I like things to be black and white, right or wrong with no ambiguity. Don’t you?

So, wouldn’t it be nice if there was only one right way to do network marketing?

This would make life simple, but I certainly haven’t found the one right way. And, I am not sure why there should be only one right way to do network marketing.

I see many ways of doing our business that work. Every day, people succeed in our business, each doing the business differently.

For example, I hate using the telephone. I am extremely uncomfortable whenever I am in a phone conversation longer than 30 seconds. (If you have ever called me, you already know that I try to make my phone conversations as short as possible.) 

So what would happen if my sponsor told me: 

“The only way to be successful in network marketing is to mail out an information package and follow up each lead using the telephone.” 

Or, 

“The only way to be successful in network marketing is to send people to your web page and follow up each lead with a three-way telephone call.”

Maybe I could force myself to suffer for a month or two, but after a period of continued suffering, I’d look for another way to do the business that was more comfortable for me ... or I would quit. 

Imagine if my sponsor told me that using the telephone was the only correct way to do network marketing, and that if I didn’t follow my sponsor’s system … I should leave the business. 

Well, I would have to leave the business. And my sponsor would lose all the potential business that I could have created.

Is the telephone bad?

No. The telephone is great, but it is only one way of building our network marketing businesses. I have sponsored leaders who have built their entire business over the telephone. The process works. I just choose to do network marketing in a more enjoyable way for me. 

My favorite method is to sponsor someone across the kitchen table. Maybe it is my preoccupation with food, but that method works great for me.

But what about leaders who build their business by telephone?

 If I forced them to build their network marketing business across the kitchen table, they would quit. They would hate my system of building a business.

So, I do the smart thing. I allow leaders to build their business in the way that is most comfortable for them – using the telephone.

Here are just a few of the ways leaders build their businesses:

1. Opportunity meetings
2. Product parties Person-to-person cold calls
3. Direct mail
4. Newspaper advertising
5. Autoresponders
6. Internet lead capture pages
7. Buying leads
8. Referrals
9. Coupons
10. Postcards

There are many more ways, but you get the point. People are different. Their skills are different. And they can successfully build their businesses in different ways. 

I respect all these methods. I don’t use them all myself, but I respect them. And, as a leader, I try to learn as much as I can about each method so that I can help new distributors who choose one of these alternate ways of building their businesses.

The biggest service we can render to our new distributors is to help them find which method works for them. Then, let’s help them use that method to build their business successfully.

Network marketing should be fun. We should enjoy our business. So why would you want to ruin your fun by using a business-building method you hate?

Ego and hero worship.

Here is how some leaders make their organizations very uncomfortable. If a specific method works for them, then these leaders believe that method should be imposed on everyone in their organization.

For example, imagine that you are a leader and have built your group by running radio ads for opportunity meetings.

Great! It works for you.

However, being human, you decide that you have found the one and only secret to success.

In fact, you insist that everyone in your group must use the exact same method. You want your organization to worship you as the founder of the ultimate network marketing success truth.

Then what happens?

• Soon the radio stations are full of similar ads from your organization. 
• Listeners turn off their attention as soon as they hear the overexposed ad.
• Some of your distributors run their own versions of your ad, and those versions don’t work very well.
• Prospects with hearing disabilities will never hear of your opportunity.
• Some communities don’t get good radio reception.
• Some prospects only watch television.

You get the point. This one ultimate truth isn’t so ultimate after all. It won’t work for everyone in your network marketing organization.

How systems are created.

Most recruiting systems are based upon a true incident. Unfortunately, it is human nature to take single incidents and believe that they are the ultimate truths.

For example, let’s say that I am driving down the expressway one day listening to a “Big Al” training audio. The “Big Al” audio is so captivating, I forget about the traffic and I hit the car in front of me.

We both pull over to the side of the road. The other driver gets out of his car, looks at the damage to the rear of his car, and then he starts walking toward me. He bangs on my window. I open my window and say:

“Hey, check out this cool book, How to Get Rich without Winning the Lottery.”

He reads the book in his car while waiting for the police to come and fill out the accident report. After reading the book he tells me:

“Wow! This network marketing business sounds great! How can I join?”

This man eventually becomes the best leader in my group.

And now I have a system!

All of my distributors should get on the expressway and rear-end other cars. That is how I got my best leader. My distributors need to duplicate my successful system. Sounds silly, doesn’t it?

But that is how most “systems” are started. Someone had a successful experience and now believes that everyone can have the same successful experience.

The duplication myth.

I am not sure who started the rumor that your downline must be able to duplicate everything you do.

If you are limited to prospecting and sponsoring activities that are easily duplicated by your downline, you might be missing some giant possibilities.

