No business will succeed without a plan of action. No bank will loan a business any money unless they have a business plan and a full knowledge of how the money will be spent. No contractor would attempt to build a structure without a set of blueprints. The same is true with your business. Know where you are and where you want to go. Analyze your marketing plan, analyze yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses. Choose the method of building a business that suits your individual talents. You have to know where to focus your energies. A good plan should include a written list of goals and how you will attain them. A good plan includes a "who do you know" list of prospects. Successful people not only have a plan for themselves in Network Marketing but also have a way to help their downlines plan. Commit your new people to a plan and a goal with a set time limit and help them to achieve it. When people in your organization are about to reach a goal that you have helped them set, then help them to set the next goal or you will find that when they reach the first goal they may want to rest on their laurels. Network Marketing is a continuing challenge. Help your people to continually meet that challenge with a properly planned method of doing business.
The successful network marketer participates in all aspects of the marketing plan, including retailing. How many times have you heard people say "don't worry about moving the product, we are in the management end." There is management end if there are no salespeople to manage. People will duplicate what they see in their sponsor. If you do not retail the product then I hope you don't expect anyone else to do it either. The net result of this frame of mind is a large organization of sales kit holders. In legitimate network marketing companies there are not profits generated until there are sales made. If you expect volume to be generated in your business you must follow the principles of network marketing. That is a combination of retailing and sponsoring. To duplicate yourself in another distributor who also feels that he will be in the "management" end only is self-defeating and will only lead to the ultimate collapse of an organization. If you believe that your product is beneficial to consumers then you should be willing to share the product as well as the marketing plan. If you do not believe that your product is beneficial to consumers then it is time to reconsider what you are doing in that particular business.
The successful person learns every aspect of the business. Network marketing is an extremely easy concept to learn. The techniques of the successful entrepreneurs in network marketing take longer to learn. The incomes that are possible in your business rival the incomes of the best doctors and lawyers in the country. These professionals went through years of training and practice to achieve these incomes, yet most people in network marketing expect the reward with little or no effort. This is impossible. You are in business for yourself and you must take the time and energy to learn every aspect, every technique and every possible plan of attack that your business offers. If you do not take this time then you will flounder in the meager incomes of a beginner for a long time to come. Your business is just like any other business, with the exception of capital outlay. Treat it as such. Are you now able to answer the questions that anyone might ask about your company, your products, your marketing plan and your marketing concept? If you are not, you are not on the road to financial independence. Self-employment without self-discipline is self-defeating.
The successful distributor will make room in his or her life for business. I know you would go to the meeting tonight if the baseball game wasn't on. I know you would attend the conference this weekend if the in-laws weren't coming to town. I know you will read that great new book as soon as you are through with the Sunday funnies, and I also know you will be in the same financial bind five years from now, that you are in today. Everyday you allot eight hours to work for an employer. Why? Because you have to. You are now in a part-time business of your own. Why? Because you don't want to have to put in eight hours for someone else the rest of your life. In the same way, you must not do things so you won't have to put in eight hours a day for the rest of your life. You must make room for your business. You must allot time for meetings, for reading, for prospecting, for retailing and for building. If you don't do this now, that eight hours a day for someone else will add up to a lot more time and aggravation.
Successful people do not procrastinate. Now you have a list of prospects. How many on that list have you called to set up an appointment? If not all of them, why not? tomorrow is always a day away. How many times have you gone to a meeting to find that someone else has taken your prospect there? Do you realize how much it costs you over a lifetime if someone else sponsors someone you know and that person attains success in the business? Waiting could cost you more in network marketing than in any other form of business in existence, so why wait, do it NOW.
The successful person follows up until there is no possible way anything else could be done. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. How many times have you shown the business opportunity to someone and felt that after that great presentation if they were really interested they would contact you? This is wrong, call network marketing what you want but when you come right down to it you are in sales. You are selling a concept, a dream, a future. People inherently want to be sold. They won't say this up front, but they want to be sold. How many times have you been in a store and when approached by a sales person you say that you are "just looking." Sure you are just looking, just looking to buy something. When someone says no to your opportunity they are saying no to the information that they already have. You simply need to follow up and give them more information. Show them how your business fits into their dreams and aspirations. People will seldom change a "no" to a "yes" on the same information, but they will make a new decision based on new information. The follow up is designed to give them more information to make a decision on.
When handed lemons, the successful person will make lemonade. Have you ever asked someone how they were doing and then were sorry that you asked? You get a chapter-by-chapter book on what's wrong with them and the world. Successful people look for solutions to challenges, while the failure wallows in his or her problems. The first level of maturity is "please help me." The second level of maturity is "I can handle it." And the third level is "please let me help you." When you reach this third level of maturity you have captured the essence of network marketing.
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