“I’ve never found a distributor who wouldn’t like a chance to re-live his first week in networking.”
- Hans Nusshold
“The first thing to do is absolutely nothing. And usually, we can’t even do that correctly.”
- Peter Ross
There are two theories about stating a new distributor. One says he or she should be encouraged to start “sponsoring” or recruiting others right away. Get them moving while the body is still warm, while the initial belief and enthusiasm are there. The other theory holds that they should be trained for a week, that the likelihood of mistakes is so great they will surely drive away all of their best prospects. In this case, if there is enthusiasm, it will work against them.
Here’s a little formula gleaned from interviews with the leading distributors of Network Twenty-One.
1.) Convince your newly-signed distributors to do nothing until they have listened to at least one carefully-selected cassette tape.
2.) Choose a tape that will inspire them but also describe the most common mistakes of new distributors.
3.) In fact, if they can be convinced, try to get them to listen to three tapes. One to inspire them, one to teach them about the first week, and if they haven’t heard it already, they should listen to the prospecting tape that they will be giving out to their friends.
4.) Now here’s the laughter. Get them to do this all on the first day.
5.) Start them sponsoring on day two.
In other words, have your cake and eat it too. Crowd a week’s worth of training into a single day, and at the same time take advantage of your distributor’s initial enthusiasm to get them sponsoring others. Of course, you may find this a bit much for friend who is only reluctantly joining your network and only as a personal favor. But there it is, the deal.
The point of this: if your new distributor rushes out in his or her first week and fails miserably you have lost the person forever. Just a little calibration, a little preparation, will make for a wiser, more effective networker. And if, perchance, the person reading this book is a new distributor, a word of wisdom from the pros; don’t do a thing until you’ve listened to three recommended cassette tapes. And listen to them right away.
“There’s no need to cry over spilt milk. Most people make a mess of their first month. But the right kind of calculated start can be the equivalent of a six-month head start.”
- Cecelia Karasz
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
The Out of Town Expert with the Briefcase by Doug Wead
The Out-of-Town Expert with the Briefcase
“The most effective way to build a sold organization is to master the knack of promoting your upline. It is really an art.”
- Jerry Webb
“It may be the oldest business principle of all time.”
- Susan Ross
Not too many years ago I sat down with my accountant to review my finances. “You need more life insurance,” he said. “Your estate is out of balance.”
I wasn’t surprised. Like many people I had avoided life insurance salesmen like the plague. So, with great reluctance, I made an appointment with the best life insurance salesman I could find. He came highly recommended. Among his clients were some of the most famous people of my city. Too make the whole boring process easier, we agreed to meet at my favorite Mexican restaurant. And we both agreed, the appointment would last exactly one hour.
When he arrived at the restaurant he was not alone. Another, well dressed, young man was with him. Now, I’ve been a student and a teacher of sales for most of my life. Instinctively, I knew who this stranger was. He was what we call “the third party” or “the out-of-town expert with a briefcase.”
All through the meal my salesman talked on and on about the stranger sitting next to him. “He is much, much better than I,” my salesman assured me. Had I seen the quote about him in The Wall Street Journal? Had I seen the magazine article in Success Magazine? “Oh, I just happen to have one here.” Did I know that one of the stranger’s clients played for the Phoenix Suns basketball team?
Throughout this whole enthusiastic monologue, the stranger, “the third party,” sat listening very quietly. He never said a word.
What is interesting is that nothing was said about life insurance. Which again, shouldn’t have surprised me. All sales, even insurance, is the art of selling people, not products. If one “buys” into the sincerity and enthusiasm of the person, one will ultimately buy the product. Even so, I was growing nervous. Did my salesman remember our deal? He only had one hour and time was running out. We had only talked briefly over the phone about what I wanted and why. Life insurance was now a very complicated business. The salesmen themselves hardly understood it.
Finally, they brought the check. Time was up. My salesman had spent his whole hour talking about someone I had never met before in my life and would probably never see again. Oh, he had been convincing about his friend. I had almost felt ignorant, even guilty, for never having heard of this stranger before. Bur we were about to leave and they had not sold me any insurance.
Then finally, even as he was picking up the tab, the stranger opened his mouth for the first time. “Mr. Wead, I have been in insurance all my life and I’ve never seen a policy that provides any more coverage for less money than the one you chose.”
Well, that was it. I had just been indoctrinated for one hour. This man was a genius on life insurance. Would The Wall Street Journal lie? And he had confirmed my own first impressions, my own instincts into what I needed. I signed the papers and bought another $500,000 in life insurance.
This experience included all of the elements of one of the most important secrets to building a network. Indeed, it is one of the most important secrets to any kind of sales, as well. You can’t do it by yourself. You need a “third party.”
There is a proverb that is thousand of years old. “A prophet is without honor in his own land.” If you are building your business right, if you are sponsoring peer and above, you probably don’t have much credibility with them. You are their upline in the network but in their minds it is only because you signed an application for a few days before them. They have little respect for your knowledge of networking. They won’t listen to your counsel. And yet, you are their ling to the changing nuances of how a network can be built quickly. Their ignorance of some to the basics of networking will cost them wasted dollars and wasted days.
