Expert Articles

So you are a great network marketer. You are blazing through all previous records set in sales and downline numbers recruited. You are an MLM Superstar! But all those people in your downline seem to be falling stars. They started off as brilliant bright beacons in the night sky and then fizzled out into nothing before they even hit the ground. If you have been around network marketing for any amount of time you will have already heard that 97% of people that get involved with an MLM will fail. That is a huge percentage. One of the major reasons will be lack of proper support from their upline sponsors.

So how do you get your downline producing? By using duplication and automation.

If you are successful at what you are doing, make sure you are sharing it. Unlike other kinds of businesses, multi level marketing is based on telling others how you succeeded so that they can do the same thing. This is no time to be hoarding your secrets on how you generate your leads, how you advertise your products or how you close your sales. I'm sure you have heard it before, it is called duplication. I am going to say it again. Duplication. So I know you have heard it, but are you applying it to your business? You need to make it as easy as possible for the people in your downline to do exactly as you have done to become successful.

One of the best ways to make your successful network marketing business easy to duplicate is to take advantage of today's technology. If you are using a web site to promote your business opportunity and/or products and it is doing well for you, make sure your downline also has access to that website. This can be done in a number of ways. You can use either a reference ID attached for each user that will properly identify that it is their page or a different domain name pulling the same content. If you want to avoid possible duplicate content penalties laid down by search engines, make a template available to your downline to make it easy for them to put in some of their own content but still have a professional and proven site.

Another technology that can be helpful in duplication and ensuring your downline's, and therefore your own, success is a turnkey phone system for taking sales calls, placing orders and presenting a professional image. We are all too familiar with the image that many multi level marketing businesses have. There are those of us that see network marketing for what it is - a way to leverage our time, money and efforts to earn a residual income far beyond anything we could earn at a 9 to 5 job. However, there are also those people that have heard negative things or have had an unpleasant past experience with network marketing. It is important that you make sure that your downline has their best foot forward at all times. This is where a professional website combined with a turnkey phone system will come in.

With a turnkey virtual phone system such as those offered by toll free number companies, you can create professional outgoing messages to greet callers, have recordings about products, services, and any business opportunity available 24/7, load fax documents with helpful literature to be requested by callers and sent automatically by your virtual PBX, have voicemail delivered to email so messages are responded to in a timely matter, have your calls forwarded to you at any location you wish, and more. And you can do all of this and then have all of your downline get the exact same virtual PBX with the exact same professional recordings and fax documents. Don't leave it up to your downline to present the professional image that is needed to instill the confidence that is needed for customers and other potential prospects to do business with them. Do it for them with a turnkey website and phone system.

All of these things boil down to one thing, support. You must support your downline. I know, I know. You are probably saying, "But I don't have time to hold the hands of 10-20 people and then have 97% of them fail anyways." Now here is what you need to consider. One, their success directly affects your success. And two, with the tips that I have given you already, you will increase the chances that they will become one of the 3% that will succeed. And after you have considered that, apply these next 2 concepts to your business.

Use automation to leverage your time. You do this with your website and your turnkey phone system but there are other ways as well. Automate your support by using auto responders that send out emails to your downline on a timed schedule. (Also great for marketing.) Include motivational emails, helpful tips and ideas, updates, whatever applies to your particular business. Also, take advantage of another cool feature of turnkey virtual PBX systems; the ability to record one message and send it to any number of phone numbers or email addresses. Make sure your virtual PBX provider has a feature for voice broadcasting. This is a great way to give a personal touch to updates and motivational messages that will get more attention than a standard email. It will also save you from having to make 20 calls to each person in your downline.

Next, don't bite off more than you can chew. You are right. You probably can't hold the hands of 20 people. Find out how many hands you can hold and give them all the support you can. Maybe you feel you can only really support 3 to 5 people. Take those 5 people and give them the best support you can. That will include making sure that your system is duplicatable right down to your phone system, that you have automated as much of your support and business as possible, and that you give them personal one on one attention as well. A personal phone call, a pep talk, advice and possibly even giving them a lead now and then will make a world of difference. I think you will find that by using duplication and automation to leverage your time, you will be able to hold more hands than you think.