by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

The incidence of failure in network marketing is still ridiculously high. Upwards of 95% of the people who get into a network marketing company are financially worse off having done so than if they'd invested their money in a standard bank passbook savings account. Upwards of 95%! Is this the way it has to be? No way, not if you use some common sense and follow these handy guidelines.

Assess Hard

The first reason why so many people lose their shirts in network marketing is because they select the wrong company, a company in which they cannot make money. Now, there are lots of reasons why a company is "wrong," including

## products customers only buy once

## products you can buy more cheaply elsewhere

## lack of a duplicatable system for recruiting and retaining downline members

## a system that's too complicated for downline members to follow

## financial instability

## stable or decreasing market

## poor customer service

## inactive or unfocused leadership.

Let's take a quick look at each of these.

Products Customers Only Buy Once

It's damned difficult to get a customer. It takes a lot of work and effort. But if you can only sell this customer one thing, you effort is doomed to failure because of the high cost of customer recruitment. Thus, the only network marketing company that makes sense is one where you can sell the customer a product that the customer really needs and uses and which he'll continue to use and need. In this connection, I selected the Gourmet Coffee Club as one of my recommended choices? Why, because coffee is a product that the vast majority of the huge coffee market drinks daily. That's precisely what you want.

Products You Can Buy More Cheaply Elsewhere

People dislike the idea of paying a premium for products just to be a member of a network marketing company. Thus, you don't want to represent a company where you can walk down the road to any store and get it for less. Having said this, be sure you're comparing apples to apples. Maybe they can get a similar product at a local store, but not the superior version of the product you're selling. In this case, research the ingredients and make sure that what you're selling is superior. I did this with The Staff of Life. You can acquire enzyme products at most any pharmacy. However, the superior variety and potency of the Staff of Life products meant that while people would pay a little more for the products Staff of Life makes available, they were getting demonstrably superior quality.

Lack Of A Duplicatable System For Recruiting And Retaining Downline Members

The vast majority of network marketing executives haven't given a thought to what their members will do to recruit new members. See for yourself. Before you sign up into any company, ask your upline sponsor precisely what the company both recommends and makes available to assist you in recruiting and maintaining your downline. You're going to be both discouraged and disgusted by what you hear: precious little.

Don't just take my word for it, either. Ask your upline sponsor to walk you through the entire recommended recruiting and maintenance system of the company. Be sure you understand it. And be sure to ask hard questions about it while this field trip is taking place. Likely deduction: the company you're considering has no such system. Their position is, get in and invent your own system, while we enjoy ourselves at headquarters spending your membership dues, monthly product purchases, etc.

System That's Too Complicated For Downline Members To Follow

More rarely, you'll discover another problem; while there is a system, it's too complicated for the average person to follow.

MLM is often touted as "democratic marketing," a business that's open to everyone. I've never believed that, of course, but where the recruiting and maintenance system is too complicated for the person of average intelligence to work profitably, this notion is ludicrous.

The truth is, the recruiting and maintenance system has got to be simple, something anyone of average intelligence can successfully work.

Financial Instability

I've been in network marketing now a little more than 2 years. During this time I've seen a host of new companies come onto the market, only to crash and burn within 6 months. One major reason is the lack of financial wherewithal to develop a company.

New companies eat up capital at a quick pace, almost always faster than they make it. Is the company you're considering joining prepared for this if new? And if established, is it debt-free and likely to remain in business for a while? If your upline sponsor doesn't know (and a surprising number of them are woefully ignorant about the financial condition of the companies they represent and are staking their bid for financial freedom on), then get a Dun & Bradstreet report on the company. No data? Bad sign.

Stable Or Decreasing Market

One reason people make money is because markets grow. Lots of people who are rich got that way for demographic reasons, not because they were tapped on the shoulder by God and dubbed wealth-worthy. Do the same.

What are the growth projections for the company you're investigating? What is its core market? Is it slated to remain stable? Decline? Grow? How do you know? With the three MLM's I personally promote, I selected companies with substantial international growth potential. Unsurprisingly, the companies and their market shares have grown. Do the same.

Poor Customer Service

This factor shouldn't have to appear on any list in this day and age. Every single company ought to be a paragon of customer service. Unfortunately, that just isn't the case. Before joining a company, call to order a few products. How is your call handled? How quickly does your order appear? What is its condition when it does appear? Call to ask a product question? How easily and knowledgeably is it handled? You'll soon see for yourself. Personally, I went through this recently with Nutrition for Life, a well-known company, and was appalled at the result.

I left two messages with specific company personnel which were never answered, had a damnably difficult time getting through their needlessly complicated voice mail, and overall came to the conclusion that whatever merits this company possessed were far overshadowed by the sophomoric way it handles legitimate customer business. Be advised.

Inactive or Unfocused Leadership

The best kind of CEO to have in a network marketing company is someone who is awesomely knowlegeable about the products, cares enough about the independent distributors to insist upon the development and improvement of a duplicatable recruiting system, and energetic enough to oversee the entire project and make sure the company runs like Mussolini's railroads.

Is this the company you're considering? Probably not. One thing that distinguishes all too many network marketing executives is a kind of vulgar hucksterism, a fawning insincerity about people, and the feeling that they're about to pick your pocket any minute. In short, they're some of the least attractive and professional people you ever want to meet.