You need an “out-of-town expert with a briefcase.” you need to bring in a “third party.” In this case your upline, the “hunter pelican” who is helping you build your business.
In the last chapter we talked about promoting your downline, the distributors you recruit in your business. We talked about the power of using recognition to motivate and inspire them to work. Now, you need to learn to power of promoting your upline, of using whatever credibility you have to promote “the third party” who will teach your new distributors and eventually give you the credibility to become the leader of your own network.
But you say, do I really need him? How can I trust him?
The answer to the first question is yes. No matter how great you think you are, if you have sponsored peer and above, they are not impressed. When I sponsored a Governor he ran in to the same problem. His friends respected him as an executive and as a politician, but they were in impressed with his knowledge of network marketing. They knew better. He needed “an out-of-town expert with a briefcase,” which in this case was myself. Of course, with all of his credibility and power it was very easy for him to convince his friends that I was “the expert” and if they listened, good things would happen.
This lesson was brought home to me in a much more dramatic way during my years in government. I was serving as a Special Assistant to the President in the Bush White House when we brought onto senior staff a writer whose primary job consisted of writing letters defending the President and his policies. Now this was only one person, sitting at a word processor. But, believe me, she had impact. When we would get attacked by the New York Times or the Mayor of Chicago, our staffer would go to work, point by point defending the White House and discrediting the arguments against us.
Now comes the interesting part. When the letter was finished, the White house staffer contacted one of our friends or supporters living far away in Idaho, or Indiana, or Oklahoma. Never anyone from Washington, D.C. Our staffer would fax the letter to the friend and ask him to re-write it in his own words and send it on his own letterhead. The letter had to appear to come from someone far removed from the White House.
Why? Why didn’t we just send it in ourselves? The White House is a pretty important place with lots of credibility. We could have made lots of trouble for the New York Times. We could have made trouble for the mayor of Chicago. Our letter could have said, “This is our position. Your criticism of us was unfair.”
The obvious answer is that no one has any credibility when talking about himself. Even the White House needs someone else to defend it. And you to need somebody else. You can’t promote yourself.
Remember the story of my insurance salesman? He did all the work. For one house he sold his friend. The stranger just sat there. If my salesman had spent the hour talking about how great he was I would have not been impressed. He needed the third party to pull it off. When the time was right the stranger spoke. And armed with all the credibility for a full house of effective selling, he spoke with power.
You may say, “I have no credibility. How can I promote my upline.”
The answer is this. You don’t need credibility when promoting someone else. While it is true that nobody can really promote himself without a third party, it is also true that anybody can be the third party. Anybody can promote anybody else. Objectivity is assumed when we talk about others.
On your way into a theater you may ask a complete stranger “Was the movie good?” Sometimes you will stop along the road to ask, “Is there a good restaurant near here?
Who is this stranger who is giving you the information? How do you know the person’s tastes for food and movies are the same as yours? You trust another’s judgment because it is random and you can be reasonably sure that person neither produced the movie nor owns that nearby restaurant.
When the Mayor of Chicago got on of our letters signed a White House friend in Idaho, he didn’t investigate the person. He didn’t demand, “Where did he go to school? Where does she work? Why should I trust his judgment? Who is this person? What qualifies him or her to comment on my speech?” Objectivity was assumed because the person was not an employee of the White House. It appeared to be a random opinion.
You can promote your upline who is helping you build your network, and people will listen.
You may say, I am older than my upline. I am better educated. I have more wealth. My house is nicer.”
Then it will work quicker and better. Your credibility will help you sell your upline to your new prospects or new distributors.
“The most effective way to build a sold organization is to master the knack of promoting your upline. It is really an art.”
- Jerry Webb
“It may be the oldest business principle of all time.”
- Susan Ross
Not too many years ago I sat down with my accountant to review my finances. “You need more life insurance,” he said. “Your estate is out of balance.”
I wasn’t surprised. Like many people I had avoided life insurance salesmen like the plague. So, with great reluctance, I made an appointment with the best life insurance salesman I could find. He came highly recommended. Among his clients were some of the most famous people of my city. Too make the whole boring process easier, we agreed to meet at my favorite Mexican restaurant. And we both agreed, the appointment would last exactly one hour.
When he arrived at the restaurant he was not alone. Another, well dressed, young man was with him. Now, I’ve been a student and a teacher of sales for most of my life. Instinctively, I knew who this stranger was. He was what we call “the third party” or “the out-of-town expert with a briefcase.”
All through the meal my salesman talked on and on about the stranger sitting next to him. “He is much, much better than I,” my salesman assured me. Had I seen the quote about him in The Wall Street Journal? Had I seen the magazine article in Success Magazine? “Oh, I just happen to have one here.” Did I know that one of the stranger’s clients played for the Phoenix Suns basketball team?
Throughout this whole enthusiastic monologue, the stranger, “the third party,” sat listening very quietly. He never said a word.
What is interesting is that nothing was said about life insurance. Which again, shouldn’t have surprised me. All sales, even insurance, is the art of selling people, not products. If one “buys” into the sincerity and enthusiasm of the person, one will ultimately buy the product. Even so, I was growing nervous. Did my salesman remember our deal? He only had one hour and time was running out. We had only talked briefly over the phone about what I wanted and why. Life insurance was now a very complicated business. The salesmen themselves hardly understood it.
