Out of 100% of newly registered distributors in the industry, 96% of them give up along the way. We’ve been there and we know exactly how it feels. And after working in the multi-level marketing industry for over four years we came to understand some reasons people fail and before you know it they call it a scam. I always tell people that everything you do in this life is all about selling. And failure to understand this basic principle is the principal motive for why people view MLM as an illegal business. Before diving into explaining some reasons people fail or give up in MLM, it is good we start with the common myths and what 95% of people do in the network marketing industry.
The Common Myth Surrounding MLM
It is no news that most companies and salespeople tell you that MLM is a get rich scheme. They make you believe success is very easy. Telling you how you can become a millionaire overnight. That all you need is a team of 5 to 10 serious people, then you sleep. What is hilarious is that most people turn to believe these guys and when they notice that it takes a lot of effort to earn a dollar they say MLM is a scam.
Paul: This is one of the most exciting parts. Because I remember when Marie and I embarked on this journey, they made us believe that it is easy to be a millionaire, that we can become 6 figure income earners in less than no time. It takes months, years of commitment to succeed in network marketing. We attended every seminar in different companies and we were told how making money was easy and fast. So this is how they do it. They draw up a plan of your end-of-year results if you bring a certain number of people. And since we are human beings, we get more concentrated on the figures than the process. What they don’t tell you is how to get those people to join your opportunity.
Now let me clarify that, if you are going to start any business, you must invest something. You either invest money or your time and in most cases, you will invest the two. There is nothing like an overnight success. Marie and I believe in smart and hard work. If you want to make money, do the “WORK”. It is as simple as that. So if you are joining any company or you want to start a business on the internet and somebody is telling you how you will become an overnight success, please think twice. It might take up to 6months sometimes a 1year for you to see some success in your business whether it is MLM. So let’s dive into the common myths.
MLM is a number’s game
I will say it used to be a numbers game, but the story is different now. What you hear most often is for every 10 people you prospect at least 2 will sign up. And in most cases, it won’t work and it will not work solely because the 10 people you prospect, you have not qualified them.
Paul: Marie and I prospected 200 people in the space of 2months nobody signed up. That was one of the most frustrating moments in our lives because we gave everything to succeed. I mean walking from town to town. We came out with flyers and we walked on the streets distributing the flyers to people. We distributed 300 flyers, and we took 125 phone numbers after following up with our prospects. Nobody signed up. With time, we even started believing that it was witchcraft. My God, it was so frustrating. We invested every penny in our business. The long and short story is that if you don’t qualify your prospects, then you will encounter the same difficulty we went through. And what we kept hearing is that our breakthrough is near, but we saw no breakthrough using the old methods. These are outdated methods that will not work in today’s modern society, especially with the internet.
Most of your time should be spent prospecting
“Hell, No” make use of your time wisely, if you are still in the corporate world, then use the weekends for your business or when you get home. If you are doing it full time, with the internet things are easier now. For example, there are automated systems that you could leverage to send out messages to your clients anytime you press the push button. Just allocate your time wisely.
What 95% of People Do When They Join MLM
Prospecting your friends and families and pestering them.
Here is the fact, when you start any business. The first people who will try to discourage you are friends and family. And in most cases do not blame them because they are just trying to protect you from the unknown which is normal, but it is unnecessary. Entrepreneurs are risk-takers. Anytime anybody tries to discourage you, just tell them thank you and move forward.
Spamming all Over Social Media
Most people come up with a message and you see their referral link. The message is not bad, but how they do it is the problem. They go to people’s posts and paste their messages as comments. They inbox people on Facebook about their opportunity. They text or message strangers and the first thing they do is pitching about their business or company.
Now let me tell you that this is a very wrong way of doing marketing. In this way, you don’t build a relationship with the person and in most cases, you will get blocked on social media sites. By marketing in this way, you are losing your audience.
Paul: Let me take this example of two people A and B. A sends out a message to unknown people, spams on people’s posts about his business or opportunity.
B takes his time to build a relationship with his prospect. Tells his story and gets to know more about his prospect. If you stumble on any of them, which one will you feel comfortable with? I guess B. The reason is this B has taken time to know his prospect, and the prospect believes him because he knows about B story. So avoid spamming on Facebook and try to build a relationship with your prospect.
