MLM Networking Women

Those of us active in MLM are burning up our keyboards in response to the news that iLearning Global has shut down the MLM part of their business.

Whenever something like this happens, it sends shockwaves through the Network Marketing community.

Hundreds of thousands of people depend on operating a low start up home based business, like those found with a multi level marketing or direct sales business.

We are single mothers, stay at home moms, working dads trying to make ends meet, students, retirees, anybody going after the American Dream.

It is frightening for us when an MLM company shuts down or ends their MLM program.  Overnight thousands of people can lose their checks, whether they were making a couple hundred a month or 10s of thousands a month.

It is tragic for everyone.

Network Marketing is still a sound industry.  There is a lot of money to be made by anyone willing to be educated, coached and committed enough to put forth the effort and time required to succeed. 

Part of the learning curve can be shortened in respect to learning how to evaluate an MLM opportunity.

If you’re in MLM, you need to be willing to treat it like a serious business opportunity.  This means learning skills like the 5 Pillars to Success. 

The 5 Pillars are tools you can use to evaluate the stability of an MLM company. 

• Learn how hard you will have to work with a company’s pay plan.  Can a part-timer make satisfactory income?
• Learn what clauses to look for in the Policy and Procedures that do not have the distributor’s’ best interest at heart.
• Learn what else to look for in the company’s management experience and product.

In just a few short hours, Mentoring For Free will be having a free teleseminar on the 5 Pillars.

For access information for the 9 pm EST call tonight, March 20th, please email mentorkaren.freetrainingoffer@gmail.com .

If you miss the live call, send me an email requesting the link to the recording of the call to mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com .

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen

Recently I have been getting a ton of calls—recorded calls, no less!—offering to sell me endless prequalified leads for my MLM home based business.

They are using web harvesters to pick my phone number and other contact information off of my website.

I don’t mind being called by people.  After all, that is why my number is posted here.

But I do want to talk to real live people and I do not like being pitched.

Believe me, once I hear it is a pitch, I hang up!  If you are a real person calling with a pitch and expect me to return your call, I won’t.

It is best to generate your own leads. 

1. Network with like minded people who are already interested in MLM. 
2. Offer something of value for free that will help your contacts in building their businesses.
3. Build relationships with your network.

Of the people you help, a handful will likely want to join you in your business.

1. These people know, like, and trust you.
2. They are motivated and coachable.
3. You know they will be committed business builders.

This is the essence of
“Work Smarter, Not Harder.”

Build your business with these people and you will have a low attrition rate, a smaller group of people to train and support, and a group of people making good income for themselves and You.

If you think buying leads is a good way to build your business, listen to this recording from my mentor, Michael Dlouhy.

Selling Leads Is a Scam.

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen

You might not know this about me…I take care of foster children. So far I have taken care of over 20 children and adopted one.

This past month I took in an ity bity baby boy, then cared for 2 little siblings for 3 weeks. After they left, in came another baby. So now, I have a 10 week old boy and an 8 week old girl.

I have been thrust back into those days of no sleep and having my household ruled by a miniature person who’s demands must be met immediately.

Even with the challenges, it’s fun.

Having these babies and being so busy with their care has also reminded me of why network marketing is such a great industry. You really can tailor the business you build around your lifestyle, needs and time constraints.

A huge factor in being able to customize the time and efforts you put into your MLM business is your compensation plan.

Many comp plans contain sinister clauses hidden in legalese few people can understand. Knowing what your company’s comp plan says, line by line, and how that affects your ability to build your business on YOUR terms.

I am giving you a gift of the link to last Saturday’s training call on Compensation Plans. 

Just send me an email at mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com requesting the Bob and Anna Comp Plan training from February 27, 2010.  I’ll send the link right to you.

Bob and Anna Bassett hosted the call and taught how to answer the 10K question. If you can’t answer this about YOUR company’s compensation plan, then you really don’t know how much you need to work to reach your financial goals.

Knowledge IS Power!  Learn what you need to know about your contracts and you’ll become 10 feet tall and bullet proof!

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen

Network Marketing is NOT just a Numbers Game!

People are people not numbers.

They are also not just a prospect or a lead.

They have goals, dreams and desires. They are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandmothers, and grandfathers to people who love them.