Finally, they brought the check. Time was up. My salesman had spent his whole hour talking about someone I had never met before in my life and would probably never see again. Oh, he had been convincing about his friend. I had almost felt ignorant, even guilty, for never having heard of this stranger before. Bur we were about to leave and they had not sold me any insurance.
Then finally, even as he was picking up the tab, the stranger opened his mouth for the first time. “Mr. Wead, I have been in insurance all my life and I’ve never seen a policy that provides any more coverage for less money than the one you chose.”
Well, that was it. I had just been indoctrinated for one hour. This man was a genius on life insurance. Would The Wall Street Journal lie? And he had confirmed my own first impressions, my own instincts into what I needed. I signed the papers and bought another $500,000 in life insurance.
This experience included all of the elements of one of the most important secrets to building a network. Indeed, it is one of the most important secrets to any kind of sales, as well. You can’t do it by yourself. You need a “third party.”
There is a proverb that is thousand of years old. “A prophet is without honor in his own land.” If you are building your business right, if you are sponsoring peer and above, you probably don’t have much credibility with them. You are their upline in the network but in their minds it is only because you signed an application for a few days before them. They have little respect for your knowledge of networking. They won’t listen to your counsel. And yet, you are their ling to the changing nuances of how a network can be built quickly. Their ignorance of some to the basics of networking will cost them wasted dollars and wasted days.
You need an “out-of-town expert with a briefcase.” you need to bring in a “third party.” In this case your upline, the “hunter pelican” who is helping you build your business.
In the last chapter we talked about promoting your downline, the distributors you recruit in your business. We talked about the power of using recognition to motivate and inspire them to work. Now, you need to learn to power of promoting your upline, of using whatever credibility you have to promote “the third party” who will teach your new distributors and eventually give you the credibility to become the leader of your own network.
But you say, do I really need him? How can I trust him?
The answer to the first question is yes. No matter how great you think you are, if you have sponsored peer and above, they are not impressed. When I sponsored a Governor he ran in to the same problem. His friends respected him as an executive and as a politician, but they were in impressed with his knowledge of network marketing. They knew better. He needed “an out-of-town expert with a briefcase,” which in this case was myself. Of course, with all of his credibility and power it was very easy for him to convince his friends that I was “the expert” and if they listened, good things would happen.
This lesson was brought home to me in a much more dramatic way during my years in government. I was serving as a Special Assistant to the President in the Bush White House when we brought onto senior staff a writer whose primary job consisted of writing letters defending the President and his policies. Now this was only one person, sitting at a word processor. But, believe me, she had impact. When we would get attacked by the New York Times or the Mayor of Chicago, our staffer would go to work, point by point defending the White House and discrediting the arguments against us.
Now comes the interesting part. When the letter was finished, the White house staffer contacted one of our friends or supporters living far away in Idaho, or Indiana, or Oklahoma. Never anyone from Washington, D.C. Our staffer would fax the letter to the friend and ask him to re-write it in his own words and send it on his own letterhead. The letter had to appear to come from someone far removed from the White House.
Why? Why didn’t we just send it in ourselves? The White House is a pretty important place with lots of credibility. We could have made lots of trouble for the New York Times. We could have made trouble for the mayor of Chicago. Our letter could have said, “This is our position. Your criticism of us was unfair.”
The obvious answer is that no one has any credibility when talking about himself. Even the White House needs someone else to defend it. And you to need somebody else. You can’t promote yourself.
Remember the story of my insurance salesman? He did all the work. For one house he sold his friend. The stranger just sat there. If my salesman had spent the hour talking about how great he was I would have not been impressed. He needed the third party to pull it off. When the time was right the stranger spoke. And armed with all the credibility for a full house of effective selling, he spoke with power.
You may say, “I have no credibility. How can I promote my upline.”
The answer is this. You don’t need credibility when promoting someone else. While it is true that nobody can really promote himself without a third party, it is also true that anybody can be the third party. Anybody can promote anybody else. Objectivity is assumed when we talk about others.
On your way into a theater you may ask a complete stranger “Was the movie good?” Sometimes you will stop along the road to ask, “Is there a good restaurant near here?
Who is this stranger who is giving you the information? How do you know the person’s tastes for food and movies are the same as yours? You trust another’s judgment because it is random and you can be reasonably sure that person neither produced the movie nor owns that nearby restaurant.
When the Mayor of Chicago got on of our letters signed a White House friend in Idaho, he didn’t investigate the person. He didn’t demand, “Where did he go to school? Where does she work? Why should I trust his judgment? Who is this person? What qualifies him or her to comment on my speech?” Objectivity was assumed because the person was not an employee of the White House. It appeared to be a random opinion.
You can promote your upline who is helping you build your network, and people will listen.
You may say, I am older than my upline. I am better educated. I have more wealth. My house is nicer.”
Then it will work quicker and better. Your credibility will help you sell your upline to your new prospects or new distributors.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
"IT" by Jason Poyner
GOOD AFTERNOON TEAM !!!!,
For those of you that were at the Xango THRIVE 2009 CONVENTION this email is not needed because you saw “IT” first hand. For those of you that were not there I can not describe what “IT” is and do it justice, but I will give it a try.
