Blueprint to MLM Success: 3 Simple Steps That Will Change The Course of Your Business and Your Life
When I started my first MLM business several years ago, I remember the feeling of intimidation. I had never owned ANY business before and, honestly had no idea what I was doing. I just did what my sponsor told me and said a little prayer. It didn’t work.
But my failure in my first business venture led me to some eye-opening realities. And after many years in the industry, I can finally look people in the eye and say without hesitation,
Success in MLM is not that hard. It’s simply a matter of following 3 Simple Steps.
Blueprint to MLM Success
Here are the 3 steps to MLM Success:
- Make yourself VALUABLE to your prospects (Education and Training)
- Get the word out about the VALUE you have to offer (Marketing and Advertising)
- Teach your team members to be VALUABLE to THEIR prospects (Leadership, Residual Income)
These 3 steps are what I’ve found to be a Blueprint to MLM Success.
How Do You Make Yourself Valuable?
As I’ve said on this blog, in my trainings, and to anyone who will listen,
How Much Money You Make In MLM (or Any Business) is Directly Related To Your VALUE to the Marketplace
So what is value?
Think about it. What would you, as a prospect find valuable in an MLM mentor?
If you’re like me, you are probably looking for someone who can help you reach your goals. And that IS value! So how do you become more valuable?
By becoming skillful. By learning skills that can help others make more money in MLM.
For example, you could….
- Take a course on Prospecting and learn how to better find your target audience
- Get cutting edge Online Marketing Training and learn how to generate free leads and sales
- Read books on Copywriting and perfect your own writing style that influences others to buy from you.
- Learn about Leadership from leaders in the field, so that you can help lead your team to success.
Now THAT is value. Imagine the knowledge and wisdom you could acquire by doing the 4 things listed above. And imagine how ATTRACTIVE you would be to others looking to make money in MLM.
VALUE = INCOME
Remember that simple formula and you’ll always be lucrative in MLM or any business.
So Where Do Most People Get Off Track?
The reason that most people aren’t successful in MLM is they SKIP A STEP — Number 1.
They forget the step about becoming Valuable to others, and they jump right into promoting, advertising, and marketing. And to top it off, THEY USUALLY GET IT WRONG. People are often taught to promote their company’s products or compensation plan. They may even be given a replicated company website on which they can throw their picture, as if this is some sort of pathway to branding. It is not.
Simply put, most new people in MLM brand their company and not themselves. The simplest way to BRAND YOURSELF?
Become Valuable and ADD VALUE to other people’s lives. In the new world of Social Media and the power of “viral word of mouth”, word will quickly get out about your skills and how you can help others make money online. And THAT IS POWER.
I’ll dive more into Steps 2 and 3 in a later post, but keep in mind the 3 Step Blueprint to MLM Success, and how each step must be followed IN SEQUENCE in order to see massive MLM success.
To YOUR success in MLM,
Dr. Bob Clarke
New MLM Training Free Report Now Available — 5 Killer Strategies For Using Technology to Explode Your Business in 2010
Well, its finally finished.
I’ve been working long and hard completing this FREE REPORT for you guys, so here it is.
I call it…
and it is thorough, I’ll tell you that.
So who will benefit from this report?
- Anyone who is still using Old School MLM or Network Marketing Tactics, this report is for you….
- And anyone who is struggling with Online Marketing, this report is for you, too.
Grab it now, before I start charging for it! :-)
I’m giving you guys first crack for being loyal readers and followers… so grab it now.
To your success!
Dr. Bob Clarke
Starting a Home Based Internet Business — How Will I Do My Marketing?
There are 3 keys to finding a home based Internet business that’s right for you. The first, covered here previously, is to find the right products to sell. There’s no easy way to find this out except to do your market research.
The second key to finding a home based Internet business is finding a company that includes a marketing system that is automated to a great extent, is duplicatable, and supplies enough training to allow you to learn different marketing methods in a reasonable time.
Here are 3 must have features for any marketing system:
The Marketing System Must Include Automation
Most people just getting into Internet marketing greatly underestimate just how many new skills they will need in order to become successful on the Internet.
