HAVE YOU BEEN DISAPPOINTED BY A PAST MLM COMPANY? 4 MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS TO LEARN

During my Teacher Training College years between 1982 and 1985, one of the most compulsory subject for an aspiring teacher in the college was 'Principles and Practice of Education'. It is a subject on which the totality of teacher education is anchored upon.
One of the topics in PPE as we do call it is 'Learning'. What then is learning? Learning has been described as the acquisition of knowledge or skill. It is a knowledge or skill gained through education. However, to us as teacher-in-training, a more detailed definition was given which I think takes into consideration elements of psychology of learning.

Learning was defined as 'any permanent change in behaviour as a result of past experience leading to someone behaving differently given the same scenario in the future'. You will wonder where I am heading to in this post. It is simply because we learn everyday. We acquire knowledge and skills everyday. We experience different realities everyday. Some of these experiences are palatable and heart warming while many others are heart breaking and disturbing.So is the journey inside the vehicle of Network Marketing. We are exposed to divers of experiences. We learn some bitter truth in hard ways as well in some situations, we experience bliss of great magnitude that one could hardly think it is possible on planet earth.

What is your past experience in your previous MLM opportunity? Have you been disappointed? Have you worked assiduously in the past only for you to be frustrated by the system of the company you partnered with? My observation recently has shown that out of every ten people that are interviewed on their past experience in their previous network marketing company, seven have not-too-good experience from their expectations. They are either frustrated, disillusioned and simply quit. Asking such people to come and join your network will spontaneously and instantly generate a negative reaction. They have learned the hard way. Their experience had shown that they will react differently to similar situation next time.

Learning is a lifetime education.There are four important lessons to learn so as to reduce network marketing business frustrations:

   1.    Understand Your Strong 'WHY'
   2.    Handle Your Networking as a Real Business or Profession
   3.    Research Well The Company To Partner With
   4.    Understand What Network Marketing is NOT

You must have a strong 'why'. A kind of motivation that drives the best out of you. A determined heart to achieve a set goal and a clear understanding of genuine reasons for desirable success.

It is ideal to handle one's networking business as a real business or as a real profession. Most of the time, we give our regular day job the seriousness it desires despite being not convenient to do, but we do the inconveniences. For example, we wake up early in the morning and commute to work place so as not to be late. We carry our assignment on with precision as any deviation will warrant sanctions. The same way we should handle our network marketing business as a profession. Prospecting must continually be done whether convenient or not, follow-ups of prospects, desire to help people are all the ingredients of success in network marketing.

Another key lesson to learn is the ability to conduct a due process assessment of the company to partner with. This was highlighted in the previous post. Some 'old school' network marketing companies have great products but bad compensation plan. Independent distributors find it hard to grow in some organizations and many more have their system skewed to favour being perennial salesman with little opportunity to grow. The main fact is that, you must do your research very well and be sure the company is solid, experienced, distributor friendly, and futuristic in mission advancement.

Finally, it is necessary to understand what network marketing is NOT. Understand what network marketing is not. Network marketing is not about Selling Products or Earning Income! It is not a selling business. This is because if you stop the activity, the income stops. Being successful in network marketing does not mean being 'great at sales'. The main focus is not to sell a product but to build a network, 'an army of people who are all representing that same product or service to share with others'. 'The goal is not for you or any other individual to sell a lot of products; it is for a lot of people to be their own customer, sell and service a reasonable number of customers and recruit and show a lot of other people how to do the same thing'. Like I said before, networking success is about duplications.

If you have been disappointed by your past MLM experience, this does not mean network marketing business is inherently bad, in fact the opposite is the truth. Do not close your eyes to another opportunity. Network marketing opportunity is the best gift of the 21st century. A great deal of learning will however make the navigation to success easy to achieve. Do you share my opinion? Hit the comment box to express your view. Set the conversation rolling.

Network Marketing Business Blog: WHO IS FEARING NETWORK MARKETING BUSINESS MODEL? -...

Network Marketing Business Blog: WHO IS FEARING NETWORK MARKETING BUSINESS MODEL? -...: Success or failure of a network marketer could also be attributed to the dynamics of the company being represented. In the last post on this...

WHO IS FEARING NETWORK MARKETING BUSINESS MODEL? -PART 3

Success or failure of a network marketer could also be attributed to the dynamics of the company being represented. In the last post on this subject matter, I delved a little bit into individual efforts required to succeed in this business.

However, experience has shown that the making of the organization has a lot to do with ability of its distributors to succeed or not. What are the peculiarities that a potential member should check well before joining the company?  This can be divided into different sections as below:

1. Company Structures
2. Company Products and Effectiveness
3. Company Compensation Plans
4. Company effectiveness in trainings and response to members concerns.  

Is the company structure solid or is it a bogus smokescreen window dressing type? How effective are the products and subsequent product effectiveness? Is the product a type of product that consumers will seek to have even if there is no network marketing options? Do the company effectively have on-going research plans on a continuous basis?  How people friendly is the marketing plan and the compensation plan? Is the compensation plan structured in a way to ensure distributor success or is it skewed in favor of early members in the network? This issue alone make many people in network marketing business hate anything bearing MLM today.

Most peoples' efforts were wasted due to the impact of not-so-friendly company marketing plan and compensation policies. Many companies made their distributors perennial Sales Representatives without much to show for the efforts. In frustrations, they quit and all their previous efforts only benefit their uplines.   There is a great need to verify the company you want to partner with before making your decision. Go online and check their website. Check the product testimonials, check how long they have been in business, check if they have weathered the early storm of growth before venturing overseas to launch their network marketing business.

It is a common thing today to find some companies less than two years old planning to launch in 100 countries within months. Beware and do your due process investigation before making your decision.

Finally, check out if the company is ready to give you seamless trainings to turbo-charge your efforts. Training is one of the key positive benefits derivable from Network Marketing business model. I believe if all these factors are put in practice, network marketing business success will be a reality faster than expected. Network marketing business model is expected to give a sort of 'LIFE SKILLS'. In network marketing, you 'earn while you learn'.

I will like to end this post by quoting a passage from Robert Kiyosaki's book- The Business of The 21st Century......''in network marketing, the training is more than theory; it's experiential. And regardless of whether or not you reach the top of the specific program you're in or make a great deal of money, the training itself is of tremendous value for the rest of your life. Many people actually end up in other businesses where they become very successful due to the business training and experience they first received in their network marketing experience''.  I wholeheartedly agree to this postulation. Do you? Your comment and experience in any previous mlm is welcome. Let us share it in the comment section. See you in the next post.