While I was always excited about the Xango products and the opportunity Xango had to offer and had complete faith in the integrity of the founders and the business model, there was always something in my subconscious mind doubting my belief in the future and questioning my FULL COMMITMENT to this opportunity and this company. I always worked Xango seriously and tried hard, but there is a difference in trying and doing. This same difference is why I was stuck at Premier for the last 18 months. If anyone out there is stuck at 1K or 5k or 20K this little difference is the reason you are stuck as well. Admitting this to myself is not easy, but necessary in order to grow to new heights and achieve new levels of success not only in Xango, but in life as well.
I introduced 200K Pricilla Harrison to my parents at convention this weekend in hopes she would inspire them and she ended up inspiring me with her story. She was a dental hygienist several years ago when a flight attendant she met in an the bathroom of an airport sponsored her into her first network marketing company. She describes herself as ignorance on fire and went to the top of that company in a short time only to have the company fail her. In one day her checks were gone and her confidence in the industry was shot. A few years later her husband encouraged her to try networking again, but this time after she joined another company she was having no success. She kept trying to figure out why when someone finally told her “she” was the problem. She needed to work on herself and focus on the dreams of others. Only through working on herself would she be able to help others and that is what our job as Xango distributors are. We are burdened with helping others with health, wealth, lifestyle, and personal growth.
What is “IT”
IT is double blinded human studies published that say our juice is helping prevent heart disease and save lives. (See attached)
IT is Doug Wead choosing Xango over all other companies in this industry and helping us build. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbhlUnzEA2g
IT is XGOPRO’s training system fine tuned with a complete training book (1st things 1st) by the legendary John Gozitch. www.xgopro.com
IT is 34 countries drinking Xango juice world wide and dozens more to come.
IT is 70 millionaires in 7 years and counting.
IT is 2 billion in product sales in 7 years.
IT is 800,000 meals feed in 3 years and millions more to come. www.doingwelldoinggood.info
IT is over 30,000,000 dollars given to children’s charities in the last 7 years. www.xangogoodness.com
IT is XANGO. XANGO is IT. The future belongs to Xango weather any of us like it or not.
Let’s go get our market share before someone else we know does.
Call me at 623-451-4209 so I can help!!!! I love you guys.
Xango has done there job, now let’s go do ours.
For those of you that were at the Xango THRIVE 2009 CONVENTION this email is not needed because you saw “IT” first hand. For those of you that were not there I can not describe what “IT” is and do it justice, but I will give it a try.
While I was always excited about the Xango products and the opportunity Xango had to offer and had complete faith in the integrity of the founders and the business model, there was always something in my subconscious mind doubting my belief in the future and questioning my FULL COMMITMENT to this opportunity and this company. I always worked Xango seriously and tried hard, but there is a difference in trying and doing. This same difference is why I was stuck at Premier for the last 18 months. If anyone out there is stuck at 1K or 5k or 20K this little difference is the reason you are stuck as well. Admitting this to myself is not easy, but necessary in order to grow to new heights and achieve new levels of success not only in Xango, but in life as well.
I introduced 200K Pricilla Harrison to my parents at convention this weekend in hopes she would inspire them and she ended up inspiring me with her story. She was a dental hygienist several years ago when a flight attendant she met in an the bathroom of an airport sponsored her into her first network marketing company. She describes herself as ignorance on fire and went to the top of that company in a short time only to have the company fail her. In one day her checks were gone and her confidence in the industry was shot. A few years later her husband encouraged her to try networking again, but this time after she joined another company she was having no success. She kept trying to figure out why when someone finally told her “she” was the problem. She needed to work on herself and focus on the dreams of others. Only through working on herself would she be able to help others and that is what our job as Xango distributors are. We are burdened with helping others with health, wealth, lifestyle, and personal growth.
What is “IT”
IT is double blinded human studies published that say our juice is helping prevent heart disease and save lives. (See attached)
IT is Doug Wead choosing Xango over all other companies in this industry and helping us build. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbhlUnzEA2g
IT is XGOPRO’s training system fine tuned with a complete training book (1st things 1st) by the legendary John Gozitch. www.xgopro.com
IT is 34 countries drinking Xango juice world wide and dozens more to come.
IT is 70 millionaires in 7 years and counting.
IT is 2 billion in product sales in 7 years.
IT is 800,000 meals feed in 3 years and millions more to come. www.doingwelldoinggood.info
IT is over 30,000,000 dollars given to children’s charities in the last 7 years. www.xangogoodness.com
IT is XANGO. XANGO is IT. The future belongs to Xango weather any of us like it or not.
Let’s go get our market share before someone else we know does.
Call me at 623-451-4209 so I can help!!!! I love you guys.
Xango has done there job, now let’s go do ours.
The Network Marketing Phenomenon
“According to Beverly Adler, there are over 500,000 millionaires in the United States and 20% of them made their fortune in the last six years in Network Marketing.”
-Bob Andrews
“It has to be the most accessible way for an ordinary person to build extraordinary wealth.”
