For Networkers: Basic MLM Concept.

Educating Your MLM Prospect (taken from Big Al Schreiter)

In its essence, Network Marketing is recommending and promoting the things you like to other people.

We, and everyone else, do this activity almost every day. Networking is a natural skill that everyone already possesses! In network marketing, we simply collect residual income checks for doing what we do every day.

How about a couple of examples of daily networking?

One of my favorite movies is The Dark Knight. I think a few other people liked that movie too, as it is one of the best-selling movies of all time.

Imagine you are sitting across the kitchen table talking with one of your friends. Your friend says,

“Network marketing? I don't know about that. I probably couldn't do it."

Why does your friend say that?

Because your friend doesn't really know what network marketing is. Your friend thinks it might require selling, presentation skills, knowing vast amounts of motivated salespeople, or some other similar misconception.

Your friend is making an uneducated decision based on inadequate facts.

Your job is to educate your friend with the facts about network marketing.

Then, your friend is free to make a decision to join, or not to join, based upon accurate information.

You might use the Dark Knight movie to illustrate how network marketing really works. The conversation could go something like this:

You: Have you ever seen the movie, The Dark Knight?
Friend: Yeah, it was great.

You: When you went to see the movie, did you purchase a ticket and did you get some snacks at the snack bar (at value pricing)?
Friend: Sure did. Actually the snacks were kind of expensive, but I really like their popcorn.

You: After watching the movie, did you keep it top secret? Or, did you tell a friend about it?
Friend: As soon as I returned home, I called my sister and told her that she and her husband had to see The Dark Knight. It was a-w-e-s-o-m-e!
You: Did your sister and her husband go see the movie because of your recommendation?
Friend: You bet! They got a ticket for that evening's showing.

You: So they purchased tickets and probably got some snacks too, right?
Friend: Yes, and they loved the movie. My sister's husband is a lawyer, so he loved the DA part.
You: Did your sister and her husband tell anyone else about the movie?
Friend: My sister couldn't wait! She told everyone at work, all her friends in the neighborhood, and even the kids at the school where she teaches. Her husband told his fellow lawyers and they went to see the movie too.

You: So, all these people purchased tickets and bought some snacks. Then what happened?
Friend: I guess they told their friends about the movie. It's hard to keep a movie like this a secret.

You: Well, what you just did was network marketing. We do it every day. Network marketing is just recommending what we like to other people, usually our friends and acquaintances.
If what we recommend seems interesting to our friends, they might try it. Our friends are under no obligation to see the movie. They can take our recommendation or ignore it. That's strictly up to them.

We did our obligation, educating them that this choice was available. The decision to take advantage of this choice is up to them. That's called networking.

Friend: In that case, sure, I do networking every day. So what's the big deal about networking?

You: Most people do network marketing every day. They just don't get paid for it.

Let's take the movie theater example with The Dark Knight. The owner of the movie theater might have paid for some newspaper and radio advertising. However, these types of promotional advertising don't work very well. We're flooded with these commercial messages and ignore them. Plus, we don't trust these advertisements. However, we do trust and respect our friends.

When a friend tells us that a movie is great, we listen. That word-of-mouth recommendation from a friend is worth ten times the effect of a radio commercial.

When the movie owner tallies up his attendance for the month, he'll realize that most of the movie-goers came because of word-of-mouth recommendation.

In a sincere act of gratitude, the movie owner will send you a word-of-mouth advertising bonus check. Why? Because if it wasn't for you, all those extra people would never have gone to his theater.

Friend: I'll never see that check in the mail. Movie theaters don't work that way. They keep the advertising savings from our word-of-mouth promoting -- and let us work for free. So, how do we collect?

You: Some companies realize that word-of-mouth recommending and promoting is more powerful than any advertising budget. These companies market their products exclusively through word-of-mouth advertising. They don't expect us to work for free, so these companies share their advertising budget with us by sending us a monthly bonus check for our efforts. I feel that as long as we are doing the work anyway (recommending and promoting), we might as well collect a monthly check for our time and effort.
Friend: Are you sure everyone does network marketing every day?

You: Absolutely! Have you ever recommended a restaurant to a friend? Your friend enjoys the meal and tells other acquaintances about the fine restaurant. The increase in food sales is appreciated by the restaurant. You did the work.

