The MLM industry is a very competitive industry. People who are starting their network marketing business from the ground floor level will tend to have many problems trying to find people who like MLM because of the negative connotations people have against the industry over the last few decades.

So how does one find people who like MLM?

The easiest and most obvious answer to this is to look for people who are already exposed to what MLM is all about.

This group of people has probably:

(1) Tried network marketing before and although they haven’t have success in their previous opportunity, is willing to give it another go by looking for another opportunity.

(2) Are already involved in a network marketing opportunity and they are looking for a chance to switch over into a ‘better’ opportunity or go under another upline who is more capable.

(3) Their previous MLM Company has recently shut down due to many different reasons and they are looking for a venue to start their network marketing business all over again.

These 3 groups of people are considered your target markets (which are the people who like MLM).

So what is the most effective way to target these people? Is it possible to bring them into your network?

For starters, the biggest problem most newbies in network marketing is to try to use the comparison tactic to get people to join their network marketing opportunity. They attempt to tell them that my product is better than your product, my compensation plan pays more than yours, my management team has more experience and my upline can help me ‘close’ more prospects compared to yours.

This kind of ‘my company is better than yours’ approach doesn’t win people over because a person convinced against his or her will is of the same opinion still. Even if you win the argument, you ‘close’ the back door and they will lose face when they lose the argument.

The better way to prospect these people is to first, brand yourself as a network marketing expert. Only when you find a way to provide value to other people will they even begin to consider your network marketing opportunity. Building relationships first is more important than entering into a shouting match to see whose company is better. When you can show your prospect that you can add value to their life (their knowledge, their income, etc), they will be more likely to join your network marketing opportunity in the future.

Excerpts from Stephen Pierce:

Everything in life has a cost attached to it. We are always paying a price. There is a price to success, and there is a price to ignorance. There is no middle realm; we are paying one price or the other. This Special Report outlines how to choose the cost of action and information over the cost of inaction and ignorance.

There are four types of cost:
1. Cost of Action
2. Cost of Inaction
3. Cost of Information
4. Cost of Ignorance

Costs of Action and Information

It is rather easy to classify the cost of taking action. It can be measured in terms of money, energy and time. Whether it’s launching a new aspect of your business or taking an educational course, these actions cost something tangible.

Costs of Inaction and Ignorance

Unfortunately, it can be harder to measure the cost of inaction. Therefore, it’s also hard to calculate the cost of ignorance. If you think information is expensive, wait until you see the price of ignorance.
My life completely changed when I understood the costs involved. Since I will have to pay a cost either way, I made the proactive decision to pay a cost that will move my life, business and family forward. The alternative decision is to consciously choose to pay the cost of inaction. That cost shows itself in stagnation, mediocrity and failure.

Think about opportunities you’ve had in your life. Consider times when you had the chance to do something but you did not do it. What did it cost you?

In relationships, inaction can cost us greatly. If you were prideful and didn’t offer an apology when you should have, it likely cost you a valuable relationship. In the business sense, inaction can cost you deeply. If you don’t do certain actions consistently every day, it may cost you professional success. The cost of inaction can be hard to quantify because we can’t predict the future. We can’t foresee the value of a relationship over the long-term. We can’t predict the level of success, freedom and security a business would have given you if you’d been successful in it.

Simple things cost us in the long-run. Even if you decide against taking action just one time, the results can be troubling. If you repeatedly choose against action, that consistent decision will undoubtedly cost you. If repeated over time, this judgment error will ultimately cost you success. A person who is unhealthy in body, spirit and finances generally has consistent judgment errors. It costs them emotional, financial and mental happiness. It affects their family relationships.

Calculate the Cost of Action

Every day you are faced with a decision to take an action. Calculate the cost. What is the cost to this action? What can you gain from it? What is it going to mean if you complete this action? It can be a one-time action or one you may take consistently.

Your health involves consistent choice. You must work out regularly and eat healthy meals consistently. Likewise, your business involves repeated decisions. You must make cold calls regularly, or follow-up with your mailing list consistently. Perhaps you need to speak at seminars regularly. Even your family life involves consistent choices. You choose to spent time with your family, and to provide them with kindness regularly. All these actions are so easy to do, but they are also easy to forget to do. It’s easy to go to the gym but it’s also easy to not go. It becomes a trap. If you decide to not go one day, you can easily fall into the trap of making that same decision every day. One error in judgment does not show you the ultimate cost of making that decision repeatedly. The real cost is not immediately felt.