Prospecting 104….Painless Principles in Generating Your Own Marketing Leads

The answer I have found to the question “So, now what?” is that you have to build relationships.

All of the traditional methods of lead generation for building an online business (making the List, buying leads, paying for coaching) worked well for many people who made a lot of money.

These methods are also typically aggressive and more suited to people comfortable being salesmen.

The olde school methods have also burned out a lot of the population who have grown wary of such heavy hitter recruiting tactics.

Fact #1 about People and Sales:

Roughly 70% of the population hates being pitched, sold to, and closed.
These same people hate to sell and close.
Think about it…
Why do most people dread the prospect of dealing with a car sales person?

The best method I have found to generate my own leads is to build relationships first. 

A great “ice-breaker” to meet new people is to give away for free something of value that will help others build their business.

It may seem strange to give away training for free when so many people are making money offering training systems. 

But think about it.

Most successful businesses give things away.

• Most people have had free samples of teriyaki chicken at the mall food court;
• Or we have enjoyed free samples of perfume in magazine folds;
• Or free samples of hand lotion in foil packages. 
• Remember how the Avon lady had those tiny lipstick samples?

Online marketers usually have a sign up form to receive a free training series or a free newsletter.

Blogs, You-Tube videos, and online articles are common examples of free giveaways network marketers use in their online lead generation activities.

Offering free training or information gives us an opportunity to meet and network with a lot of like-minded people.

As we get to know each other, a handful of the people we are networking with will become our business partners.  Everyone else will become valued business associates.

In the words of Zig Ziglar, “You can have everything in life you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen

Prospecting 103…the Professional Coach

Still can’t get it? Better head for some one on one Professional Coaching, Sister!

Yes, there must be something so terribly wrong with me that I need to plunk down a couple of grand to have an expert coach me through this process that is so idiotically simple for everyone else.

Fees do vary amongst the selection coaches who specialize in working with network marketers teaching us how to talk to Cold Market prospects.

How they offer their programs, content, length of time for training, and stipulations for personal individualized help also vary widely.

And they DO honor major credit cards.

Well, fortunately for this single Professional Mother of three, I didn’t have the cash OR the credit to take advantage of this golden opportunity.

So now what?

Now that everyone you know, care about and love…heck, even the people you ran into at the mall…are in the Prospect Protection Program, what do you do?

I have been fortunate enough to have learned the difference between one of these coaches and a Mentor.

Noun Singular mentor (plural mentors)

1. A wise and trusted counselor or teacher
Verb to mentor

2. (transitive) To act as someone’s mentor

A Mentor will build you the Person as the central part of what they offer you.

A Mentor will give without having any expectation of you the Person aside from your personal growth.

In the book, The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson, the author talks about finding a mentor in Chapter 9. He says your mentor is like your hero.

You should seek out a mentor who is an expert in the area of your own goals and aspirations and focus on him/her.

Working with a mentor is learning through modeling.

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen

Prospecting 102-B…
the Cold Market Lead Generation Method Continued

Legalized Stalking

The other Cold Market method of generating leads is to follow the “3 foot rule” whenever you are in a public place.

Were you told by your sponsor that all you had to do was relate your enthusiasm for your products to people and they’d be lining up to buy it?  If you weren’t getting sales, your belief and enthusiasm were to blame.

This form of Legalized Stalking works something like this.

When at the mall or grocery story, you start talking to everyone within hearing distance about your great home business opportunity or your fantastic products that are so terrific they raise the dead.

If you continue with this for any length of time, soon the security guards are going to see you coming and block all entrances to you. If you still get in, people will begin to spot that hungry look in your eye and start running, not walking, for a place to hide.

Of course, you’re not doing anything wrong, those poor people just don’t know how badly they need what you have to offer.
Oh, don’t they now?

Were you also told that you have to “Hear a 100 ‘no’s for every ‘yes’ you get”?

What a bunch of rubbish!

The Cold Market left me a little frigid too, so I abandoned the Legalized Stalker plan along with buying useless leads for making cold calls.

So NOW what???

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen

Prospecting 102…
the Cold Market Lead Generation Method

The List? I’ll have none of that, thank you! Buy Leads, you say?

So, once I announced to my upline that I refused to call my family and friends for prospecting, I was given two options that involved entering the COLD Leads Market.

These are the other inhabitants of the planet who don’t know you from Adam.

