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Don't even think of going into MLM unless you're prepared to do...



         THE 10 THINGS THAT WILL MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN MLM PROFITABLE



Part 2



by Dr. Jeffrey Lant



Most people who go into MLM fail to make any money; indeed, most lose their
limited grub stakes and are actually worse off after working their
opportunity than before. In this regard, there is a distinct parallel to the
'49-er's' who risked their all seeking gold... just to get older and poorer
in the process. But it doesn't have to be that way! Despite the plethora of
abysmal MLM 'opportunities' in the land, there are now -- and have been for
years -- good, solid, reputable MLM companies where a reasonable return is
possible for reasonable effort.



Unfortunately, it isn't just a question of finding these opportunities;
it's also a matter of making sure there's a match between what you're
seeking and what they're offering. Thus, in my last report on how to make
your experience worthwhile, I discused the first five crucial factors that
must be carefully considered if your success in MLM is to be profitable,
namely whether:



## you have the right temperament to function as a solo consultant;

## you have the necessary resources, both in terms of time and money;

## you can really make any money from this "opportunity" and, if so, how;

## the company has the necessary corporate culture, personnel and technical
expertise to work with you to help ensure your success, and

## the company has the kinds of client-centered marketing communications
that help recruit and retain your downline.



Now it is time to examine the other five factors you must consider.



(Note: if you didn't see Part 1 of this report, you may send $6 for a copy
to me directly at 50 Follen St., Suite 507, Cambridge, MA 02138.)



Assess Upline Support



Just the other day I startled a new member of my downline organization: I
called to make sure he was getting off to a good start. The man almost wept
in gratitude, telling me that in the two previous MLM's he'd been in, NO ONE
HAD EVER CONTACTED HIM! (Unsurprisingly, both those programs flopped.) I own
to being somewhat taken aback by his astonishment and, dare I say it?,
gratitude! It never dawned on me that one would recruit a new salesperson
(for what else is an MLM participant if not that?) and not welcome him
properly and, let it be said, set the objectives and, later, see they were
being met. This sensible course may, however, be that of the distinct
minority!



Before you join any MLM opportunity, it is your bounden duty to ascertain
just how much assistance your upline is going to give you. Presumably these
people are as interested as you are in making the opportunity productive;
additionally, having been in the opportunity longer and worked with other
people in it, both at company headquarters and without, they are in a
position to show you how to get off to a faster, more lucrative start. It
only makes sense, then, to quiz them about what they will do with you (for
the accent is necessarily on the crucial preposition) to make things go
apace. Find out if they will:



## ask for regular reports (good upline people need you to call in at
regular intervals to report progress. Once a week is good for the first
couple of months; every fortnight will do thereafter.)

## chase you down if you don't report.

## provide technical assistance in important matters like identifying
prospects, closing prospects, retaining downline members, etc.

## be generally receptive, useful and enthusiastic.



Good upline people realize how difficult succeeding in MLM can be, with
even the best opportunities. They realize that you need assistance to
succeed... and they're willing to provide it. They're not like one woman I
know who's been in MLM for many years but who spends most of every
conversation telling you how "busy" she is and how difficult she is to
reach. The woman is, of course, a pompous twit, and it didn't surprise me
for a minute when I found out the other day that despite her years of
"experience", she's not making any money in MLM. Personally, though my days
are always crammed with exciting (and often exhausting) incident, I think it
most decidedly infra dig to tell anyone I'm busy. I take "busy-ness" for
successful people as a given... and it is a sure sign that someone is a
poseur, not a success, when he/she starts telling you how important,
significant, busy, etc., etc., etc., he/she is. Avoid such people like the
plague!



Assess Your Ability To Generate Leads And Any Lead-Generating Programs
Either The Company Or Your Sponsor May Offer



As all business people know, no business can prosper without a steady
stream of dependable leads. All successful businesses are based on knowing
what these leads cost and what percentage of them you can convert to new
business. Thereafter, the game becomes expanding your lead base and
increasing your closing percentage. This is a large chunk of what business
is all about. Thus, it is crucial for you to assess 1) your own lead-
generating facilities and 2) the lead-generating programs offered by the
parent company and your sponsors. Let's take a look at each...



  -- What facilities do you have for generating your own leads?



The people who are least likely to succeed in MLM are those who are simply
promoting just the opportunity itself... instead of promoting the
opportunity as part of a diversified product/service line. This stands to
reason. Say you have no lead-generating sources whatever, no catalog, no
subscription list, no customers, no card-deck leads, no leads from other ad
sources, etc. In other words, say you simply decide to take up an MLM
opportunity and promote it exclusively, generating your leads accordingly.



The problem in this situation is obvious: the cost of generating your leads
is generally too expensive given the money you will make from the
opportunity. Here, in a nutshell, is why so many MLM businesses fail so
quickly. When you link this to the poor marketing communications being used
and the absence of closing skills, it's no wonder over 95% of the people who
try to make money from MLM don't. Thus, the first people who should consider
going into MLM are those who are already successful in businesses where the
kinds of people buying their products/services are those who'd be interested
in the product/service being provided through the MLM.



