If you are just starting out in your first home based business opportunity or you have been around the MLM block a few times or more with little or no success, there is a reason…you don’t have the correct marketing plan in place. Starting any business without a marketing plan is like going out to sea and setting sail without a chart and the necessary navigation tools that will help insure you get to your final destination. It’s no different in your business you need the proper tools to make sure you get the job done.
Yet, most people approach their home business without any real marketing game plan.
You would be shocked by how many people contact me asking for marketing advice. They’ve started a home based business and they’re NOT seeing the results the hyped-up corporate marketing company overviews portray. The reality is this, you join a network marketing opportunity and the first thing your upline tells you to use is the “memory jogger” and write down everyone you know, friends and family, even your mail carrier is not safe from this insane strategy. “OKAY, GOT YOUR WARM MARKET LIST PUT TOGETHER? ATTACK!” Sad but true, most people do not care about your company or your compensation plan.
Now, is it surprising that 97% of home based businesses fail? Uplines teach their sales force to network, what they leave out is the marketing aspect. After all, it is called “Network Marketing”, leave out the second word and you may as well go sailing without charts. Your personal network will quickly dry up and you will soon have friends and family avoid you at all costs. You must learn how to market. You need to market yourself as a leader, position yourself as an expert. Once you have done this, you will begin to attract numerous leads to you. Okay, you might be saying to yourself ” how do I position myself as a leader? The only person I ever sponsored was my grandmother and she only stayed on autoship for a month and then she quit!”
This is the million dollar question. Heres’s the answer: The only way you can position yourself as a leader is by adding value and a solution to someones problem. Here is a the classic statement by Perry Marshall “Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes-NOT information about drills!”
To dovetail off of Perry Marshall’s analogy, Mike Dillard says: “This sums up the entire marketing problem of the MLM industry today. Ninety-nine percent of the reps out there are trying to sell their drill which is their business or their product when people don’t want a business or a product. They don’t like being sold (they like to buy!). And unless you’ve made a profession out of selling, you can’t sell.”
Okay, I don’t blame you if you are scratching your head and wondering where am I going with this. Here is the answer: you need a system in place that not only brands you as a leader but provides a solution that will benefit your prospects. That’s it! Simple. If you learn how to be the hole not the drill, the world is your oyster. As always, See You at the Top!