Calculate the Cost of Inaction and Ignorance

Think about your life. What has it really cost you to be ignorant of certain things? It is unbelievable what ignorance can cost you. Since you are always paying a price, you must choose how you will pay it. You can pay a price by default, meaning you decide not to take an action and simply remain ignorant. That price is significantly higher than the price of action.

You do not need to have a Master’s degree in mathematics in order to understand the mechanics of a network marketing compensation plan.

You have to understand, a subject like accounting might be a difficult subject for certain people, but they still learn about it because they have to balance their checkbooks! The same goes for network marketing compensation plans because one wrong ‘move’ by placing the wrong downline could result in thousands of dollars of lost income!

But one thing is definitely certain; you must build depth in your network marketing business. (Depth means sponsoring downlines who have their own downlines down several levels deep)

Depth building is different from building width. When it comes to building width, all you need to do is sponsor tons of downlines personally. All those downlines are ‘parked’ directly under you and you will be spending most of your time taking care of all those downlines because these people are most likely your personal contacts, friends and relatives.

Building width is very good, but there is one problem… if you go too wide, you will wind up having too many ‘babies’ to take care off. You cannot take care of so many people at once. Face it; network marketing is a business that involves personal training and face to face interaction. To be truly effective, you must be prepared to spend some personal time with your people.

Let’s say that you have 5 downlines that you have personally sponsored. Assuming that you have a full time job, you can only effectively spend one of your nights for each person. Your downlines might have their own prospects and they will bring them to you because you have more experience than your newly signed up downline.

If you have more than 10, it will be very difficult to manage all of them and your downlines will be neglected. This is one of the reasons why some people perceive network marketing to be a bad business… because their uplines have no time for them!

Building depth is very important because you don’t just want to be the person with all the downlines; you want your downlines to have their own people as well! You want them to be independent and strong!

Here’s what you need to do. When you find the right person, the person whom you feel he or she is worth your time, you must train them to find their own downlines first. When they sign up their new prospect, you mustn’t stop there; you must train your downline to help HIS/HER downline to sign up new people as well.

The goal is to reach three levels deep. Why three levels? Because your goal is to teach your downline (the one you personally sponsored) to become a TEACHER. You want that teacher to teach others how to be a teacher as well.

Do you follow me, here? Let me make it really simple:

- You

- Level 1 – Teacher of a teacher

- Level 2 – Teacher

- Level 3 – Learner

You have to follow this formula because it will not work if you stop at level 2. If you stop at level 2, your ‘line’ will not be independent enough. Because you will still be the one teaching teachers over and over again. You will only be independent if you have LEADERS with their own downlines teaching others without your intervention.

Now THAT… is leverage – the key towards building a solid network marketing business.

If you are getting sick and tired of dragging your friends and relatives to hotel business opportunity meetings and cold calling dead beat leads and strangers, then it is high time you take a look at your approach to network marketing.

Old school prospecting methods used in the 70s and the 80s are sad to say – obsolete at worst and ineffective at best. It requires guts of steel to face with a lot of face to face rejection on a daily basis. Thankfully there is a better way to get new leads for your network marketing business and that is through online prospecting.

So how does online prospecting work?

There are many ways to get traffic to your website. But you must make sure you implement these four steps if you want to be effective at Internet marketing for your home business.

(1) Drive targeted traffic

(2) Use an effective lead capturing page

(3) Build rapport with your prospect

(4) Pitch the right offer

Here is an elaboration on how online prospecting will work for these 4 key points:

When driving traffic you must always focus on driving TARGETED traffic. It is no point having one million visitors but they are all not interested in network marketing at all! Do not fall for those deals that promise you thousands of leads but you do not know what the qualities of those leads are.

The next way is the use an effective lead capturing page. This is very important because you want to make sure you ‘keep’ the leads from all the money and time you spent from driving traffic to your website. An effective lead capture pages also emphasizes the targeted aspect which is to qualify your leads to see if they are people who are merely browsing through your page or people who are genuinely seeking a way for a better life through your network marketing opportunity.

