Are You Still Broke With 10,000 People In Your Downline?

Copyright 2004 By Willie Crawford

How many hype-filled emails have you received by someone
who recently joined a network marketing company and in
only a few weeks had over 1000 members in their downline?
They encouraged you to get in early because this one was
"really growing fast." They encouraged you to get in on the
ground floor to take advantage of all of the momentum and
guaranteed "spillover."

I get these almost daily.

Do these emails excite you? They shouldn't because they
attempt to fill you with emotional excitement rather than
encouraging you to look at things objectively. Any
business that you're thinking of investing your time and
other resources in should be looked at long and hard! Do
your due diligence just as you should with any major business
decision.

One of the first questions you should ask someone pushing
you to join under them is, "How much money have you made?"
Or just ask them, "Have you made any money at it yet?"

If they haven't made any money at it yet, then you need to
bring them back to reality by asking them to explain how they
can get so excited about it then. Find out all that you can
about the company, it's management, and other projects
that the management has been involved in.

Here's a sobering fact shared with me by mentors who have
been in network marketing since the late 1950's...
97% of all MLM companies fail (90% within the first three
years). Does that mean that you shouldn't get involved
in MLM? No, but it does mean that you should probably only
get involved in companies that have already proven themselves.
I was personally taught to only look at companies at least 5
years old.

Why be the guinea pig for an unproven company when you
have so many choices? Why go against the odds by going
with an unproven company?

So why do people get so excited about new launches, and
what's wrong with that?

People get drawn into the hype of the massive potential
of new launches because they are looking for a way to
generate massive income - with no work. It's as simple as
that. Even though they know that there's no such things as
a free lunch, they convince themselves that maybe they've
finally found one :-)

Think about this for a second.... most of those people who
rush into a new lauch are people already involved in
network marketing. They know that the concept is very
powerful, and is the best chance that the average person has
today to create a successful business of their own. The
problem with most of the people attracted to these companies
is that they lack commitment. So as soon as they see
another company that, on the surface, appears more attractive,
they're going to jump over to that one.

Here's the real problem with the whole scenario layed out above.
Who's producing the sales? Where is the income coming from?
If everybody is jumping in... often for free... and then counting
on others underneath them to generate the revenue, then who
is actually making the sales necessary to make that company
a success? Sales, and proper training, drive any business'
success.

Ok, you should'nt fall for all of the hype, but we do know that
network marketing works. How does it work then? It works by
people like you being trained by someone who has a system in
place for bringing in new people - and training them properly.
The system has to be something that the average person, who
is also willing to work, can easily learn and pass on. It's that
simple.

You won't have any major, lasting success in network marketing
until you focus on finding and properly training a few good
people. They have to be provided with a system that they can
easily duplicate and that they can teach to their new recruits.

One of the early mistakes in my networking business was not
focusing on this specific area. I'm a skilled marketer with a
huge list, better than average copywriting skills, and name
recognition. Those assets made it easy for me to generate
new signups.

New signups weren't what I needed to focus on. It's not what
you need to focus on. Reflect upon the title of this article.
That's the question you need to ask yourself. If you don't like
what you see, then obviously you need a different system.

Anyone that you do signup is only going to be productive and
help build your business if they are properly trained. Being
human, there is a limit as to how many people you.... one
person, can effectively train, manage, and motivate. So you
need to focus on properly training just a handful, and having
each of that handful do the same. Continue this through several
levels and you can have that huge organization, but with a
big difference...

You'll have a huge organization of properly trained, producing
members, who know how to bring in even more people and
properly train them. That's how your organization grows into
the tens of thousands and even beyond.

One other very important point about the system necessary
for your success... The training needs to be formalized and
packaged so that new members can be "plugged right in."

If you want to see an example of such a system in operation,
check out: http://www.eliteteammarketing.com/81309/
This is a system that evolves around providing training and
support to team members. Team members have ready access
to formalized training put together by top producers in the
company. Team members have ready access to other
team members on all levels. The day that I joined this team,
I received emails (with phone numbers) from 3 different
people.

The other reason that I wanted you to take a look at that
website is that you won't see any mention of building a
huge downline. It's not necessary. The top producer in
the company in August 2004 is a member of this team. So
is the number 2 producer for that month (that would be me).
However, if you study the site, you'll see that it's not about
large numbers... they only impress those who don't know
any better.

You can build a business that will provide the lifestyle that
you want for yourself and your family. You won't do it by
being swept up by all of the hype surrounding the launch of
"the latest and greatest." Instead you'll do it by taking a long
hard look at any company that you're contemplating, and
asking lots of probing questions. You'll do it by acknowledging
that there still is no such thing as a free lunch, but there
are people who've already done what you want to do who
are willing to teach you.