You recommended and promoted the restaurant you liked. However, you didn't get paid for it. Most restaurants won't share their advertising budget -- you do the promotional work for free.

Your recommendation was more effective than two-for-one dinner coupons, billboard advertising, and newspaper advertising. Networking is the most effective way to educate other prospects about goods and services.

Why? Because people listen and trust the opinions of people who they personally know.

If you wanted a brain surgeon for an important operation, which method would you use?

Method #1: Would you check to see which surgeon had the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages? Would you listen to the surgeon with the snappiest ad jingle on the radio?

Method #2: Or, would you seek out someone you knew, a person who had an experience with a brain surgeon, and ask his opinion? Would you ask the opinion of a previous patient, or possibly your family physician?

I'm sure you'd use method #2. When it comes to brain surgery, you want an opinion you can trust.

Again, this is an example of networking. The friend or family physician freely offered his opinion and recommended a brain surgeon. You were under no obligation to use his recommendation, but at least you were educated about another possible option in your decision-making process.
Friend: Oh, I get it. Since I am recommending and promoting things every day, I might as well get paid for it, right?

So how do I collect? This conversation is easy. It doesn't threaten your prospect, and educates your prospect on how networking really works.
If your prospect is smart, he will quickly figure out that there are two types of people in the world:

1. Those people who do network marketing every day and get paid for it.
2. Those people who do network marketing every day and don't get paid for it. These people insist on doing network marketing for free, and that's okay. It makes the world a better place.

Everyone does network marketing every day!

Here are a few more examples:
• Recommending a school for the children.
• Recommending a pub with a great atmosphere.
• Recommending a favorite song or artist.
• Recommending a blind date.
• Recommending a brand of automobile.
• Recommending your favorite dish or recipe.
• Recommending a stock or an investment.
• Recommending an attorney or a tax accountant.
• Recommending a dentist.
• Recommending your favorite television show.
• Recommending a weight-loss secret.
• Recommending a great clothing store.
• Recommending a church.
• Recommending some new friends.
• Recommending computer software.
• Recommending a good book.

These are all examples of network marketing in action. You recommend the things and services that you like. The prospect is under no obligation to accept your recommendations.

Your only job is to educate and present additional choices or options for the prospect. Your job is not to make the decision for the prospect. That's the prospect's right and responsibility. It is your responsibility to give the prospect an opportunity to learn this information. However, you are not responsible for the decisions your prospects make after hearing this information.

Your prospect has many variables and situations in his life that he must balance along with your recommendations. Respect that. The prospect will make a decision based upon what is happening in his life, so don't feel offended if a prospect uses a different dentist because his brother-in-law just graduated from dental college. Or, don't take it personally if the prospect doesn't go to the restaurant that you like. He may have completely different tastes in food.

So, how do I get paid for this? In all the previous networking examples, you did the work. You just didn't get paid for it.

Once your prospects understand this, they'll ask you the following question:

"If I'm doing the work anyway, how do I collect?"

This means you've completed the first phase of your educating process. Now your prospects no longer resist the idea of network marketing as being strange or unusual. Your prospects respect network marketing and they want to know how they can collect a check for their efforts.

A little bit hard but not impossible...

For more than a year, I have been contemplating of putting up my own blog. Frankly speaking, I am never a technie person and I don't have the patience required for this. This time I have no choice but to combed the web for some help in putting up this blogspot.

I really envy the younger generation for their fast adaptation to the latest technology around including blogging. I realized I have a lot of things to catch up if I have to at least be on the level with this game.

Well...nothing is too late for anybody. The internet is here and it will stay and involved further. I might as well swim with the currents and enjoy the whole experience along the way.

Putting up a blog is definitely a little bit hard but...never impossible.

Tom

Welcome to my blog...

Why this blog? For over two years, I have been involved with many online opportunities. Sadly, just like many of you, I also got victimized by many scams and false promises populating the online world. Aside from financial losses, the psychological impact of being a victim is something not worthy to bother with.

Now, there are a lot of free opportunities available thru the internet. Aside from interacting with fellow bloggers, it is my main purpose of compiling free opportunities that we could easily take advantage of.

I also welcome all of you to also share your free opportunities and if I like it then we can share some resources.

Thanks for reading and exploring my blog. Have a nice day.

Tom