-Deidre Sala
Now just a minute. Before we get any further down the road let’s get this pelican business straight. What is networking? It is a process in which individuals help other individuals achieve separate goals. It is not teamwork, where each member works toward a common end. In fact networkers need not have anything in common with each other. The diversity offers even more opportunity for trade. Doctors network with Pharmaceuticals and insurance companies. Salesman network with retailers and wholesaler, and of course politicians have been networking with everybody for years. Networking is just an organized approach to a basic human instinct for survival. “I’ll help you, if you help me.”
What is network marketing? It is a specific type of network in which an entrepreneur or small independent, businessperson has the merchandising rights to a product or service, and may sponsor (or recruit) others into the association, sharing with them the proceeds from the business generated. In some companies a person may even earn bonuses for volume generated by the distributors that his own distributors recruit. The same process may extend to yet another level of distributors, and another. You sign up Bob, he signs up Jim, who signs up Alice, and you earn bonuses from the volume of them all. Within a short time you could end up with dozens of distributors or independent business people in your network. Each one earning you yet another small bonus. Those small bonuses sometimes add up to a lot of money.
Don’t be fooled. This can be more than just a neighborhood business. In my own network business I’ve sponsored a governor of the state of Connecticut, a governor of the state of Florida, a White House speechwriter, a presidential candidate, a U.S. Senator, the American Secretary of the Interior, a star of an Academy Award-winning motion picture, and the list goes one. Incidentally, I also sponsored my neighbor. So far, he’s been the most successful.
What kid of products are we talking about? Almost anything. In 1984, the Wall Street Journal predicted that between 50% and 65% of all good and services will be sold through network marketing by the 1990’s. They weren’t far off. Today, AT&T, General Motors, Coca Cola, IBM, MCI, Packard-Bell, Pierre Cardin, Remington, Wedgewood, and more than 600 other major companies in the United States sell products through such networks. And it is the same story in Australia where distributors merchandise everything from Seiko watches to Vidal Sassoon shampoo. In Hungary the great Psion Company and Hungary Kodak are involved. One can buy or sell almost anything through network marketing.
What does it cost to become a distributor? It depends on the company, of course. Some of the biggest and best charge as little as $150.
How do you make money? Where does the money come from?
The money is generated from the sale of product and balloons quickly become of low overhead. A retail show requires money for rent, personnel, advertising, stocking of merchandize. In network marketing those dollars are captured and redistributed as bonuses to the network.
A word of caution. Fly-by-night, poorly-financed network companies abound. They are simply trying to get in on the shift in the marketplace. Watch out. Make sure the company qualifies with these six criteria:
1.) Does it stand by its product? Does it offer your money back, no questions asked? If not, forget it.
2.) Does it charge an exorbitant entry fee? Or suggest that you buy a lot of product to begin with? If so the alarm bells should be going off. In most countries this is illegal. It’s called “front loading.” The company wants to get its money out of you at the beginning because it knows that its marketing plan is weak and you won’t easily be able to sell its product.
3.) Can you theoretically earn more money than the person who recruits you? If not, you may be looking at an illegal pyramid scheme.
4.) Does the company have a variety of products? The more products available the easier it is to build a network. Less time is needed to develop a customer base. Fewer customers buying more things generate just as much money as a lot of customers buying a few things. This allows you to get a flow of money coming into the pipeline quickly while you concentrate on building a network.
5.) Make sure the company has a catalog. In the United State, catalog sales alone have now passed that of department store chains. They comprise more than 80% of network marketing sales. You can’t fight those percentages.
6.) Work with a company big enough to provide political protection. As you can imagine, not everyone is thrilled with the changes in the marketplace. Major retailers are suffering. In some countries, huge business lobbies attempt to get government to limit their networking competitors. Work with a company big enough to provide public relations support.
Since the industry is driven by personal recruitment and not by advertising, the press and media can occasionally be hostile. Major retailers spend millions of dollars for advertisements in their pages. Why should the press support the networking industry and see their own source of revenue diminish? Some networking companies in the industry become easy targets. Large firms have the resources to launch public service campaigns promoting charities or community projects. The media is appeased by the large advertising budgets and the public is more accepting.
Assuming you have found the right company. Where do you start? What is the quickest way to make it work? What do the most successful entrepreneurs have to say?
-Bob Andrews
“It has to be the most accessible way for an ordinary person to build extraordinary wealth.”
-Deidre Sala
Now just a minute. Before we get any further down the road let’s get this pelican business straight. What is networking? It is a process in which individuals help other individuals achieve separate goals. It is not teamwork, where each member works toward a common end. In fact networkers need not have anything in common with each other. The diversity offers even more opportunity for trade. Doctors network with Pharmaceuticals and insurance companies. Salesman network with retailers and wholesaler, and of course politicians have been networking with everybody for years. Networking is just an organized approach to a basic human instinct for survival. “I’ll help you, if you help me.”
What is network marketing? It is a specific type of network in which an entrepreneur or small independent, businessperson has the merchandising rights to a product or service, and may sponsor (or recruit) others into the association, sharing with them the proceeds from the business generated. In some companies a person may even earn bonuses for volume generated by the distributors that his own distributors recruit. The same process may extend to yet another level of distributors, and another. You sign up Bob, he signs up Jim, who signs up Alice, and you earn bonuses from the volume of them all. Within a short time you could end up with dozens of distributors or independent business people in your network. Each one earning you yet another small bonus. Those small bonuses sometimes add up to a lot of money.
