Monday, October 19, 2009
Setting Up A Network Marketing Business
How I Set Up My First ‘Conventional’ Business
Some years ago I was working full-time as a public servant, specialising in IT. It was a well paid job and I had a reasonable future ahead of me. However, I felt that I could do more with my life.
After some consideration I decided to set up my own business. In deciding this, I assessed:
· The product I was offering (consultancy and services in a specialised field which I knew pretty well). I concluded that the product would stand up in the marketplace.
· The market for my product. I established that there were some big potential customer in the neighbourhood, and I felt hat I had enough credibility to be able to sell to then.
· Profitability. I judged that we could charge enough, and have enough volume, to be profitable and hopefully pay a decent salary.
So I believed that I could do it, although I knew that the odds were against me. They told me that statistically the vast majority of companies fail in the first year, and that there was very little chance of success. But I believed that I had something which could do well, and I wasn’t deterred by other people’s scepticism.
I gave up my regular job when I got me first order – a very small order for two weeks’ fairly low-paid consulting work. Looking back it was a VERY risky thing to do. I had a wife and a young daughter, a sizeable mortgage and virtually no savings...... Giving up a secure job required real commitment, and not just on my part..
But somehow it worked. We had some pretty hairy times to begin with, but we gradually grew and developed our product range. At our peak we had about 70 staff, and we were exporting to the UK, Africa and New Zealand, as well as having some very big customers locally. We even won Export Awards as a result of our overseas work.
Network Marketing – Just Another Business
I am recounting this now, some years later, not to boast, but to compare my experience in setting up a ‘conventional’ business with setting up a Network Marketing business. In reality there is no real difference.
Setting up a Network Marketing business is exactly the same as setting up any other business. It is critical to assess the business’s true potential, and particularly to seriously consider matters such as:
· The product range. Is it of the right quality to allow it to be accepted by its potential users?
· The marketplace. Is there a market for the product and can you reach that market?
· Profitability. Will the business return enough profit to justify the effort involved in running the business?
In effect, you need to prepare a business plan. If the answer to each of these questions is “yes”, it may be time to set up your Network Marketing business. But there is one more critical question you need to ask: am I sufficiently committed to make this business work? Only if the answer to this question is “yes” should you go ahead.
Do You Have The Commitment?
The point I want to make is that there is no real difference between a Network Marketing business and any other business. The marketing and remuneration model may be different, but in every other respect they are all the same – they are all businesses with the same probability of success or failure, and the same need for total commitment on the part of the owner!
Let make it clear, I’m absolutely NOT saying that the owner of a Network Marketing business needs to give up their day job as I did with my business. One of the big advantages of Network Marketing is that you don’t need to take that kind of risk until your business is making enough money to allow you to do so comfortably. But it still needs your total commitment, at least part-time. And in many respects running a part-time business needs more commitment than a full-time one...
If you’re happy that you have the product, the market, the profitability and the personal commitment, it’s probably time to set up your new Network Marketing business. You’ve just improved the odds of success enormously – in fact it’s hard to believe that you won’t success.
Good luck in your new venture!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Network Marketing v Conventional Selling - Which Is Better?
In my experience, conventional sales people often look down their noses at network marketing. They tend to see it as “the dark side”, something with which they as professionals would never want to get involved.
Having seen this attitude on a number of occasions, I thought it time to consider the differences between the two approaches to selling and make a personal – and admittedly subjective - attempt to assess whether one truly is better than the other – and if so, which one. Throughout I have made the assumption that both types of sales person have equally attractive products to sell, and that the financial returns in each case are equally fair.
The Similarities
Both types of selling are similar in that the sales person is rewarded on the basis of their success in carrying out the sales function.
In the case of conventional selling, commission-only sales people are rewarded entirely on the results achieved. Other sales people may be paid a retainer as well as a commission. It is unusual for conventional sales people to be paid on the basis of a retainer alone, although in some circumstances this can happen – however if results are not forthcoming, this type employment can be expected to be terminated rapidly. Ultimately, therefore, everyone ends up being rewarded on the basis of results.