This non-inclusive list includes:
- how to market online and offline
- how to develop a website so that your leads will have some place to go to hear about your offer
- how to write a compelling story so that your leads are compelled to buy (this skill is called copy writing)
- how to talk to people who are interested
- how to close your sale
- how to develop a way to keep in touch with people who are undecided (usually through autoresponder emails)
And many, many more. Now you see why I said its important to find a company to work with that has as many of these skills automated and done for you. These systems are generally called Automated Marketing Systems, and there are a few out there that are quite good. Google it and seek them out when looking for an online opportunity.
The Marketing System Must Be Duplicatable
If you can’t copy what others are doing and get success fairly quickly, you’ll be out of money and out of business before you know what hit you. You have to seek out business opportunities where people can PLUG IN to the marketing system and duplicate their success.
In the opportunity I have chosen, we have marketing system averages for sales and profits. As long as you continue to drive leads to the marketing funnel (via your marketing), you are almost guaranteed to hit these company averages, resulting in sales AND profits.
That’s because the system is EASY TO DUPLICATE, a must have feature when considering any new home business opportunity.
The Marketing System Must Include ADEQUATE TRAINING
This is a big one, and non-negotiable. If there is not enough training, there will be no way for you to learn how to market to take advantage of the automated system. And I’m not talking about the rah-rah, have a bigger why kind of training. I’m talking meat and potatoes here guys, the kind of training that tells you how to market and shows you how to get it done.
Anything else is unacceptable. Be sure to ask about a company’s training before signing up. Ask how many training calls there are each week, and what the topics of these calls are. Ask if individualized training is possible at no cost (it should be). Don’t neglect this one — it will come back to haunt you BIG TIME.
Next time we’ll talk about the 3rd key to finding the right home based Internet business for you: Compensation.
I wish you all success and prosperity,
Dr. Clarke’s primary business opportunity
The Power of Many — Grow Your Home Business with a Mastermind Group
Merry Christmas, everyone! Today’s post focuses on the importance of working as part of a group to accomplish your goals and objectives. I am going to share with you an article I just published on the concept of a Mastermind Group and how it can help you grow your business exponentially.
Welcome to Day 25 of the “30 Tips in 30 Days” Holiday Blog Special, where you get one free business or marketing tip for every day in the month of December. If you’ve missed any of the previous posts simply click on the Business and Marketing Tips Category link on the right sidebar.
Here is the article I promised you:
Students of business, regardless of their level of formal education, seem to always be searching for the latest and greatest management fad to help achieve more profits—and more success. Frequently though, there is great wisdom to be found in less-contemporary teachings as well. Take for example the concept of the Mastermind Group, first introduced by Napoleon Hill in his timeless and classic work, Think and Grow Rich, first published in 1937. Describing the Mastermind concept, Hill writes, “The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony…No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.”
What is a Mastermind Group? It’s simply a group of people sharing a common goal, and sharing insight and wisdom in their pursuit of it. In the case of a home-based network marketing business, each person in the group will most likely be pursuing their own individual goals—and business—but will benefit from the shared experience and expertise of the others.
Starting a Mastermind Group to support your network marketing business is relatively straightforward. The group size can vary, but most experts agree that the optimum size should be between three and six people. The group should meet weekly, typically for an hour and a half or so. Obviously flexibility is the key, but these guidelines are fairly standard. Often the person who founded the group serves as the coordinator and arranges the logistical details of the meeting. Location and time would be up to the coordinator to manage.
But because all of the group members are considered equal, there is no appointed leader. The best approach is to rotate meeting leadership responsibilities to the various members each time the group meets. The weekly leader guides the agenda for each meeting, typically starting with each group member recounting their week’s goals, accomplishments and challenges. And this is where the synergies of the group come into play. In a situation where the whole is clearly more than the sum of its parts, the group brainstorming is where the magic occurs. Some Mastermind Group proponents suggest that the entire process of sharing and discussing should be carefully structured. Others feel that a more free-form approach is recommended. Regardless of how you choose to approach it, a Mastermind Group should unquestionably become a part of your overall home-based business success strategy.
To your prosperity!
Bob Clarke
December 25, 2008; Cresskill, NJCheck out which business I chose above all others
Why is the MLM Failure Rate so High?
