Recruiting For Your Network Marketing Organization is a Responsibility Not to Be Taken Lightly

The previous 2 articles in this series talked at some length about the person to person nature of network marketing and carefully selecting your potential business sponsor. In this installment, we’ll examine the importance of choosing the right people for your business organization.

MLM is not a business about “my product is better than yours” or “my comp plan is the best in the industry” or “my company has been around the longest”. You’ll find that all of that stuff is secondary to what YOU bring to the table. Remember, network marketing is first and foremost a people business and what you have to offer your prospective business building partners will make all the difference to your success.

Look at it this way: those who traditionally get involved in network marketing are people who lack real world business skills. These are people who have good intentions but, unfortunately, there are a lot of folks out there with good intentions who struggle financially. Good intentions do not put money in the bank; good business skills do. Therefore, people want leadership, they need leadership and that is the most important thing you can offer others in building your own network marketing business.

There is a rule that applies to all areas in life which says: if you want to achieve more, than you must become more. This is especially true in network marketing. Being recognized as a leader and a resource to others who lack business skills, will make you a person they will want to follow and work with. The good news is all skills are learnable. Nobody was born a business leader – you become a leader by learning leadership skills. And, you have no excuse for not developing yourself as a valuable resource to others. We’re living in the information age; anything you need to learn is a mouse click away.

OK, let’s move on. A real leader never has an open door policy for his or her business organization and neither should you. You’ll never get anywhere in business if you’re not selective about who you choose to work with. How do you determine who would be a good fit for your organization? Easy, interview your prospects. The people you choose to work with will need your assistance in building a business of their own. Translation: you will have to give them your time. DO NOT give away your time freely to just anyone. Asking the right questions up front will help you determine if a prospect is worthy of your time and expertise. If you miss this very important point you will spend a lot of time spinning your wheels.

Here are some questions you’d want to ask of your prospects:

Why do you want to build a business of your own? The answer to this question is very important. You want to know what motivates somebody else. If a person’s motivation is strong enough, it will provide the fuel necessary to keep them going forward when the going gets tough. And yes, of course the going will be tough from time to time. If it were that easy, everybody would be a wealthy entrepreneur.

Have you ever had a business of your own and if so, tell me about your experiences with it? Asking this question will help you determine what business skills the person may already posses. Even if their past business had failed, chances are real good they’ve learned some valuable lessons and skills from it.

Do you have the financial resources and commitment to build a business? It’s no secret; starting a business requires capital and running a business requires capital. ALL new businesses will experience losses in the beginning. Does the prospect have the stomach and the resources to forge ahead through the lean times? If the person hems and haws at this question, chances are pretty good they’re not a serious business builder – they’re a tire kicker.

Are you coachable and open to learning new business building skills? This question is pretty self explanatory; nobody was born an expert, they become an expert through learning and applied knowledge. If you do not receive a solid affirmative answer to this question then you’re probably talking with a know-it-all. How far do you think you’ll get working with a know-it-all?

How much time will you be able to dedicate to building a business? It’s OK to start a business working on a part time basis. What would be required is that the person is able to carve out a specific block of time each and every week with consistency. Weak efforts will always bring about weak results. Their answer to this question will give you a great idea of what effort they’re prepared to put forth.

You may have additional questions you’d want to ask of a prospect depending on your business building goals. What I’ve given you here is just a start. What you’d really want to do is try to weed out the tire kickers as best you can lest they’d only take up your valuable time.

One last thought I’ll offer you on this front. If part of your business building strategy is to advertise your opportunity, try to write your ads in such a way that they will attract the types of prospects you’d want to find. For example, have you ever seen this type of an ad: “Join our team, we do all the prospecting and recruiting for you” or “Make $10,000 a month within the next 60 days working only an hour a day”? Will either of these ads attract a quality prospect? Would a real entrepreneurial business builder take either of these ads seriously? The answer to both these questions, of course, is no. Put yourself into the shoes of the person you’d want to attract into your business and write an ad which your ideal prospect would find appealing.

This is the seventh in a series of articles on the MLM / social marketing / network marketing industry. In the next and final article I’ll give you some final thoughts on business building strategies and the future of network marketing. MLM has created more financially free individuals and families than other industry. It has the potential to do the same for you – that is for you to determine.

If you’d like to ensure that you don’t miss out on any installments in this series, I’d be happy to send past and future articles directly to you. Just shoot me an email and I’ll include you on my direct distribution list.