Starting your own company is a big step in your life, no matter what you’re planning on doing. And while network marketing opportunities offer a fast way to get going and to start moving towards some measure of success, they’re not without their challenges.
While things like building up leads and confronting the stigma that some may hold against these types of businesses will be challenges worth understanding, the first thing that many people in the multi-level marketing industry have to learn is simply how to strive and succeed.
In short, the biggest challenge for most who are beginning a career in network marketing is simply that they aren’t professionals – they don’t have the experience that some other business owners may have. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. That fresh approach and unique perspective on business means that you may have a leg up on the people out there doing the same old, same old.
But that doesn’t mean you should just dive in blind and hope for the best. There are a lot of different things you can learn that will help you improve your chances of succeeding at network marketing. Whether you’re planning on starting up soon or already have taken the first steps, remembering five key rules can help you find the kind of success you’re hoping for.
Rule One: Be Yourself No Matter What!
When you start building your business and creating a group of leads and prospects to join you or to sell products to, you’ll be doing two key things – selling the company and selling yourself. The latter of the two is most important, and when people begin to associate you with what you’re providing you’ll find better success – they aren’t thinking of the overall corporation you’re a part of, they’re thinking of you.
One key element in succeeding is to be yourself. Many new network marketers find this difficult to do. After all, they’ve probably been trained to some degree by someone who was trained by the person before them, all the way up the chain. But what that means is that you lose a bit of your personality and your own identity.
It’s better to take the information that you get from your entry point into the business and then go further. Bring your own personality to products and to sales. Think about the following tips.
• Find what you love about your products and express that to everyone
• Use stories from your own life to show why what you’re offering is so important
• Use your own sense of humor and personality during presentations and sales pitches
Simply put, you’re trying to brand yourself, not improve the overall corporate brand. It’s a big difference and one that will bring you some truly significant benefits if you take the time to understand it more completely. Be yourself, not a half-hearted copy of someone you’ve met or worked with.
Rule Two: Separate Your Emotions From The Job
There’s no question you should be passionate and excited about what you’re doing – more on that in a second – but it’s also important that you don’t let your emotions take over and control what you’re doing. In short, you have to be able to detach yourself emotionally from the potential outcome your presentation, sales pitch, or marketing efforts will lead to.
Here are some things to consider where this is concerned that should help you understand more about what we’re talking about.
• When you’re too emotional, a single question, concern, or negative response could mean that you get defensive, angry, or depressed. Since most people are already skeptical of network marketing, those negative responses are going to happen – and you need to be able to cope with them when they occur.
• Too much emotion will mean that you resent people when they tell you no. But what if that no is just temporary? Your reaction could dictate whether or not they change their mind in the future, and acting professionally instead of emotionally could be the key to success here.
• The wrong kind of emotional attachment can lead to you seeming more like an amateur starting up a hobby instead of a professional that understands the workings of business and how to succeed in your industry.
In other words, you’re trying to come across like a true, competent professional here – not someone who thinks that everyone needs to say yes to their offers immediately and who throws a tantrum or breaks down when they hear the word ‘no’ or ‘but what about…’. It’s great to love what you’re doing, but remember that your emotions shouldn’t impact your professionalism in any way.
Rule Three: Find Your Passion And Don’t Let It Go
Now let’s take a look at the other side of emotion – finding your passion and making it work for your business in a bigger way. You should truly love your business, the products you sell, and the time you spend recruiting others and helping your business move forwards. Being passionate can help in a huge number of ways including:
• Improved motivation to spend your free time on your business
• Better resilience when faced with negative responses
• A heightened willingness to do what it takes to succeed with your business
• Better ability to keep positive and stay focused when facing setbacks
• A greater willingness to learn more about your business
• Excitement that transfers to those you talk to about your business and what you offer
Passion is contagious. When people see that you’re truly in love with what you do and what you have to offer them, it can easily impact their ability to see the benefits to them and to join you or to purchase your products. Simply put, it has a huge impact on your ability to convince others to join you.
That means you need to find your passion and embrace it completely. There are a few basic steps that will help you do this.
• First, identify your goals and the reasons that you’re taking the steps you’re taking. It may be money to pay for a child’s education, or a career that will hopefully take you to a brighter future. Whatever it might be, find the primary goals and your reasons for embarking on this journey.
