Blocking the False Expectation Tank

(The following information is taken from Your First Year in Network Marketing by Mark and Rene Yarnell.  I am providing you highlights in the next several blogs in hopes that you will be equipped to survive and thrive in your hardest year of your network marketing business – the first one.  Here are the highlights from Chapter 4.)

In this chapter, the authors seek to dispel myths used to recruit unwitting associates.

Because the MLM industry has the reputation of producing millionaires, it is easy for folks to think that they have failed if they are not earning big money after their first year.  What is even more detrimental is the false notion that success in MLM can be achieved without much effort or time investment.   

The reality is, this is a work industry.  The folks who have succeeded have worked hard and have stayed with it for several years.

In MLM, the rewards are proportional to invested time and effort.  Many new associates start out with false expectations of MLM because they are misled into thinking that they can achieve their goals quickly and without much time or effort. 

Traditional Business vs. MLM

Traditional businesses are the real pyramids in our society.  The real income earners are the top few workers, and the lowest paid workers are at the bottom.  The lowest level worker can outwork the CEO, but they are still never going to earn an income above their pay grade.

In MLM, every new associate who works hard and is persistent can out earn anyone else in the company.  In MLM there is nothing that can hold associates back except our own negative thinking.

That being said, it is important to see the difference  between the potential of MLM and the reality of what it takes to get there.

There is a place in MLM for everyone, but each of us will experience success in our own unique way and time, and our incomes will vary immensely.

Balance Upside Potential with the Realistic Picture

We must portray a realistic picture of just how much hard work is involved in attaining financial security and time freedom.  Too many recruiters fail to tell the truth about the necessary effort.

Success comes to associates who personally recruit large numbers of associates and then educate their associates to duplicate their system.  MLM is far more teaching than sales.  Those who are the most successful are usually the good communicators. 

We must not create false expectations by waving fat checks in front of people without also telling them about the time and effort needed to earn them.  Much of the attrition in MLM can be attributed to presenters making false promises about how easy it is to make lots of money quickly with minimal effort.   

As soon as these false expectations go unmet, new associates perceive MLM as a scam and quit.  It is not a scam; it’s just more time and labor intensive than what was presented to them.

Misguided Belief that MLM Requires No Effort

New associates are going to have to work hard for the first year if they are able to do it full-time.  For those who are doing it part-time, it will take 2 to 3 years to replace their income.

Some folks will sign up a new associate promising to work the business for them.  This never works!    

Nevertheless, they ask for their contact list and may even convince some folks to join.  But, because they never trained their associate to train others, that is the model that will be duplicated and the downline will eventually collapse leaving many expressing contempt for MLM.

Working the business for others is often called ‘sifting.’  Those who are wrongly trained to do this are simply sorting through contact lists looking for a ‘winner’ instead of teaching associates to build their business through relationships.

When recruiting, emphasize that MLM is not a get something for nothing business.  It takes real time and energy to build a successful organization.

In MLM, it is only those who treat it like a profession who get the big money.  Work at it part-time, stay with it steadily, and you will get there eventually.  There is no way to make big money by handing over a contact list to a sponsor. 

Honesty is Everything

In MLM honesty is everything.  If you cheat someone in MLM, 200,000 people in 20 countries will know about it in a week.  So, tell the truth about the marketing plan and the tremendous amount of work entailed for success.   

Offer support for your downline, but do not do their work for them.  The more honest and upfront we are in our presentations, the less attrition we will see in our frontline, and we will be respected by those in our organization.

Unrealistic Assumption about the Numbers Needed to Succeed

The reality is that those who are successful in MLM have never limited themselves by numbers.  The more people we personally recruit, the more success we will see.  We must not think small, but rather, wide and deep.  While training our new associates, we should not stop recruiting.

Inaccurate Perception about the Time Needed to Succeed

It is critical that new associates set realistic financial objectives over a one-, two-, three-, five-, seven-, and ten-year plan.  Then, we need to seek out an upline mentor who has already achieved this level of success to help us set goals to accomplish this plan.  

