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What not to do in MLM v.2

by Kabbas
16 replies
Okay the original version of this thread got banned because i'm stupid, so here is the "clean version":

Hey Warriors!

I am into MLM marketing, and i am fairly new to it, and i would just like to hear your guys' experience with MLM, and specifically, what not to do in this form of internet marketing, and ultimately all forms of internet marketing.

Now i am going to try not to be a complete value leech and post some tips from my experience so far:

1. Don't expect too much, too fast: Now this is advide that applies to pretty much everything in life. Kinda like how if you just starting working out, you should'nt expect within the next week to look like a greek god.

2: Use social media: Now this advice applies more directly to MLM. Thing is if it were just basic affiliate-marketing, you would just send a message to a friend, maybe ask about their situation in something, fitness, marketing, anything, and get them to buy the product, but with MLM you get them to but but then keep being with them, so that they get a bigger income from marketing so you do too.

Again guys i made this post mainly to get you to write your experiences, so that people like myself will avoid tons of time on mistakes, thanks!
#internet marketng #mlm #social media
  • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
    You're going to get a lot of negatives about MLM in general on this thread. I don't see why you need to mention MLM as if it was an alien product from another planet that needs some kind of unique marketing.

    MLM is just like any other offer and you should look through the forum and see all the material - exhaustive - on the topic of marketing, program promotion, recruiting and , yes, MLM.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kabbas
      Originally Posted by professorrosado View Post

      You're going to get a lot of negatives about MLM in general on this thread. I don't see why you need to mention MLM as if it was an alien product from another planet that needs some kind of unique marketing MLM.
      I did not mean to present it as an alien product. I just tried exaggerate the fact that it was MLM i was trying to talk about . Sorry for any confusion
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  • Profile picture of the author agivogue
    Hi Kabbas, here's what not to do when you first start. Do not SPAM your friends and family nor your facebook contacts, this is will just annoy them or worst 'unfriend' you. Never throw in your link for your website until people has given you permission to do so.

    What you can do is ask once, if they are open to new income opportunities, if they say no, move on don't try to force pitch. In order to get tons of success expect to personally recruit at least 100 people. Don't believe that if you recruit two, that recruits two, that recruits two, etc. That will never happen. Some will, some won't so what, next. People will follow and do what you do. If you constantly work at prospecting, your followers will do the same.

    Lead by example. Give and value to people. Only once you've uncovered the problem/pain to your potential prospect then offer the solution.

    If you just pitch you're website site url without first giving value, you will come across as "desperate" or "needy" which is bad for business.

    Hope this helps. If you have more specific questions, let me know. Cheers!
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    • Profile picture of the author jafmarkets
      Originally Posted by agivogue View Post

      Hi Kabbas, here's what not to do when you first start. Do not SPAM your friends and family nor your facebook contacts, this is will just annoy them or worst 'unfriend' you. Never throw in your link for your website until people has given you permission to do so.

      What you can do is ask once, if they are open to new income opportunities, if they say no, move on don't try to force pitch. In order to get tons of success expect to personally recruit at least 100 people. Don't believe that if you recruit two, that recruits two, that recruits two, etc. That will never happen. Some will, some won't so what, next. People will follow and do what you do. If you constantly work at prospecting, your followers will do the same.

      Lead by example. Give and value to people. Only once you've uncovered the problem/pain to your potential prospect then offer the solution.

      If you just pitch you're website site url without first giving value, you will come across as "desperate" or "needy" which is bad for business.

      Hope this helps. If you have more specific questions, let me know. Cheers!
      Great advice! I think something else worth considering is that if you do happen to get someone to "bite" the referral link without genuine content or interest, they are likely to be as desperate or needy as you. They will also be using the same strategy that simply isn't viable.
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  • Profile picture of the author expressg
    You will certainly get a lot of trolling or hate on you for MLM. In my opinion MLM is one of the biggest reasons that Internet Marketing gets a bad reputation.

    That said, MLM can be profitable for all parties involved if real value and a solid process is given. Also, avoid tactics like one of the largest MLM groups out there (who I won't name *cough*) who think it's okay to verbally abuse and/or bully lower tier members into purchasing into the next step by calling them names etc.

    I'm personally not a fan of the business model, but to each his own.

    - Matt G.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      your guys' experience with MLM,
      My 'experience' with mlm goes way back to 2000 with an mlm that is still active today - not going to name i,t so don't ask.

      I was new online - didn't know mlm was supposed to be hard - would never sell to friends and family...but I made money with it. I joined an mlm for the same reason many 'newbies' do - it was a 'group' of people so I wasn't alone - I had 'guidance' so someone to follow - the payment plan was clearly laid out and understandable (and optimistic!).

