Jane and Mary are both in network marketing. (They're also
both fictitious and are not intended to depict any real
persons, living or dead.) For the sake of this story, we'll
assume they both possess equal talent, resources, and
motivation. However, their approaches to recruiting and
business-building are quite different.
Jane is determined to enroll as many new business partners
as possible into her organization each month. So far she's
been pretty successful at it. In the last year, she signed
up 300 people, averaging twenty-five new associates per
month and even winning her company's "Top Recruiter" award.
In looking at her organizational charts, however, she
notices that the great majority of her new distributors
aren't doing anything, and quite a few of them have even
resigned from the company already. She'll be lucky if she
still has fifteen active people left in a few months. And
she'll be really lucky if any of them are duplicating what
she's been doing.
Oh well, she thinks. Most people are lazy. I'll just work
with the ones who really want to improve their lives.
Meanwhile - back to recruiting! After all, if the drop-out
rate's going to be that high, I better get as many new
people as I can to compensate for it.
Mary, on the other hand, has been averaging one or two new
enrollments per month. She's been carefully screening and
interviewing her prospects, making as sure as she can that
they have the skills, resources, and attitudes they'll need
to be successful. She takes the time to get to know them,
learn what their needs are, and most importantly, find out
if they really want to do what she does. Above all, she
wants to make sure her opportunity will be a good fit for
her new business builders.
She also expects to do a lot of training and hand-holding
with each person she accepts into her organization - at
least during their first few weeks. And she knows this will
take time.
When Mary looks at her organizational chart, she feels very
satisfied that nearly all of her recruits are still active.
In fact, many of them are successfully duplicating what she
does and continue to enroll one or two qualified prospects
per month. Consequently, thanks to the power of
multiplication, her organization has grown in size to
several hundred business builders over the last year.
It's quite clear in this story that Mary is trying to put
her prospects' needs first, and Jane has other priorities.
Now please don't think I'm about to start preaching some
goody-goody philosophy of network marketing. While I
admit,I usually prefer kindness and generosity over greed
while traipsing down the road of life, there's actually a
very practical, down-to-earth reason for considering your
prospects' welfare above your own...
It's good for your business.
After all, wouldn't you prefer to work with loyal,
qualified people who stick with it? (Emphasis on the words,
"stick with it.") It doesn't matter how many starter pack
bonuses you earn in the short run, in the long run you'll
never reach cruising altitude unless you have a lot of
dedicated folks under you. And that doesn't happen unless
you earn their trust and loyalty by showing them in a very
authentic way that you care about their success. And of
course, by teaching them how to be successful.
And admit it. Doesn't it make life a lot more fun when you
build long-lasting personal relationships while you build
your business?
Giving your recruits what they need and want, thereby
reducing your drop-out rate, is also good for the network
marketing industry. Just imagine how many disgruntled
ex-MLMers there are out there, telling everyone they know
that network marketing is a rip-off and that it's
impossible to succeed at it. You know what a problem that
creates. If you would seriously like to change that image,
join the "Put Prospects First" movement.
In summary, here are four things you can do to accomplish
this:
1. Find out what your prospects' needs are and help them
decide if network marketing will help fill those needs. If
it won't, let them go.
2. Get to know your prospects well enough to determine if
they have the skills, resources, and attitude necessary for
success. If not, steer them gently in another direction.
You'll be doing them a favor, and they'll probably be
grateful for your honesty.
3. Don't twist their arms or use any other form of
manipulation to get them to sign with you. If they're not
already genuinely enthusiastic, you've got a guaranteed
drop-out on your hands.
4. After they've joined your team, take however much time
they need for training and hand-holding. Commit yourself to
their success.
By putting your prospects' needs before your own, you'll be
building a stronger organization, giving the network
marketing industry a better image, and creating some
awesome friendships.
----------------------------------------------------
Liz Monte enjoys writing articles about new 21st Century
approaches to network marketing that solve old traditional
problems. Visit her website for additional liberating
ideas.
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