Why Your Network Marketing Efforts Are Failing
By Willie Crawford
Posted Friday, August 20, 2004
About once a week, I get someone struggling to build an on-line network marketing business come to me for advice. They want me to take a look at their website, and how they are doing business, and tell them WHAT they're doing wrong. They want suggestions on how to grow their business faster.
Let's begin by acknowledging that network marketing is nothing new. It's just telling acquaintances and prospects about products and services that you use and like. This is something that you do everyday. You enjoy sharing great discoveries with those you care about. The twist is that network marketing companies have formalized the referral system and compensates you for those referrals.
There is something KEY in the above definition that points to the first reason many I advise are struggling. Many people promote businesses that they don't honestly believe in. They don't honestly believe that those whom they introduce to the opportunity will benefit. Therefore, it feels like a SCAM to them... since it is, according to their OWN definition, a scam... and that very subtle message is conveyed in their every communication.
People communicate on many different levels. Our body language, and even our "tone" in our emails, says a lot more than most of us realize. If you want to get scientific about it, we're electro-magnetic creature who do give off electrical vibrations that others can sense. When you promote something that you don't honestly feel good promoting, you give off bad vibes... you produce bad karma that others pick up on.
Have you ever noticed that some people "make the hair on the back of your neck stand up?" You're picking up and responding physically to a very powerful communication. Don't ignore it!
The simple solution to the whole problem described above is to not promote anything (whether it's network marketing or using other methods of marketing) that doesn't positively impact everyone concerned! There are a lot of great products and services out there that do just that. I'll share with you a personal example...
If you've read my background, you'll know that I am a literal welfare to riches success story. I grew up so poor that at times we'd run out of kerosene to heat the house in the winter, and we'd go without heat until our next government subsistence check arrived. Growing up in that environment with my grandmother and two younger brothers, I didn't learn proper money management. I had no role models!
Naturally, when I discovered an on-line service that taught me that missing skill, and prevented me from squandering my growing wealth, I eagerly shared this with others that I knew needed this critical knowledge. There are so many people who don't know how to make money work FOR them. I now feel very good sharing that knowledge with others from my website at:
(http://www.eliteteammarketing.com/81309/)
Take a few minutes and study that website! It's incredibly well-structured and works great. It doesn't have any of the problems I see with the websites that my clients struggle with.
If you have any of these common problems on your website you need to correct them immediately. If you can't correct them, then you need to build you own website rather than using the company-provided website. If the company won't let you create your own site, then you need to find another company since the one you're with is PREVENTING you from succeeding. Here are the common website errors we observe:
1) No clear explanation of what the website or business is about. Internet surfers are very impatient and if they can't figure out what the site's about in a few seconds, many will simply click away.
2) Forms asking for contact information without telling them what you're going to do with their information. People aren't going to give you their phone number and address, or even email address unless they know that they're only going to get information they want to receive. You have to sell them on the value - the "What's In It For Me?" - of having you follow up with them. You also have to assure them that you respect and will protect their private data.
People understand that you're asking for their contact information so that you can follow-up. Clearly tell them how you're going to follow-up and why they want you to do this. Explain precisely what benefit is in it for them?
3) No indication of who, or WHAT, is behind the site. Your website should have very clear contact information on it. A name, email address, phone number, and if practical a physical address should be on the site. Letting people see that there is a real person behind the site is what builds that essential trust. A photo on the site further builds the connection and lets them see that a real, ordinary person runs the business.
4) Proof that what the site says is true. Your making a statement does not provide proof. Others saying it, does provide some "proof." So you need testimonials and statements from a variety of people verifying and validating all of your assertions. These testimonials should have name, company, city and state, website url, etc. Vague testimonials with only a set of initials merely create suspicion. A testimonial with a photo is even more credible.
5) An understandable explanation of the compensation plan. I'm a college graduate with about 20 years of FORMAL schooling. Many of the websites that I read leave me totally CLULESS as to how I would get paid and how much. If your explanation or illustrations of your "payment plan" leave people confused, it will also leave them unsure. This is another area where, if the company provided website doesn't "cut it," then you need to create you own.
Take another look at how clearly things are explained at:
(http://www.eliteteammarketing.com/81309/)
Study this business model. It was put together by a very brilliant friend from Indonesia. It works so well that she is frequently featured on television, in magazines and newspapers as the COUNTRY'S foremost Internet business expert.
After you've looked at the company, product or service, and website, then you need to look at your follow-up. This is one of those things that the Internet allows you to do easier by allowing you to automate much of it. Autoresponders are my favorite tool there, although not the only one.
You also need to incorporate email, chat, an interactive website, and YES even using the phone. Do all of these things right and your business is guaranteed to succeed. Do many of these things wrong, and it's guaranteed to fail.
Use the tips in this article as a checklist - today. Just do a point-by-point review. It's critical to your business survival! For some, it will clearly show why your network marketing efforts are failing!
About the Author
Willie Crawford has been teaching others how to build successful on-line businesses since late 1996. Frequently featured in radio, magazine and newspaper articles and interviews, Willie shares exclusive recordings from tele-seminars and brainstorming sessions, useful ebooks, software, and reprint rights at his exclusive membership site. Visit: (http://TheRealSecrets.com)
