I dropped in a on an MLM prospecting and marketing podcast a few days ago and listened while a trainer made live calls to prospects. It was during this podcast that I realized that at least 60% of the participants were probably not going to be able to use the method the trainer was teaching. Why? Because the method was a really bad fit for their personalities. Here’s what happened.
In this podcast the focus was on inviting people to a home party. During the podcast the trainer called several acquaintances and demonstrated how to make the invitation. Several participants then did some role-playing with the trainer to improve their invitation skills. It was clear that everyone in this particular group was encouraged to use the home party invitation as their main vehicle for promoting their MLM business.
Two of the participants found the method an easy fit with their personalities while three others had a lot of trouble following the invitation script and delivering it smoothly. It became painfully clear that two of the people were going to be able to invite many people to a home party with ease while the rest of the people were going to need hours of practice. The trainer reassured the three people having difficulty that with practice they could improve their skills and might even get some personal growth out of the process.
The trainer was right, in a way. According to sponsorship gospel, MLM and network marketing are “personal growth” businesses and with the right kind of training you can learn to do anything. I agree. With the right kind of training I could probably learn to do synchronized swimming and major auto repair. I believe in myself. The problem is that I don’t want to do either of those things.
The same goes for your MLM business. Do you want to do what your sponsor does? As you evaluate an MLM opportunity, from the very first moment listen to the way people are talking to you. Listen to the way they invite you into their business. Think back to how you got into a conversation with them about the business. Now put yourself in their shoes. Do you want to do what they do? Can you do what they do? Is your personality suited to this kind of marketing method?
In other words, if their marketing method calls for you to be cooped in your office all day talking on the phone and you can’t sit still for more than 20 minutes, chances are that this marketing style isn’t for you. Ditto if you love working on the computer and hate talking to people, but your sponsor wants you to make a list of 100 people you know so you can prospect them by talking to them. Take your time and think it through before you commit to an MLM opportunity and marketing style that may or may not work for you.
If the upline’s sponsorship style doesn’t seem like an immediate match to your personality, ask them if this is the only method they use to sponsor people into the MLM business. If the answer is “Yes,” then think about whether you can really use the same sponsorship method to build your own MLM business. If not, then either choose a different sponsor or company, or become a maverick and use a sponsorship style that works for you. If you choose to become a maverick, there are plenty of resources that you can access aside from those offered by your upline and parent company. Just get online and you’ll find a plethora of MLM marketing books, ebooks, audios, live trainings, and podcasts to help you.
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