TRANSCRIPT

Let’s move on then to the “Holy Grail” of network marketing - The Business Builders. Why is sponsoring business builders so important to what we are trying to do? It’s worth reminding ourselves, I think, of why we seek others to do what we do.

Leveraged, Passive, Residual, Income. The four words to wealth. Earning income from the efforts of others. Not just that, but earning from the efforts of others who have the identical opportunity for success that we do! This means it is in our interest to help them achieve success too! Not only wealth creation then, but  pay-it-forward is integral to success! Brilliant Compensation indeed!

Typically, network marketing companies have a concept for how to build and find these business builders. “Just find 2/3/4/5….(whichever number applies) people to do what you do and there you go”. All of these concepts are of course brilliantly simple. The problem is that virtually NONE of those concepts give you a “How To”.

Are you familiar with any of these supposed “How To’s”?

Talk to everyone in a 3 foot radius

Write down everyone you know and contact them

Always talk about Health AND Wealth

Get them on the product/service and make sure you let them know about the opportunity.

All you need is 2/3/4/5… people who will do what you do

Now, for sure if you throw enough mud at something, you’ll eventually build a structure of some kind. If you are thick-skinned, strong-willed, patient and resilient enough, you will probably find enough business builders in this way to create wealth. What you will have also done, is experienced pain, frustration, disappointment on a scale that makes 95% of people embarking on our industry not succeed.

The inherent problem is that in adopting these “How To’s” we are leading with our product or service, then our opportunity and then expecting people to “get” our industry like we do an go out and create huge success. Our products and services are typically excellent, so it’s relatively easy to sign up people.

The next step is introducing the people to the potential of “just signing 3 people to get free product” and then “unlimited income”. This will either alienate potential customers (see Leg 1) or you will indeed sign people to embark on a new venture - especially as our businesses cost virtually nothing compared to any other business type. You’ll then embark on hours of training on your Compensation Plan and the supposed “How To’s” above. How many people then actually become your business builders? 5%, 2% Less???

Haven’t you then wasted a boat load of time training people who will never build? Haven’t you created minor to massive disappointment in people who bought into what you were telling them and then didn’t see success? Haven’t you created the same waste of time and disappointment-creation for those that actually are your business builders?

So what’s the answer then?

How about instead of our product or service, we lead with our industry? How about we educate on passive, leveraged, residual income, the tax advantages of home based businesses, be truthful about how it is to build a business. If someone is still interested, THEN introduce ourselves, our products and services, our Companies and Compensation Plans. If the person was still with us then, wouldn’t we have a business builder?

On my particular journey, I found a system that does this for me and truly leverages my time. The system is called SponsorDaddy and I will be describing it in other posts. SponsorDaddy is almost as though a franchise blueprint had met network marketing. You can see an overview of the system to see if it makes as much sense for you as it did me at:

http://www.mysystem.me

What do I mean by a retailer and how does that differ from a business builder?

I define a retailer here as someone that will retail your product or service to their customer base. They are not to be considered business builders as network marketing is NOT what they do on a daily basis.

Let’s say your network marketed opportunity is in skin care products. A great retailer for you might be a beauty salon owner. Clients already trust the person and salon with their skin care so this person recommending a product should be well-received.

A retailer could be found for just about any product or service. It is a great source of income and a well-spent use of your time to find such retailers provided that you do not try to shoe-horn them in to something that they are not.

95% of such retailers are experienced in traditional retailing and not in network marketing. In other words, they know how to buy stock and put it on a shelf, or exchange a service for income and repeat. This leads to some positives and negatives of them retailing your product or service.

On the positive side, making them aware that they can make continuing income from one sale is very appealing. Virtually all network marketed products or services have ongoing renewals or autoships. This means that just for having a conversation with people they would be conversing with anyway about similar topics, they can gain long-term income. In other words, make much more money, doing what they do anyway.

Typically, they would not be involved with distribution - either that is done by Head Office, or by you if you value the worth of your retailer.

On the negative side, retailers tend to be too passive. They don’t naturally engage their clients in conversations about your product or service, as their retailing is typically passive. Investing time in training the retailer how to engage their clients, and/or doing something pro-active like your performing a table-top expo in their place of business (if possible) certainly will help.

