Everyone is competing for both your time and money. Yes, I’m all for learning new stuff (I read at least two books a week and buy tons of stuff). I am all for buying products and services from other people in the Network Marketing Profession, but not at the expense of generating new business for myself.
Here’s three areas you need to know when to say “No”:
1) Internet Marketing Shiny New Object Syndrome
There’s always a new set of 19 DVD’s out that will show you how to market your business online.
There’s always a new course out that will bring you up to speed on all of the latest Facebook changes and what you should do there.
There’s always a new Google slap that just hit and a webinar (with a back-end product of $497) that will show you how to get around it.
If you are brand new to this business (or have do not have a residual income built up yet) keep your education constrained to Evergreen topics. In other words, fundamentals of the business that have withstood the test of time and rarely change. Courses on motivation, prospecting, building relationships, self-improvement, etc… All of the other stuff is simply going to bring more people into your funnel, and if you aren’t effective at establishing relationships and closing them once they are in, it’s pointless to widen that funnel.
Remember, when you recruit a new distributor, that person is going to think they have to do what you just did to become successful. If you implemented a technique the masses can’t duplicate, you better have some training and techniques they can implement right away and give them help.
Bottom Line: If your earnings are less than stellar, stick with training that teaches the fundamentals. Otherwise, feel free to explore new material ONLY IF you can find the time to learn when it will not interfere with your existing business building strategies.
2) New Network Marketing Company Shiny New Object Syndrome
There’s always a new MLM in prelaunch that every leader is flocking to.
There’s always going to be another “company with a miracle product”.
There’s always going to be another “nobody pays such high commissions as this”.
If you’ve done your due diligence and are with a respectable company that has their I’s dotted and T’s crossed, there are probably several reasons they have been in business as long as they have and survived numerous shit storms.
So you don’t have the pizzazz that a new launch brings in.
Big deal.
I’d consider Amway, NuSkin, Herbalife, IsaGenix, Send Out Cards and over a dozen others companies before investing my time and hard work to jump on the bandwagon of the latest craze. Yes, some of them make it, but not many. In a nutshell, ride the horse you already picked, unless you haven’t built it yet and see signs of danger ahead.
There’s nothing wrong with using products and services from other MLM companies (In fact, you should support friends, family, and the industry by doing so). I do it all the time, but my focus is on what I build.
Bottom Line: Say no to new MLM biz-opp pitches, but be open to friends who offer it you from a product or service standpoint, if they are not sleazy about it and don’t have ulterior motives.
3) Your Own Prospects
Prospects tell us “No” on a daily basis (Well at least you should be hearing it on a daily basis, or you aren’t talking to enough people). If I mail out 10,000 letters and only get a 4% response rate, 96% of them have silently told me no. If I smile and dial 1,000 phone numbers and talk to 300 people, most of them will probably say no. And if approach 100 people in my warm market, at the end of the day, 97 will most likely say no. These are average opportunity presentation rejection rates (you will do better with product or retail pitches targeted to the right market) and those of us who have been doing this for a while are used to it.
But let’s flip this around.
Most of us jump for joy when we have a prospect desperate for our business and willing to sign on the dotted line (or click submit). Yet, we know that some of these people are not qualified to do this business and will ultimately fail.
This type of person can become a big time-waster and PITA for you and spread negative comments quickly. It is also a huge contributing factor to the industry’s high failure rate, a statistic that effects all of us in the long run and one I would love to help change.
Bottom Line: Do not recruit anyone into this business who you know is not, nor will ever be qualified to build it. They can be fine prospects for the retail side of the business, if they desire what you have.
Final Thoughts:
Set aside a block of time that does not interfere with core business building activity every day for personal development. You probably have bookshelves and hard drives filled with material that has not even been cracked open yet. Go through it.
For your future purchases ask yourself, “Is this NSO I want really going to help me build my business or cause a distraction (and loss of income) from it?
If you are looking at techniques the masses can not implement, what’s your next step?
Will this new technique generate so many prospects that you’ll be able to co-op them with team members to work so they don’t have to spend hours, days, or months learning to do the same thing (I do this with my direct mail campaigns and other online advertising) or are you going to have a revolving door of people who join your MLM business and quit because they can’t duplicate your success?
Learning to say “No” to distractions will turn you into a lean, mean, focused recruiting machine.
If you feel this post will keep your team focused, please add your two cents and spread the word.