Don’t be fooled. This can be more than just a neighborhood business. In my own network business I’ve sponsored a governor of the state of Connecticut, a governor of the state of Florida, a White House speechwriter, a presidential candidate, a U.S. Senator, the American Secretary of the Interior, a star of an Academy Award-winning motion picture, and the list goes one. Incidentally, I also sponsored my neighbor. So far, he’s been the most successful.
What kid of products are we talking about? Almost anything. In 1984, the Wall Street Journal predicted that between 50% and 65% of all good and services will be sold through network marketing by the 1990’s. They weren’t far off. Today, AT&T, General Motors, Coca Cola, IBM, MCI, Packard-Bell, Pierre Cardin, Remington, Wedgewood, and more than 600 other major companies in the United States sell products through such networks. And it is the same story in Australia where distributors merchandise everything from Seiko watches to Vidal Sassoon shampoo. In Hungary the great Psion Company and Hungary Kodak are involved. One can buy or sell almost anything through network marketing.
What does it cost to become a distributor? It depends on the company, of course. Some of the biggest and best charge as little as $150.
How do you make money? Where does the money come from?
The money is generated from the sale of product and balloons quickly become of low overhead. A retail show requires money for rent, personnel, advertising, stocking of merchandize. In network marketing those dollars are captured and redistributed as bonuses to the network.
A word of caution. Fly-by-night, poorly-financed network companies abound. They are simply trying to get in on the shift in the marketplace. Watch out. Make sure the company qualifies with these six criteria:
1.) Does it stand by its product? Does it offer your money back, no questions asked? If not, forget it.
2.) Does it charge an exorbitant entry fee? Or suggest that you buy a lot of product to begin with? If so the alarm bells should be going off. In most countries this is illegal. It’s called “front loading.” The company wants to get its money out of you at the beginning because it knows that its marketing plan is weak and you won’t easily be able to sell its product.
3.) Can you theoretically earn more money than the person who recruits you? If not, you may be looking at an illegal pyramid scheme.
4.) Does the company have a variety of products? The more products available the easier it is to build a network. Less time is needed to develop a customer base. Fewer customers buying more things generate just as much money as a lot of customers buying a few things. This allows you to get a flow of money coming into the pipeline quickly while you concentrate on building a network.
5.) Make sure the company has a catalog. In the United State, catalog sales alone have now passed that of department store chains. They comprise more than 80% of network marketing sales. You can’t fight those percentages.
6.) Work with a company big enough to provide political protection. As you can imagine, not everyone is thrilled with the changes in the marketplace. Major retailers are suffering. In some countries, huge business lobbies attempt to get government to limit their networking competitors. Work with a company big enough to provide public relations support.
Since the industry is driven by personal recruitment and not by advertising, the press and media can occasionally be hostile. Major retailers spend millions of dollars for advertisements in their pages. Why should the press support the networking industry and see their own source of revenue diminish? Some networking companies in the industry become easy targets. Large firms have the resources to launch public service campaigns promoting charities or community projects. The media is appeased by the large advertising budgets and the public is more accepting.
Assuming you have found the right company. Where do you start? What is the quickest way to make it work? What do the most successful entrepreneurs have to say?
Monday, October 26, 2009
The Pelican Principle by Doug Wead
“Decide what you want to do. Then find others who are
successfully doing the same thing.”
Best-selling author Marvin Williams writes about the environmental crisis that hit the shores of beautiful Monterey, California. For years the residents there had beamed with pride when they talked about the pelicans that skimmed the waves along their coastlines. There was a reason behind the proliferating flocks. The birds enjoyed a good life. Trailing the fishing boats of the local tuna fleet, they were able to enjoy a lush diet with little effort. Hunting fish in the bay on their own was much too troublesome; besides, it wasn’t even necessary. But when new environmental laws drove the tuna fishermen out of business, ecologists were confronted with unexpected consequence: the proud pelican so Monterey began to die.
Experts, including environmentalists and marine biologists, descended on the beautiful little city on the Bay. A wide variety of plans were rushed into practice but nothing seemed to save the diminished population. The pelicans of Monterey, California were headed for extinction. The solution was as unexpected as the problem. Biologists imported pelicans from Florida, two thousand miles away. Not just one pelican. Hundreds of them. The hope was that the new arrivals, who had not lost their instinctive skill to hunt, would breed with the pampered pelicans of Monterey Bay and that their offspring would thrive. But to the surprise of all involved, nature didn’t require another generation to get results. Within months the proud Monterey pelicans, influenced by the imported birds, began feeding on their own. The population was saved.
The principle is not a new one. A three thousand-year-old Jewish proverb declared, “He who walks with the wise grows wise.” Psychologists have been saying for years that the friends we choose determine our destiny. Sociologists point to wrong associations as the leading factor in criminal behavior. It is the reason, they say, why people in prison usually return. Wherever we are, in prison or a palace, we quickly become like the rest of the flock. Peer pressure.
Want to cure an addiction to drugs or alcohol? First, counselors will involve you in focus and discussion groups with others trying to do the same thing. And when they do finally turn you out they will do so with this stern admonition. “Get new friends! Or the problem will come back.”
