Making Sense of Network Marketing.

TRANSCRIPT

In evaluating a network marketed opportunity, there is not necessarily a “right” or “wrong” as it will depend on your personality, aspirations and thoughts. There are some common denominators to look for though, that need your evaluation to ensure that you are giving yourself the best chance possible to create success.

A) Evaluating the Network Marketing Industry.

This one seems pretty obvious, but do you really know what network marketing is all about? If you just research online, you will find masses of information that could lead you to believe you can get massive wealth from almost no effort. “Cash on Autopilot”, “The Cash Factory” - these type of sites are everywhere. The reality is that network marketing requires skills and effort in order to achieve success.

What then are some of the requirements to be successful in network marketing and do you possess, or are you willing to work towards getting the necessary characteristics for success in network marketing?

1)  Tenacity.

The three most valuable words in network marketing are “Consistent, Persistent Action”. Network marketing can be done full time or part time - just not “some time”. It is a very simple business model, but the simple things need to be done over and over and over again. It takes a great deal of consistent effort.

In the beginning stages of developing your business, you will be seemingly making huge effort for almost zero return financially. If you have the tenacity to stick with that effort and with your chosen opportunity for the long haul, the return for effort will be like nothing else imaginable.

The reality is that the overwhelming majority of people in network marketing quit before they see the high return per effort. Many people jump from opportunity to opportunity because the “grass is greener” and never stick with any of the opportunities long enough to see the reward for their effort.

Anyone who has achieved success in network marketing will tell you that there were many occasions that they questioned what they were doing as their checks were so small in relation to the effort they had made. Were they in the right opportunity? Should they have stayed in a job? Does network marketing really work? What sets them apart is that they had the tenacity to stick to their guns and maintain Consistent, Persistent Action until they achieved success.

If you possess that tenacity, or are at least willing to give it all you have to develop that tenacity, network marketing is by far and away the best business model period. Can you alter your mindset that for a good while, your “hourly rate” will suck in comparison to any job you have had? Will you be able to stick with it through that?

If you think that network marketing is a low-effort business model that will allow you to potter along and create a retirement income, you will not succeed. If you are willing to bring or develop tenacity and realise it is going to take a LOT of effort to build the income you wish, then it is incredible. The reality is that you most certainly can create that income and that income will keep on coming as long as you make that long-term consistent effort.

2)  Coachability.

Are you willing to learn the skill sets that will help you succeed if you don’t already possess those skills? Network marketing is truly a relatively simple business model, but there are skills required.

Despite what some tell you, network marketing DOES involve selling. Exchanging goods or services for money is by any definition selling and not “sharing”, “educating” or “discussing”.

Nobody is born with sales skills, they are learned skills. There are many resources available that will help develop communication and sales skills. If you are embarking on this business for life, surely you shouod have the desire to be as good at it as you can be?

People will not purchase your product or service by osmosis, nor will they join your business by osmosis. They will do one or the other or both because you have communicated with them. Your ability to communicate will determine how successful you will be. There are ways of communicating with your friends and family or “warm market” and ways of communicating with your “cold market”. If you don’t have, or at least believe you don’t have those skills, are you coachable? Are you willing to study?

3)  Desire.

Desire is the fuel that powers everything. It sounds simplistic, but do you have the desire to succeed in network marketing? There is a massive difference between having a desire for success that drives you and signing up for a business because you like it, see potential in it or assume it will “go big”. The difference being that desire for success will drive you and no amount of potential, assumptions or like will.

In this regard, the product and opportunity are almost secondary. Do you possess the desire to succeed in network marketing. You will know this in your heart if it is your true goal to be at the top of your game in whatever you embark upon. Are you driven to be active and feed from the successful people in the business? Are you driven to learn, to then teach and make things happen for you rather than let things happen?

Without that desire, you cannot succeed. It really is that simple. Embarking on an opportunity without that desire is the same as getting married without passion and hoping it will develop. It is highly unlikely.

If you truly have the desire to create financial success, lifestyle change and freedom, network marketing is about the best vehicle there is to get you there. Combine that desire with tenacity and coachability and you have the requirements at your end of the equation.

The other end of that equation is the opportunity and Company itself. Without doing the necessary evaluation and due diligence, you may not succeed even if you have all the attributes for success. Stack the odds in your favour as much as possible. In part 2 of evaluating opportunities, we’ll look at what should be considered in terms of the opportunity you are evaluating.