There is no need to insist on blind duplication of your activities other than to get your ego massaged. 

It is okay to use different activities and methods to achieve the results you want. 

• Just because you don’t conduct opportunity meetings, doesn’t mean that your organization should be banned from using this proven activity in their business. 
• Just because you don’t contact referrals, doesn’t mean that your organization should be banned from using this proven activity in their business. 
• Just because you don’t contact and sponsor your relatives, doesn’t mean that your organization should be banned from using this proven activity in their business. 

Use your natural advantages.

Some people have natural strengths and talents and should take advantage of them to build their network marketing organizations.

One of my friends has 10,000 people on his mailing list of customers who know, like and trust him. What am I going to say to him?

“Don’t mail or contact your customers. Sure, lots of them would love to join and be in your business, but that method doesn’t duplicate easily! No one else has 10,000 customers. Don’t do it. You are setting a bad example.”

I don’t think I could tell my friend that. That would be silly. Instead, I would encourage my friend to contact his natural market even though few people could duplicate his method.

What about someone who is a great speaker who motivates crowds to his cause? If your system insists that all activities be conducted one-on-one, across the kitchen table, aren’t you doing your speaker-distributor a disservice by not allowing him to use his natural talents to build his business?

The key difference.

What we really need to duplicate are ... results!

What are the results we are looking for in network marketing? 

We want to:

“Sponsor distributors and make them successful.” 

If we focus on results, we can allow people the freedom to achieve those results in many different ways.

• Some will achieve results by contacting prospects by email. 
• Some will achieve results by giving product parties. 
• Some will achieve results by wearing three-piece suits and conducting opportunity meetings. 
• And some people will achieve these results even in Bermuda shorts at the beach.

The bottom line is: 

Don’t worry about duplicating activities. 

Focus on duplicating results.

Why techniques and rigid systems don’t matter.

In the end, it is not so much what you do - it is who you are.

Have you ever seen a new distributor excited about your opportunity? Your new distributor will make many mistakes and still sponsor lots of people.

Why?

Enthusiasm. Trust. Personal belief.

These things radiate through your new distributor’s presentation so loudly that the prospect doesn’t care about the business details. Prospects join because of who you are.

They don’t join because your marketing plan pays 4% on level three in the alternate months, or because your product has 21 different certifications from 21 different countries.

Prospects buy you … not your company.

How do you learn the sponsoring technique that is right for you?

I learned from personal trial and error. It’s a great way to learn. 

Unfortunately, trial and error has two drawbacks:

1. It takes a long time to try and test different techniques. It could take years of trial and error and you may end up with scars all over your heart and mind. If you have a lot of time and can wait a few years to get your business started, then you are one of the fortunate few. Most of us want results a bit faster.
2. It is expensive to fund all of your trial and error campaigns. Very expensive. If you have money to burn, or just enjoy being poor and abused by credit card collectors, then it is not so bad. However, most of us hate to waste money.

Those are the only two things I have against the trial and error method of finding a good sponsoring technique that works for you!

There is a better way.

Read some books. Attend seminars. Consult with your sponsor. And listen to some audio recordings of people who have gone before you (check to see if they have scar tissue.)

Why beat yourself up and spend lots of money when you can read or listen to the results of leaders who have gone before you?

Capitalize on the experience of others! Learn how they approach the different methods of prospecting and sponsoring.

You and your potential leaders are smart enough to pick out the techniques they enjoy.

As my good friend, Tom Paredes, says, 

“Even if you go to work at McDonald’s flipping hamburgers, they still make you go through their training program.”

Our business is more complicated than flipping hamburgers. Don’t you think it makes sense to learn or be aware of the many different ways to conduct our business?

What is the ultimate secret to network marketing success?

It is to build leaders and help them become successful.

Distributors come and go. It is the leaders who count! You want to develop a few good loyal leaders and then, if you choose, you can retire.

If I had my entire career to do all over again, I would concentrate on building and developing one leader each year.

We talk about the cumulative effect of our efforts in network marketing. Well, only leaders accumulate. That is why you should focus your effort into developing leaders.

I have a friend who started with me in network marketing many years ago. We lost touch for over 20 years. During the 20 years we were separated, we both worked hard in network marketing.

When we finally met again, I had a self-sustaining, large and profitable organization. He was starting all over again.

The difference?

I had developed some leaders during my 20 years of hard work. He had sponsored distributors during his 20 years of hard work. We both worked hard. 

Twenty years later he had no organization. He was starting over.

While there is really no one right way to build your network marketing organization, you can at least focus on this:

1. Help your new distributors find which prospecting and sponsoring method works for them. 
2. Then, help them become leaders doing what they do best.

Let’s not get caught up in which activity our organization uses to build their business, but instead, concentrate on their results.