Not another network marketing blog

I was thinking about Write or Die (a great website that gamifies writing to break through writer’s block) and I was thinking about blogging.

What would it be like to just write a blog post with Write or Die every day and post it up on a blog? It sounds like a simple proposition. Would it work? And who would read this blog anyway?

Well, people who are thinking about network marketing, for a start. This blog could be about network marketing.

Which of course has a bad rap among many people. And with reason.

Many network marketers aren’t doing the industry a service.

The dreaded MLM phone call

You’ve probably been on the receiving end of “the call.”

An old friend calls you up after a long time of silence “just to chat” and soon he’s asking you to join his MLM.

Heck, you might even have been on the giving end of that phone call.

Either way, it’s not a pleasant experience.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to do network marketing

Recently, I’ve come into contact with mentors who teach a different way, who teach that you really shouldn’t make a list of all your friends and family and tick them off the list as you go down the line making “the call” to each of them.

Maybe this blog could be about how to do network marketing right. Maybe this blog could be about what network marketing really is and how it should be done.

Perhaps, to bring more credibility to the industry. Perhaps to connect with those who believe that there’s a better way to do network marketing, than to hassle your friends and family.

Should I talk all about how to do MLM right, right now?

No, I obviously couldn’t talk all about it right now, even if I wanted to. It’s beyond the scope of one blog post.

But maybe I could outline what I’ve learned from my mentors.

What network marketing is and isn’t

First off all, network marketing isn’t a “features and benefits” sales model. It’s a relational model.

It’s more NETWORK than MARKETING.

It’s built on the adage that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

So, network marketing is first and foremost about caring about people.

Don’t try and sell them stuff.

Get to know them instead.

And as you get to know them, you might find that they want what you have to offer. Or not.

And if they want what you have to offer, then maybe they’ll buy it from you.

But that’s a lot of maybes.

People are people, not sales targets

You need to respect people and not treat them like marks for your sales pitch. People are people, not prospects, not targets, and definitely not suckers.

You need first to get to know people, their needs and their wants and their pain points.

And only if, if, IF they need and want what you have to offer, do you introduce it to them and invite them to check it out.

And if they check it out and do not decide to buy, then it should not change your attitude towards the relationship. That’s a real test of sincerity.

And if they check it out and decide to buy, then it’s been a mutual benefit.

And that in a nutshell is network marketing.

What comes to your mind when you hear “network marketing”?