To show you what I mean, consider this: I run, as you may know, a business-
to-business catalog, a business-to-business card-deck and nationwide lead
generator program, write this column (which reaches over 1.5 million
monthly), write business books, etc. In short, I run a linked series of
business-related enterprises. Thus, when I went looking for an MLM
opportunity it had to be something that fit into this mix. It didn't make
sense to add one that promoted primarily personal care products, nutritional
supplements, diet powders and drinks, etc. Those just didn't fit. Instead, I
selected Personal Wealth Systems, Inc., a company specializing in deep
discounts to 250,000 products both individuals and businesses can use and
providing a very lucrative business opportunity that would make it
attractive to the kinds of people I come in regular contact with --
including, perhaps, you! Thus, people responding to any of my other
offerings naturally became instant prospects for PWS and, not surprisingly,
many join without any extra, expensive effort.



Equally unsurprisingly, when I started to build my extensive organization,
I targeted people in similar situations, people who had existing lead-
generating systems. These people included publishers, catalog owners,
existing heavy advertisers of products/services, stock brokers, insurance
agents, card-deck advertisers and publishers, etc. These people knew nothing
about MLM, of course, but that didn't bother me a whit. The basic concept of
MLM -- financial leveraging -- can be learned in a couple of minutes.
However, the sales techniques that these people have take literally years to
learn and perfect. In short, you'd always rather recruit a cracker-jack
salesperson than an "expert" in MLM. Remember these words and keep them
before you at all times! By the same token, if you have such databases
yourself, your absence of knowledge about MLM should pose no barrier to
joining. You already have what it takes to succeed.



Note: to show you how powerful this basic truth is, consider the following.
I have only been in MLM a short time, but my downline is dozens of times
bigger than people who have had experience for years in this field. Why?
Because I'm a marketing specialist with existing means of generating -- and
closing -- large numbers of leads. This, not MLM experience (which can
easily be gained), will always be a critical factor in MLM success.



  -- What lead-generating programs do the company and your sponsors offer?



Unfortunately, you may not have in place the means for generating large
numbers of leads. That's a drawback, but not an insuperable one. Networks
can always be made... if you're willing to put in the time and energy to
doing so. In this case, you've got to know what the company and sponsor
offer in terms of lead-generating programs.



To my utter astonishment, the large majority of MLM companies fail to have
in place any lead-generating program that systematically seeks to generate
prospects from classified, space, card-deck and other ads. This is a
ridiculous miscalculation! All MLM companies worth their salt should be
running such ad programs and offering these leads to their members at cost
price. Obviously, most people who need leads in this fashion are not
advertising specialists. Equally obviously, they need new leads regularly.
It is therefore to the interest of both company and consultant to make sure
these leads are promptly forthcoming and not to leave the burden of
generating such leads to the untutored consultants themselves. If this is
true, why, then, can you run your finger down the list of MLM companies and
find hardly a one that offers such a sensible, inexpensive lead-generating
program? It just doesn't make sense.



If the company fails to provide such a service, see if your upline sponsor
does. In my own case, for instance, I run a lead-generating service that
seeks to generate prospects from many different kinds of advertising,
including card-decks and space ads. In this way, I can make sure my downline
has the leads they need to succeed. And I make at least the card-deck leads
available AT COST, which is just the way it should be. Since your upline is
going to prosper in other ways by having you in its organization, there is
no need for them to make money selling leads, too.



Thus, before you even think of joining any MLM, see how they handle the
lead-generation problem. If you can't satisfy all your own lead needs as
well as those of the people you recruit, this question will necessarily
assume critical significance.



Assess Your Client Follow-up And Closing Skills



One of the invidious notions that has gained ground amongst (inexperienced)
people working MLM opportunities is that you can build a successful
organization by mail alone. That all you have to go is mail things out...
and that enough people to make you rich will simply mail things back. THIS
IS UNADULTERATED HOG WASH.



As anyone who has built any kind of business knows, prospects have
questions. Some of these questions are frivolous, even stupid, indicating
that the "prospect" isn't. Many of their questions, however, are valid,
important and must be answered before the prospect will sign up. This is
especially true in MLM where many people either don't understand how this
proposition works or bring a lot of baggage to the table from previous,
unsuccessful experiences or tales they have heard.



As a result, you cannot succeed in building up a profitable MLM business
without getting on the phone and talking to people... answering their
questions, identifying and isolating their objections, answering these
objections, and following up as necessary. This means work!



The idea of such work puts off any number of people who, despite all
evidence to the contrary, continue to seek for "get rich quick" scams and
shams. They want big money with zero effort. They abhor people contact and
are afraid both of getting their hands dirty and facing the constant
rejection which is a necessary concommitant of the sales career which is at
the heart of successful MLM activity.



Thus, you must scrutinize yourself closely.



## Are you going into MLM because you've been beguiled by the idea of
raising effortless millions merely by mailing post cards or flyers? Then
you're riding for a fall.

