The same applies to network marketing success. The majority of people will not do anything. Only 20 percent of the people actually get around to doing something about it. But unfortunately, only a small percentage of THAT 20 percent actually achieves network marketing success (some give up after they fail to see results or because they move on to other commitments – not network marketing’s fault).

The first thing you must do in order to take the first step towards achieving network marketing success is to have a dream. Not just any dream but a dream that is HUGE. Do not let other people tell you what you can or can’t do. In Donald Trump’s own words, “If you are going to think, you might as well think big.” After all, you are already thinking anyway, so you might as well think big and achieve big. If you don’t have a dream, a compelling reason to keep you going when the going gets tough, you will definitely drop out from network marketing after you run into challenges.

Besides having a dream, you must have a blueprint for success. It is also not enough to have the ‘WHY’, you must have the ‘HOW’ as well otherwise you will have a big dream and it just stops at the dream part (because your dream never becomes a reality).

For example, there are a lot of network marketing prospecting methods that are considered obsolete by today’s standards. You cannot just do cold calling and pester your friends and relatives by forcing them to join your network marketing opportunity. You need to learn how to handle people and use the Internet to generate leads for your business.

You also need to structure your action plan properly because you need to know how to execute your plans to make your dream a reality. An action plan that works out day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year.

Write down on your time table, what you need to achieve this very day – reading a motivational book, engaging in prospecting activities, retailing some products to your customers and spending time with your downlines training and coaching them.

Without a definite day to day plan, your day will definitely slip by without much action. At the end of the day, it is all about you – don’t rely on your uplines or your downlines for success because if you do, you are building their business instead of your own.

1. Write and Distribute Articles, Reports and Ebooks. Internet users are all interested in one thing – information. Use this to promote your business by creating high quality content and allowing others to reprint it for you. One great way to do this is to distribute a brandable ebook or special report. This is one that a website or list owner can change to include a reference to their website. This doesn’t mean that it looks like they are the publisher, it’s just a way for them to include information on where the ebook was downloaded from and (if applicable) to include their affiliate link for your products and services.

2. Participate in Newsgroups, Forums, and Mailing Lists. There are hundreds of forums online and you can find one for almost any topic imaginable. Most allow you to include a signature line that will be attached to every message. This is a chance for you to advertise your site. Visiting these forums to post thoughtful questions and offer your expertise will mean your signature is viewed by others and will bring you free, targeted traffic. Of course how much traffic you get depends on how often you post and whether your signature makes people want to visit your site. A good approach is to use an ad you’ve had success with elsewhere as your signature.

3. Join Networking Sites to Build your Personal Network. Networking sites are designed to make it easy for people to meet others in their industry and to advertise their products and service. Similar to offline networking events where lots of people come together for the sole purpose of meeting people, online networking sites work the same way.

4. Use Classified Sites and Traffic Exchanges. Classified ad sites and traffic exchanges have gotten a bad reputation, but they really do work if you know how to use them. If you’re promoting a product or service that advertisers can benefit from then they’re a great place to get traffic. Although not very many consumers visit this type of advertising sites, lots of website owners do in order to make sure their ad appears on the site. While there they can’t help but notice other ads and if one catches their attention you’re likely to get a visitor.

5. Run a Contest. People love the prospect of winning something – that’s why a contest can be a great traffic generator. The key is to choose a prize that will attract people from your target audience. If you make the grand prize a new laptop you’ll get entries from everyone who would like to win a new laptop (which is basically every computer user in the world!). Get more targeted traffic by choosing something that your target audience is interested in but wouldn’t mean much to other people. To start promoting your contest do a search in Google for “Contest Directories” and you’ll find lots of places to list your contest for free.

6. Include a Powerful Signature on all Outgoing Email. Every time you send a piece of mail you have the potential to get a visitor to your site. Simply create a “signature” that is automatically added to every outgoing message. Use the signature to briefly explain what you do, give your USP or slogan and add a hyperlink to your site. Once it’s set up you don’t have to think about it again!

7. Try Newsletter Classified Ads. There are lots of newsletter publishers who give classified ads to new subscribers. Although these don’t typically bring a huge response, they can generate some traffic if you offer something with a high perceived value but low price tag. They’re also a great way to test new ads to see which ones get the best response. Once you’ve found a winner use it in a PPC campaign, make it your new email signature, run it as a top sponsor newsletter ad or use it as your forum signature.

You can still build your network marketing business using old school methods such as cold calling business cards, inviting friends and relatives to your business meetings and putting call cards and running classified ads on the newspapers. However, these methods have been overused to the extent that there are a lot of people who have gotten ‘immune’ to these types of calls. You can learn to be an MLM ‘phone God’, but you might not be able to teach all your downlines to do the same thing.

By going on the Internet you are able to access millions of visitors without talking to a single lead. If you want to be able to master the art of network marketing prospecting on the Internet, it would serve you well to become a master of generating traffic to your websites.

Getting traffic is considered one of the most important aspects in Internet marketing. Your network marketing business will thrive when you have a few hundred hits on your MLM blog and your lead capturing pages.