 Be realistic about the time it will take, but think big as well.  It is by unleashing your limited thinking that you will be able to rise to your full potential.

Part-timers earn substantially less than full-timers.  Part-timers tend to recruit part-timers, so their business will grow slowly as will the ones of those they recruit.  Remember this is a business of duplication.  Your recruits will do what they see you doing.  Work hard and they will work hard.  Treat it like a hobby, and they will treat it like a hobby.  You cannot accomplish full-time goals on part-time effort.

Final Thoughts

View MLM not as a career, but rather as a vehicle to enabling you to do the things in life that really matter the most to you.  MLM is the most lucrative profession in the world, but it’s also the hardest work you will ever do.  It is not a get rich quick scheme, but if you’re willing to work hard for the first several years, you can enjoy financial and time freedom like never before.  It’s tough because you have to prospect a lot of people before you will find one who is willing to do the hard work.

Dodging the Depression Torpedo

(The following information is taken from Your First Year in Network Marketing by Mark and Rene Yarnell.  I am providing you highlights in the next several blogs in hopes that you will be equipped to survive and thrive in your hardest year of your network marketing business – the first one.  Here are the highlights from Chapter 3.)

The depression torpedo is one of the most difficult challenges facing both the new and the seasoned network marketer.  Depression can come out of nowhere and sink a person quickly. 

A depressed person cannot survive in MLM.  So, it is essential to prepare our new associates by alerting them to the most common causes of depression.  An enthusiastic attitude must be maintained and be clearly evident to new prospects.  No one should prospect in a negative frame of mind, because contacts will perceive it and runaway. 

Common Causes of MLM Depression

It can be very depressing to have friends refuse to hear about our MLM business, or worse, not show up as promised to our business presentations.

When valued associates become apathetic, change MLM companies, or quit our MLM business, it can lead to depression.

Attrition is inevitable.  This can account for as much as a 75% dropout rate, and is a fundamental reality of MLM business building.  Knowing that this is inevitable can sometimes help soften the blow.  Successful network marketer, Ron Higgins, holds the following philosophy about attrition:

“The sooner someone quits who isn’t serious about the business, the sooner he knows with whom he need not waste a lot of time…. Let people do what they want to do with their business and not what you want them to do.  There’s a place for any and all levels of participation in this business….Work with the leaders.  And do whatever it takes to protect your mindset.  You must stay focused for this business to work.”

In order to avoid being hit with the depression torpedo, we must choose to focus on the positive people who are active in our business.  We must choose to view ‘No’s’ as one step closer to ‘Yes’s’.  When someone quits, we must choose to view it as a relief that we didn’t waste any more time and effort in them.  The cure from attrition is recruiting new coachable associates.

When You’re Down, Go Upline

When struck by the depression torpedo, we need to call our upline.  They are more experienced and have invested in us.  They will offer us encouragement and show us how to overcome the harder aspects of MLM. 

Never Convey a “Down” Attitude to Your Downline

Sharing a negative attitude with our downline can prove catastrophic to our business.  The Depression torpedo will launch at all of our downline members.  We should always be up when we talk with them.

A Case for Optimism

Depression can hit white collar professionals who join an MLM business and then encounter negative reactions from their peers.  These folks are used to respect, and rejection is often perceived as disrespect.  To be successful in MLM, professionals must be willing to use their reputations and credibility to their advantage.  They need to be provided with a clear vision of why MLM is a remarkable industry, how it will enable them to help others get out of the ‘rat race, and how it can lead many to a much more healthy lifestyle.  An optimistic outlook will help us overcome depressing events and succeed in MLM.  Why should we be optimistic:

• We have the only entrepreneurial home business with literally no downside.

• There is literally no ceiling or limits on our earnings.

• Time freedom is directly commensurate with wealth and prosperity. 

• There need not be any stress at all in MLM.  If you pay the price in the first few years, stress need no longer exist in your life.

The Four Year Plan vs. the Forty Year Plan

The Forty year plan is the best that people in traditional business can hope for.  Work for forty years and hope to have enough money to retire and enjoy life.  However, out of 100 people at age 65, 5 are still working, 36 are dead, 54 are dead broke, 4 are well off, and only 1 is wealthy. 