      I did well with it within the constraints of that program...and that was the problem. Within a year or two my own downline was over 3000 people and many of them were smart, hard workers.

      I built TWO training sites that had the purpose only of teaching my downline how to succeed in that mlm. I was administrator of a forum run by my own sponsor in the mlm and that forum was very active.

      There were three reasons I quit over three years later:

      1. In those three years, the company changed the compensation plan 2 times - each time all the successful (making money) people saw their income decline and had to make major adjustments to get back to where they were. When they announced yet another complete change in the comp plan at the beginning of my fourth year I said "no thanks".

      2. After a year of working hard and smart I was in the "Top 20 earners" in that mlm. Many months I was in the Top 10. Sounds good - but in reality my income never rose above $2500 a month. The only people earning what I considered significant money were those successful IMers with big lists who had encouraged the LISTS to join under them in the MLM. So - the top 5 people or so were doing very well. Problem was, the mlm had 10s of thousands of members!

      3. The last straw for me was an email from a man I had mentored and encouraged in the mlm. He was disabled - smart - funny - hopeful...and he could not get ahead in the program. It made me look closely at my own downline and realize - in spite of 2 full training sites and personal help only about 50 people out of 3000+ in my downline were making 3 figures, let alone 4 figures a month. I couldn't keep telling people it was possible - because the proof in front of me said for the great majority of people, mlm is a dream and nothing more.

      You'll get people in threads about mlm that will slam the model or support it - and most of them have never made money in an mlm. The one piece of advice I will give anyone new to MLM is this: don't bore everyone you know talking about it endlessly.

      I've made money in it - it was fun for a while - but the truth is you don't control your income because the company can and will change the comp plan to add more money to attract new members. Every change will be announced as an "improvement" but few improve anything.

      There are successful marketers here who are in mlm's and do well with them - usually combining that with their own online business. It's not a bad business model - but not the best, either.


      sorry for the lecture - but you did ask
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      • Profile picture of the author Kabbas
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post



        sorry for the lecture - but you did ask
        No problem, i would actually like to thank you because i found your post very insightful, and i would like to ask, that the reason why you were not earning so much maybe because the products did not sell for so much?
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  • Profile picture of the author kimwillis
    My 2 cents worth - mlm is not really at its best when using online methods alone. It works best offline - face to face, belly to belly. Always has, always will be that way. It's that kind of business which is precisely why I gave up on the mlm dream a long time ago.
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    • Profile picture of the author arsenalmkg
      Originally Posted by kimwillis View Post

      My 2 cents worth - mlm is not really at its best when using online methods alone. It works best offline - face to face, belly to belly. Always has, always will be that way. It's that kind of business which is precisely why I gave up on the mlm dream a long time ago.
      Agree with you on this point! MLM is best when it's face to face and you are really building relationships with people in person

      On the flip side, the Internet is nice because it can really help you expand your network. I've worked with many distirubtors who have seen a lot of success with the online methods
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  • Profile picture of the author arsenalmkg
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      I have never been in an MLM business. I don't claim to have any experience in that business model.

      I do have some experience as an "outsider" that has been approached maybe 25 times over my adult lifetime to join different MLM programs by family members, friends, work associates, and even a couple of strangers.

      I have been polite and nearly always given them my time to listen to their pitch, anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours in one case.

      I have always resisted joining, not because I was close minded to all of these programs . . . it was more a case of finding things about each one that I didn't like or that I had doubts about.

      Long story short . . . I don't know of one person that pitched me that ever made a living wage from their MLM. None of these people, not one, is still in their program - they are all doing other things now.

      Sure, there are obviously a few people that are successful in the MLM business or that model would have faded long ago. But my personal feeling is that most of the MLMers below the few founders or "top dogs on the totem pole" don't make the business pay off for them.

      I think there are much better business models, available to anyone, if you want to develop some income streams online. They are easy to start, provide a greater upside than MLMs, and you retain total control (unlike what Kay experienced in her valuable post above.)

      Just thoughts of an outsider,

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Kabbas
        Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

        I think there are much better business models, available to anyone, if you want to develop some income streams online.
        Steve
        Can you elaborate?
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        • Profile picture of the author Steve B
          Originally Posted by Kabbas View Post

          Can you elaborate?
          Kabbas,

          That's what I've been doing my whole time here at the Warrior Forum - 11 years worth - trying to elaborate what it takes to become profitable in your own Internet business. Read my posts and you'll see what I mean.