A common criticism of online network marketing prospecting is that it is very difficult to build a solid relationship on the Internet. Critics deride the fact that network marketing is all about person-to-person interaction and since the Internet does not give that kind of luxury to its users, building a long term network marketing through the net is close to impossible.

On the contrary, building a network marketing business on the Internet is much easier thanks to tools such as Skype, blogs, podcasting, YouTube and social marketing tools. You do not need to be afraid that you can not interact on a personal level with your leads.

You can also build relationships using newsletters. A good newsletter contains a lot of useful information and network marketing tips. You can use your autoresponder to automate the process for you by uploading sections on your newsletter to your autoresponder and it will send it out every single day or at any interval that you desire.

One very important aspect about network marketing prospecting is that you must never pitch your network marketing opportunity on the front end. Remember, only after building strong relationships will you gain their trust. Network marketing is a long term business after all.

The first way is the traditional, old school way of getting leads which is to pull out your mobile phone and writing down every single name on that phone onto your name list. Every single person, from your baby cousin all the way to your 60 year old grand aunt.

When you run out of names on your list, you will start to dig through your list of business cards for any name that you can call.

This method is actually very ineffective because you are spending a lot of time going through a list of people who are NOT in your target market. There is no way you are going to be effective if you keep on targeting people who do not have a big dream, people who are comfortable in their jobs or people who just won’t listen to what you say no matter what you say (they see the old beer drinking buddy Joe rather than someone who is pursuing their dreams).

The second and more effective way to get the best MLM leads is to go on the Internet and get your leads. But bear in mind, don’t just get any leads but rather leads that are targeted – that means people who are actively seeking for a network marketing opportunity or people who are on the verge of switching to another opportunity.

These people are the best kind of leads you can find because not only do they give you the least amount of resistance, they are actually people in your target market and you will spend less time and money on marketing costs.

There are many ways you can get the best MLM leads – either through driving free traffic or by paying for traffic.

The advantage of using free traffic is that you do not need to spend any money and you can easily get traffic from organic search terms as well as blogs, social networking sites, social bookmarking, forums, traffic exchanges and even other people’s blogs. Free traffic takes time to generate but it is very good if you are building your network marketing business on a shoe string budget.

Once you have made some money with your leads, you can invest into paid traffic as well. One of the advantages of using paid traffic is that you get to control the amount of traffic you can get. It all depends on your budget and you are the one that sets the cap on your traffic. You can get up to potentially unlimited traffic in a very quick time. Some of the best ways to get the best MLM leads also come from pay per click (PPC) campaigns such as Google AdWords, buying banner advertising and using co-registration leads.

While you may not be working side by side with your network marketing team, you will need to make yourself available to them at various times throughout the day. Whether they want to email you with a concern or call you for a quick answer to a question, you need to be able to give them the assistance they need. If you are stressed out about the business, you are not going to be able to accomplish this easily.

A key factor in your own success will be your ability to handle the ups and downs of the business. One way to do this is to keep yourself on a schedule. Each day there will be a variety of tasks that you must accomplish. By keeping a list of things to do and a schedule to them, you will be able to remove a big stress from your work. The fact is, this will always allow you to know where you are at and how much more you must do.

Another helpful tip is to set aside a specific time in the day for your network marketing team to be able to contact you with questions or concerns. Many people find that by telling their team they will answer their emails between 4pm and 5pm, their team is less likely to interrupt them during the day. However, you do not want to discourage your team from contacting you regarding an emergency, as their success means your success.

How do people manage more than one networking company at a time and stay sane? Market crossover is one way to manage many companies at one time. Select mlms with similar or complementary products to better be able to offer a full range of solutions to your customer’s’ needs. You don’t want to operate two businesses that sell the same things, because that is tantamount to flooding the market, but companies with a wide array of products that your customer demographic would be interested in offer multiple opporutnities for sales. For example, consider pairing a company that sells green household products with a company that sells oganic health and wellness items.

Another suggestion is to offer your downline the opportunity to crossover into your various business as well. Owning multiple businesses can even allow you to offer special sign up discounts that can sway even the most resistant lead towards signing up with you. Training time and costs are decreased when you can utilize the same people for multiple business opportunities.
When the going gets rough, the pros know to ask for help. As your businesses grow and expand, youe leadership structure can evolve to meet your increasing needs for co-managers. Select associates to lead your efforts in various businesses. Also, utilize mlm software to allow your downline associates to be as independent as possible. These tools make owning more than one mlm company much more possible!

Mlm companies are a great investment, and they work best in pairs and groups. Find your niche market companies and see how diversifying your company portfolio can benefit your bottom line.

An individual who is interested in getting started in this industry should first sit down and learn as much as they can about the basic workings of multi level marketing. Of course, each and every company will be a little different, but there are some basics that everyone should learn, such as the actual marketing strategies that can be implemented and what it means to generate traffic. Other necessary terms and skills to learn are lead generation, follow up, commission structures, and how to get the sale.