The Four year plan is when we work diligently for one MLM company for four years, build an income based on honest movement of products or services, and we’re set for life.

Controlling our Attitudes

We are solely responsible for our attitude; we choose how we react to the people and the circumstances of our lives.  Therefore, we must endeavor to maintain a positive and enthusiastic attitude toward our MLM business and our associates.  Remember, enthusiasm is contagious. (The authors recommend taking a 6 month break from watching all news programs…that would send me into withdrawal.)

Create a Positive Environment from the Inside Out

Putting positive information into our brains is essential to success.  This can be done by reading uplifting books and articles, listening to inspiring messages, and practicing positive daily affirmations.  The moment you feel yourself spiraling downward, check your thoughts and choose to reset your mind on something positive, listen to music that brings your thoughts back to the positive, or verbally declare your positive affirmations.

Too frequently, people limit their goals by basing them on their present reality.  However, breaking out of those limits allows what seemed impossible to become possible.  Focus on the end result instead of just focusing on the ‘How.’ 

If you believe in the value of your goals, you will find the means of making them happen.  So, set big goals and then strive to meet them.  Don’t ever give up on your goals; rather, change your attitude.  When you focus on what’s coming, you will affect change.

Using Affirmations

Affirmations are trigger tools.  They are statements of belief, written and repeated as if they were already accomplished.  They are an effective weapon against the Depression Torpedo.  When affirmations are assimilated into our daily routine, creativity, positive decision making, and goal setting flow freely from our minds.  Here are some examples:

“I feel supported, working with a team of positive people who share my values.”

“I clearly communicate my business vision to others in such a way that they are inspired to join me and become part of it.”

“I am proud to be building an MLM dynasty as I recruit dozens of excited people who rapidly duplicate my success.”

Charles Swindoll stated that, “Life is 10 % what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”

Just Believe and Keep Going!

The key to survival is simply to not give up; the way to avoid despondency is to keep the faith!  Believe that you can duplicate the success of your mentors.  Keep watching winners.  Negative beliefs about ourselves are the only barriers to our success.  Failure cannot handle persistence; persistence always wins in the end!

Statistically speaking, an enormous percentage of people quit the business in their first year.  What’s even more interesting is that 95% of those people who remain in MLM for 10 years or longer reach the highest pay levels in their respective companies. 

Whatever you do, don’t quit!

Avoiding the Management Trap

(The following information is taken from Your First Year in Network Marketing by Mark and Rene Yarnell.  I am providing you highlights in the next several blogs in hopes that you will be equipped to survive and thrive in your hardest year of your network marketing business – the first one.  Here are the highlights from Chapter 2.)

It is important for every new associate to know that MLM is based on team-building philosophy rather than a supervisory one.  A frequent cause of failure in MLM is the mistaken belief that we must manage our downline associates.

The Management Trap: After successfully recruiting several of their friends into the business, new associates stop recruiting and focus solely on helping their friends become successful.  It sounds logical, but it really is a trap.

There is a significant difference between managing and supporting a downline organization.  Managing your downline will cause you to spend a disproportionate amount of time on one leg of your downline to the detriment of the others.  It creates a false codependency instead of teaching and encouraging them to learn to do for themselves.

This does not translate to ignoring your downline; it simply means that you want to help them need you less and less as they learn the business.  Teach them to teach their downline, step back and support them only as they need it.

Managing your downline results in weak and lazy associates who will be quite content with you doing their work for them.  Also, while you’re managing them, you’re not recruiting new prospects.  Remember that continually sponsoring new associates is what adds vitality to your business.  Do not stop recruiting until you are earning enough to live on comfortably.

Supporting your downline involves responding to their legitimate requests, helping them close a prospect and giving them encouragement when they are struggling.

Learn to recognize the difference between productive activity and ineffectual, time-wasting practices.

Beware that signing up a family member and then managing their team will only lower your income, spoil your family member’s chances to succeed, and derail your recruiting and growth.