Once you have them in your name list or your mailing list, you must use autoresponders and communicate with them through your newsletters. Do not fear if you cannot write a good newsletter, just look at the starter kit from business opportunity and take out the best key points or benefits and compile them into an E-course to educate your prospects about you and your opportunity.

Finally, when pitching the offer, make sure you only present your network marketing opportunity to them when you have built a solid relationship.

There are many ways to build your network marketing business on the Internet using search engine optimization, pay per click campaigns, buying banner advertising, co registration leads, traffic exchanges and many more ways.

There are many definitions of network marketing.

Some people say that it is a business that is all about sharing. Some people say that it is a business that pays you a multi-tiered form of compensation. Many others also say that it is a form of unethical pyramid selling system!

But I truly believe that the right definition of network marketing is a business system or model that allows you to move products through a large network of distributors and consumers. In other words, network marketing allows any person to be in a business for themselves but not BY themselves.

Network marketing requires you to do the following:

(1) Generate leads for your business

(2) Prospecting those leads

(3) Building a solid relationship with them

(4) Selling products and services with them

(5) Training people to train others do the same thing as what you are doing now

What defines network marketing is the fact that it is a business of moving products. In order for you to move products effectively, you must generate leads to accomplish that. But in order to ‘sell’ effectively, you must make sure you spend time generating the right kind of leads rather than useless leads who are not interested in consuming or moving your product.

Once you find the right kind of leads, you must engage in prospecting where you share your business opportunity with your prospect. But don’t just blabber on like a motor-mouth… you need to listen to what problems your prospects are facing and how you can find a solution to their problems with your business opportunity. It could be a financial problem or a personal problem (like proving to their friends and family that they can be successful).

Once you have developed good rapport with your prospects, you can start training them to do the same thing through duplication. It is one of the most important aspects.

Basically, network marketing is also a business where teaching is involved. It is more of an art rather than a science because different people respond differently to different situations. Do not try and become a retail sales superstar by moving tons of products all by yourself. Most of the time, you will burn out if you do not leverage on your uplines or your downlines.

When you learn how to leverage on other people’s expertise, you will be able to function better as a team rather than going solo. Remember, you are building your OWN business but you are not alone in network marketing.

Building a network marketing business isn’t easy – you need to have guts of steel in order to overcome all the rejection and disappointment.

If you want to learn how to stay on top of the game, you need to explore different prospecting and lead generation methods.

By exploring these three different concepts, you will be able to add 20-30 new reps a week to any MLM… guaranteed! As long as you are prepared to work out the concepts well, you will be able to get a predictable kind of result.

(1) The Magnetic Sponsoring Concept

Magnetic sponsoring is all about branding yourself as an expert in any MLM company. You learn to become the hunted instead of the hunter. This concept is founded by Mike Dillard who started as a waiter and within one and a half years, turned his network marketing business into a million dollar business because he ‘cracked the code’ to network marketing by finding a way to generate leads and turn those leads into money. He even managed to turn leads that didn’t join his network marketing opportunity into cash flow as well.

(2) The Renegade Network Marketer Concept

The Renegade Network Marketer is a concept that goes against the grain of what most network marketing reps know. They learn all their skills from their uplines and their uplines from their own uplines as well. Methods such as building a list of names, cold calling, approaching dead beat leads are all outdated methods are considered obsolete. They practice new ways to bring in leads on the Internet and although this concept is shunned by ‘old school’ network marketers, it has brought results to many people who embrace their techniques.

(3) How Network Marketing Works

How Network Marketing Works is a step-by-step blueprint that teaches network marketing reps how to properly prospect people using the Internet. This course is very complete as it teaches people how to tap into Internet marketing traffic generation methods. You get to learn how to construct powerful lead capturing pages, ready written network marketing articles (to drive traffic), list building methods, audio courses and video courses that will teach you everything about lead generation with network marketing. The courses also teach you how to write promotional emails and get people to buy your offers.

Actually, generating 20 to 30 leads a day is not a big problem. The most important thing is to understand what you are going to do with those leads and build your network marketing the right way.