7 Simple Steps to Success in Network Marketing

You want to be successful as a Network Marketing professional, right?  I could very easily complicated things and go into explicit and intricate detail and elaborate on all the millions of things one could do to achieve success in this profession, but that would only confuse you.   And…quite frankly, most of the added stuff is irrelevant to you making it in this business anyhow. 

 So…let’s instead keep it simple. 

 Step One:  Pick it and Stick it. 

 The first step toward becoming a success in this profession is to pick a company and stop looking for opportunity elsewhere.  Every moment you spend looking around is time that could be invested in productive activities that build the company you are already in. 

You can make money in lots of companies.  In fact…ANY legitimate, real network marketing business is a place where if you decide to “hang your hat” can become a productive source of income for you.  Time is ticking.  Every moment you spend dilly-dallying around is costing you money.  Pick a horse and ride it.  If it knocks you off, get back on.  And trust me…it will knock you off.  Your objective is to keep getting back on the horse even when it takes you for a wild ride.

Step Two:  Remove your Emotions

This is a business, not a dating game.  You must remove any and all emotional responses to what happens WHILE building the business.  It can be very easy to become discouraged or frustrated when you let your emotions come into play. 

I realize that we are all human and humans have emotions.  However, you get to CHOOSE how you react to specific situations you encounter in the field. 

When a prospect who you THOUGHT was going to join, decides not to, or decides to join another opportunity, that is simply life, and life in this business.  Get over it.  Move on.  Don’t hold onto it and don’t get depressed or down over it.  Leaders don’t allow their emotions to get the best of them. 

Understand this clearly.  You will have people come and go.  You will have situations where you feel that someone is going to “knock it out of the park” for you and then they do nothing.  You will also have the opposite occur.  You’ll likely sponsor someone who you thought couldn’t even do the deal and they become one of your best reps. 

The key in all of this is to treat it like a business, and not allow your emotions to play tricks on you.  Remember, YOU DECIDE how you react.  Your emotions are controllable.  So…control them.

Step Three:  Get your Priorities in Line. 

Do what makes you money.  Focus your time doing things that specifically generate money for you.  The only thing that directly leads to revenue is signing up new reps and selling your product.  Anything else is secondary. 

Look at your day.  Track yourself.  Are you spending most of your time conducting revenue producing activities, or are you simply being busy doing stuff that doesn’t really matter?

If you are having a hard time being focused, stop every hour and quickly review what you’ve done the prior 60-minutes.  If you weren’t prospecting or talking to people about what you do, then you’ve likely got your priorities mixed up. 

Things like blog posts, placing ads, and personal development should be done during DOWN time, not during PRIME time.  Prime Time is any time where you could be talking to another human being about your business.  And…while everyone keeps different schedules, the reality is that most people sleep at night.  So Prime Time for prospecting in network marketing is usually from 7am to 10pm at night in whatever time zone that person is in. 

Step Four:  Follow the Leader. 

Don’t make the mistake of trying to do it “your way”.  If you’ve never made money in this business, then follow someone who has. 

Too many successful people, who’ve had success OUTSIDE of network marketing think it’s ok to do it “their” way.  They don’t have a way.  They’re new. 

If you want to be successful in network marketing, follow the lead of someone who is making money in network marketing.  Be humble.  You don’t need to be right.  It’s better to make money in this business than having to be right all the time. 

I can’t think of a single company where you couldn’t find someone to emulate.  Look at the biggest leaders in the business you are in, and follow their lead.  Do whatever you can to COPY what it is that they are doing.  Playing COPY CAT is a very good thing in this profession…or anything else for that matter. 

If you want to be good at anything, it’s a good idea do follow someone else who is good at it and do what they’re doing.

Step Five:  Don’t Stop. 

Just when you feel like quitting is typically when you are about to have your biggest breakthrough moment.  Do yourself and your check a favor and stick to your plan. 

Quitting never worked for anyone.  I promise that it won’t work for you either.  Stay UNTIL it happens. 

One of your greatest challenges will be your willingness to stick to it during tough times.  Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Nothing truly worthwhile happens overnight.

I know you probably hate hearing this, but the raw truth is that success in this business takes time.  Volume takes time to accumulate.  People take time to figure this out.  Your group will not grow to thousands in a month.   Your check won’t either. 

It is imperative that you exercise patience in the face of your work and the challenges that come along with it.  The only way to fail in this business is to quit. 

If you don’t stop, you’ll get there.  You just might get there at a different time than you expected.  In fact, most people over-promise and under-deliver on their own expectations when it comes to making it in network marketing.  Hang tight.  Keep your head down and stay after it. 

Step Six:  Develop your Skills. 

You need skills in this business.  Skills take time to acquire.  The good news is that you CAN acquire them if you decide to. 

Skills are acquired in one of two ways.

The first way is by being in action and learning through experience.  You can’t acquire skills by staring at your phone or avoiding your lead list.  The only way to begin to get better is to start taking action.  The more consistent action you take, the better you’ll get. 

Think about the very first time you made a call and how uncomfortable you may have been.  Perhaps you were even nervous at the thought of making that first call.  You now know, if you’ve made it through your first dozen calls or so that each and every call becomes a bit easier to make.  You’ve memorized your script.  You more clearly understand the process, and you’re becoming more fluid in your approach. 

That’s the way it works.  If you’re still struggling to come up with the right words to use, I’d highly recommend you grab a hold of my #1 GO TO Script in my training arsenal.  This is the most widely-used script I employ in my daily prospecting efforts.  You can get a free copy of it here:  http://www.littleblackbookofscripts.com

The second way you acquire skills is by studying and then APPLYING what you just learned.  It can be a simple as a conversation with someone where they share something cool with you that they use in their business to produce results.  You then take what you learned and use it.  It could also be something you learned at an event, a seminar, a conference call, a book, a CD or anything else for that matter. 

I read an email last year and immediately took what I learned in that email to make over $14,000 the following week.  One email.  And it wasn’t even an email telling me to do something specific.  I got an IDEA from that email and immediately applied it into my business. 

Learning is key.  Applying what you learned is the key to your success. 

Step Seven:  Do What you Don’t Feel Like Doing. 

Success comes to people who are willing to stretch and push themselves past their mostly self-imposed limitations. 

In order for you to grow and get better, you have to be willing to do things that you don’t feel like doing.  You should be pushing yourself just past that “comfort zone” every single day.  

What was once very uncomfortable and out of your range, now becomes comfortable and easy.  Once that new thing becomes easy, you continue to stretch yourself again. 

If making five phone calls is hard, double it to ten.  If getting in front of an audience scares you, then do it any way.  If talking to a stranger and engaging them in conversation doesn’t feel good, then do it anyhow. 

The only way for you to grow is to put yourself in growth situations. 

Those are SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS to becoming successful in the profession of network marketing and direct selling.  The only way for you to benefit from what I’ve just shared with you is to apply it. 

The choice is yours.  Make the right one.  

If you like what you just read and think you know someone in network marketing who could benefit by reading this, feel free to share.