The Messiah Complex: This is similar to the Management Trap, but its emphasis is more on saving people.  Spending too much time trying to ‘save’ one person hurts the rest of your downline.

The reality is that your associates who demand the least amount of your time and attention are usually the ones who become the most successful because you have trained them to be self-sufficient.

If new associates finish their training and go to work without calling you every day and asking you to do everything for them, rejoice!  Those who lean on their uplines for everything are usually the ones who fail the most rapidly.

Rather than manage, provide a duplicable strategy for you new associates and then allow them to create their own success.  Help them stay focused on their ‘Why’ and coach them to keep moving in the right direction.

Go Wide Fast!

Recruit a wide base of associates.  Don’t be satisfied with minimums.  Keep recruiting until you are making at least $10K per month. 

Remember, MLM is basically a numbers game.  Keep doing what you see your successful upline leaders are doing and teach it to your downline. 

This is a duplication business.  Your associates will do what they see you doing.  If you manage them, they will manage their folks.  If you spend your time supporting them while recruiting new prospects, so will they.

The secret isn’t managing your people; it’s finding leaders, who will in turn find other leaders.  So, develop your leadership skills and teach your associates to do likewise.

Recruiting is the only viable way to offset the inevitability of attrition.  If you stop building your frontline (people you personally sponsor) before you have a solid income, you will fail in MLM.

Plan on recruiting 2 to 3 years before slowing down if you’re doing it full time; if you’re part time, it will take even longer.

While many people criticize MLM after they fail, it’s usually not the fault of the industry. 

Pitfall:  Never tell people that all they have to do is sign up, give you their prospect list, and you’ll do all the work.  It doesn’t work.

Help your new associates with their first few meetings and then cut the cord.  They are then forced to take initiative and become leaders.

MLM is about building leaders and training others to do the same.  Teach them how to work their list, help with closing, but don’t do it for them.

People who have the will to succeed, will succeed, regardless of their circumstances!

The Rejection Rocket

(The following information is taken from Your First Year in Network Marketing by Mark and Rene Yarnell.  I am providing you highlights in the next several blogs in hopes that you will be equipped to survive and thrive in your hardest year of your network marketing business – the first one.  Here are the highlights from Chapter 1.)

The Rejection Rocket can strike us at any time leaving us immobile and ready to quit.  It sucks out all of our enthusiasm and excitement; both of which are essential for our success.

Rejection is the primary cause for failure in MLM, and frequently people fail before they ever begin because they are not properly prepared by their sponsors to handle rejection.

Rejection from Spouses

When new associates first ‘get’ the MLM business, they are excited by its potential.  They make their list of their top ten prospects and want to share their ‘good news’ as soon as possible.  They have projected their enthusiasm onto everyone on their list, including their spouses.  So, rather than wait to be properly trained, off they go, and sure enough their spouses are the first ones to launch the rejection rocket.  Their spouses think that they have gone off the deep end, and all their new found excitement evaporates.

It is the responsibility of every sponsor to fully prepare prospects for rejection, and then equip them with the tools and skills to handle the rejection.  It is helpful for sponsors to present the full business presentation to spouses on behalf of their new associates.  At the same time, the sponsor needs to emphasize that new associates NOT try to explain the business to their spouses, but rather, to get them to a meeting or wait until they are fully versed in the presentation.

Rejection from Family and Friends

Freshly trained associates are excited and eager to overcome any argument their prospects might throw at them.  It is easy for them to slip into the ‘Winning the Battle’ mode and as a result lose all opportunity to at that moment or at a later date to present the business.  It is important for new associates to develop listening skills in order to hear where a person is at in their lives.  With a little practice, new associates can learn to discern who is open to the change that MLM brings.  If the timing is clearly not right for their friends, they are better off waiting to revisit them in six months.

Another common reaction from prospects is called the ‘positively negative.’  As soon as an associate mentions that their business model is MLM, the prospect expresses in no uncertain terms that they are positive that they want nothing to do with ‘pyramid scams.’  The prospect’s severe rejection of MLM is so profound that the new associate loses all courage to reapproach this prospect even after they are seeing financial success.