With this the norm, do yourself a favor and quiz your upline (and, if necessary, your upline's upline) about just who runs the show at this opportunity. Is it someone you trust? Someone who's knowledgeable, well organized, client-centered, and bright? If you're not sure, don't bet your financial future on someone who's more likely to be an honors graduate of P.T. Barnum's Sucker Academy.

It All Takes Time

All this assessment takes time. Don't rush it. "Fools rush in," you know. What you want is a company you can commit yourself to for years. Where reasonable effort repays reasonable dividends; a company that isn't trying to gull you with "get rich quick" hyperbole, but where the leadership expects some work from you and where it expects to have to work itself to provide you with the tools and environment you need in which to succeed. It's precisely because so many people don't follow these sensible guidelines, that so many of them are certain failures in a business where it really isn't very difficult to make money.

Generate Maximum Prospects

Once you've assessed and made sure you're in the right place, set your prospect lead-generating strategy into gear. One huge mistake network marketers make is not to think through where they are going to get their prospect leads... and where the people they recruit are going to get theirs. That's a very big error of judgement.

Once you're in a network marketing company, you need to work just like any other businessperson. This means making an ongoing study of where you'll get the most prospect leads for your money. Some alternatives:

## Ad-Net. Value for value, Ad-Net remains the best lead-generating network marketing company on the market. You'll get 30, 60 or 100 leads per month at reasonable cost, free advertising certificates so you can generate still more prospect leads, and additional benefits, like a voice mail service. In the interests of journalistic integrity, I should tell you that I'm the #1 distributor in Ad-Net, the company's only Diamond Director. But I selected Ad-Net only after I'd reviewed all the other companies on the market, and if I had to start all over again, I'd start where I began before, with Ad-Net.

## card-decks. If you're not using card-decks to generate prospect leads, you're making a mistake. Card decks not only generate prospect leads fast, they do so for a reasonable cost; particularly if you're using co-ops. In a co-op several people pool their resources to purchase the card and divide the leads. Smart co-op organizers insist upon the people they recruit buying a co-op share when they join; this way these people have leads and the upline sponsor's organization is sure to grow.

## lead-generator ads. If you don't have the money for 50 or 100,000 cards or just cannot get a co-op together, use a lead-generator ad. The one I run in my quarterly 100,000 circulation Sales & Marketing Success Card Deck costs $90 currently and runs 60 characters in length. With one of these you get between 50-300 leads per issue, a sizable number.

## run a nationwide classified. If you're representing a general interest product or service (as you should be), check out the ad syndication service offered by Robert Blackman at Diversified Enterprises. For just about a buck a paper, your 25-word classified ad will run in over 300 newspapers coast to coast with a combined circulation of 2.6 million readers. This is another good way of generating hundreds of prospect leads in a very short time. (Call Diversified Enterprises at (405) 360-9487 for further details.)

Note: don't just use one of these services. Use them all. If you want sustained growth in your organization, your job is to get prospect leads, not just for yourself but for every member of your organization. If you don't do this, you're ensuring your failure. Is this what you want?

Assess Hard

The more of these prospect lead-generating services you use, the more prospect leads you'll have. But all these leads are not equal.

Whether it's because of sloth or ignorance (or both), too many network marketers get a lead and mail their information package without bothering to assess the people they're using their money on.

Friend, before you send anyone anything, assess them.

Pick up the telephone (if the prospect provided no phone, he's no prospect), and ask the person a few key questions:

## are you looking for an opportunity?

## what kinds of resources do you have?

## what kinds of experience?

## how much time?

## will you purchase the products on a regular basis?

## will you, in short, work?

If the answer you hear are vague, uncertain, ring off pleasantly, but ring off soon. Real people understand that an opportunity is not just an opportunity to get rich, but an opportunity to work, and that the work comes before the riches. Are you getting the impression that you're talking to someone who understands this, or to one of the legion of "get rich quicksters" who keep hoping against hope that they will find El Dorado while never having to lift a finger. AVOID THOSE FLATWORMS!

Note: assessing people takes both time and money. That's why you should make sure you've got the lowest phone rates possible. My own rates are rock-bottom and if you call me at (617) 547-6372, I'll be happy to send you information about how you can lower your rates for both regular and 800-number service.

Stay In

In the two years I've been in MLM, I've watched an awful lot of people jump in and out of any number of network marketing companies. I think of one man who's been in at least 5 in this time, never making a dime in any of them. Me? I get in... and I stay in. I bring realistic expectations to the table. I expect to work. I expect to invest. And I expect, therefore, to make money. And, friend, I do make money, more every single month. It should be obvious to you why this happens.

## I scrutinize "opportunities" hard.

## I generate tons of leads and scrutinize them hard to see which are worth bothering with.

## I have a duplicatable system that I insist people in my organizations follow.

## I use the products and insist that all people in my organizations do the same, and

## I don't jump around. I work the program day in, day out, comfortable that if there is progress every day, there will be progress every month, and with progress every month means bigger paychecks every month, year in, year out.

My motto, you see, is not "get rich quick," but "get rich sure." Slow and steady wins this race.

Is this what you do? If you haven't worked this way before today, then you're certainly going to do so now. You see, network marketing works. You can make real money in it, more money every month. But you cannot do so if you approach MLM with a complete absence of mind, intelligence and system -- the way the vast majority of people in it now do. To their early and continuing loss.

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