If you’re involved with a network marketing business, you’ve most likely utilized some old school methods to build your business. Purchasing opportunity leads and/or marketing to your “warm market.”
We talked about leads in an earlier post. Today I want to address the problem with “Warm Market” strategies.
In order to be successful with them, one has to have a
Circle of Influence
Boy, are those loaded words!! Although we learned in geometry that any three points determine a circle, a circle of influence really requires MANY more persons to be considered a circle. And what does “influence” mean? According to Webster’s Dictionary, it’s the “power to affect others.”
So to have a circle of influence, you would have many friends and family with whom you have the power to affect. That takes a certain personality type: not just a social butterfly, but an influential person who is “more than just an acquaintance” with many people.
Loners like me, a “sweet Southern girl” who does weird things like acting, enjoys playing computer games, or chatting to online friends, or reading a book (not romance, either, but horror, or fantasy, or science fiction! Oooo! Real girls just don’t do that!), just will not have a “Circle of Influence” here among the Old South. Which is what my warm market consisted of.
I grew up in a small town in a somewhat “sheltered” household. Because of that sheltered upbringing, I’ve always found it difficult to make friends of more than a hand full of people at a time. Oh, yes, I’m out-going, and am not afraid to be on stage in any situation. But making real friends is unusual for me. So, if you are one, count yourself lucky! 
That means I have no Circle of Influence.
Now, I know it’s not just in the South, but you get my point that only certain personality types will do well with the warm market strategies. So we’re left with buying leads. I don’t care what anybody says, that’s a very slow way to build. You’re calling people who don’t know you, so there’s no way you have “influence” with any of them.
The problem is obvious.
Does this describe you? Does it describe someone you’ve tried to work with? Every time you call and ask how big their “list” is they say some small number. It’s never bigger than 10 or 20. (LOL, you’re lucky if it’s as high as 20!!)
Don’t get mad at the people you’re working with who have this problem.
They’re not scared to call everyone they know. They just know that they have no influence with them, so the call will be pointless. They’ve probably never called these people before in their lives. If they do now, the person they’re calling will know there’s a purpose behind the call.
Don’t put them in that icky situation! Teach them to attract prospects naturally. Teach them how to find the people who are seeking them.
We’ll talk about how to do this soon…
You and I are very similar in many respects. You nailed it. It’s not just a matter of growing up in a small town, or if you are a social butterfly or not. It is a matter of influence.
I do not have very much influence with the people I know. I did approach them, but I messed it up the first time. After that there was no second time. They wanted me to prove it. Asking for referrals from people who weren’t convinced didn’t work either.
My next route was buying leads or putting up ads in the newspaper. Like you, I had no fear of the phone. I even developed phone rapport with several people. Purchased leads are most often untargeted. They are not categorized according to age group, interests, health concerns, intentions, passions etc. It also takes some practice to know what you are doing. If you spend piles of money on something you are a novice at doing, and you don’t get a good return on your investment, well, it’s a challenge for a lot of people to maintain a positive attitude. They quit and say it wasn’t for them.
Purchased leads are also resold several times. Some popular lead companies claim to only sell their leads a couple of times. When I dialed the numbers I sometimes got yelled at for calling so often, even though I had nothing to do with the previous callers. Even if they are not resold, a person who has filled out a form based on a random ad will likely fill out multiple forms and forget they have done so.
An opt-in form attached to some kind of meaningful content where your contact information appears is a lot better then simply responding to an ad popping out in the middle of nowhere.
Having something of value for others that is associated with YOU is more personable and informative. Building your own organic list using social media sites or low cost sites (Such as Ezine Articles) is the way to go over the long term. No matter where you go, what you do, you can always take that list with you. It does, however take time and patience to establish yourself. Use some good marketing tools and I highly recommend finding yourself a good coach if you are in it for the long haul.