subject: MLM Sponsoring-Why Do I Suck At It? [print this page] MLM Sponsoring-Why Do I Suck At It? MLM Sponsoring-Why Do I Suck At It?
MLM Sponsoring Success-Why Don't I Have It?
MLM sponsoring is the simplest thing in the world, when you know what you're doing. Yet with industry wide turnover ratios in the 80-90% range, and the average distributor sponsoring only 2 reps during their MLM career, it's pretty clear that most people have no clue how to sponsor people into their primary business. The reason why this is happening is what needs to be addressed, and the answer is as plain as day.
Most network marketers aren't being taught how to market, they're being taught how to sell. Selling in and of itself is not a bad thing, it's the engine that drives the ship. But if you are a network marketing rep in a legitimate opportunity, SALES IS NOT YOUR DEPARTMENT. You heard me correctly, if you are a network marketer, and your focus is on selling products and/or your opportunity, you are way out of your lane. So what is the real key to MLM sponsoring?
Your main function in network marketing, as crazy as it sounds, is to NETWORK with people, and MARKET your products or business opportunity to, and pay particular attention to this part-THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR PRODUCT OR OPPORTUNITY. Calling Uncle Billy 18 times to look at your business presentation is not networking or marketing. Asking every person at the mall "if they're looking to make extra money" is not networking or marketing. In fact, it's a great way to get banned from your local mall, though that's a story for another day! MLM sponsoring is all about exposing your opportunity to as many people who have an interest in your business as possible.
What Should I Focus My MLM Sponsoring Efforts On?
With any reputable MLM company, you should be provided with third party tools which handle the selling function for you. Webinars, DVD's, CD's, live presentations should be an expectation from the company you work with, not a luxury item you're forced to create yourself. If you do have to create your own tools, then you do what you have to do, but the point is that the tools sell. Your role is to prequalify those individuals who are interested in your opportunity, and then invite them to view your third party tool. The MLM sponsoring tool you use should further qualify them as a legitimate prospect, or disqualify them from further consideration.
If the company you're working with doesn't have any third party MLM sponsoring tools, you may want to consider whether or not you want to stay in business with them. If you buy a McDonald's franchise, they offer plenty of third party marketing tools. The same goes for any legitimate MLM company. In my humble but accurate opinion, a lack of this type of material would be a major red flag to me considering a business opportunity. If you decide to stay the course with a company that's limited in this way, just understand that you will be the person responsible for creating the marketing material for yourself, and also for anyone you choose to sponsor.
Once they've viewed your MLM sponsoring tool, you follow up with them to see what their interest level is now. If it is the same as it was or higher, then you help them get started. If it has gone down, you should always ask them if they are interested in purchasing product or have referrals of others who might be interested, but otherwise, you disqualify them as a prospect and move on to the next prospect. Now, if you have identified a targeted niche to market to, and you have other products and/or services to offer them that could meet another need, then you know what to do at this point.
Final Thoughts On MLM Sponsoring
MLMers get a bad reputation because so many of us spend so much time trying to convince people who aren't interested in what we do why they should be interested in what we do, instead of focusing on having conversations with people who DO have an interest in what we do. Isn't that the exact opposite of how marketing works? Think about a diaper commercial-do they focus their 30 second spot on convincing single people with no kids to buy their product? Of course not, yet that's exactly what most amateur network marketers spend their time doing. MLM sponsoring doesn't have to be hard, but most of us make it very hard by focusing on the wrong things.
So now that you know a bit about MLM sponsoring, how do you apply it?