Welcome to Day 8 of the “30 Tips in 30 Days Holiday Blog Special”.
Today’s post is about MLM and Network Marketing failure. Why?
Because at many points along the road to success in this industry, I can guarantee you one thing:
You will feel like quitting!
And it order for you to avoid becoming another MLM statistic, we need to arm you with some knowledge about why people quit. In tomorrow’s post, we will discuss what to do when you feel the urge to quit.
Here is the ugly truth in MLM:
Over 95% of MLM business ventures FAIL!
Why? Well, I had my own ideas but I decided to ask people in the industry what they thought the main reasons were for the high attrition rate. You can see all the results in my Squidoo lens.
Today I will talk about what I consider to be the top 3 reasons that people fail in Network Marketing.
REASON 1: UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
By far the biggest reason for people quitting network marketing is, paradoxically, their very high expectations of the kind of success they will have and the time it will take them to achieve it. People come into the industry thinking that it will be an easy way to make a lot of money. They start their business thinking that it will be only a matter of weeks, or months at the most, before they’ll start making the kind of money that will allow them to quit their current job.
The real truth? Unless you have prior networking or sales experience, it will take the normal person months, or even years before they start seeing the kind of results they are expecting. In fact, most successful network marketers failed at the first MLM business they started. And the second. In fact, for many of the top earners out there, there were quite a few failures before they finally learned how to be successful in network marketing.
Who is responsible for these unrealistic expectations? Sadly, most of it originates from all the hype you see out there. You’ve all seen the ads: “Easy Money”, “Make Huge Money Online”, and “Become Rich Online,” to name just a few.
Are these lies? No. There are definitely people out there who are making a lot of money online in network marketing. In fact, there are A LOT of people making big money.
But they are not generally the people who are starting out for the first time.
No, the ads are not lies. But they are misleading. At least in my opinion.
REASON #2: TREATING YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A HOBBY
This is your business. If you don’t treat it like a business, it will fail. It’s pretty much as simple as that.
What do I mean? I mean putting the time, energy, and money into your business that is necessary for you to see success. Let me give you an example.
This is how I treat my business. I have a full time job as a medical professional, and I have a successful network marketing business.
How do I do both?
- I work about 3 hours at night on my business after I come home from my job, at least 4 days a week.
- I work an average of 5-6 hours on my business on the days I am not working (except Sundays).
- I have put every cent I have made to this point BACK INTO MY BUSINESS to make it grow. I invest in myself by paying for additional training to acquire skills I will need to be even more successful.
You see a theme here? TIME and MONEY. That is how you “treat your business like a business”. I’ve never seen a new business thrive when someone spends a couple hours a week on it. And people who take their business profits and buy a big screen TV will soon be looking failure in the face.
There IS a time and a place for such behavior — after you’ve started making Big Money. But until then, put the time and money into your business on a consistent basis and you will see it grow.
Slowly at first, then faster, and even faster until, one day you’ll wake up and realize your are one of those “Network Marketing Success Stories” that you read about.
It can and will happen if you treat your business like a business.
REASON # 3: LACK OF SKILLS
If you are an auto mechanic, you need skills to fix cars. If you are a doctor, you need skills to fix people.
If you are a network marketer, you need to acquire the skills necessary to be successful.
What are these skills? I’m talking about communication skills, marketing skills, and networking skills. Skills like how to talk to a prospect, how to communicate and support your team members, and how to project yourself as a leader.
Not to mention marketing skills. Here, you need skills like copywriting, website design and development, and learning how to promote your business online and offline.
What I am getting at is that people starting a network marketing business often overlook the fact that you need to acquire skills to be successful, just as you would with any other occupation. Yes, network marketing IS AN OCCUPATION, although not in the traditional sense.
People get impatient because they want to run before they can walk. They get uncomfortable because, for most of us, change is uncomfortable.
But it’s imperative that you acquire these skills (or learn how to outsource them) in order to be successful as a network marketer.
There you have it. My 3 top reasons why 95% of people fail at network marketing.
Leave a comment and add some more!
Tomorrow we will arm you with some tools when YOU feel like quitting…. and you will!
Everyone does.
Until next time, be happy!
