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That was the subject line of an email I recently got from a colleague. She & I are in the same network marketing company and she’s been struggling to build her business.

If you’re in one, you know the drill. Start a names list & harass everyone you’ve ever met since birth, purchase opportunity leads and spend HOURS on the phone trying to call people who are magically never home to take your call, go to the mall and put fliers on cars, and/or strike up conversations with strangers in the hopes that you’ll find someone who’s looking for what you’re offering.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard there’s a better way. Mike Dillard and Anne Sieg turned the network marketing industry on its ears a few years ago with the Magnetic Sponsoring and Renegade systems. Well, my colleague had also heard of them, and had studied all the “free” materials she could by and on both of them and their systems. (I know, I know… I know what you’re thinking! But I’ll address the unrealistic expectations from what you can get “for free” on a later post.)

What was so confusing?

She wrote, “It seems to me that if you join their program—you are selling their material–not your business. I would really like to chat with someone who has actually used this stuff and see what they say–is it all hype?”

First let’s address the hype.

While the MLM industry is rife with it, what good does it do? It only hurts in the long run. It either backfires immediately because everyone can see through it, or it backfires later when people ask for refunds because they realize that what you’ve said isn’t true.

Secondly, there are way too many people who are having success building their own businesses with these products and systems for this to be just about making money for Mike & Ann.

The Magnetic Sponsoring & Renegade systems are:

1. training systems for you & your new enrollees
2. to learn internet marketing,
3. to learn how to market YOUR business online,
4. to generate your own high quality prospects,
5. and to provide a means to monetize (meaning to make money from) your prospects whether or not they ever join you in your network marketing business (by being an affiliate for Dillard & Sieg).

According to the law of averages when working with purchased opportunity leads (some people do better and some people do worse, this is the “Average”), you will need to dial 200 numbers just to get one enrollment!

YUCK!!!

Why not find a way to have your lead generation system pay for itself on the front end while generating leads for your business on the back end? Sure beats that “200 to 1″ ratio!

Success in network marketing really depends on each person finding out which method works best for them, and working THAT method primarily. That’s why I started looking into other methodologies.

Sure some people are very successful with warm market strategies, opportunity leads, or the “walk & talk” method. But most aren’t. Besides, why ignore the entire online world and the great resource that it is?

What I got out of the Mike Dillard & Anne Sieg materials:

• How to apply the geeky side of internet marketing to my network marketing business. It works great! It just takes a while to start getting the financial results when you start it from scratch. What it really is, though, is generating your own opportunity leads. So you’re still working leads, it’s just a more powerful method because when you call the prospects, you’re saying, “Hi, you visitied my xyz.com website and requested more information…”
• Another big thing I’ve gotten out of the Dillard & Sieg methods is the self-growth. It’s embarrassing how backwards and poverty-minded my thinking has been over the past few years.

Ok, all that said, it is my opinion, and I’m hearing this more from the gurus now, that the whole “marketing your MLM via internet marketing” niche is becoming more & more saturated and more and more competitive. It requires SOOO much content creation, and what hasn’t already been said by everyone else yet? How do you market yourself as a leader that others want to work with in the face of all that competition for attention?

You create your own system, that’s how!

But who has the time and resources to do that? More importantly, who has the WILL to do that? Why reinvent the tools that already exist?

That’s one of the reasons there’s such a huge movement away from the “geeky online marketing” methodology toward social networking.

Not only is social networking SOOOOO much simpler to do, it’s much simpler to teach!!! For a vast majority of the population, we’re already on the social networks. We’re having fun, but wasting a lot of time. What if we could network socially, but with purpose? (I guess you could say that it’s “old school walk & talk” applied to the internet.) Most of us have no problem striking up conversation and socializing online. Speaking for myself, since 1996 I’ve made more friends online than I have off line!!! lol

The best part is that we don’t have to teach the methodology ourselves!!! You don’t have to be an expert at this. Just direct yourself and your serious biz builders to the training source. Max Steingart has been teaching what is now called “attraction marketing” via social networks for about 12 years already. His classes are extremely affordable. And once you learn the method, it’s applicable to ALL social networks.

Oh, another word about all this training that’s available. Pick a skill or system, learn it and MASTER it before moving on to another!!!!! Take if from an ex-teacher: you learn by doing. So…

Train then DO!

Let me add a few more exclamation points to that…

!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot stress this enough. Jumping around from method to method accomplishes nothing. You get confused with all the trainings, then you start confusing “training” with “working,” and never build your business.

You MUST pick the method that’s most appealing to YOU. If you’re more of a geek, then go the online marketing route. But if you’re more social than geeky, then go the social networking route. Which ever you choose, though: Learn it. Master it. Start earning from it. Then you can add other skills to diversify and increase your earnings. But at that point, you still focus on the method that already works for you – don’t stop working it. You’re just adding another skill on top of it.

