Tips For Success in Direct Selling and Network Marketing
Direct Selling is a business model that companies use to distribute their products and services. Find out, How to Succeed at Direct Sales and Make MLM Profit.
Direct selling, also known as MLM and network marketing, is a business model that companies use to distribute their products or services through the use of “word-of-mouth” advertising by people known as distributors.
Direct Selling is not a job it’s a home-based business opportunity.
Unlike franchises which can cost up to a million dollars to own and operate, network marketing is an inexpensive way for ordinary people to make extraordinary income without the headaches of running a small business.
It takes little risk in starting a Direct Selling business. You simply order a minimum requirement of product and you are set to go.
Here are 8 things to implement for success in Direct Sells and MLM:
1. Find a great product or service
Do you need to lose weight or want to lose some wrinkles under your eyes or save on traveling the world or sleep better and reduce anxiety?
Direct selling offers products and services like these which you can benefit from by not only using them by promoting them as well and earning a commission.
The difference between selling and direct selling is that in Direct Selling the product goes directly from the manufacturer to the customer. You do not need to hold onto inventory or worry about shipping or accounting.
You also don’t need to “push” any product onto friends or family.
With the internet you can use “attraction marketing” to attract customers who want and need what you offer.
You can present MLM and direct selling two ways:
- Promote the benefits of your product or service.
- Promote the income and business opportunity of direct selling.
Let’s say you want to promote the benefits of your product.
Let’s say that your product is about helping reduce wrinkles.
You would want to attract customers to your offer by creating a video channel on YouTube about skin related issues and at the end of your videos direct people to your offer, or CTA, “Call-to-Action.
Or, you could create a blog that focuses on Dermatology, aging, and general health and have CTA’s at the bottom of the articles. . .
Either way, you want to “brand” yourself as the go-to-authority.
2. Find a Leader in that company to join
Direct selling works by paying its distributors to promote a product, therefore you have to sign up through another distributor to join.
When you find that product or service you feel would fit you and your lifestyle, you would then find a distributor in that company by researching online.
When I found the product I was looking for I searched the business name until I found someone promoting the product online. It was on YouTube that I found a top leader in the desired company I wanted to join.
I simply clicked on their link in the video description and was taken to their sign-up form, also known as a Lead capture page. I filled in my name and email and was taken directly into the “control panel” that I would eventually use when I upgraded to a paid member.
I went to the “order” page and place my order. There was a one time starter fee of $20 plus the product and I was then a paid IBO, or Independent Business Owner. The company provided me my own websites and Lead Capture pages to promote the product and I was ready to roll!
3. Learn to Promote
Like I said earlier, either you can promote the benefits of the product or the income opportunity of the business. Money has always been a stronger pull for me than a product, so I chose to promote the income earning aspects of the business at first.
Eventually, after using the product for a while, I felt I had a strong testimonial of the product and eventually wrote content around the benefits of the product, but mostly it has been the income aspect.
One thing you don’t want to do, which I just wrote about in my last post about distributors over-hyping MLM, is that you want to be honest with people about your opportunity.
Don’t spam all over your social media things like:
“Earn $5000 a week with no cost to you, instantly!”
Network marketing doesn’t need to be misrepresented, especially since it already has a bad rap for being a Pyramid or Ponzi scheme.
(To clarify if an MLM is actually a Pyramid look to see if they have a legitimate product or service. If it looks like they don’t and emphasize “recruiting” instead, it’s likely a Pyramid rather than a legitimate network marketing company.)
It’s our duty as network marketers to represent the industry with integrity and honesty. This business is exactly that, a business, which takes education and learning the right skills to become successful, just like any other profession.
4. Handling Rejection and Objections
One of the biggest obstacles we face as network marketers is rejection or being addicted to the outcome.
Some of us desperately want to get our friends and family to sign up, and some might because they care about you, but nothing hurts more than being rejected by loved ones.
This business isn’t for everyone. In fact, friends and family members are probably the least likely to succeed in this business.
Although, if you feel someone close to you can actually benefit from the product or service then feel free to ask them, but do not rely on them or add pressure.
There are too many people looking for an opportunity online to feel desperate around promoting your business. Stick to recruit online and you will avoid frustration and embarrassment from loved ones.
Handling objections is also necessary to learn proper techniques around if you are in a situation where a prospect questions what you offer.
First, you need to ask yourself if you truly want to work with this person in your business. If you feel that someone is just challenging you and not really interested in your opportunity, cut them loose.
Secondly, if you feel they would be a good partner in your direct selling business, address their concerns by asking questions.
Expose the real problem they are facing. There are many facets of handling objections that this article does not address, but there’s plenty of training videos out there that can help you.
5. Duplication
One of the most powerful aspects of Direct Selling is using leverage to earn commissions off of the activity of many people rather than just yourself.
We not only build a successful business, we teach others within our organization how to build a successful business.
This team effort leads to exponential growth and income unparalleled in any other profession, unless you’re a celebrity or pro athlete.
Network marketing leaders can make anywhere from $20,000 to $1,000,000 a month. This would be impossible to earn by trading hours for dollars.
With MLM, we earn commissions from the activity of our entire distribution channel. There is also no income cap in network marketing and is completely legal in over 190 countries.
Duplication takes being a leader. It also takes recruiting a lot of people to find the 3% who are willing to do whatever it takes to become successful.
Finding the right people takes time and going through a large number of leads. Finding thousands of leads takes effort and this effort is calculated as either time or money.
If you don’t have time, you can buy leads or hire a marketing PR company. This is very expensive and people that upgrade into your business won’t have any established trust with you.
A better way to get lots of leads is with Blogging. Blogging is no overnight achievement either, but with an established blog that gets a good amount of traffic you could get enough leads to grow a thriving business.
6. Mindset
Having trouble attracting the right type of person into your business?
Having the mindset of a confident leader will attract a better prospect. To get this better mindset train more and learn more about your profession and become the leader you would want to sign up under.
Network marketing has been coined as being “one big self-development course.” You get out of it what you put into it. There are no shortcuts.
Learning from other top-notch trainers will cut your learning curve. I spent the first six months learning from the best MLM trainers on YouTube and it prepared me.
I would have quit by now if I hadn’t learned about the hardships beforehand.
“Treat network marketing like a business and it will pay like a business; treat network marketing like a hobby and it will pay like a hobby.”
7. Mastermind
The leaders in this business mastermind with other leaders. Nothing phenomenal in business has ever been truly achieved alone.
We use masterminds in network marketing to learn from others and excel as a group.
Masterminds let us explore ideas and marketing strategies. Masterminds keep your organization on the same page and reduces drop out.
Also, when your distributors feel a part of something greater than themselves, a culture is born. This culture empowers us to do greater than we would achieve on our own.
And, finally. . .
8. Repeat.
That’s it. Find what works in your business and repeat it. A/B test everything and choose the best methods that convert prospective downline team members and product customers.
Later, rinse, and repeat for direct selling and MLM success!