In the case of typical network marketing, the participant is a type of sales person and is paid entirely on the basis of results achieved. In this respect he or she is very similar to a conventional commission-only sales person.
In order to be successful, both conventional sales people and network marketers must develop a rapport and relationship of trust with their target market. Whether the target market is an individual or a corporation, the same need for the development of solid relationships with the prospect exists.
The Differences
Conventional sales people are typically employed by an organisation to sell their products. Network marketers on the other hand are self-employed.
Conventional sales people face dismissal if their results are below their employer’s targets. Network marketers, being self-employed, do not face dismissal.
Conventional sales people are paid immediately and regularly for the results they achieve. Network marketers typically run their own businesses and do not receive a regular income in the first instance. Like all business owners, they must first invest time and effort in order to build up their business. The real rewards come later, when the business is successful.
Conventional sales people are generally (although not always) paid once only for each sale that they make. Network marketers expect to be paid over and over again for each sale that they make, as the residual income associated with repeat business reverts to them (after all, they are the business owners!).
Unless they are sales managers, conventional sales people have no management responsibility. They simply carry out the operative task of selling their employer’s goods and services. Network marketers are required to be sales managers as well as sales people from the outset. Their task is to train and motivate their ‘employees‘ (ie their downline) as well as selling to new customers and other potential new employees.
Conclusions
The actual selling work carried out by both types of sales person is very similar, but there are differences.
The work carried out by most conventional sales people is actually less responsible than that carried out by network marketers. Unless they have a sales management role, conventional sales people typically have no management responsibility. By contrast, all network marketers operate with management responsibilities.
Conventional sales people are rewarded more immediately for their work and do not need to invest personal effort without reward, but their positions are much riskier and do not offer long-term rewards for their efforts.
If you want a safe but rather limited job, with immediate returns but fewer long term prospects, conventional selling is for you. If you want to run your own business and enjoy greater long-term prosperity and job satisfaction, you would be better taking up a career in network marketing.
On balance, there is certainly no reason for the network marketer to feel inferior to the conventional sales person. On the contrary, the reverse is probably the case.
In time I believe that network marketing could even replace conventional sales work as the preferred option for sales professionals.
Having seen this attitude on a number of occasions, I thought it time to consider the differences between the two approaches to selling and make a personal – and admittedly subjective - attempt to assess whether one truly is better than the other – and if so, which one. Throughout I have made the assumption that both types of sales person have equally attractive products to sell, and that the financial returns in each case are equally fair.
The Similarities
Both types of selling are similar in that the sales person is rewarded on the basis of their success in carrying out the sales function.
In the case of conventional selling, commission-only sales people are rewarded entirely on the results achieved. Other sales people may be paid a retainer as well as a commission. It is unusual for conventional sales people to be paid on the basis of a retainer alone, although in some circumstances this can happen – however if results are not forthcoming, this type employment can be expected to be terminated rapidly. Ultimately, therefore, everyone ends up being rewarded on the basis of results.
In the case of typical network marketing, the participant is a type of sales person and is paid entirely on the basis of results achieved. In this respect he or she is very similar to a conventional commission-only sales person.
In order to be successful, both conventional sales people and network marketers must develop a rapport and relationship of trust with their target market. Whether the target market is an individual or a corporation, the same need for the development of solid relationships with the prospect exists.
The Differences
Conventional sales people are typically employed by an organisation to sell their products. Network marketers on the other hand are self-employed.
Conventional sales people face dismissal if their results are below their employer’s targets. Network marketers, being self-employed, do not face dismissal.
Conventional sales people are paid immediately and regularly for the results they achieve. Network marketers typically run their own businesses and do not receive a regular income in the first instance. Like all business owners, they must first invest time and effort in order to build up their business. The real rewards come later, when the business is successful.
Conventional sales people are generally (although not always) paid once only for each sale that they make. Network marketers expect to be paid over and over again for each sale that they make, as the residual income associated with repeat business reverts to them (after all, they are the business owners!).
Unless they are sales managers, conventional sales people have no management responsibility. They simply carry out the operative task of selling their employer’s goods and services. Network marketers are required to be sales managers as well as sales people from the outset. Their task is to train and motivate their ‘employees‘ (ie their downline) as well as selling to new customers and other potential new employees.