Want to lose weight? Thousands of weight loss clinics are popping up across the United States. Participants are often unimpressed with the diet and exercise programs. They’ve seen it all before. But the peer pressure and the effect of doing it together with others has turned out to be the critical part of the formula.
In a human interest interview three years before his death, billionaire Aristotle Onasis invoked this principle as the key to wealth: “Want to make money?” he asked rhetorically. “Associate with the rich?”
Ah, that sounds great. But how is it done? What if the rich won’t cooperate? What if you can’t find the kind of friends you want? Anyway, how can one walk away from his old friends? His old neighborhood?
Surprisingly, according to Onasis, getting the rich to cooperate wasn’t the problem. It was exactly what he had done, he insisted. And if he had to start all over again without a dime he could do it again. It might involve taking a menial job, or living in a small attic apartment in a rich man’s neighborhood when the same money would buy much, much more in the suburbs. It might involve inconvenient moves or spur-of-the-moment travel. According to Onasis anyway, it can be done. But more about that later.
Jim Dornan and his team have embraces a unique version of the Pelican Principle as a secret to success. As new areas around the world have opened to the network marketing opportunity, enterprising leaders from the industry have spent millions of dollars opening offices, hiring lawyers, public relations firms, and training leaders in the new target countries. Some have even brought in other distributors who know the language and financed the operation, hoping it will take root. But some of the nuances of the Pelican Principle are missed.
Dornan teaches three elements. First, you can’t bring in crows and expect them to teach Pelicans how to do anything. If you want to build an organization in Indonesia, you have to have Indonesians, not Americans, Australians, or British. Secondly, they have to know how to hunt. That is, they must already have a reasonable mature understanding of your business. This presents a challenge. If the business is new in Indonesia, where will you find Indonesians with a mature understanding of your business? The answer lay in cultivating distributors among the large immigrant populations of the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, and other countries where your business already operates. And more importantly, scouting for Indonesian talent among the networks you have already built.
Some networks, which at the time were much larger than Network Twenty-One, tried just such an approach. A distributor was found who could speak the language of the new target country, or maybe had even been born there. Thousands of dollars were invested to finance the distributor’s first year or two of work. But with some rare exceptions, the experiment failed.
They missed a third nuance of the Pelican Principle philosophy. Don’t expect one pelican to change the flock. It took hundreds of Florida pelicans to impact the birds of Monterey Bay. For one thing, you increase the odds that something will happen. People are always in transition. There are children, other job offers, decisions about continuing education, marriage conflicts, illness, and dozens of other changes that may interrupt at any time. You may not need hundreds of imported pelicans, but you will need at least a few, to offer mutual support and inspiration to keep going when the challenges of a new territory set in. They will also generate some healthy competition amongst themselves. Fall behind, and a distributor may see some of the help and much needed support from the home base shift over to one of the others.
It is exactly this formula that led three Indonesians to return to their country from Australia and fill a soccer stadium full with independent distributors in two years. Five Hungarian immigrants living in Australia learned the business and then did the same thing in Hungary. The story is repeated in Turkey, the Czech Republic, Greece and all over the world. It will happen tomorrow in the Philippines, Romania, India, and who knows where else?
Well, you are saying to yourself, isn’t that just great. Long live Network Twenty-One and may they continue to be successful. Hurrah for them. But what does that have to do with me, the average person, someone who hasn’t already built a network, or someone who is not an immigrant distributor who can help launch a new market?
The answer? Turn it all around. Take a look at it backwards. Remember Aristotle Onasis’ comment? If you want to be successful, associate with the successful people. Instead of waiting to be found and trained by an import pelican, go find him. In this case the pelican is someone who has already built a successful network business and is still doing so. In fact, he is looking for you. If you are an old distributor this may require searching back through your network lineage, finding someone who has a good track record and who is willing to team up to help you. If you aren’t even involved yet, it may mean looking for the right person to serve as a mentor, or someone who can “sponsor” or recruit you into the right group. The group will provide the skill, the instincts for success, while you provide the names and show them around their new territory.
successfully doing the same thing.”
Best-selling author Marvin Williams writes about the environmental crisis that hit the shores of beautiful Monterey, California. For years the residents there had beamed with pride when they talked about the pelicans that skimmed the waves along their coastlines. There was a reason behind the proliferating flocks. The birds enjoyed a good life. Trailing the fishing boats of the local tuna fleet, they were able to enjoy a lush diet with little effort. Hunting fish in the bay on their own was much too troublesome; besides, it wasn’t even necessary. But when new environmental laws drove the tuna fishermen out of business, ecologists were confronted with unexpected consequence: the proud pelican so Monterey began to die.
Experts, including environmentalists and marine biologists, descended on the beautiful little city on the Bay. A wide variety of plans were rushed into practice but nothing seemed to save the diminished population. The pelicans of Monterey, California were headed for extinction. The solution was as unexpected as the problem. Biologists imported pelicans from Florida, two thousand miles away. Not just one pelican. Hundreds of them. The hope was that the new arrivals, who had not lost their instinctive skill to hunt, would breed with the pampered pelicans of Monterey Bay and that their offspring would thrive. But to the surprise of all involved, nature didn’t require another generation to get results. Within months the proud Monterey pelicans, influenced by the imported birds, began feeding on their own. The population was saved.