## Are you hoping to recruit people without wrestling with them about their
hopes, fears, strengths, weaknesses, ability to commit time and resources,
etc.? Again, you're doomed.

## Are you hoping to avoid the necessity of constantly following up,
constantly providing technical tips for perfecting sales and closing skills
and improving recruitment and retention skills? M'dear, you're crazy.



I have now talked to dozens of people who were unsuccessful in MLM. Almost
without exception, they tell me that they were gulled into believing that
they could succeed merely by mailing cards, merely by sending out flyers.
That they were never told of the hard work of building an organization and
of the need to master the sales skills which are a critical constituent of
MLM success. Don't let this be you. Unless you are prepared to learn
salesmanship and to continue to perfect your skills, learning from
experience, don't go into MLM. You will merely be another casualty of your
own stupidity and the lies told by the misleading to the unwary.



Assess Your Willingness And Ability To Work With Your Recruits



This point grows naturally out of the one above. Just as you need technical
assistance from both company and upline, so your recruits need ongoing
technical assistance from you. Are you willing and able to provide it? If
not, don't go into MLM.



The glory of MLM is that if it is done properly people with limited
resources can generate significant financial rewards by enlisting the
support of a nationwide sales force, each of whom (properly coached and
directed) will provide ongoing, generally monthly revenue. And there's
absolutely nothing wrong with this concept.



What's wrong, however, is that all too many people in MLM focus on 1)
income, then 2) recruitment, leaving 3) retention sadly in the rear. This is
ridiculous! While recruitment is logically prior, retention is significantly
more important in the long run, since you make more money by retaining than
by continually recruiting, especially where each retained recruit is paying
a monthly membership fee.



To this end, are you willing to: keep in close touch with your downline?
Work through problems with them promptly, efficiently? Act as their own
customer service liaison to the company and, where necessary, their
recruits? Will you push, prod, wheedle, nudge, praise, chide and, always,
keep on keepin' on? If not, this isn't the business for you! If you're going
to be a success in MLM you cannot be only a successful sales person; you
must also become a top-drawer sales manager, the force behind the successful
efforts of an organization which may, in time, number hundreds, if not
thousands, of others.



Assess Your Ability To Keep Assessing The Situation To Improve It



While all the previous 9 points are obviously significant, this tenth one
may be the most significant of all, involving as it does your willingness
and ability to alter your behavior as necessary both to preserve and augment
your success. To this end, I'm thinking about an MLM-er I know who happens
to be a well-known columnist and, so he says, "business authority."
Unfortunately, he is also one of America's most accomplished whiners. He's
been recruiting for his MLM organization about the same amount of time as I
have, yet he has only about 5% as many recruits as I do. Reason? The
techniques he uses don't work... but he's so pig-headed he won't think of
altering them. Instead he fills fax after fax with detailed complaints
"explaining" why he's doing so poorly, seeking to shift the blame every
which way instead of where it squarely belongs: on himself. Don't do this.



Understand that to grow a business means being willing to constantly assess
all your techniques to see which of them can be improved, which must be
jettisoned as now unproductive. One of the reasons for my success is that
I'm unendingly adaptable. I'm the magpie of marketing, taking a crumb here,
a notion there, filching a productive idea from an unproductive situation,
dumping the weakest component of an otherwise brilliant success. You must do
the same!



Every day I make a bargain with God: I tell Him that if he continues to let
me learn, I shall not only keep learning but applying what I learn. Over the
years, this celestial hand-shake has stood me in good stead. And I commend
it to you.



Conclusion



MLM works. There are people -- quiet, unassuming, steady people -- whose
names you mostly do not know who are doing quite well, thank you, from MLM.
They will recognize in these two reports lessons which they themselves
regularly apply. Some day you may well find yourself among these people --
the best of whom make a million a year or more from MLM. If you do, I
suspect it will be because you became master of these assessment techniques
and used them religiously to build a prodigious and profitable MLM
organization for yourselves and those you recruited. Godspeed.



End of two-part series.



***************************************************************************
***



Dr. Jeffrey Lant has brought more people into Personal Wealth Systems, Inc.
in the shortest period of time than anyone else in this MLM company's eight-
year history. The people he recruits become members of his elite Wealth Team
and work directly with Jeffrey to earn lucrative monthly income. Each is
provided with his copyright marketing system and given ongoing information
on how to close and retain members of their organizations and so achieve
wealth faster. Jeffrey is also well-known as author of CASH COPY: HOW TO
OFFER YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES SO YOUR PROSPECTS BUY THEM... NOW! (480
pages, $38.50 postpaid) and NO MORE COLD CALLS: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO
GENERATING -- AND CLOSING -- ALL THE PROSPECTS YOU NEED TO BECOME A MULTI-
MILLIONAIRE BY SELLING YOUR SERVICE (680 pages, $44.95 postpaid). To get
order these resources and get detailed information on joining Jeffrey's
elite PWS Wealth Team, contact him at [phone] or at JLA Publications,
50 Follen St., suite 507, Cambridge, MA 02138.