Why do sales people often struggle in Network Marketing?

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You are starting your network marketing business. As you think of people you can contact about your new venture who are you thinking would be an ideal candidate for your business? I bet you are thinking of people who you know are good sales people. You may know someone super successful in real estate, or selling insurance or any type of sales.

Don’t we often think of people who can talk to anyone and love sales. They love closing the deal, and moving on to the next deal. You’re sure that they will take off in your business and you will both ride into the sunset.

What often happens is they are already successful in their respective profession so being coachable isn’t high on the list and they figure they know more about sales than you do. They proceed to do what made them successful in their real estate business or whatever business they were in.

Your new sales pro goes out and recruits 10 new people their first month or even their first week. Now you are thinking your new sales pro is going to go on and build a big business and you are flat out excited.

Their second month they go out and recruit another 10 or more into the business. What is happening with the first 10 or so they recruited their first month in the business? They are falling out of the business also know as the revolving door. They come in they go out.

You’re deflated and wondering what went wrong. Your new sales pro is now getting impatient and is wondering why they are not earning what they know they are worth. Your sales pro will often not seek out help, they will simply quit and look for another opportunity.

So what happened?

I often find that even individuals who call themselves network marketers, who are in the business of network marketing don’t understand what network marketing is and what it is not. They don’t understand the network marketing business model.

Why is this so important?

Not understanding the network marketing business model impacts how you go about building your business. Most people think network marketing is a sales business but it is not. I want to say this again, network marketing is not a sales business.

This is not to say, that product doesn’t have to move for everyone to get paid, however how it is moved is totally different than the typical sales model.

In the sales model you have a sales manager and their job is to recruit top notch sales people to go out and sell for them. This is not the case in network marketing.

In the network marketing model when I bring someone into the business it is my job to groom them, train them and link arms with them until they are able to do the same with those they are sponsoring in the business. Noticed I said, sponsor not recruit. Sponsoring infers working with that individual.

Network Marketing is a teaching and training business which builds a distribution network where the participants in the network consume the products.

Totally different mindset.

This is why most people confuse Network Marketing with Direct Sales. Direct Sales and Network Marketing are like mixing oil and water. They don’t mix.

Direct Sales is all about creating a sales force which go out and sell a lot of product whether it be Tupperware or Avon etc. In network marketing it is about creating a team that continues to duplicate and the members/associates of the network use the product and share with others who do the same.

Don Failla who wrote ‘The 45 Second Presentation that will change your life’, discusses this concept in detail in his famous napkin presentations. Don goes on to say, that a sales person is in the adding and subtracting game and network marketing is all about the multiplication game.

What does this mean? The strength of a sales person is that they are good at talking to people they don’t already know. They have no problems meeting and connecting with people they don’t know. It is this strength which can also be their weakness when it comes to building a thriving network marketing business.

So recruiting comes easy to the sales person but they don’t know how or have time to work with the people they bring into their business. Because they are too busy recruiting new people.

Network Marketing isn’t about how many people you can recruit, it is about working with a few people whom you teach to work with a few people, whom they teach to work with a few people and so on. Network marketing is a teaching and training business which leads to true duplication and long term residual income.

The non-sales type of person which is 80% of the population can talk to friends and meet their friends. A non-sales type individual may find it difficult to talk to strangers but they are at ease speaking with those they know and as long as they have an introduction they can talk to their friends, friends.

Don Failla simply puts it this way. Network Marketing is predicated on making friends and meeting their friends. He said, he and Nancy made a fortune building their business with the non-sales type of person.

There is a bit of sorting that goes on when you are first building your team however once you find one to five serious individuals then go to work for them. When you have people who want to own their lives, that is when the magic happens.

In future articles and videos I will be discussing the importance of a system and tools that educate and pre-pave the way in regards to educating your team members as to what network marketing is and what it is not. We call this learning how to drive the vehicle of network marketing. Putting this critical piece in place will put your associates 100 steps ahead of most individuals entering into network marketing.

So does this mean a salesperson can’t be successful in network marketing?

Absolutely not. A salesperson can be successful in network marketing, once they understand the network marketing business model. As long as they are willing to work with the business model of network marketing, a salesperson can have fabulous success.

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