Network Marketing Mistakes

Avoid Common Network Marketing Mistakes by Learning the 7 Deadly Sins of Network Marketing

You just started a network marketing business and your excited, so what should you do next? To start with let’s show you what not to do. One of the best pieces of advice we can offer people that are new to the network marketing industry is finish your training and learn to avoid the mistakes that so many network marketers have made before you. For this reason we have created a list of common network marketing mistakes - the 7 deadly sins of network marketing.

Network Marketing Mistake #1- Not Completing Your Training

The most common mistake made by network marketers is when they go out and start trying to recruit new members or sell products before they have completed their initial training and as a result normally have little success. As a generally rule you wouldn’t jump into the surf if you didn’t know how to swim, so likewise make sure you know how to run your own business before you try and share it with others. Completing your training is an absolute must if you want to become successful in this business. Arguable the most important thing to learn is how to prospect the right way as this is where so many new comers go wrong.

Network Marketing Mistake #2 - Taking A Salesperson Approach

The question you should ask yourself before you start prospecting is did you join a network marketing business to become a salesperson? For most people the answer is probably not and there is a fair chance that the people you are trying to share the business with don’t want to become a salesperson either. Therefore we encourage you not to be a salesperson. This again comes down to learning how to prospect the right way and will be discussed later in the chapter.

It is natural for you to be excited when you first start your business, but you should try not to fall into the trap of becoming a salesperson (or telemarketer) where you go and approach all of your friends and family and share with them this fantastic business you’ve just started and tell them how they’d be stupid not to join.

Although we encourage you to approach these people as it can be a great way to help establish your business, the mistake normally comes in the way in which you sell the business opportunity and products. New distributors who lack experience quite often overwhelm their prospects with too much information and put pressure on them to join their business, normally with little success. It is important to understand that just because people might be your friends or enjoy your presence that doesn’t mean that they trust your business decisions. Therefore learning to take a professional prospecting approach can help you to avoid the salesperson stereotypes and improve your strike rate.

Network Marketing Mistake #3 - Pleading With Your Prospects

We’re not kids any more, if you’re serious about creating a multi-million dollar network marketing business you need to treat your network marketing business seriously and take a professional approach. Pleading with prospects to join your company only reduces your credibility and puts doubts in your prospects mind about the business model. End result the prospect rejects you and your reputation goes downhill fast.

Would Donald Trump plead with someone to join his business? Of course not, in fact quite the opposite, if his prospects weren’t willing to jump at the opportunity he’d move on and so should you. Remember in network marketing you’re ultimately looking for people to build your business for you, therefore the key is to find the right people not just the willing. If someone turns you down, that’s their bad luck, move on and keep looking.

Network Marketing Mistake #4 - Becoming Emotionally Attached

When people first join a network marketing company they usually have a few people in mind that they hope will join their business. Although these prospects might be your friends and family it is important that you remain professional and don’t become emotional attached to their decision. Remember just because your friends enjoy your company that doesn’t mean that they trust your business decisions. Just like any other business if you don’t make a sale or win a contract you move onto the next customer, network marketing should be treated the same.

Think of prospecting like buying a house, a smart investor knows not to get emotionally attached to the houses they look at. Network marketing is no different, a smart networker understands it’s a numbers game and therefore does not get emotionally attached to their prospects outcomes. For every person that is not interested you are one step closer to the finding someone who is.

Network Marketing Mistake #5 - Making False Claims

Never make false claims about your products or your company, it will only come back to bite you. If you don’t know the answer to something, let your prospect know it was a really good question and that you’ll follow it up for them, don’t be scared to ring the company direct they normally have customer services reps there to help you. Making false claims can get both you and your company into a lot of trouble.

Network Marketing Mistake #6 - Bad Mouthing Others

It’s common sense really, although network marketing can sometimes appear competitive, you do not gain any benefit from bad mouthing other distributors or other network marketing companies. Doing so only hurts the reputation of the industry as a whole. The industry itself is designed to be a supportive network, let’s help to keep it that way; there is more than enough money and prospects to go around for all of us.

Additionally if people have had a bad experience in network marketing previously, identify their concerns and help them to regain the vision. Just because you buy a bad coffee one day that doesn’t mean you should dismiss drinking coffee altogether. The same can be said about network marketing. If someone has previously had a bad experience, that doesn’t mean they should dismiss the industry altogether, just look at different options and find an opportunity that better suits their needs.

Network Marketing Mistake #7 - Not Working Your Business

There is nothing worse in network marketing then an inactive downline. Once you join a network marketing company you should always make a commitment to find your frontline distributors and stick to it. If you’re not willing to put in the effort to achieve your success, you shouldn’t have join the business in the first place. Regardless of whether it takes you 2 weeks or 2 years your upline is there to support you. Think about it, if everybody in the industry made at least this commitment it wouldn’t be long before most people would be earning a 7 figure annual income. The problem in network marketing occurs when new recruits get knocked back once or twice and give up.

“Our greatest glory consists not in ever falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -Confucious

How many times do you think that you fell over when you were learning to walk? Did that stop you from trying again? No of course not. The reason why you succeeded in learning to walk was because you made a commitment and you where persistent. Making the same commitment in your network marketing business will ensure your success, you deserve it.

"Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence" - Colin Powell

Network marketing is a relatively simple business, however committing any of the 7 deadly sins only makes it harder. The single best thing you can do when you get started in network marketing is to complete your initial training and invest some time towards learning how to prospect the right way. Practice makes perfect. Once you feel competent that you know what you’re doing use your experienced upline to help you to approach your first few prospects to gain confidence and experience and then you help your downline to do the same.

If you are guilty of one of these common network marketing mistakes, don’t despair most network marketers are, everybody makes mistakes. Indentify what you did wrong and learn from it. If your having difficulty establishing your business please take the time to complete this training chapter and hopefully we will give you a fresh prospective that you need to succeed.

Now that we have identified common network marketing mistakes and what not to do, let’s focus on the positive and show you how to run your business the right way. If you haven't already, take the time to set your SMART goals and then spend some time working with your upline on your prospecting technique.

Good luck!

Network Marketing Mistakes back to the start of the Getting Started Chapter Contents