The 5 Critical Elements of A Successful MLM System

Take it or leave it but all big MLM earners follow a marketing system. They find a system that works and stick to it.

You'll find that success in almost all areas of life comes from doing what works over and over again. A pianist perfects a classical piece by playing the same piece several times. The baseball player practices his strikes by swinging the same bat multiple times. When life is all boiled down to the basics, we all sleep, eat, brush our teeth, go to work, play and the same routine starts all over again.

Not very exciting when you think about it. But it works.

This doesn't mean that there is no room for creativity or growth. But there is a basic structure that is in place that if you try to circumvent, it will leave you flat on your face.

One of the gravest mistakes made by those new to the network marketing industry is they try to reinvent the wheel. Instead of following the proven system that is already in place and used by the heavy hitters, they may think that the system is not creative enough. After several fruitless months of trying it 'their way' they often give up and blame the whole industry.

After working the network marketing industry for over 15 years I discovered that there are some critical elements that any successful marketing system must have.

1. Lead Generation. Fresh leads are like the lifeblood of any MLM business. As soon as you stop generating new leads then your business will start to suffer. You may choose to generate these leads for yourself through a website, newspaper and magazine ads or from just working your warm market. You may also buy these leads from a reputable company. However you choose to supply these leads, the fact is, it must be done.

2. Training of new recruits. A training program must be in place to prepare those distributors who are new to the company and network marketing. This may be in the form of literature or multimedia presentations but this training is essential. Distributors that are left on their own to find their way often get lost. Proper training builds the confidence in the new distributor to share the program with others.

3. Marketing Tools. This includes websites, autoresponder series, conference calls, display ads, telephone scripts and audio products. These should all be prepared by a professional marketer so that the distributor has little to do but to use them 'as is'. Often when the company provides these tools they are too generic to be as effective as when a group of distributors invest in creating their own. Most MLM companies concentrate more on product development and day to day running of the business than helping their distributors market the product.

4. Telephone skill development. This could be included under 'training' but is of such significance that it deserves a place of its own. Network marketing is still really relationship marketing and even with the advent of the internet and other new technologies nothing beats the human voice and actually talking to your recruits. Even if you use email, for example, the decision often comes from a phone call. The skill of using the telephone to recruit new distributors is therefore an invaluable one.

5. Achievement Recognition. Most MLM companies have a program in place to recognize those who have reached a certain level in number of distributors in their downline or income. This provides motivation to the network marketer as well as a goal to aim for. As an independent distributor it's encouraging to get recognized by your peers along the way. Running a home business can become very lonely at times since the business owner is away from the typical office environment.

There is no escaping the fact that MLM involves selling. Most network marketers try to downplay this aspect of the business because most people are fearful of selling. Most people think of selling in terms of the used car salesman trying to get them to buy a car that doesn't work as well as it is shiny and they freeze up.

But selling is the only means by which products will reach the hands of the consumer. The burden of the marketing system is to make the process so easy and foolproof that it can be easily duplicated by anyone. If the 'system' becomes so complicated that it needs a professional to explain it then duplication becomes more difficult and the business will fail to grow.

I have been able to grow strong teams in my network marketing career because I set a system in place for all my distributors and those who work the system are rewarded handsomely.

Those who ignore the system and try to be creative often blame the company, the product or the whole industry when they fail to achieve their goals. Everything, except their failure to walk the trodden path rather than go wandering in the woods.

Want to be a big earner? It's simple. Follow a proven system and don't get sidetracked.

Copyright (c) Greg Aldrich

Author Greg Aldrich is a successful network marketer. He attributes his success to his committment to the success of others. Greg is one of the founding distributors in a brand new opportunity poised to be the next industry giant. For more information, please visit: http://www.top-network-marketing.com