The principle is not a new one. A three thousand-year-old Jewish proverb declared, “He who walks with the wise grows wise.” Psychologists have been saying for years that the friends we choose determine our destiny. Sociologists point to wrong associations as the leading factor in criminal behavior. It is the reason, they say, why people in prison usually return. Wherever we are, in prison or a palace, we quickly become like the rest of the flock. Peer pressure.
Want to cure an addiction to drugs or alcohol? First, counselors will involve you in focus and discussion groups with others trying to do the same thing. And when they do finally turn you out they will do so with this stern admonition. “Get new friends! Or the problem will come back.”
Want to lose weight? Thousands of weight loss clinics are popping up across the United States. Participants are often unimpressed with the diet and exercise programs. They’ve seen it all before. But the peer pressure and the effect of doing it together with others has turned out to be the critical part of the formula.
In a human interest interview three years before his death, billionaire Aristotle Onasis invoked this principle as the key to wealth: “Want to make money?” he asked rhetorically. “Associate with the rich?”
Ah, that sounds great. But how is it done? What if the rich won’t cooperate? What if you can’t find the kind of friends you want? Anyway, how can one walk away from his old friends? His old neighborhood?
Surprisingly, according to Onasis, getting the rich to cooperate wasn’t the problem. It was exactly what he had done, he insisted. And if he had to start all over again without a dime he could do it again. It might involve taking a menial job, or living in a small attic apartment in a rich man’s neighborhood when the same money would buy much, much more in the suburbs. It might involve inconvenient moves or spur-of-the-moment travel. According to Onasis anyway, it can be done. But more about that later.
Jim Dornan and his team have embraces a unique version of the Pelican Principle as a secret to success. As new areas around the world have opened to the network marketing opportunity, enterprising leaders from the industry have spent millions of dollars opening offices, hiring lawyers, public relations firms, and training leaders in the new target countries. Some have even brought in other distributors who know the language and financed the operation, hoping it will take root. But some of the nuances of the Pelican Principle are missed.
Dornan teaches three elements. First, you can’t bring in crows and expect them to teach Pelicans how to do anything. If you want to build an organization in Indonesia, you have to have Indonesians, not Americans, Australians, or British. Secondly, they have to know how to hunt. That is, they must already have a reasonable mature understanding of your business. This presents a challenge. If the business is new in Indonesia, where will you find Indonesians with a mature understanding of your business? The answer lay in cultivating distributors among the large immigrant populations of the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, and other countries where your business already operates. And more importantly, scouting for Indonesian talent among the networks you have already built.
Some networks, which at the time were much larger than Network Twenty-One, tried just such an approach. A distributor was found who could speak the language of the new target country, or maybe had even been born there. Thousands of dollars were invested to finance the distributor’s first year or two of work. But with some rare exceptions, the experiment failed.
They missed a third nuance of the Pelican Principle philosophy. Don’t expect one pelican to change the flock. It took hundreds of Florida pelicans to impact the birds of Monterey Bay. For one thing, you increase the odds that something will happen. People are always in transition. There are children, other job offers, decisions about continuing education, marriage conflicts, illness, and dozens of other changes that may interrupt at any time. You may not need hundreds of imported pelicans, but you will need at least a few, to offer mutual support and inspiration to keep going when the challenges of a new territory set in. They will also generate some healthy competition amongst themselves. Fall behind, and a distributor may see some of the help and much needed support from the home base shift over to one of the others.
It is exactly this formula that led three Indonesians to return to their country from Australia and fill a soccer stadium full with independent distributors in two years. Five Hungarian immigrants living in Australia learned the business and then did the same thing in Hungary. The story is repeated in Turkey, the Czech Republic, Greece and all over the world. It will happen tomorrow in the Philippines, Romania, India, and who knows where else?
Well, you are saying to yourself, isn’t that just great. Long live Network Twenty-One and may they continue to be successful. Hurrah for them. But what does that have to do with me, the average person, someone who hasn’t already built a network, or someone who is not an immigrant distributor who can help launch a new market?
The answer? Turn it all around. Take a look at it backwards. Remember Aristotle Onasis’ comment? If you want to be successful, associate with the successful people. Instead of waiting to be found and trained by an import pelican, go find him. In this case the pelican is someone who has already built a successful network business and is still doing so. In fact, he is looking for you. If you are an old distributor this may require searching back through your network lineage, finding someone who has a good track record and who is willing to team up to help you. If you aren’t even involved yet, it may mean looking for the right person to serve as a mentor, or someone who can “sponsor” or recruit you into the right group. The group will provide the skill, the instincts for success, while you provide the names and show them around their new territory.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Introduction: Purpose of this blog
I just got back from Convention in Salt Lake tonight and I am feeling very inspired to build my business from a 1K that I am currently at to a 500K. Which is where I will soon be. In order to do this I am realizing more now than ever that I will need to help a lot of other people get to a similar level. As a small part of doing that I am going to be posting information on a regular basis on this blog that I feel will help inspire my team to move forward and continue to build their business. I will start with stories from a book by Doug Wead that I recently read titled, "The out of town expert with the briefcase." I hope you enjoy it!
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