• Next find something that you love and can turn into your business. There are numerous network marketing options out there, and you need to find the one that matches you. Do you love staying in shape? Fitness supplements could be the right call. Are you interested in alternative health and helping yourself and others relax? Essential oils could be the option for you. Whatever your interests, match them to your business.
• Remember that nothing will be easy. Finding that initial spark of passion isn’t always difficult – but staying motivated and focused can be tough if you aren’t prepared for the big challenges you’ll face. Understand that you’re going to have to put forth serious effort and remember this – it will help you get keep your passion burning brightly.
If you’ll find your passion and hold onto it, you’ll see that you get increased results from your efforts at network marketing. It’s a step that should come naturally, but that still deserves mentioning.
Rule Four: Master Your Resilience
This is something that is slightly related to separating yourself emotionally from your potential outcomes, but it also has some other properties that need to be considered. Resilience is something that every business professional needs, no matter what specific field they’re in. This applies especially to those in the network marketing world due to the unique challenges they’ll face.
First, let’s look at what resilience is in terms of this field. Being resilient includes:
• Being able to avoid being discouraged easily
• Accepting negative responses and overcoming them or moving past them
• An ability to face challenges, adapt, and evolve from them
• The capability to stay positive despite various setbacks or outcomes
For example, you try to convince a prospect to join your team, but they tell you no and that they don’t want to be bothered again. Someone with little resilience could let this completely destroy their willingness to keep going. It could lead them to form doubts about their business and what they’re doing.
But a resilient professional will take that ‘no’ and learn from it. What did you say that you could have said differently? What were their reasons for saying no and how can you address that in the future? The difference here is being able to learn from a negative response and move on – not let it drag you down.
So how do you become more resilient? It’s something that will come naturally to most, but a few tips could help you somewhat. Here are some things to remember.
• Expect the negative. Let’s face it – sometimes things aren’t going to go perfectly. Be prepared for bad things to happen, for challenges to present themselves, and for people to say ‘no’.
• Find your confidence. Simply put, you have to believe in yourself and what you’re doing. If you don’t, one little setback could ruin your entire efforts. It’s important to be confident in what you’re doing so you don’t lose faith in yourself.
• Learn, adapt, and grow. This has been touched on earlier but it’s still worth mentioning. Instead of looking at something as a disaster, try to find the lessons in it and grow from it. You can learn a lot just by thinking about something constructively instead of letting it ruin your attitude.
A resilient business professional will always be able to work through the challenges that they face and come out on the other side strong. Be sure you’re able to do the same.
Rule Five: Master Your Craft Completely
Finally, we’ll touch on something that should be obvious but that is often overlooked – your understanding of what you’re doing. Owning your business and selling your products and opportunities is the basic principle of your efforts, but have you truly mastered it? Here are some things to remember.
• Do you know the ins and outs of your products completely? Will you be able to answer any questions that a customer may have about them? Can you explain why they’re so important?
• Have you mastered speaking clearly and coming across as a professional? Good communication skills combined with strong body language will help ensure that you get your point across and find success.
• Are you armed with plenty of stories about your business and how it can change someone’s life? Sure, knowing the numbers and the data is a good idea as well – but it’s stories about real people that help convince others that it’s worth investing in what you have to offer.
Simply put, there’s a lot to being a business leader and taking the time to master the art of selling your products and your business opportunity will be instrumental in succeeding at your endeavors. You’ll want to understand not only everything you can about your business and products, but also about how to talk to others, how to network, how to connect, and how to grow. Be sure to spend plenty of time becoming a true professional and you’ll be able to enjoy greater results.
Conclusion
Today’s network marketing professionals have plenty of opportunities to succeed. But in order to do so, putting together numerous pieces of a larger puzzle will be important. The basic points above should help make it easier to start understanding more about what you should do in order to thrive in your chosen profession.
Take a look at where you are now and how well you match up to following each of the rules listed above, then see what steps you need to take towards a more positive change. Success is out there if you know how to attain it, and keeping the 5 basic rules of better network marketing in mind will make it much easier for you to reach your goals and take your company into the future in some exciting ways.