          Here's just one better business model, IMO:

          Sell niche products from your own web site. Try to be unique and creative - don't do what everyone else does. Reduce your direct competition because your are unique. In order to be successful, you must:
          • Do market research so you create a niche in a "money" market;
          • Sell into demand - it's critical that your audience wants exactly what you are selling;
          • Provide outstanding "best in class" customer service, communication, and response to inquiries;
          • Build a list of subscribers and nurture them with great unique content;
          • Have a variety of less expensive, mid range, and more expensive products; always be promoting back-end sales (it's where most of your income will be found);
          • Take advantage of the mailing lists of others in your market;
          • Run an affiliate program rather than being an affiliate for others;
          • Spend the bulk of your business hours every week (80% of your time or more) marketing of your business;
          • Test and track your offers, squeeze pages, everything. Dump the losers and ramp up the winners that are profitable;
          • The times change so your audience will change - you need to stay on top of what you offer. All the top marketers that I know introduce new products on a regular basis. Don't let your business get stale. Try to stay on the leading edge of your market in terms of what you offer and how you deliver your content.
          • Finally, be consistent and persistent. Stick with what you're doing. Give it time to gain traction. Stay with it and you will be seen as an authority in whatever your do.
          Does this model take a lot of work? Yes, constantly.


          It is worth it? Yes, by all means.


          Why don't more marketers follow this model? There are a million reasons and nearly all of them are simply excuses. Anyone that wants success and will follow this model should do well online. The vast majority of newbies here want "easy," "fast results," without the work involved.



          The best to all of you,


          Steve
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          Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
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          • Profile picture of the author Kay King
            that the reason why you were not earning so much maybe because the products did not sell for so much?
            The products were good and I sold quite a bit - but you don't join an MLM to "sell products". If that's what you want, go the affiliate route, not mlm.

            MLM is about recruiting a downline - you can say it isn't all you want - you can quote their literature all you want - but building a downline IS the point.

            If you know the numbers - you'd realize I was probably earning more in that mlm monthly than 95% of the people who join mlm's. The money wasn't worth the time spent - but more than that I couldn't keep telling people "this will work" when I could SEE it wasn't working for THEM!

            The big money often goes to the big marketers - who have a great IM product that sells. They have built huge mailing lists and when sales start lagging they say "look at this great opportunity" and offer bonuses for those on their list who join the mlm under them....happens all the time.
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            • Profile picture of the author myob
              For optimal growth in MLM, your focus should not be just on recruiting, but rather teaching your new distributors how to recruit and build their own downlines. Not understanding this critical stage is perhaps the leading cause of failure in MLM. As Kay King said above, building a downline IS the point in MLM. But you need to build an active downline.

              You could see real growth and profit with perhaps as little as three personal recruits. Teach them to recruit three each, who in turn also recruit three each and so on through all levels of your company. Set the pace of your team and inspire them by example.

              To maximize the reach and full leveraging power of MLM, it requires using multiple communication and prospecting channels including internet marketing, online/offline direct marketing, self-depreciating offers (through relevant affiliate products and/or third party physical products), etc.

              Early on in my marketing career, by upline taught me to brand yourself first. This means never mention anything about your MLM business until you have established a solid relationship with prospects.

              A premature exposure may send your prospects to do an online search about the company with a very high probability that they will join under another sponsor. Keep in mind you are not only competing with other products on the market, but also against other marketers of your product.

              Affiliate marketing provides an initial and essential anonymity during this personal "branding" stage. To gain the competitive edge in marketing MLM programs, I've found it to be very effective to first sell affiliate products to the types of people you want in your organization.

              For example, the affiliate products I sell (ie, Clickbank, Amazon, etc) are primarily targeted for medical professionals, legal specialists, accountants, mechanical/electrical/aerospace engineers, managers in business/industry, academia faculty/researchers, trade associations, churches, civic groups, etc. I've mentioned this before as "affinity marketing".

              In a nutshell, you are developing relationships with your prospects through a funnel system which includes a series of affiliate transactions with the intended outcome of joining your MLM company.

              It really doesn't even matter what the products are, as long as they keep your prospects moving along through the process. You should of course be able to add communication channels along the way, such as phone, mailing address, etc.

              Get to know your customers on a personal basis, and there almost always will come a time when they open up to needing to make extra money. Be prepared to not only teach this system to your new recruits, but also teach them to do the same for their downline. For this to work, it needs to be duplicable.
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          • Profile picture of the author byogojames
            Great info
            That is here most IMers quit the game
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    This MLM stuff is weird. Honestly a better home business model is better. Honestly... you might be better off selling boiled peanuts than trying to make money with MLM. ANY form of MLM.

    Plus some MLM companies require you to market the program in only 1 way: referrals.

    Typically you can't do any direct mail, internet marketing, magazine or classified advertising, etc.

    That's why you see alot of people approach you in the mall or the streets and try to sell you on a *brand new* high-speed USB internet device.

    ...along with a DVD with their MLM affiliate code on it (just in case you sign up) LOL.
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