Working door to door and showing your products
In the 19th and 20th century this was one of the best strategies because we didn’t have the internet that could connect people. But in the 21st century, this strategy is less applicable. Have you ever had this experience of people knocking on your door during the day just proposing their products? Please tell me how do you feel, I guess very annoying right, and in most scenarios, you shut them up and tell them you are not interested. The problem with this kind of method is, people are not usually in the mood to receive any sales pitch.
For example, before you write an exam or test you take your time to study the subject right because you don’t want to be embarrassed with questions. This goes to marketing. He probably went there without knowing his market, and so he got rejected.
Made a list of 100 people and cold calling became your routine
Hahaha, this was one of the funniest things I heard. I followed up using this same method and nobody signed up. The list of 100 people most up lines are asking you to make is a list of friends and families. How funny is that? And before you know it, you run out of the prospect.
Using your Facebook personal profile to post about your opportunity
Your Facebook personal profile should not be used for business. That is why it is called a personal profile, not a public profile. It is meant for your friends and families. Most people do this mistake of using their profile to post info about their business. It does not work that way. With this method you turn to drive away your audience. Create a Facebook page for your business. In the next module, I will explain how to create a Facebook page and use it for your business.
At the end of the whole scenario is they turn to give up, and the reason being that they have been using the wrong methods and expecting positive results.
In, the following paragraphs I will elaborate on five reasons people fail in network marketing. Knowing the problem is part of the solution.
5 Reasons People Fail in Multi-Level Marketing
Most People Don’t Take Time To Understand the Concept
Before joining the industry, most people don’t take time to understand what network marketing is all about. Let me give you an example of what happens in most cases. A friend invites you for a seminar or company’s presentation. He tells you that the business seminar will change your life. Most especially if you take action.
You attend the seminar and they explain to you everything, including the most exciting part (which is the compensation plan). Sure, the person presenting makes it look so easy and he tells you this is a life-changing opportunity. You can earn millions just by recruiting people (true story, though). But what he forgets to tell you is the strategy you will use to earn the millions.
With all the information received, you sign up for the opportunity without even taking your time to study the whole industry and all the requirements needed for you to succeed. Bam…. After signing up you try to convince people and all you hear is « Sorry I can’t join you » Most times you will even receive insults. With all the disappointments, you now understand the realities of the market. The next thing left for you to do is to give up. That is why the rate of people who give up or fail in the industry keeps increasing because they don’t take time to understand the requirements necessary for them to succeed.
Lack of Personal Development
Most people don’t train themselves personally before joining the MLM industry. They don’t take time to develop themselves. By Personal Development I mean educating yourself and training your mindset. This is a very tough industry, and it is meant only for tough people. For people willing to be patient, who consider failures as opportunities for them to rise again and again. And if you have not trained your mind to withstand any setback or disappointments that will inevitably come, then you will give up. It is only a trained mind that can get up and continue when everyone turns up his offer. Most people never develop themselves. They do not read books on personal development and when confronted with setbacks the logical thing for them to do will be to give up.
They do not give most Distributors the Right Training
Let’s be clear here. There are a lot of uplines who tell you that upon joining you have to advertise about the company and products on your social media platforms, posting on your private profiles. They tell you to make a list of 100 friends and start calling them one after the other. You walk from door to door and advertising about the company and its products. Some spam on social media. The common thing with these kinds of practices is that your friends and families will start reducing one after the other. There is a very slim chance for you to succeed in using this technique.
Selecting the Wrong People
One of the major pitfalls is the selection of the wrong people. To maximize their commissions, MLM promoters frequently select anyone when recruiting individuals to be part of their downline. Nonserious people. Most distributors do not qualify their prospects. They prospect, anyone, they meet. The problem with this method is you might sign up someone who refuses to work and imagine you had 50 of such people under your network. The long-run results will be for your network to stop growing and this means no money, and eventually, you will quit. We hope this article helped you to identify some reasons you failed in network marketing. Now that you have identified the problem you are one step away to solving this issue. Click Here to read our article on how to avoid failing in multi-level marketing. Please leave your comments below and share what you think might cause people to fail in network marketing.