--------------------------------------

Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author,
seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host,
retired military officer, karate black belt, network marketing
trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. He shows people
how to actually generate substantial income on-line using
very simple systems. An example of such a system can
be studied and duplicated at: http://ProfitMagician.com

The Most Overlooked Aspect of Network Marketing

You found the best Network Marketing company and signed up. You read all the material and got excited about the potential you see in this new career. Your upline sponsor has contacted you and said they would be available to help you out. Life is good. You're on your way!

Now let's fast forward three months. You have no sign ups. You're discouraged. You're feeling overwhelmed. You never seem to have any time to do what it takes to succeed. You're getting ready to drop out. Maybe this Network Marketing stuff just isn't for you.

Sound familiar? We've all been there at one time or another. Network Marketing isn't just about stepping into a new career, it's also about creating a new thought process. That takes time. And it takes commitment.

Lots of people in Network Marketing fail simply because they never mastered the art of time maintenance.

So how can you make sure you don't fall into that category?

1. Schedule time for your business.
You MUST sit down and create a work schedule. Simply saying, "I'll work on it sometime this week." is not going to cut it. You have too many distractions, too many other things going on in your life. If you don't make MANDATORY time for your business, it won't happen! Will you have to sacrifice a little? Yes. Will it be worth it in the end? More than you could ever imagine. Take your calendar out NOW and decide when your business hours will be.

2. Don't research yourself out of business.
If you spend your whole time researching and learning things about your business, will you ever make any money? While you're getting "book learning", others are out there prospecting, making mistakes and SALES. Don't think you have to know everything before you get started. You will never know everything. Earn WHILE you learn.

3. Create a priority list and follow it.
The top activities are the ones that will make you money. Make sure you do those first. Otherwise, you could get lost in filing or researching and never get around to prospecting. Remember, the hardest part is getting started. If you commit to just one email, one phone call a day, you will find it easier and easier to do it again.

4. Try and do one thing a day to improve your business.
This could be talking to someone about the opportunity, reading a chapter in a self-help book, creating an email or flier for your business. It doesn't have to be a big, huge task. The key is to be persistent and stay focused on the big picture. And the big picture is that you are on your way to early retirement one small step at a time.

5. Stay organized.
You will waste valuable time if you have to hunt for everything. Keep a neat office space and stay on top of the paper work. Little things done right from the very beginning will help you grow faster as your business gains momentum.

6. Stay focused.
This business develops over time. Commit to sticking with it for at least a year and you will realize the power behind Network Marketing.

Choosing The Right Affiliate Program & The "Rules To Live By"

Following are a few related odds and ends.

Affiliate Programs and bulk email do NOT go together.

There's this "myth" out there about affiliate programs, that you go join a few, put them all in an email message and then bulk email thousands of people who will eagerly respond making you tons of money! Oh, so WRONG! This is probably one of the worst things you can do online. It's called SPAM!

Most affiliate programs have a "bulk" email clause in their agreement that says... if you spam, you can get terminated from the program and not get paid for any commissions you've earned. Be aware that there's also a very good chance that you will lose your Internet connection, not to mention your reputation!

Sending unsolicited bulk email to millions of people who have NOT qualified themselves as being interested in your product is not very profitable (you won't get any response!) can end up costing you money and is just plain RUDE!

I even know of some companies who have billed the "spammer" for the time it's taken the company to deal with the complaints and administrative problems caused by the bulk emailing done using their affiliate program URL. You spam with an affiliate URL, and it looks like it was the company doing the spamming, since the recipient is being sent directly to the company website. Not good for the company's reputation! NOT going to make you a very popular affiliate member either!!

One last thing. Watch out for any "exclusivity clauses" in affiliate agreements. Some companies will state that "they can be the only retailer of a specific product on your site". If you signed up with a book selling program for example, with this clause in the contract, that would limit you to selling only their books on your site. This may not be a problem for you, maybe you only want to sell their books anyway! Just be careful not to restrict yourself unless you want to.

Choosing The Right Affiliate Program & The "Rules To Live By"

Here's the 'Numero Uno' Rule!

Don't be cheap! Always go for quality! Hey, if you wouldn't buy it, why should anyone else?!

Take a good look at the product or service you're considering marketing and make sure it is top notch! Is is a good value for the price? If it's a ridiculous amount of money for something not worth a whole lot, then forget about it. How about the people that are recommending it? Have you done business with them in the past? Are they reliable? Can you talk to a few people who have bought the product? Are they happy with what they purchased?

