One thing experienced network marketers know is that the first company you join, will most likely not be your last. This is why it’s so important to build your business around you first and your company second. Boiled down, it means that you should not be afraid to let your personality shine through. Here are the top five ways you can start making this happen:
1. Have a personal website or blog
Most network marketing companies will give you a premade website. Chances are, the only personalization you can make to the page is going to be adding your name and contact information to it. What you really need is your own site with a single link to the company’s duplicated page. Now, people will have a much better idea of who you are and what you have to offer. If you choose to work for a different company, you can easily change the link to your new duplicated page and not lose all of your hard work.
2. Build relationships, not farm for leads
Before you started network marketing, did you realize how easy it is to get someone’s contact information? You can buy “leads” online for pennies a person. Would you want someone calling you out of the blue to try and sell you something that you’ve never even heard of? Purchasing leads makes your job way more tedious than it should be. Instead of spending your day pitching sales to strangers, wouldn’t you rather have a conversation with other network marketers helping each other make plans for future success? This takes us to number three..
3. Hang out at the water cooler
Network marketing is all about just that; network marketing. Put yourself out there and make connections! Some people advocate working with your “warm market” first. This means hitting up all of your friends and family and trying to get them to join or buy from you. Have your kids, or yourself ever had to sell something for school? You know, candy bars, popcorn, wrapping paper. Who doesn’t hate being asked, or asking others to cough up money for one of these things? Well, that’s what it feels like when you go to your warm market. Instead of irritating friends and family, focus on finding out where other network marketers in your field hang out. This could be a work at home website, blog, local group, or other people working for your company… figure out where they spend their time and insert yourself.
4. Rome was not build in a day
If you assume that any network marketing job is going to produce a fortune within one year, you are sadly mistaken. Look at the big-wigs in the business, they have been at it for YEARS…. many, many, years. The first few months of being a network marketer are rough. You might not even break even. It takes time to earn credibility in this field, and that’s what you’re working on every day. You will sign and lose members, have great and terrible sales months, but during that time you’ll be laying the foundation of your business. You will find the right people to work with and together you’ll start to earn a real income.
5. Proper planning
When you’re first starting out in network marketing, it’s easy to get starry eyed over the idea. You go through a company’s initial training, your enroller is pumping you up, you’re shouting it all over the internet, and everything is perfect. But then a month goes by… then two… and you hit the doldrums. You might feel taken advantage of because everyone else said it was so easy. Ha! This is NOT an easy business. It takes time and effort to get where you want. Plus, you need a business plan. What direction do you want to go, what opinions do you have to share, who have you connected with in the field, and what have you done to educate yourself and others working with you? Every day, there should be a goal to accomplish whether it’s a blog post to write, a video to shoot, training to read, emails to catch up on… don’t slack off!
Now that you have a better idea of success is going to look like, start brainstorming ways you can improve your business right now. Share your ideas with everyone and watch your business grow!
