There are typically two primary reasons why people fail in a MLM & affiliate marketing business … These are of course, after you kick out the tire-kickers, dreamers , excuse makers, whiners, and complainers or the looky-loos and lazy bums. In other words, the quitters. MLM is a business of business ownership, pursued by people who have never been business owners! It’s a business of marketing and training pursued by people who have never marketed or trained!
So, what are the two reasons for the hard-working, dedicated people who come into this wonderful industry …
1- They start on a limited budget from the ‘cookie jar’, and they run out of money before they have a chance to build an organization.
2- They make their list of 100 warm market contacts, run through those, and then they are out of people to talk to. (And out of money to advertise).
Those are the ‘biggies’. But it doesn’t have to be that way, IF, they simply used a complete business model.
Let me give you an example…
Take a look at McDonald’s Hamburger place. They are a Billion Dollar franchise. The most successful and duplicated business model in the world. And one that happens to be run by teenagers and college drop-outs!
How? And Why? can this be?
The answer can be found in the system that makes up the foundation of the franchise. Many of us felt like we bought a business in a box, but that a few parts were missing.
You know … The pieces that actually turn your actions into “production” and “profits”. Well, if you feel like that, it’s because you’re right. Ray Kroc, the franchise master of McDonald’s was a genius in more ways than one. MLM & affiliate marketing has been compared to a McDonald’s franchise in many ways, on many occasions. If you haven’t come across these comparisons before, I’m sure you can quickly think of a few on your own. Here is what you may not have realized about Ray, McDonald’s, and your business …
Ray’s primary mission was to sell McDonald’s franchises to franchise buyers
… which then sell the burgers to the customers. More franchises = more burgers sold. Pretty simple. Our job as networkers is no different. We sell our franchise opportunity to others, and collectively market the product to the end consumer.
Here’s the interesting part to this …
Would you say that McDonald’s hamburgers are the best in the industry? Probably not! We’ve both had much better tasting hamburgers, yet it’s the largest and most successful franchise and fast food restaurant in the history of human kind. How in the world is that possible!?
How can you become #1, by selling an inferior product?!
It goes against everything we think we know about business. Well, this is exactly where the genius of Ray Kroc becomes apparent. Ray knew the product wasn’t going to be the initial key to success for his franchise buyers, just as your product is not the initial key to your success in your mlm or affiliate business. Having a good product is important after the fact …
Once you actually have customers. Then it’s critical to give them the best product possible. The key to McDonald’s success with both franchise owners and customers, was their duplicatable system.
Ray knew his food would not compare to the quality of other franchises. He also knew that potential franchise buyers didn’t give a hoot about McDonald’s or their burgers. What they did want though, was to make money.
So Ray sold them EXACTLY what they wanted, which wasn’t a restaurant, but a machine that acquired customers, and turned them into cash.
He didn’t sell them the food, he sold them a system. In fact the system was so fine-tuned, that you could take a team of unskilled, inexperienced high school kids, and have them run the show.
All they did was train each other on how to flip the switches that ran the machine, which did the majority of the work behind the scenes.
The competition didn’t stand a chance. Ray’s system was like a factory. You turn it on, and it churns out a predictable end result every time. Franchise owners started buying and setting these machines up by the thousands, turned them on, and got the end result. It was the same every time. That is why they bought McDonald’s and it’s inferior food over the competition. As these machines popped up around the country, the end product to the consumer became more than just food. It became the predictable expectation and atmosphere provided by Ray’s magical machines. And THAT is what McDonald’s provides better than anyone else in the world. That is their TRUE product to the end consumer, and it’s the best in the world at what it provides. You go to McDonald’s because you know exactly what to expect; Fast, Same taste every time, Same atmosphere in every place. It’s a comfort for people.
So, as a network marketer, selling a business franchise, what are you going to sell to your potential buyers?
Unfortunately, most of us try to sell them on your company and your product. We have a ton of websites and material about our company’s history, their record breaking growth, their debt-free finances, the value of your product(s), the user testimonials …and so on. Be smart. Do what Ray did. People get rich in this world by solving other people’s problems, and when you sell someone your opportunity, you are not solving a problem, you are giving them a BIGGER ONE!!! “Congrats, you own the hottest MLM business in the industry”! Now go get’em tiger!” But be sure to get this; Product and Comp plans don’t make you successful.
Systems do. And when I say systems, I mean a complete system which includes the pieces that bring in your customers (advertising), sell them your product (marketing), and then deliver the goods, trains the new business owners(training), and develops the relationships within the team(relationship building). Many companies or their affiliates will tell you “All you need to do is push the’Go Button’ and these machines (ads and marketing) should be doing the work for you; so I thought!
This is where the problem lies today. Almost all of the systems that I have seen are only partial. They are incomplete and lack key ingredients that are needed for the serious entrepreneur to be successful from the start without having to fork out much money. Most systems only teach you to purchase your leads when all along there are several other ways to get them for Free. In other words: you don’t have to spend a lot of money to make money.
When it comes to marketing, most of the time we are only given the basic ground level training that is essential to get started but seldom do we see training at a level that brings you to Mastery of the process.
A system is duplicatable but you are not. This is where the biggest challenge lies. Prospective business owners are not just looking for a system. They are looking for someone to take them by the hand and guide them until they can ‘learn to walk’ in this industry. And like I said in the beginning, most of us have never marketed or trained others before and now are having to do this daily. Yikes! Over 90 percent of the people were overcome by this challenge and failed to make it in their new business. This is where I, myself, and my company are redefining this industry. A success rate of a measly 3% was not acceptable, so we decided to do something about it and that was to come up with a truly complete system and program that teaches all of the Secrets that the top producers use and offer a personal development program that will give everyone the opportunity to become the leader and mentor that others will chase after, because they want to follow you.
Your job is not to sell, but to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, because THAT is the glue that binds this industry.
Take this advice to heart:
A system that is not backed up and glued together by heartfelt caring, by people, by relationships, is a ticking time-bomb. Show them and sell them a system for attaining the results they want, be a mentor, friend, and a coach, and they couldn’t care less about ORAC values, price points, and competition. I bring people into my business, and they have NEVER even seen a company/opportunity overview! That happens because I don’t sell them on the business. I sell them on me, our team, our system/training program first (because these are the ONLY things that will bring results), and THEN, I sell them on the company… (Or should I say that I allow them to sell themselves on the company). Solve their problem with your system and with your leadership. Do these two things, and you will reap success beyond your wildest dreams.
Lets build wealth successfully together!
Paul Mattison
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