Rejection can come in the form of the ‘Good Ol’ Boy’ reaction.  Many friends and family are too polite can caring to respond with an outright “no,” so they agree to come to a business meeting.  However, they really have no intention of attending.  They are ‘no shows’ and leave the new associate devastated and feeling deceived.  This can be the hardest form of rejection to overcome.  Knowing this is a possibility ahead of time can soften the blow.

If not properly prepared for rejection, new associates can sink into the morass of despair.  They can think, “Why in the world am I doing this?  Nothing is worth this kind of humiliation.  Since nobody seems to want to do this, maybe they know something I don’t.  If I quit now, I’ll never have to go through this again.”

The Right Attitude toward Rejection

New associates need to anticipate rejection, and purpose in their hearts to overcome it.  They need to turn battles into a source of motivation that will propel them through these rejections.  They should plan to send a copy of their checks to their rejecters in six months.

Preparing Prospects for Rejection

Remember that the rejection rocket can be launched at anytime in your career and can catch you unaware.  However, disarming this weapon is fairly simple and needs to be taught literally during the close of the initial recruiting meeting.  Warn them about the two primary causes of failure so that they can avoid them. 

The first cause of failure happens when new associates listen to those who do not know what they are talking about.

Do NOT share the business with anyone until you are completely trained and knowledgeable about your company.  Why?  You will fail to present 100% of the information that listeners will need to make a good decision.  Instead, they will ridicule you, and that will leave them in a place where their pride will be an unmovable obstacle to ever signing them up in the future.

So, until an associate signs up and gets trained professionally, they must NOT approach anyone (spouse, friends, family) to share the business.  Why?  Friends and family who know nothing of the business will automatically conclude it is a scam and will only seek to save them from disaster.

The second cause of failure happens when new associates do NOT listen to those who do know what they are talking about.

This is critical because success depends on duplicating what has already proven to work.  Many new associates think that they have it all figured out and try to do it ‘better’ only to fail miserably.  MLM is totally different from traditional business.  So, if a prospect is not willing to learn and duplicate what their sponsors are showing them, do NOT sign them up.

Two Mindsets toward Rejection

Associates can strive to be well received by prospects and simply persevere.  Persistence along with complete confidence cannot be defeated.

Or, associates can try to avoid rejection by using the three step process: say nothing, do nothing, achieve nothing.  Fear of rejection can lead to ‘call reluctance’ which will lead to failure.  Taking the initiative is the key to being successful in MLM.

Not Being Taken Seriously

First year associates should not try to close prospects alone.  Teamwork with an experienced, successful upline associate is much more effective in bringing a prospect on board.  Meeting someone who is actually making big money overcomes the perception that only the first people into the business ever make money.

It is also important to connect with positive people who are reinforcing your worth.  Do not prejudge your prospects!  “There’s a seed of greatness in everyone.  Never qualify prospects for any reason.”

Not Taking Rejection Personally

New associates need to learn to not take ‘No’ personally.  For example, if you were a waitress taking fresh coffee to tables for refills, would you perceive it as a personal rejection if a customer said, “No, thank you,” when you offered to refill their cup?  I would hope not. 

In the same way, when someone says, “No, thank you,” to your MLM business, they are not rejecting you, but rather the business.  Simply, move onto the next prospect, and sooner or later, you will encounter someone who is interested.

Not Talking to Enough People

The law of balance: Increase the number of people you approach and decrease the impact of rejection.  If your goal is to build your organization, 80% of your time and energy should be put into prospecting.

Each week, set you goal for the number of contacts that you will make.  Keep putting prospects into your pipeline, and sooner than later, some will come out the other end as associates.

Prospecting small numbers of people magnifies rejection while prospecting large numbers of people diminishes the effects of rejection.

Conclusion

Rejection is inevitable in MLM.  How an associate reacts to it will make or break their business.  Early training to anticipate and dissipate rejection is a major key to success and longevity in MLM.