First, I was presented with a list of sources that sold leads. Even prequalified leads!

Oh joy! Here is THE answer! An unending supply of people who actually WANT to talk to me and know about my business! Oh…Really?

I found out in the nick of time the real truth behind buying leads. BEWARE! Before you buy even one lead, or if you’ve bought leads and are getting nowhere, you must understand how these leads are generated and sold…and resold…and resold.

Have you ever been online and been offered a chance to “win” an iPod or computer? All you had to do to be entered into the contest was to fill out a short survey. You might have been asked about making extra cash or something similar.

Since you wanted to be contacted if you won the prize, you didn’t think twice about leaving your name and telephone number. The fine print was so minute and long, you didn’t bother reading it.

If that wasn’t you, there are thousands of people who complete such surveys every day.

This is just one way companies selling leads packages get the leads for you. They are not interested in your home based business opportunity…they just wanted a free computer!

So now what??

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen

Prospecting 101…
the Hot and Warm Market Leads List

Spare yourself some grief…
don’t even make the List!

I remember being told to make The List. You know. The List of 100 of your friends, family members and acquaintances.

The better you know them makes them your HOT Market Leads.
The less well you know them, makes them your WARM Market Leads.
Cha-Ching!

I really, REALLY felt uncomfortable calling these people. My Dearly Beloved, gathered there that day, unsuspecting targets….yikes!

But I obeyed and did as I was told…afterall, I had agreed to be “teachable”.

This went on until I called my nephew one fateful evening. I was getting my little ones to bed, and he was making Spanish rice 800 miles away.

We chatted a bit…then…I started telling him about the fantastic opportunity I had found…and the simple training system they had…just call everyone you know!!!

He immediately said: “Is that why you called me???”

I felt like a creep! At that moment, I vowed NEVER, EVER to prospect my Dearly Beloved AGAIN!

Let me tell you something.
Your friends and family love you and care about you dearly. This makes them the worst people to approach with your opportunity.

Your friends and family are just as skeptical as everyone else and they do not want you to get hurt, or taken to the cleaners.

There is also the hard truth that some of those closest to us do not want to see us succeed because they don’t want to get left behind. They may not even realize they feel this way. But they do and they will not be one of your supporters.

Whatever the circumstance is, stay away from The List, or you will find yourself a member of the N.F.L. (No Friends Left).

No matter how much these folks like you and love you, anyone will get tired of being pitched and will avoid you…even your cat’s vet!

So now what?

Believe In Yourself, I Do!
Karen

People looking to make some extra income without getting a second job need to know these 4 top tips on how to get rich.

These aren’t hyped up scam based suggestions for stuffing envelopes or sending cash in the mail.  I’m presenting 4 tips the top earners practice and teach for achieving wealth.

To be successful in building your home based business so it will replace your current income, provide for your retirement, and let you go on vacations with your family…

You need to learn these principles:

1. Training and Mentoring
2. The Magic of Residual Income
3. Don’t Quit Your Day Job
4. Pay Off Your Debt.

It all takes work and determination.
You can read all of the details in my Ezine Article, How To Get Rich Working From Home.

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen
mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com

When considering joining an MLM company, or even if you are having doubts about a company you already belong to, you need to know how to evaluate that company.

At Mentoring for Free, we use the 5 Pillars to Success for evaluating any MLM company.

1. Integrity
2. Timing
3. Products
4. Compensation
5. Duplication

This industry has a 95% failure rate.  Everybody claims to have a system that is easily duplicated.

We would have a 95% success rate if this statement were true.

The reason so many people find themselves struggling in a business is because they ask the wrong questions.

The following questions are those you must ask, and must be answered, for your success.

1. Should you trust the people running this company?  Will they actually pay you?
2. Are you gambling with your time, effort and money?
3. Do lots of people want these products?  Can they afford them?
4. How many people do you need to create your target income?  Not how much money can I make!
5. How many people will do this?  Not can they, but will they?

Can you answer these questions about your company?  Can your upline sponsor answer these questions?  Can the person working on getting you signed up with the company you are looking at answer these questions?

Can’t seem to get the information you need to make a sensible decision?

I have more help for you.

Send me an  email at mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com to request a free audio training on the 5 Pillars to Success. 

Listen to the training and if you want more assistance, we are a team of mentors waiting to help you.

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen