The 5 Greatest Myths In MLM - And The Single Secret Needed To Truly Grow Your Business

OK, before we get started I want to warn each of you - this is a no holes barred article. If you’re successful already in MLM, you may even not want to read further - it might give you nightmares about just how big your group could have been if you’d only known the truths.
Anyway enough said so lets get down to business. Regardless of which business we are in, almost every networking company spreads the same myths. I’m going to talk about the worst 5 myths, although there are many more. So grab a blanket, make a hot chocolate, sit next to the fire and get ready for the truth !

Myth 1 : No Selling
Lets start with the least serious myth - “No Selling”. How many of you were told when you joined your MLM program that it wouldn’t involve selling ? How many of you have told your prospects or your downline the same thing ? I can still hear my first upline “Its OK, there’s no selling it’s just sorting”. Lets get real here. Why are we showing people our products, service or business ? Just for fun ? We’re looking for them to either buy the product or join the business. In both cases their buying - which mean’s we’re selling - whether we like it or not. The only difference between a sorting mindset and learning and applying proper techniques is the closing ratio - on average 1 in 15 vs. 1 in 3 !

So why do we tell people there is no selling ? Because people are scared to death of selling. As simple as that. We’re afraid the prospect will put on their Nikes and run if we answer “yes there is selling”. However if the prospect is scared about selling when their really, really excited about the business, how keen are they really going to be in 3 or 4 days when they are starting to have little doubts ? Sure they’ll come to training, use your time, make friends and show up guestless at the hotel briefings, but is this what we want ?
Why not answer their questions honestly ? “To be honest, yes there is selling involved, but only to the extent of helping them reach a decision that’s best for them. Don’t worry though, we’ll guide you and train you every step of the way. Does that sound fair enough ?”
Try it, you might be surprised !

Myth 2 : The Power Of 2
Depending on your business this could also be “The Power of 3,4 or 5”. The number of people joining Network Marketing who are told that all they need to do is just find 2 (or 3,4 or 5), and they’re sorted. Why ? Because those 2 get 2 who get 2 …… and you’re now a millionaire, or very rich in the worst case. This has to be one of the worst myths in Network Marketing for several reasons

a) Drop Out Rates
Over 90% of Network Marketers quit in the first 6 to 12 months. The 2 get 2 get 2….. just doesn’t reflect this or reality. Prospects are not told they need massive action and effort to be successful, and that just getting 2 is enough.

b) False Expectations
If you are running a marathon and know you’re running a marathon, then yes its difficult but you are at least mentally prepared for the distance. If you were to start the race believing you were only running 1 mile, then the last 25 are going to seem like hell. You just aren’t mentally prepared for the distance.
Logically it seems obvious that if you’re going to run a marathon then you should prepare yourself for a marathon and not a short sprint. The same applies to any activity, however over and over again, we set our new prospects up for failure by telling them they are up for a short sprint instead of an endurance race.
Is there a better way ? Sure, set realistic expectations from the start. Imagine the following conversation when a prospect starts.

“Well Mr. Prospect, to be honest if you have 5 hours a week you aren’t going to earn millions in a year. Sure you may earn an extra £500 a month after 12 months, and you wouldn’t be the first if you made several thousand after 12 months but it does all come down to you and your effort. Are you willing to put forth the effort needed, and dedicate at least 5 high quality hours to your business ? …… Great then lets start realistic and set out a plan of action to get you started
1. Lets get your income to the level that you get your products for free
2. Lets help 3 others then get their products for free
3. Lets show them how to help others
4. Then lets stop and set new goals for you.

This will probably have taken around 6 months and you’re now likely to be earning around £250 a month. Now that’s residual every month so it’s a nice start and totally realistic.”
Which one sounds more realistic, less hype and sets the prospect up for sustained effort ? Its up to you which you choose to use, but choose wisely.

Myth 3 - 3 Way Calling
I can already see many of you standing up and defending 3 way calling before I even start. Sure it has some major benefits. If you’re a new prospect, then its re-assuring to be able to just listen to an expert tell your prospects all about the business, answer their questions and sign them up. You just sit there and listen and watch your business grow. But you deserve it right ??!! You did get those prospects in front of your upline in the first place, right ?
So lets try looking at 3 way calling in another example.

You go to your local Ford garage and are looking for a new car. A salesman comes up to you and tells you he has the best car in the world for you, and you just have to take a look. So you go and have a look around the car and it looks good. Actually it looks almost perfect, maybe even too good. So you start asking a few questions. You ask the simple ones first “does it come in blue ?” The salesman answers that he thinks so. You ask if you can have alloy wheels too. The salesman then relies “well actually, let me just get an expert on the phone for you. He knows all about these cars and can answer all your questions for you.” So you get the car expert on the phone and he tells you all about the car and competently answers your questions. You then happily buy the perfect car, safe in the knowledge of a good purchase.

Sounds good doesn’t it. And that’s what happens in Network Marketing, so just what is the problem ?
Simple ! Lets go back to the example. If you were buying that car, after talking to the expert, what’s your opinion of the salesman in front of you ? Come on, be truthful ? You see him as a paper pushing monkey, who doesn’t really know much but can at least do the paperwork, correct ?
Now that is EXACTLY what your new associate thinks as well. So who do you think they’re going to take their new prospects to ? You or your upline ? Good guess - you won’t be getting that phone call. Your new associate is serious, and you couldn’t even answer their questions, so why are they going to entrust their new diamond covered, gold plated, hot new prospect to you ?
You see - YOU are never positioned. How can you build your business long term using this approach ? The simple answer is that you can’t.

“But wait” you say. “I’ve been told this is the best way to grow the business”. I’ll be the first to tell you that, that statement is absolutely true. It is. However its not your business that growing, its your upline’s. You see you have to face the truth. Over 90% of network marketers fail or quit in the first 12 months. As far as your upline is concerned you’re almost guaranteed to quit. So he needs you to bring in at least 1person to replace yourself. If you get 2 then even better, their business just grew. On average people bring in 2.3 new prospects before quitting. If you were your upline, wouldn’t you want to be positioned as the expert and have that relationship with the new prospects ?

Now back to the car salesman. What if you asked him questions and he answered the majority competently ? Lets say you ask him a really, really tricky one, how about “how many teeth does the 4th gear wheel have ?” Instead of getting you an expert he replied “wow ! Great question and to be honest I’ve not been asked that before. Grab a cup of coffee, I’ll just find out for you and be back in 5 minutes.”

You still got all your answers, you still buy the car.
But what’s your opinion of the car salesman now ?
A little different ?

Spend the time to become the expert, treat your business like YOUR business and position yourself as the expert. I promise you the results will amaze you !
For those of you still sceptical about the truth behind 3 way calling. Here’s a quick thought for you. When you highest upline started…. Who did he 3 way call to ? The CEO ? Think about it.

Myth 4 : Prospecting Your Warm Market
This has to be one of THE craziest myths put about in Network Marketing. Hands up everyone reading this report, who has ever talked to their friends or family about their MLM business. OK. That’s the majority of you.

OK. Put your hands down if you’ve never enrolled a single person from your warm market. WOW ! About 50% just put their hands down. Did you see that.
Now for the killer question out there. Put your hands down if YOUR warm market quit within the first 6 months. What I mean is keep your hand up if the people YOU recruited into the business from your warm market are still working away and growing the business. WOW ! Give the 3 guys and gals with their hands still up a round of applause. It only works for around 5% of you.

If you think I’m making this up, then I challenge you to ask the same question at your next big meeting - just do me a favour and let the guests leave first ok. Or lets make it easy for you. Look at your big upline leaders, and then look at the next level of leaders under them. I’ll bet you can see every single member of their family there can’t you ? Can’t you ?
So why is it that it doesn’t work ? Quite simple. We’ve covered a few reasons earlier in the report, so lets talk about a few other reasons.

1.You don’t command respect with your family about business
Your family know you almost as well as you know yourselves. They remember the time when you fell from the tree and broke your leg because you misjudged the branch, oh wait that was me…. Never mind you get the picture. They remember all your mistakes, all the problems you’ve gone through - everything. They haven’t seen you be a big business success yet, so why should they believe you that this could be different ?

2.You’re told NOT to qualify anyone
This one is great ! I remember when I joined my first business, I was told - "NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES QUALIFY ANYONE !" Why ? Because obviously you never know when the time is right for someone to add new income to their pockets.
I have to be brutally honest here. This is the biggest pile of rubbish ever told ! Marketing 101 - Always target your prospect. If you have a list of 100 people who have shown they have a need, want or desire for your product, then you’re likely to get 10-15 to actually take a look, and sign up between 3 and 7 people either into your opportunity or to start using your product. If you now take a random list of people from the phone book (which is what you’re effectively doing), then your success rate plummets. If you get 2 or 3 to take a look you’re doing well ! You see you’re just not putting the numbers in your favour.

Also ask yourself this. If you want to create massive growth in your business then YOU personally are going to need to sponsor a large number of people. I’m not talking about 20 to 30 people in total, I’m talking a sustained 3 - 5 people personally A WEEK ! Take a look at the size of your warm market. Can you realistically bring in 3 - 5 people a week ? What are you going to do when your warm market runs out ? Either you can be like most upline leaders, praying that their downline brings in enough people to sustain growth, or you can take the time and effort to learn basic principles of marketing, are really start to bring the Marketing back into Network Marketing.

Oh, and if you don’t believe the comment about your upline leaders praying - think back to those hotel briefings. Choose any leader that has a downline of more than 100 people and try and remember if you can remember them bringing even one guest since you’ve been there.

MYTH 5 : Its All About Leads
After Myth 4, we now tie in very nicely to Myth 5. You see some leaders, maybe 20-30% are actually on the ball. They realise their warm markets are not infinite. They realise that they might actually have to do some serious effort so they go out and start looking at cold calling. Now cold calling is not as evil as its made to be. Well, if done properly its not. OK, time for another test. Hands up anyone who’s ever paid $5 or more for a RED HOT lead ? Thought so, about 50% of people in MLM have done that. Still keep your hands up, I have another question for you yet ! Take your hands down if you bought these leads from someplace else, other than a recommendation from your upline. Opps. Only a few put their hands down.

You see these mega red hot leads are generated by hundreds of websites out there, where people are asked to leave their details if they are interested in an opportunity. What actually happens, and I know this because I’ve been there, is you get a list of job seekers, that would rival the social security queue at the job centre, OR you get a whole list of people who actually were only interested in the toaster they were offered for leaving their details, or the prize draw entry for the trip to Hawaii.

You see the leads mostly don’t work. But what does this have to do with your upline ? Because it’s a numbers game and they know that out of 100 leads at least a few will join. So what’s better ? 1 person dialling or 10 people dialling - silly question or what. However, most online lead services actually offer a commission to people to recommend their lead source to their downline. Now the commissions vary from a measly 5% to a whopping 30%. So look at it from your upline’s perspective. You get paid to grow your business. I’d be screaming BINGO !

So you might be thinking that I’m actually recommending not to use cold leads. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m just recommending you do it properly. Let me give you an example. In my primary I retail weight loss products. Let me describe my cold lead that I use, and tell me how much you think it is. The list are women who’ve been a member of a weight loss club in the last 12 months, they are still wearing a large dress size, they have purchased a product on a credit card in the last 12 months, and they have a household income in excess of $25000 or £13000. So I know they are overweight, I know they have tried to lose weight and I know they have a credit card and can afford my product. Sound like a hot lead ? OK time for guesses. How much does this lead cost me ?

$10 ? Nope
$5 ? Nope
$2 ? Nope
$1 ? Nope
50 cents ? Nope

Try a miniscule 10 cents, or 5pence, a lead. That’s what happens when you learn how to target your prospect, and know how to grow your business like a proper business.
If you really want to kick start your business then how about having your very own website, where people come and leave you their details requesting help ? That’s definitely a hot lead. With the proper skills and techniques you can do this for a lot less than $2 a lead, and with the right optimisation around $1 a lead. Kinda makes those $5 leads look a bit long in the tooth doesn’t it ? However, remember you’ll need to learn how to market your site, write killer copy and drive your audiences to take action !

The Big Secret !
So right about know you’re probably wondering exactly what the big secret is aren’t you ! I know I would be. It took me nearly 6 months of failure before working this one out, and I know many others that took years.

The “Big Secret” that you need to know - is simply this. Do exactly what multimillionaires and billionaires do. They find mentors who have been successful and find out exactly how they did it ! They then get help every step of the way to success. The secret though is that you need to find real mentors who are able to succeed with any product or service. This means learning the Art and Science of Marketing. Something less than 1% of all network marketers have done, and THE reason why those 1% account for more than 80% of the top 5% of top network marketers.