Bob
Learn how an automated marketing system can cut down your learning curve
30 Tips in 30 Days: Day 5 — This 30 Minute Exercise Will Save You Thousands in Wasted Marketing Dollars
What kind of a marketer do you want to be?
This central question is one that an amazing number of network marketers NEVER ask themselves.
We get so busy with starting our business, learning about our products, and studying various marketing techniques that we forget to ask ourselves….
‘What are my strengths and how can I leverage them most effectively?”
and
“What image do I want to project to the rest of the world?”
First things first — what are your strengths?
- What are you good at?
- Are you a people person?
- Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
- What skills do you have?
- Do you enjoy writing?
- Is making videos appealing to you?
- Or are you an analyzer of data?
These are the kinds of questions you MUST ask yourself before you spend another dollar on marketing.
I did this exercise a few months into my business. I should have done it much earlier but it wasn’t until later that someone told me what I am telling you today.
THIS EXERCISE IS NOT EASY. IT MAY NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE. After all, who wants to take a good hard look at themselves? We might be afraid of what we find!
But if you are going to succeed in any business (and especially on the Internet), and I am talking massive success, then you must perform this exercise.
It won’t take long, but the upside of what you discover about yourself and your strengths and how you adapt your marketing approach to take advantage of these strengths will make it the best 30 minute investment you’ll ever make (at least in terms of your business).
So here is what I ‘discovered” about myself when I did this exercise:
- I am an introvert and am very shy around people I don’t know. I prefer small gatherings of friends rather than big parties.
- I am not so much a “people person”, but have to work at engaging others, especially in a scenario where I don’t know many people.
- I DO NOT like to make videos, and my early video work showed this aversion.
- I am fairly good at writing and enjoy researching subjects and relaying important information to my readers.
- Having a background in science, I enjoy the challenge of data analysis and improving systems to yield better results.
How did I change the approach to my business based on these findings?
Being introverted makes it a little more difficult to succeed in network marketing, but not impossible. What did I do?
- I forced myself to engage others, to meet new people and find out about their lives. I studied books on effective communication and read a lot of self improvement material from my all time favorite, Jim Rohn.
- Being better at writing and data analysis, I decided to focus the basis of my marketing plan on my strenths. I write a well respected and well read blog (the one you are reading now), I studies how to write effective articles on the internet and now have several articles that will be published very soon.
- Because I love data analysis, Pay-per-click advertising seemed right up my alley. But PPC is one of those monsters that will eat up your marketing dollars faster than anything else, so caution must be taken. To jump into PPC without training is almost a guarantee to losing bundles of money very quickly. I read whatever articles and ebook on PPC I could find, including Perry Marshall’s classic. But in this case, reading wasn’t enough, so I signed on to train with one of the top experts in PPC advertising. She is teaching Rosemary and I, not only the basics of PPC, but the very latest trends and tricks to being successful as Google and Yahoo change with the changing economy. Best money I ever spent.
- Finally, videos. What can I say? I’m just not very good when I see that red light on the video camera come on. Can’t explain it. But again, I turned to training to get better at it. I am learning video marketing from some leading experts on the Internet.
I know that video marketing is very effective in promoting yourself and your business on the internet.
So I am taking steps to improve in this area.
Like anything else, the only way I know of to improve your skills is to learn from others (training) who are already successful. And then JUST DO IT.
Next time, we will discuss the question of “What image do I want to project to the rest of the world?”
Enjoy your weekend, everyone.
To your massive happiness,
Bob
December 5, 2008; Cresskill, NJCurious about my primary business opportunity?
Carbon Copy PRO Marketing Event — New Strategies, Inspiration, and a New Porsche
Wow! I just got back from a live training event and here are the details….
That’s all I can say. I have been in the Network Marketing industry for quite a few years now, and I have never been to company live events that actually TEACH people HOW TO MARKET. Until now.
Carbon Copy PRO’s Second Live Marketing Event in Dallas was held on Saturday and it was an amazing mix of new strategies, tips, and great discounts on coaching from experts in the world of marketing.
And they even gave away a new Porsche!
Here’s a glimpse at the schedule of events (non-inclusive):
- M.J. Durkin of Sales Judo Academy started things off with terrific tips on how to prospect, build your list, and secrets of leaving great voice mails. Many nuggets here, folks.