After doing some research on the inner workings of the business, those who are still interested should start looking at some of the available business opportunities. However, to protect themselves, they should never join a business until they have taken the time to verify that it is, in fact, a legitimate opportunity. They can do this by inquiring with the Better Business Bureau, asking for financial documents on the business, asking for references, and doing a search online of the company name to see what information can be found.

Anyone can make money with network marketing if they actually take the time to learn how to do it. There are a variety of online classes and courses that are offered to those who are interested in getting started in the industry. Again, find out the background of the instructor, as it is always best to learn about the business from someone who has experience and has proven themselves to be a success.

The first thing you should concentrate on is your listening skills. A big part of your multi level marketing business relies on your ability to tell the customer what they want to know about the products, services, or opportunity you are offering. But, if you do not listen to them, you are not going to know what they want to know. Practice good listening skills and you will notice a major difference in the outcome.

You should also practice on learning the body language of others. If you don’t, you can waste precious time on people who are trying to relay that they have no interest. For example, if someone is standing in front of you with their arms crossed and they keep glancing away, they are most likely not interested at all, but do not want to interrupt you or hurt your feelings. On the other hand, if that person is watching your every move and are leaning forward, you may have them hooked.

Most important, you need to practice how you speak to people. Stuttering and stammering through a conversation is just going to reveal how unsure you are. Instead, do some role playing with a friend or another member. Practice answering questions and record the conversation. When listening to it, you can be sure that you will pick up on the areas where you need to improve.

Your multi level marketing business depends on how well you communicate with others. Those who lack the necessary communication skills will not be able to secure sales or recruit new members. Improve them and your business will improve, as well.

One of the reasons why they are so uncomfortable when approaching their friends is because they are fighting an uphill battle against their group of friends.

Granted, it is very difficult when you are doing it alone. After all, peer pressure is against you and the only way you can successfully convince your friends to join your network marketing is if you and another partner are working as a team.

The first and most notable example of working together as a team is with your spouse or your significant other.

The man will usually talk business, because most prospects usually perceive the man as the one holding the authority (not that women are inferior, but they have more powerful ROLES in different areas).

The women on the other hand, will do well trying to relate to the prospect through products and services.

With that said, don’t fight to be the boss – learn to examine the situation.

This sort of tag team prospecting is even more effective when dealing with couples because while the man talks about business plans in the living room, the women can chat all about products in the kitchen.

If you do not have a partner, you can always pair up with your upline or a side line (sometimes, it even works with downlines… after all, there is power in numbers). If your upline and you know a mutual friend, greatest leverage you have to convince a common friend to sign up is to use social leverage (after all, ‘everyone else’ is in… what about you?) This works even well if your upline has credibility and is someone who is well respected, you will have better chances for success.

The most important thing is to make sure you do not do this business alone. Network marketing is a business that puts you in business for yourself, but you are NOT going to work by yourself. Trying to go solo in your network marketing business is suicidal because if your downlines try and pick it up, they will each do things their own way (solo) and you will have a heck of a problem when your group reaches a large number.

Another reason why it is very difficult to work alone is because you don’t have all the time in the world to go running around prospecting and taking care of all your downlines at the same time. You need to share the load and give some credit to your downlines as they look out for one another when you are not around.

You are in business for yourself, but not BY yourself. You must learn to divide and conquer as you work together with your uplines, downlines, sidelines and even the staff in the company. When your prospect see you walk down the isle and the managers and staff are all waving to you, it gives you a lot of credibility (when they wave to you and you go, “By the way, that’s the managing director of the company…”)

Remember, there is strength in numbers.

In spite of these differences, there are also some similarities which are a good starting point for your business, especially if you are uncertain if you are truly making the most of your network marketing business with respect to building, maintaining, and deepening relationships with your customers.
* Perhaps the most important aspect that will help you to get a good idea as to how to treat your customers and manage the relationships they have with you will have to date back to the point of first contact. When, where, and why did the customer – or potential customer – contact you in the first place?
* What made your product or network marketing business attractive enough to the individual to send you an email or call you? Find out what the words and phrases were that you used and the idea you were trying to get through, and in so doing you will discovery which need of your customer you addressed on that day.
* Once you have identified the need that the customer believed your product or network marketing business could fulfill, it is essential that you become familiar with your customer’s time schedule. For example, if staying home with the kids during the summer vacation is of importance to the consumer, and you know that you have three months left until the first day of summer vacation, you will have just formulated your actual window of opportunity for closing the deal and introducing another candidate to your down line! Work with the time frame provided and help your customer understand how she or he can put this time frame to work in order to achieve their stated goal!
* Do not be bashful but ask! While this may sound like the proverbial car salesman question of “what’s it going to take for you to buy this car today,” this kind of question is not without merit, and while it is advisable to stay away as far as possible from sales related clichés, there are times when they do come in handy. Find out which objections, if any, the customer has, what constraints them, what concerns them, and what is that little push that you could provide in order to make the customer close the deal.

A successful network marketing business relies on customer relationship management more heavily than is often given it credit for and while the hunt for lead will almost certainly continue to take over the lions’ share of the average network marketer’s attention, while it is the relationship savvy marketer who will become successful.