Retailers tend to be the “low-hanging fruit” for us in network marketing - the logical choices to represent our product or service. However, the overwhelming majority of that low-hanging fruit goes un-harvested or rots. The reason for this is that we are trying to rip these retailers out of their comfort zones. We spend hours telling them about our compensation plans “knowing” that they would be the very best network marketers.

Instead of spending the hours trying to make them into something they are not, spend that time showing them how to simply engage their customers and gain the long-term residual income from retailing your product or service. You will be surprised how quickly this leg of income grows if you keep that focus and how much more effective your retailers are individually.

My only concession to this is that if they become effective, you can say to them something along the lines of “if you know others who do what you do and got them to retail the product too, you’d make a piece of the business they did too. If you want to know more about that, ask me”. Leave it at that unless asked for more.

This Leg 2 income stream can be a very powerful stream of leveraged income for you then if done right. Playing to the strengths of your retailers, instead of projecting on them what you think they could be, could be very lucrative as there is a ton of “low-hanging fruit” out there.

TRANSCRIPT

Imagine with me for a moment that you are in a shoe store, it’s pretty crowded and you are looking for a good pair of running shoes to buy. You are in a bit of a hurry, so you want to try them on and if they fit, buy them and leave.

The assistant tells you about the quality of the shoes for about 15 minutes in techno speak that you don’t understand. Even though you’re antsy to leave, you think “fair enough, he seems passionate about these shoes, but I’d already decided to buy them anyway”.

Next, the assistant tells you the price. Then he starts telling you that if you just worked for 2 hours on a Saturday and got your friends to buy the same shoes, your shoes would end up being cheaper or even free. If you worked hard, and got your friends to introduce their friends, you could really get loads of great free shoes and retire to a house in Hawaii.

He then asks you to come through to the back as he has a “short” three-hour training meeting that explains all of this and it will be the most valuable, greatest, bestest, not-to-be-missed three hours of your life.

If you’re like me, I would have long-before, run out of that store throwing the shoes behind me. All I wanted was a ****** pair of running shoes!! Wouldn’t you feel somewhat dirty and scammed as well as angry, frustrated and confused?

Well guess what. That’s what the overwhelming majority of network marketers do on a daily basis.

Let’s look at the supposed logic behind this. Introduce a person to your product and service, they’ll love it and the fact that you can then make it a business and be off and running making money for you. Does it make sense that just because I wanted to buy a pair of running shoes, I’d change my whole life to building a shoe business?

The truth is that if you are thick-skinned enough to wear out enough relationships with friends and family and have enough stamina to offer product/service plus opportunity over enough time, you will inevitably find business builders. What an inefficent and deeply challenging waste of life.

Why not let customers be customers? Why? You love your product or service. You can feel great about introducing others to it. People understand retail and referral. When you feel the instinct kicking in to introduce opportunity - don’t! Picture yourself in the shoe shop scene!

If you cannot make income from retailing a product or service, then I would certainly question whether you are involved in a worthwhile opportunity. The vast majority of network marketed products and services are excellent and indeed better than the traditionally sold equivalents.

Introduce your product or service to someone with clear eyes. You are letting them know about this product or service because it will benefit them in some way. The statistics do not lie. 95% -98% of those that sign up will NOT be business builders. Be at peace that the person is a customer. Enjoy your retail commissions. If the customer is entrepreneurial do you not think that they will look at a website, see the opportunity and contact you for more information?

I KNOW I can work in a shoe shop or start a shoe business if it was what floated my boat. It isn’t, but I am a good customer when I find products I like.

If you mention your opportunity to customers, you will turn customers off who think it’s “one of those things, you will spend hours and hours that you will never get back having training meetings and webinars with people who have zero interest, skills or desire to be a network marketer.

Overwhelmingly, people will only ever use the product or service or introduce it to one or two others. Going through this process of “showing your customers the way to independent wealth” is therefore setting up a huge amount of people for disappointment and dissilusionment, setting yourself up for frustration, anger, burnout and doing favours for no one.

Therefore, when you are approaching someone about what you do, decide in advance if they are potential customers or business builders. If youdecide they are customers enjoy the clarity and focus that gives you. Enjoy that someone new ses the value of your product or service. Enjoy the retail commission you make and reaaly enjoy the countless hours you have saved by not “training” people who will never do what you do.