- Jimmy Davis and Dennis Karganilla of MLM Goldmine, the masters of Web 2.0 provided their own gold nuggets for the audience with their tips on making MySpace and YouTube work.
- Howie Schwartz of Conversation Domination continued the Web 2.0 theme and showed everyone how he routinely ranks on the first page of Google using Web 2.0 methodologies.
- Cherie Yvette, the Urban Cowgirl, unveiled for the first time her new Pay Per Click software that will revolutionize the way everyone optimizes their PPC campaigns. Amazing stuff at an amazing price.
- Natalie Stahl of Platinum 7 Consulting presented her Weekly Action Plan, providing consultants with a formal plan that will turbo charge their online businesses. Natalie also outlined the outsourcing services available exclusively for Carbon Copy PRO members.
- Kep Herriage and Karl Bessey, co-founders of Wealth Masters International, provided an overview of WMI’s unbelievable financial education and wealth creation products available to Carbon Copy PRO members. Given the current financial climate, these products and strategies couldn’t be more important.
My point is two fold, here:
- If you are a member of Carbon Copy PRO or Wealth Masters International, you missed something HUGE here. You missed a chance to pick the brains of some of the absolute experts in online marketing, providing THE MOST CUTTING EDGE STRATEGIES.
- If you are a member of other network marketing opportunities, think very strongly about attending a live event. Statistics show that new members of an opportunity that attend a live event within the first few months of joining have a much higher chance of success than those that do not attend a live event.
Oh yea, I almost forgot. The leaders at Carbon Copy gave away a prize for the person who sold the most Business in a Box product since it’s introduction a few months ago. The winner got…. well, you can see it. Again, WOW. Lucky guy!
Glad to be back, guys. And ready to roll.
To your success!
Bob Clarke
October 19, 2008, Cresskill, NJ
MLM Success: No Experience Necessary?
If you spend any time on Google or the other search engines, you’ve undoubtedly seen ads for home businesses where it is boldly stated…..
NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED!!!
Well, I guess it is true that you need not have any prior experience in sales, marketing, or business ownership to START your home business. But SUCCEEDING as a home business?
Well, that’s another story.
I consider myself a fairly smart guy. Ph.D. in physiology at the age of 26, postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, Associate Professor at Cornell University Medical College.
But when it came time to start a home business with my wife, Rosemary…… I was MYSTIFIED.
I mean, this was a whole new world!
I had never sold anything, never marketed online or offline…. but I was told that there was NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY to start a home business, so I dove right in.
What did I find? What everyone other network marketing newbie finds…
Confusion, Frustration, and Bewilderment.
Listen up guys… NO matter what anyone tells you….
THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE when you start anything new…. including Network Marketing.
How big is this learning curve? That depends.
- It depends on how much time you’re willing to spend learning your new craft.
- It depends on your level of experience when you start your business. Obviously, the more experience you’ve had, the farther up on the learning curve you will be.
- It depends on the business opportunity and how much in-house training they offer, and the quality of that training.
The last one was the reason we chose our current business, because they offered online training and education above and beyond anything we had seen (or have seen since) in the industry (the business is Carbon Copy PRO, and this isn’t a plug, just the truth).
But it still took TIME.
No getting around it… it just does.
Are you willing to invest in YOU, to get the training and experience you need, and be patient for the results?
I hear so many stories of people quitting their home business opportunity just before they are ready to reap the profits of their hard work. They become inpatient and disillusioned.
YOU CAN BE A SUCCESS IN NETWORK MARKETING.
IT MAY JUST TAKE A WHILE.
To your patience and dedication,
Dr. Bob Clarke
October 6, 2008; Cresskill, NJ
LIVE COMMENTS
Latest on Thu, 03:08: Mary.. let me know my error... let's discuss!
: I think, that you commit an error. Let's discuss. Write to me in PM, we will communicate.
: Sweet blog. I never know what I am going to come across next. I think you should do more posting as you have some pretty [...]
: Hey doc, right on! Need more people like you on the planet
: I was just introduced to your site through CCPro Forum. My initial question - how should one define "TRUTH"? (I love word-studies and that's a [...]
-
"