying to recruit
a business partner. You should be very clear about that. If
you don't know what you are selling, your prospect won't
either, and they won't respond.
I often see glowing ads for pycogenol and other nutritional
products in MLM publications. What the advertiser really
wants is a prospect for his downline. If this is what you are
after, advertising your "high-tech, super-duper pycogenol
just isn't going to do that! People don't read MLM
publications to find a new source of pycogenol!!!
If you want to sell pycogenol, place your ads in health
publications, and target those people in mailings that
stress product. The letters and brochures you send to
these people should be about how the product will benefit
them, not about the business opportunity! Don't try to sell
it all in one package. It just doesn't work.
That doesn't mean that you won't mention the product when
you are recruiting business partners. It means that the
total focus will not be on product, but on YOUR partnership
in a business opportunity and how successful your prospect
will be when they join you.
Let's talk about an exception to this rule. There are a
very few cases when the product is an integral part of
actually making money in the opportunity. Take lead-
generating MLM programs, for instance. Anyone who wants
to be successful in MLM has to have good leads. And anyone
who joins an MLM program has to buy product.
What is unique and worthy of mention about a lead-generating
program is that the prospect can use the very product they
are required to buy to build their business. This is a good
benefit to mention, since it directly ties in with the
opportunity itself and with how the prospect will be
successful. Five pages of information about pycogenol
does not!
People who read ads in MLM publications are looking for a
good opportunity and a good partner to guide them. They want
to build a successful home business. The people you target
should be looking for the same thing. They are probably not
looking for information on pycogenol!
The most important thing you must sell in your sales letters,
ads, and all your recruiting efforts is yourself!
Prospects want to know more than how much money they can
make in your program. They've seen lots of MLM compensation
plans. And they know that the top earners can make piles of
money. But they don't know that they can be one of them.
They want to know that YOU have a powerful system that will
enable them to fulfill their dreams and be successful, that
YOU are the business partner of their dreams! Most newcomers
don't have the confidence that they can be successful on their
own. They want to know that YOU have confidence and that YOU
can guide them down the road to success. They want to know
that YOU have a PLAN, not that all they have to do is mail
out x number of postcards or sales packets that they have
to develop on their own!
This is why an MLM company's literature, no matter how great,
will never sponsor people for you all by itself. It doesn't
even mention the most important thing you are selling: YOU!!!
It is only useful when combined with your powerful sales
presentation that spells out YOUR unique offer!
Let's talk about how you can write a powerful sales letter
that will sell YOU to your prospects!
The First Key to Successfully Build a Downline
is to Know WHAT You're Really Selling!
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of actually writing a
sales letter or developing a sales presentation, you first
must know exactly what you are really trying to sell.
Professionals call it your "Unique Selling Proposition",
or USP.
The more unique your offer, the better your chances of
selling it. If your offer is unique, you won't have any
competition. And if you don't have any competition, and
your prospects want what you have to offer, then you are
going to make a lot of sales.
So just what is the USP of your MLM offer? YOU are the
unique part of your offer. YOU are the major "product"
that you are selling in any MLM prospecting letter or
sales presentation. Never forget that!
There are hundreds of MLM programs and thousands of
distributors competing with you. Your prospect has many
thousands of options in choosing a business opportunity
in Network Marketing. He does not have to choose yours,
nor does he have to join your downline even if he joins
your program!
What you are really selling is not Pycogenol or a weight-
loss product or a skin care system. What you are REALLY
selling is YOUR partnership in a business opportunity.
And the more you really understand that on a gut level
and start writing all your ads and sales letters focused
on this, the more successful you will be.
To sell yourself as someone's business partner, you must
know exactly what you have to offer (your USP) and make
sure that your prospect knows also. What this should also
mean to you is that you must have something to offer, and
that it should be what the prospect needs and is looking for!
You see, people don't join MLM programs so they can run a
business all by themselves. They don't plan to take courses
at the local community college to teach them all the skills
they'll need to succeed.
Your prospects want an effective and successful partner,
not someone who sits on a level above them and contributes
nothing to their business! Your prospect wants someone who
will assist them in getting started, in understanding how
the program works and how to maximize its profit potential,
and someone who has some effective and tested marketing
tools. Your prospect quite simply wants someone who can
teach him how to make money in this business!
If you don't already have these qualifications, then your
first step is to make sure that you do before you start
trying to recruit prospects. Before you ever start to
prospect, you should have a thorough understanding of
the MLM program you are trying to promote. Know the
compensation plan backwards and forwards. Use the
products. You can't answer questions about something
you don't understand! Nor can you fill your sales letter
with benefits if you don't know what they are!
Write and test your sales letter, and any other available
marketing materials. Know what works and what kind of
response your prospect can expect when he or she begins
using these tools.
Something you should think about from the first day you
join an MLM program is what kind of support services you
will eventually offer to your downline. Support services
are one of the prime benefits that will attract new members
to your group. Many new members join my downlines because
they know that they will receive exceptional support services,
including co-op advertising, postcard recruiting systems,
mailers, a regular training newsletter, and camera-ready
marketing materials.
You may not yet have the downline or resources to offer
nationwide co-op advertising or some of the other items
that I've mentioned. But if you work your business properly,
you will at some point.
You should plan right now to expand your list of services
at every available opportunity. And you should always market
these services as part of the total package of benefits that
you offer your business partners. As you progress in your
program, you will have more and more benefits to offer your
prospects. And the more benefits you have to offer, the more
you will sell. Your downline should see that you have an ongoing
commitment to their training and production, that they can count
on you to support their individual businesses.
The services you offer should display a single-minded purpose
and involvement in the business. Your sales letter should make
these things obvious to the prospect.
If you don't already have a list of these kinds of services,
you should explore what is available from your upline. If
they already have a dynamic recruiting system put together
with excellent sales materials available, then this is a
benefit that you have to offer your prospect. And you should
tell them about it. Spell out exactly what services are
available to them and mention your upline by name. With a
dynamic upline, you won't have to reinvent the wheel yourself.
You can instead concentrate on offering services that your
upline doesn't offer. The total package of "you plus your
upline" can be a compelling reason for your prospect to
sign up under your sponsorship.
Incidentally, whenever you are thinking about joining a
new MLM program, you should always make sure that the
upline you choose for sponsorship has a good package of
support services. It will save you a lot of time and get
you profitable far more quickly. Plus, you will immediately
have services to offer to your prospects. MLM is a "team
sport." If you join a good team to start with, you won't
have to do so much building on your own.
By far the most important, and most unique, benefit you
have to offer is your own commitment and support. And no
matter how little money you may have to invest in your
program, you can easily offer this to your prospects. This
should be stressed over and over again in your sales letter.
You should constantly be demonstrating your leadership and
support to every person you sponsor. How do you do this?
By calling them and welcoming them into the program as
soon as they sign up. By making yourself available to them
by phone. By offering to answer their questions, send them
materials, help them put out their first mailing, and train
them - whatever that prospect needs to get started and
get productive!
I've often heard it said that the most important thing you
can offer any member of your downline is simply your caring
and concern. This may seem very trite, but it's really true.
Your partner wants to know that you care about her dreams and
aspirations, that her success is very important to you, that
building her business is a priority. Make very sure that your
sales presentations gets this message across!
One of the oldest clichés in Network Marketing is that to be
successful, you must help a lot of other people become
successful. Like most clichés, there is a lot of truth in this.
The most important product you have to sell is yourself. And
to "sell a lot of it", your first priority is to develop yourself
into the sponsor of your prospect's dreams!
© 2003 MLM Millionaire Training Systems, Inc.