Conclusions
The actual selling work carried out by both types of sales person is very similar, but there are differences.
The work carried out by most conventional sales people is actually less responsible than that carried out by network marketers. Unless they have a sales management role, conventional sales people typically have no management responsibility. By contrast, all network marketers operate with management responsibilities.
Conventional sales people are rewarded more immediately for their work and do not need to invest personal effort without reward, but their positions are much riskier and do not offer long-term rewards for their efforts.
If you want a safe but rather limited job, with immediate returns but fewer long term prospects, conventional selling is for you. If you want to run your own business and enjoy greater long-term prosperity and job satisfaction, you would be better taking up a career in network marketing.
On balance, there is certainly no reason for the network marketer to feel inferior to the conventional sales person. On the contrary, the reverse is probably the case.
In time I believe that network marketing could even replace conventional sales work as the preferred option for sales professionals.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Day I Nearly Died
When I was about 5 years old I nearly died.
My parents had taken me and my sister for a 2-week holiday by the beach in Devon, England. There were two swimming pools dug into the sand there, one for little people like me, and the other, 6 ft deep, for adults. Since I couldn’t swim, I was assigned to the tinies’ pool, and made to promise that under no circumstances would I go near the adults’ pool.
One day I found myself alone in the children’s pool, and it quickly became boring. I’d seen people swimming many times, so I was absolutely sure that I could swim too. I even knew how to do a dive like I’d seen my father do. So off I trotted, on my own, to the almost empty 6ft deep pool and dived in! It was a pretty good dive too.
To this day I can see the light green water with the sun shining through, and my hands flailing as I tried hopelessly and helplessly to get to the surface. There’s no doubt at all that I was drowning, and no one except me knew it was happening.
Fortunately there was a man swimming in the pool at the time. He somehow realised that I was in trouble, swam across, and and pulled out by my head, just in time. Not only had I had a terrible fright, but I was in serious trouble for the rest of the holiday. I was extremely grateful to that gentleman, and I never went into a deep pool again until I’d learnt to swim properly!
So what on earth has this got to do with network marketing? Well, I think the little spirit of independence inside me all those years ago is very much like the spirit of independence inside us all throughout our lives. We get told very simply what to do, but we think we know better. And we get into trouble. Nowhere is this more true than when we take up network marketing.
Marketing is an art, which takes considerable experience to master. When we begin, we don’t have that experience, but of course we think we know everything. There’s a very simple way to do network marketing, but it sometimes gets a bit boring, just like the children’s pool. We start to look around for approaches which are different and perhaps more exciting...... and it’s then that we get into trouble.
I put together a blog item a few days ago about the absolute importance of training in network marketing. I still hold to the sentiments expressed there. I too thought I knew how to do things differently, and for yet another time in my life I learnt the hard way that I was wrong. The simple way, as presented in decent training, is the only proper way forward. We depart from that way at our peril.
So please, don’t drown in the sea of network marketing alternatives, follow the training and advice given by your upline. That way you’ll then live to enjoy a long and happy network marketing life.
Arnold Cummins
My parents had taken me and my sister for a 2-week holiday by the beach in Devon, England. There were two swimming pools dug into the sand there, one for little people like me, and the other, 6 ft deep, for adults. Since I couldn’t swim, I was assigned to the tinies’ pool, and made to promise that under no circumstances would I go near the adults’ pool.
One day I found myself alone in the children’s pool, and it quickly became boring. I’d seen people swimming many times, so I was absolutely sure that I could swim too. I even knew how to do a dive like I’d seen my father do. So off I trotted, on my own, to the almost empty 6ft deep pool and dived in! It was a pretty good dive too.
To this day I can see the light green water with the sun shining through, and my hands flailing as I tried hopelessly and helplessly to get to the surface. There’s no doubt at all that I was drowning, and no one except me knew it was happening.
Fortunately there was a man swimming in the pool at the time. He somehow realised that I was in trouble, swam across, and and pulled out by my head, just in time. Not only had I had a terrible fright, but I was in serious trouble for the rest of the holiday. I was extremely grateful to that gentleman, and I never went into a deep pool again until I’d learnt to swim properly!