You've really got to be certain you are recommending a good quality product, from a reputable company, which has great customer service.

This is definitely pretty darn important! As an affiliate, you're sticking your neck out there, every time you advertise or recommend the product or service you're linking to. You are in effect, endorsing them, so it's your reputation at risk! Be sure you're dealing with a company that deserves your trust and reflects well on you personally!

Be smart! Don't ever promote something that's going to harm your reputation!

The Second Most Important Rule

You better be earning a super dooper commission! If you're only being paid 5% or 10% per product sold...boy, are you ever getting the 'short end of the stick'! That's a low commission! You need to look for a company who's thinking about the life-time-value of a customer and is willing to give YOU a very high payout to keep you. You want to associate with a company who pays out around 60% of the net profit to their affiliates. You won't find an affiliate program like this on every website, you're going to have to really search for it! But that's allright. It'll be worth the effort!

With a good affiliate company, when someone joins under you, they get paid for every sale they make (just like you), and you get paid a percentage for every sale THEY make. Just think what would happen if you had a few really hot affiliates, who signed up underneath you and were making 10 sales a month… you would be making a whole lot of money every month just on the work THEY did. As long as they keep selling, you keep getting paid!

Something else to think about...even if a company is paying out a high commission, if people don't buy from them, you're right back where you started! They've got to have a site which turns visitors into buyers; the site must have a good conversion rate! The site should have at least a 1% conversion ratio; meaning, that one out of every hundred customers you send to them, then turns into a sale.

Make sure you go with an affiliate program which has sales copy and website design that "makes you want to buy". After all, YOU are sending them the potential customers, but it's their job to turn those potential customers into buyers! More buyers, more money for you! Basically pretty simple.

Also, keep in mind your payout amount. If you are earning $50 a referral for one buying customer, you're doing okay… but, if you are only earning a $10 referral fee for that one buying customer, you may want to rethink things.

Here Comes Rule Number Three, Short But Major Important!:

Match the product or service to the theme of your site. So if your site is about horses and horse products you don't want to be advertising music CD's or weight loss products (unless of course it is a weight loss product for horses!).

You need to target your clientele so that what you are selling or recommending, has something to do with what your visitors WANT. I can't stress this enough it's very important! Provide links, services and products, which are related to what YOUR visitors want!

I am continually astonished, that people build a site and then have products and affiliate programs that have nothing whatsoever to do with each other! DUH!!

The Number Four Rule:

You also need to be concerned with the tracking software the affiliate program is using. You want to see your statistics (stats) in real time and be able to check them at any time to see how you are doing.

Why?

So you can go and check to see how your promotional efforts are working Compare the difference in results between putting a button up and putting up a whole sales page. You need instant information on visitor and sales results. How many sales is your affiliate banner generating, same goes for a text link, or personal recommention....how many visitors are you sending to the affiliate site and then how many sales is it generating for you.

Does the software the company is using track ALL of your sales....some companies use "inferior" software which only tracks about 80% of the time (meaning YOU lose out on 20% of the commissions that are rightfully yours). Other companies will only pay you if the customer visits through your link and buys right then and there… if they come back and buy later, you may not get credit for that sale.

The Number Five Rule:

Don't allow affiliate programs to clutter up your main site. Don't go crazy and find 10 different programs and try to promote them all on your site at the same time!! It just clutters up your site and makes it worthless! Focus on one or two really good affiliate programs, that work for your business and client base. Only become involved with an affiliate program that has products or services that your target market wants.

"Wants" is the important word here. People buy things impulsively because they "want" them, not because they "need" them. When you come right down to it, there are not all that many products which people really "need".

More is not necessarily better! Put too many affiliate programs on your site and you just end up confusing your visitors. You won't make many sales with confused buyers! Stay targeted!

The Number Six Rule:

This is just common sense...deal with a reputable company. If you are ever unsure of a company, ask for references and do some checks on them. Are they professional? If you phone them, do they put you on hold FOREVER!? Be assured, they'll do the same to customers you recommend to them. They should respond promptly to your emails, within the same day if at all possible. If they don't respond to your emails at all....run in the other direction!

Customer response and service is EVERYTHING. If you ask questions about a company's affiliate program and get no answer (or a delayed answer)… whoa, watch out! If they can't be bothered to take care of you when you express an interest in becoming an associate, what's the odds they'll take care of you when you have a real problem!? It's a pretty good bet, that they won't take very good care of your customers either! So be very careful, the company you deal with should be very professional and willing to help you out when you're in need.

Take the bit about the importance of Customer Service to heart and make certain YOU respond swiftly to emails or phone messages you receive in your own business dealings. This IS CRITICAL.