The 5 Deadly Lies of Network Marketing, Randy Gage: 1.) Everyone Can Do This. They can’t. Network Marketing is perfect for everybody. Everybody is not perfect for Network Marketing. You need to have the mindset of an entrepreneur, not an employee. 2.) The Celebrity Lead Magnet. I’ve lost count how many times I have seen this play out in the last 20 years. A company hires a famous spokesperson, the spokesperson joins as a distributor, or actually starts up their own company. All the other distributors are gaga over the massive effect this will have on recruiting. Usually this leads to major media campaigns inciting people to lock in a spot early, because of the steady stream of new people who will be joining the company, based upon the halo effect of this celebrity. In the worst cases, this gets promoted with television commercials and lead generation co-ops are created. Thousands of leads pour in. But what happens at the end of the day? The celebrity doesn’t understand a damn thing about how the business is conducted, and usually doesn’t even attempt to do the work it takes. In fact, the spokesperson has most likely been duped into believing that others will work the leads brought in by his or her “name,” and that a nice residual income will be the result. This doesn’t follow the formula for creating wealth in the business and is antithetical to the process of duplication. The last time this worked successfully in the business is never. 3.) The Urban Legends. First and foremost is the story that Donald Trump appeared on a late night talk show and said that if he lost everything and had to start all over again, he would join Network Marketing. I have met literally hundreds of people who swear they were watching the night he said it. Only problem is—he never did. What makes this story so funny is that some people insisted they saw him make this statement to Johnny Carson. Later others swore they saw him say to Jay Leno. Still others were adamant he said it to David Letterman. They’ve all heard this crap so many times they actually convinced themselves they saw it. This kind of delusional behavior won’t move our profession forward. On the somewhat positive side (maybe), the Donald will pretty much whore his name out on anything, and he is a spokesperson now for a network marketing company. So if you want to quote his endorsement, at least get it right. Another big lie is that the majority of millionaires were created by Network Marketing. Not even close. Real estate outpaces us by about 20 times, even in this troubled economy. And I’m sure manufacturing, high tech, and a few other things outpace us as well. If you want to show credibility from a solid source, get the books: - The Next Millionaires and The New Wellness Revolution: How to Make a Fortune in the Next Trillion Dollar Industry both by Paul Zane Pilzer, - Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki; and, - Start Late, Finish Rich by David Bach. The other urban legend that never seems to die is that Network Marketing is taught at Harvard and Stanford business schools and other leading universities. Total BS. Network Marketing is not taught at Harvard, Stanford, Yale or almost anywhere else. There was (and may still be) a continuing education program taught by Dr. Charles King, a marketing professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. People took the course, thinking it would mean they were “certified,” and that would give them credibility with prospects. But that’s a pretty silly idea, since that never convinced a prospect to join. In practical application the program basically generated leads for consulting clients for Dr. King and Tim Sales. Now there was nothing wrong with the course, and it’s always good to learn. And both Charles and Tim are good guys. But let’s not make it out like Harvard is teaching MLM; they’re not. 4.) The Quick & Easy Way To Get Rich Mentality. For years we’ve been promoting the business as a five- or six-hour-a-week plan. Sad to admit, but I used to spout this one too. I heard it, I believed it, and then I repeated it. But after you have some experience, and do some critical thinking, you realize that it never works this way. Ever. What’s real? You can start the business part-time, with whatever business or job you’re doing now. In fact, that’s the best and most duplicable way for everyone to begin. But the business can’t be successfully launched in five or six hours a week. It takes a minimum of ten, and 15 is even better. In five hours a week you can’t get enough traction to sustain anything serious. When you first begin, your focus should be on acquiring new customers and distributors. And when you get them signed up, they need support. Even if you do sign up a couple superstars – your inability to help them early on will likely cause them to drop out. So you need to be there during this crucial time. Ten to 15 hours a week gives you enough time to participate in a weekly leadership training session, conduct a home meeting or two, attend an opportunity meeting, and work with your new people. Now once someone commits to the weekly hours, getting to a position of success is a two- to four-year plan. (My friend Mark Yarnell suggests it’s a five-year plan, and he’s one of the brightest minds in the business.) No one is making huge money after only a few months unless he or she got a special placement deal, rolled over a group from another company, or are a freak of nature. Now in the interest of disclosure, when I returned to the business three years ago, I made some serious money very quickly, with no deals and no one rolling over. But I’ve been around the biz for about 20 years, I had already developed the necessary skill sets, and I worked the business 40 or 50 hours a week. For me to suggest that this will happen for the average person would not only be ridiculous, it would be unethical. However, anyone on my team has the real opportunity to earn what I do, or even more. But it just stands to reason that it will take most of them a little longer to build up the critical mass that I did. Although I would be delighted to be proven wrong on this – until that happens it would be wrong to suggest otherwise. Truthfully, the people who build great success in two years are amazing achievers—and they are the exception to the rule. As I mentioned earlier, we get jaded with the large incomes we earn in this business. For example, a beginning Diamond in my program pulls in about $40,000 a month. Yet we have people that take three or four years to get there and they think they’re an abject failure! There are jobs and businesses that take ten or 20 years to get to $40,000 a year. Even if it takes someone four (or five) years to get to a $10,000 or $15,000 a month bonus check – that’s a huge accomplishment and dramatically better than what most people are likely to earn in any other endeavor. And to accomplish this in Network Marketing requires no degrees, nor credentials, nor a large initial investment. It’s a two- to four-year plan, and a damn good one! But I think the biggest lie in MLM… 5.) Selling Big Business Results With Small Business Tactics. This stems from our failure to educate people between the small business retailer model, and the big business duplication model. And this is a pandemic in our business. How many idiots do we have going around putting “Millionaire looking for apprentice” flyers on windshields in shopping center parking lots? How many clueless neophytes are running around placing yard signs at intersections, thinking this is going to build them a $50K-a-month bonus check? Now there are certainly millionaires looking for apprentices (I’m one and probably many of you reading this are too), and lots of us make $50K a month or multiples of that. But we didn’t get there by wearing cheesy buttons, handing out flyers at the mall, or driving around with magnetic signs on our Lamborghinis. That doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with people who build with buttons, bumper stickers or flyers… If your main interest is to get your own products paid for, or to earn a few hundred or few thousand dollars a month, these tactics will work. But they won’t create strong duplication or produce massive bonus checks. So let’s not recruit on the basis of free cars, award trips, and large incomes—and then teach people that these peddler tactics are going to produce them. They’re not. Not now. Not ever.
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 04:05:18 +0000
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