Not Your Mother’s MLM

Who isn’t familiar with the Network Marketing Business Model? Most people knew at least one or two Avon reps in their hometown while they were growing up, or their mom was the Tupperware lady. I tried on my very first makeup at at Mary Kay party. Today, my office is full of Pampered Chef and Home and Garden Party catalogues.

I flip through those catalogues as I’m heating up my lunch in the breakroom, and I wonder, “How is Direct Sales working out for these people?” Are they loving their jobs and bringing in a large income, or are they discouraged by the amount of “no’s” they receive?

Before technology got involved, there was only one way to succeed at network marketing. The marketer had to be a born salesperson, outspoken, loud, continually on the lookout for new prospects. The very nature of the business demanded it. For that reason, many have either not tried multilevel marketing, or tried it but quickly gave up.

Everyone likes the idea of earning money from home, and everyone likes to think about being the boss of their own business, who can decide on their own schedule and earnings. These things are possible through network marketing, but many don’t even know it. What a shame that the good features associated with mlm companies are hidden by stigmas from the past!

Truthfully, MLM can be a great source of reliable income, but only if it is gone about in the proper fashion. Today’s network marketers are leveraging the Internet to attract lists of prospects, build teams and earn amounts of money never dreamed about in the old model of mlm. And by doing so, they are changing the marred image of the industry.

There is a whole big world out there that can be reached using the Internet. Network marketers can now attract prospects to them by offering informative articles and web content, helpful tips and web-inars before ever trying to sell anything to anyone. The big world is not providing these network marketers with big residual income.

That makes the idea of prospecting in subdivision seem kind of foolish, doesn’t it? You could prospect in your neighborhood, your local grocery store, your office, or even your whole town. You could even make some decent money doing that, but it won’t be residual income. Your home business will eventually level off and then decline.

The Internet creates a global market with an endless stream of prospects and income potential. Distributors do not have to spend their time chasing down prospects and pestering their friends with this new mode of network marketing, because they are attracting leads who are already interested. The Internet is geared toward seekers. That’s why you will see a “search” engine box on nearly every page on the Internet. Those who find your home based business on the web will do so because it is the answer they have been searching for!

Attraction marketing makes the marketer a sought-after commodity. No more blind pursuit, no more endless warming up of indifferent leads. With attraction marketing, the work is almost done by the time you begin contact with leads. You can choose the most highly qualified to work with, and yes, you decide how much money you earn. After it’s begun, this state of being pursued perpetuates itself. Everyone wants to wear the most popular labels. It’s written into the Law of Attraction.

There are so many pros to this system. Traditional mlm businesses had a lot of trouble getting off the ground, because the distributors were running at a zero balance all the time. With Internet network marketing, distributor’s can monetize their website by selling advertising space, or by partnering with a like company to promote their products for a commission. Advertising can be free while the business is getting started, because there are many good forms of free advertising on the web, such as Ezine Articles, or YouTube. The business earns its keep and the distributors are neither frantic nor dejected.

That’s a long way from the harried sales reps of our mothers’ generation, isn’t it? It’s a long way from the indignity of rejection and the pointlessness of chasing disinterested leads. Today’s network marketers are establishing themselves as authorities in their fields, and they are leveraging the Internet to build self-sustaining business and earn residual income.