So, I’ve been studying and using the Max Steingart method and LOVE it! I’m just socializing on the internet, getting to know people, making new friends, reconnecting with old friends. By asking the right questions at the right time and paying attention to what people say and how they say it, I can determine if someone is a prospect (qualify them) before I EVER bring up business! So, there’s no rejection, and once I’ve qualified them and know what it is that they want to accomplish, helping them accomplish that is a breeze!!!

Training use to be a hassle. Now it’s just fun – because we’re just playing around on the internet!!!

We talked about leads in an earlier post. Today I want to address the problem with “Warm Market” strategies.

In order to be successful with them, one has to have a

Circle of Influence

Boy, are those loaded words!! Although we learned in geometry that any three points determine a circle, a circle of influence really requires MANY more persons to be considered a circle. And what does “influence” mean? According to Webster’s Dictionary, it’s the “power to affect others.”

So to have a circle of influence, you would have many friends and family with whom you have the power to affect. That takes a certain personality type: not just a social butterfly, but an influential person who is “more than just an acquaintance” with many people.

Loners like me, a “sweet Southern girl” who does weird things like acting, enjoys playing computer games, or chatting to online friends, or reading a book (not romance, either, but horror, or fantasy, or science fiction! Oooo! Real girls just don’t do that!), just will not have a “Circle of Influence” here among the Old South. Which is what my warm market consisted of.

I grew up in a small town in a somewhat “sheltered” household. Because of that sheltered upbringing, I’ve always found it difficult to make friends of more than a hand full of people at a time. Oh, yes, I’m out-going, and am not afraid to be on stage in any situation. But making real friends is unusual for me. So, if you are one, count yourself lucky!

That means I have no Circle of Influence.

Now, I know it’s not just in the South, but you get my point that only certain personality types will do well with the warm market strategies. So we’re left with buying leads. I don’t care what anybody says, that’s a very slow way to build. You’re calling people who don’t know you, so there’s no way you have “influence” with any of them.

The problem is obvious.

Does this describe you? Does it describe someone you’ve tried to work with? Every time you call and ask how big their “list” is they say some small number. It’s never bigger than 10 or 20. (LOL, you’re lucky if it’s as high as 20!!)

Don’t get mad at the people you’re working with who have this problem.

They’re not scared to call everyone they know. They just know that they have no influence with them, so the call will be pointless. They’ve probably never called these people before in their lives. If they do now, the person they’re calling will know there’s a purpose behind the call.

Don’t put them in that icky situation! Teach them to attract prospects naturally. Teach them how to find the people who are seeking them.

We’ll talk about how to do this soon…

Purchased opportunity leads are a waste of time and money!

Just because you bought a list from a lead company, doesn’t mean that those people actually requested that information. Even if they’re telephone interviewed leads from a top advertising agency!

• Sometimes someone enters bogus information (I’ve suspected the ad agency of doing this on purpose just to make more money off its customers!)
• Sometimes the person didn’t know what they were filling out
• Sometimes they have no idea why someone is calling them to verify their contact information
• Sometimes they did request the info, but they’re really not serious, or not ready to actually start a business
• Sometimes they’re just looking for a job and not a business
• Sometimes they lie when you call… maybe they’re already tired of all the calls they’re getting
• Some are just freebie seekers
• Etc.

So, you see, you don’t always get what you paid for. (Ask me for access to a recording of testimony after testimony of how purchased leads resulted only in massive debt for many!)

That’s why I started using internet marketing techniques to generate my own leads.

I know that the names & numbers on my list actually visited my site and filled out a form. Otherwise I wouldn’t have that info. I also know which advertising method lead them to my site. So when I do call, I have that info and can mention it during my “hello” so they remember me. (Hi, this is Danni. You visited my GottaHaveAPlanB website and filled out a form for more information about working from home…”)

Generating your own leads is the ONLY lead generation method that you should trust. It’s the only method that you know gives you valid prospects. Well… unless they lie when they fill out the form.

Let’s talk about another problem with leads:

Fear of the Phone

I know a lot of people are just afraid of picking up the phone and dialing those numbers. (Mike Dillard admits that he use to be a telephone chicken.)

You pick up the phone and hope that nobody’s home. The last thing you want is someone blessing you out for calling them when they don’t want to be bothered… You are NOT bothering them. They requested the information and it is your responsibility to help them to the best of your ability.

Weren’t you in those shoes at one time, too? When I was working leads, I tried to remember that I use to be one. When someone called me, I sincerely wanted help. I was dead serious about finding a way to work from home, and with each call I was ready to do what ever it took to get all the information. Including going through all those interviews. That was my opportunity to prove how serious I was, but that I wasn’t gonna let them drag me into any odd business. I was picky.

You need to know that your prospects are just like you. There’s nothing to fear.

So, start generating your own leads, stop spending money with MLM lead companies that most likely are selling you bogus info, and don’t be afraid to answer someone’s request for help!