Is Network Marketing a Recruiting Business?
Contrary to what a lot of people think, I truly don’t believe network marketing is a recruiting business. You see, there are a lot of good recruiters who fail miserably in our industry.
There are lots of people who can bring in 50 to 100 or more people per year in their business, but can’t get anyone else to do what they’ve done.
That is the difference between network marketing and direct sales. Network marketing is about team building and direct selling is about SELLING.
If you’ve brought a lot of people into your business but your business isn’t more than 3 or 4 levels deep (if that) you are really messing up.
You see, this is a team building business. It’s about sponsoring and teaching. It’s about a lot of people doing a little bit, not a few people doing a lot.
Yes, you can have a strategy to personally recruit 500 people to find 5-10 studs, but why would do that? What are you going to do with the other 490 to 495 people who don’t have the skills on their first day?
Are you just going to abandon them, hope for the best, and let them quit? As I see it, that is a big waste of time and money.
It takes time and money to bring someone into the business, so it would be in your best interest to spend some time and money to train them!
The beauty of network marketing is the leverage factor. If your entire business depends upon you, you will eventually burnt out or max out. Trust me, I’ve been there. If you like sales, but don’t want to teach and train people, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PROFESSION.
I heard the other day that recruiting will make you decent money, but retention will make you rich. Think about that for a moment. What good does it do to bring in 100 people if 98 of them quit? How can that be a formula for success?
The real money is made by the coaching, training, nurturing and team building AFTER you have recruited someone. The real money is in the repeat business, not a one-time transaction.
The truth is you need to learn how to get others to do what you are doing. You have to be able to bring people in, keep them, and get them to duplicate your efforts. Until you can do that you will have a revolving door in your business and a small bonus check.
There are a few things you can do to make that happen. First and foremost, you need to have a rigid selection process about who you work with. If you’re going to invest your time and money into people you need to make sure that they are committed to their own success as much as you are committed to their success.
Assuming you have that in place, you need to hand hold them in the beginning and work closely with them for the first three to six months, until they are competent and confident to work on their own. You have to transfer your knowledge and skills to them so they are independent of you in less than six months.
To sum it up, this is a team building business, not a recruiting business.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
About the Author
Chuck Holmes lives in Florida with his wife, Rachel. He is an author, blogger and top recruiter. Learn more about his opportunity.