So what on earth has this got to do with network marketing? Well, I think the little spirit of independence inside me all those years ago is very much like the spirit of independence inside us all throughout our lives. We get told very simply what to do, but we think we know better. And we get into trouble. Nowhere is this more true than when we take up network marketing.
Marketing is an art, which takes considerable experience to master. When we begin, we don’t have that experience, but of course we think we know everything. There’s a very simple way to do network marketing, but it sometimes gets a bit boring, just like the children’s pool. We start to look around for approaches which are different and perhaps more exciting...... and it’s then that we get into trouble.
I put together a blog item a few days ago about the absolute importance of training in network marketing. I still hold to the sentiments expressed there. I too thought I knew how to do things differently, and for yet another time in my life I learnt the hard way that I was wrong. The simple way, as presented in decent training, is the only proper way forward. We depart from that way at our peril.
So please, don’t drown in the sea of network marketing alternatives, follow the training and advice given by your upline. That way you’ll then live to enjoy a long and happy network marketing life.
Arnold Cummins
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Business Cards - A Must For Network Marketers
To begin with I didn’t expect to be using business cards for my network marketing business. Having been in the corporate world, I was used to carrying cards and giving them out at the slightest opportunity; but I thought that Network Marketing would be different.
I was wrong.
Once I bought my first batch I realised how much I’d been missing without them. Now I use them all the time. They’ve become my representative in a very real way. I give them out, leave them in public transport, in shops, or wherever I can reasonably leave them. I want people to know who I am and what I stand for.
Above all else they make me look – and feel - much more professional. People see that I’m not running a backroom hobby but a real, professional business. And in network marketing, as in just about anything else in life, a good image is truly critical.
Make them Memorable
The more our business card stands out from the normal, the more effective they will be. I’ve seen postcard sizes cards, cards in strange shapes, and cards of many colours. All designed to stand out of course. Above all else they need to be professional – the person you give them to may not even consciously realise it, but a shoddy, home-made card will at least subconsciously create a bad image in their mind. So always get them professionally printed.
Make Them Easy to Read
Legibility is critical. At the very least your name, phone number, email address and web site should all be large enough to read easily, even by older people whose eyesight may not be the best. If people have to struggle to read your personal details they probably won’t bother!
Always Carry Them
Any marketer worth their salt always carries business cards with them. Use them regularly. Murphy’s Law says that the very time you don’t have them with you will be the time you need them most!
Hand Them Out With Pride
If your cards are good, you WILL hand them out with pride, and you’ll represent your product with more pride too.
In short, whatever else you need to stint on. Don’t stint on business cards!
I was wrong.
Once I bought my first batch I realised how much I’d been missing without them. Now I use them all the time. They’ve become my representative in a very real way. I give them out, leave them in public transport, in shops, or wherever I can reasonably leave them. I want people to know who I am and what I stand for.
Above all else they make me look – and feel - much more professional. People see that I’m not running a backroom hobby but a real, professional business. And in network marketing, as in just about anything else in life, a good image is truly critical.
Make them Memorable
The more our business card stands out from the normal, the more effective they will be. I’ve seen postcard sizes cards, cards in strange shapes, and cards of many colours. All designed to stand out of course. Above all else they need to be professional – the person you give them to may not even consciously realise it, but a shoddy, home-made card will at least subconsciously create a bad image in their mind. So always get them professionally printed.
Make Them Easy to Read
Legibility is critical. At the very least your name, phone number, email address and web site should all be large enough to read easily, even by older people whose eyesight may not be the best. If people have to struggle to read your personal details they probably won’t bother!
Always Carry Them
Any marketer worth their salt always carries business cards with them. Use them regularly. Murphy’s Law says that the very time you don’t have them with you will be the time you need them most!
Hand Them Out With Pride
If your cards are good, you WILL hand them out with pride, and you’ll represent your product with more pride too.
In short, whatever else you need to stint on. Don’t stint on business cards!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Passion – a Critical Ingredient in Network Marketing Success
Is it possible to be successful in network marketing if we're marketing a product which we know to be substandard? My answer would be no, not for a typically decent, honest person.
Some people claim that the product doesn’t matter in Network Marketing; that no matter what you are selling you can be successful if you simply follow the right system. I strongly disagree, and I believe the principle holds good no matter whether we are talking about conventional marketing, face-to-face network marketing or web-based marketing.
Personally I couldn’t live with myself if I thought that I had made money by selling worthless rubbish to someone. I sincerely believe that an honest belief in the quality of the product you’re marketing is a critical basis for ANY kind of marketing and sales. Selling over the web really is no different – just because I don’t know and can’t see the person I’ve duped wouldn’t ease my conscience at all. I’m sure that most people would agree with me.
The inverse naturally follows on from this. In order to feel good about marketing ANYTHING to someone else, you need to start by having an honest belief in the product you’re selling. In order to be successful in our marketing, that belief in the product must be there.
If we take this reasoning a step further, it follows logically that the more convinced we are of the quality of our product, the more effective we are likely to be in marketing it.
Taking it just one small step further again, if we want to be really successful in our network marketing, we need to be PASSIONATE about the product we sell and truly excited to be offering it. That passion will be conveyed very quickly to our audience, no matter whether we are meeting them face to face or dealing with them through the web. And we will feel so much better about ourselves, which in turn will be conveyed back to the audience.
Clearly there are other factors which contribute to successful network marketing. Nevertheless, PASSION for the product we are selling is critical to our success. If we don’t have it, I believe that we should find another product which will give us that passion. Only then will we be truly successful in this wonderful field of Network Marketing.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Training - The Key to Network Marketing Success?
When I first began my network marketing career, I didn’t get a lot of training – in fact, truth to tell, I didn’t get any at all. And equally true, I didn’t think I needed any...
You see, my upline lived in another State, and I only came across the opportunity because I happened to be travelling there on business. In one evening I looked at the product, checked out the company and the business model, could see that it was an amazing business proposition, and signed up.
A couple of days later I found myself back home in Canberra. I had a lot of enthusiasm, but nothing except a few emails and a manual downloaded from a web site to guide me in starting up my new business.
I was convinced I didn’t need any help. After all, I’d been a successful business owner for quite a few years. How could I not succeed with such a marvellous opportunity available?
Now, over a year down the track, I know better. From the outset my presentations were not too bad, and my own enthusiasm quickly found me a small but enthusiastic downline. It looked like everything was coming together pretty well.
The Problem Emerges
And then, after about 6 months, it all stopped.
Once my team of distributors grew a few levels the enthusiasm seemed to drop off. Indeed, while some signed up, most of them just didn’t do anything at all with their opportunity, which I knew to be so good.
Sales dropped right away, my immediate downline team started to lose interest, and the whole business looked like it was going to collapse.
The Enlightenment
Fortunately I then had a chance to make a fairly lengthy trip back to my upline’s location, and after a week or two it hit me what our problem had been: we simply hadn’t understood the importance of TRAINING!
And it worked both ways:
1. I attended a great training course over there, and realised just how important this was for me. I learned so much, when I thought I already knew it all!
2. Equally significantly, i realised the importance of training for my downline distributors. It dawned on me that if they didn’t get the sort of training I’d just had, they didn’t have a hope of being successful either.
2. Equally significantly, i realised the importance of training for my downline distributors. It dawned on me that if they didn’t get the sort of training I’d just had, they didn’t have a hope of being successful either.
So this time I came back to Canberra convinced of the need to train my team properly!
But perhaps my most important realisation was that, as our downline grew, not everyone would be able to provide training of the quality I now knew to be necessary.
The Solution
Our solution to this was to take the responsibility for training out of the hands of individual distributors. We now have a regular weekly training meeting, to which EVERY new distributor is invited, no matter who in our team has introduced them. Now, no matter how big our team gets, everyone will get the right training to allow them to operate as successfully as possible.
Now I’m a convert. It’s been said that Network Marketing is not so much a marketing business as a training business. I entirely concur. If we get the training right, we’ll have a good chance of getting our business right.....
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