How to Spot a Winner In This Industry

Dr. Eileen Silva © 2006
email: ensilva@aol.com
web: http://www.easilymakingmoney.com/

If you’re like me, you’d like to avoid wasting training time with non-producers who spend the bulk of their time hoping for a miracle that never comes. One of the biggest challenges I see in our industry today is when people try to tell the difference between the “winners” and the “also rans.”

My grandmother would have called those “also rans” by a different name: “foolers.” “Mamaw,” as we called her, never did get involved with network marketing, but she might as well have, for she was a keen judge of human nature.

“Them foolers (the slot machines that don’t pay out much) will get to paying you off right
along,” she reported after she had analyzed hitting the jackpot in the Reno casinos. “You’ll think you’ve really got a hot one,” she warned. “But if it keeps spilling a little here and a little there, gradually sucking up your money (and time), just walk away from that fooler. You’ll never get anywhere once they start doing that.”

Now, some of you might argue that Mamaw’s gambling guidelines for picking slot machines bears little resemblance to a distributor evaluation system . . . but I’m not so sure. There are many parallels.

To begin the analogy, my husband, Taylor, --- in the early days, when I was just a distributor for him, --- used to refer to me as his little money machine. Not content to get a few dollars here and a few dollars there, Taylor made sure we were producing true jackpot totals. Nothing less than $5,000 a month was satisfactory in his mind.

My job as Taylor’s protégé was to become highly effective in our industry. I combined all of Taylor’s training with my family’s teachings in an attempt to be the best I could be. Mamaw’s influence on me had been profound. After Mamaw died, at the ripe old age of 89, I wanted to decide if her “fooler” theory had any merit --- or more to the point at hand --- if it had any application to spotting winners in MLM.

I have come to a conclusion: if I keep putting money into what I think is a project (as opposed to a fooler) and, as more time passes, I never find myself ahead of the game, but am steadily losing ground financially, then, according to Mamaw’s theory, we’ve got a hold of a fooler. If spitting back small payouts doesn’t define an MLM fooler, --- pray tell --- then what does? After a poll with some big money earners in the industry, here are the guidelines for MLM winners that I’ve come up with:

1. They are NOT high maintenance, ask for little or nothing, and seem to execute directions in an excellent manner;
2. They are undaunted by failure
3. They never tell you that they are a winner;
4. They could be any age, sex, age, race, educational background and financial standing;
5. They don’t whine much, if at all;
6. They tend to be passionate;
7. They tend to love people;
8. They tend to have some major obstacle that they’ve overcome;
9. They tend to ask for almost nothing, while delivering far more than you dreamed;
10. They tend to be charismatic;
11. They are hard workers;
12. They are flexible and great at evaluating results;
13. They may not conform to any of the above and still be a gigantic winner.

Which leaves me with just one question which probably only Mamaw could answer: Does that make them foolers after all?

How to Prospect the Opposite Sex

Dr. Eileen Silva © 2006
email: ensilva@aol.com
web: http://www.easilymakingmoney.com/

You’ve heard of the bestseller, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Apparently, millions of people believe that there are fundamental differences between the sexes, and they want to decode how “the other side” thinks. This fact set me to thinking; is there a consistent difference between men and women when it comes to network marketing? Do you have to use different means to prospect, depending on the sex of your audience? Should you create two presentations of your business opportunity, one in pink and one in blue?

These questions remind me of a conversation I had about a year ago. Settled comfortably in First Class on a flight home, I found myself next to a distinguished-looking man from the Midwest. I learned that he was the director of a large hospital with over 300 affiliated doctors. “So what do you see as the future of medicine?” I asked.

“That’s easy, “he replied. “Women!”

I was intrigued and somewhat taken aback. “What do you mean? As patients?”

“No. As doctors. I’ve got a great staff of dedicated physicians,” he explained. “They’re virtually all men. But I have never met a male doctor who went into medicine solely to save lives. Most went into medicine because years ago when they were choosing careers, it was the most lucrative, prestigious career you could find.”

“And . . . ?”

“Now, doctors work twice as hard for half the money they were making twelve years ago. Now men aren’t flocking to medicine. Men starting out today are probably getting MBA’s and going into stock trading – because that’s where the real money is now.

“But women are motivated differently, “he explained. “Women are nurturers. They think it’s noble to save lives, and they are not just money-driven. They truly want to make a difference. As the incomes of physicians continue to drop, the percentage of women entering the field of medicine will continue to rise.”

Apply this insight to network marketing, and what do you discover? You find that men are attracted by the plan and the money, women by the product and the chance to transform lives for the better.

An interesting theory. But is it true?

I have found that 95% of the women I’ve dealt with want to make sure that the product works for them personally, before they will actively work the business. I’ve found that men, on the other hand, can stick a case of product and a business kit under their arm and enroll six other men before they even crack open their first bottle and try the stuff.

More women than ever are disenchanted with the lifestyle forced on them by an outside career. Leaving their children in day care for someone else to raise is no longer a viable option. Women have particular talents in multi-tasking, which make them ideally suited for a networking career. They have usually been trained to do many things at once, such a talking on the phone while cooking, while tending to children, while opening mail. Men, on the other hand, tend to have tunnel vision – they’re hunters, and they like to focus on a single target.

I recommend the following tips when talking to prospects:

Talking to Women:

Do: talk product benefits, show off some vivid success stories, emphasize a “mission” and a role in helping others, while gaining lifestyle freedom, share all the literature, tapes, and so on, include her husband in the presentation whenever possible if she is married, and bond – make that emotional connection.

Don’t: get over your head extolling all the income options on the first go-round, omit product success tips because this has to work for her first, use just men to endorse or validate your program, rely exclusively on the prospect of making money, patronize her, or pressure or browbeat her into a decision, but make her comfortable above all else.

Talking to Men:

Do: talk big picture, talk big money, emphasize the “Team” and the benefits of positioning, connect him with management, if possible, offer the most lucrative enrollment option, and use men to work with you in the recruitment process.

Don’t: get hung up on ingredient breakdowns, bore him with endless, babbling testimonials or a long, talky presentation, have an all-woman roster on your program, think small or stay “inside the box” when you describe his business, or suggest he just use the products for a while (unless he insists on that approach) before he can start doing the business.

Above all, listen to what your prospects, both male and female, have to say about their own desires and goals and engage in helping them reach those goals.

How We Have Come Full Circle in MLM

Eileen Silva © 2006
email: ensilva@aol.com
web: http://www.easilymakingmoney.com/

People sometimes ask me how the business of MLM has changed over the almost twenty-four years that I have been involved with it . . . and I generally counter with, “How much time have you got?” I say this because . . . quite frankly . . . the whole business bears very little resemblance to the way it used to look.

In the olden days, events were golden and weekly opportunity meetings were mandatory. Since we never knew how our volume was going until after the month was well beyond any redemption, our strategy was to build like crazy, and check with our leaders by phone to monitor how they felt things were going. We looked for “signs of life,” as we called it . . . a “pulse beat” (meaning someone who was actively building), and we would plan support activities, meetings and trainings to build upon that.

In 1987, when my husband, Taylor Hegan, and I launched the original “Calorad” company, the “House of Sherwood,” and essentially moved three-quarters of a million dollars by the last three days of July, we mastered the fine art of conference calling without any conference calling companies. Here’s how it worked: we would call “Person A,” who would connect to “Person B,” who would connect to “Person C” and so on, until we strung six or seven people together. The sound quality got so compromised that the last few people really couldn’t hear much, especially if the call had not been operated-connected, which was an exorbitantly expensive status-oriented technique reserved for “Heavy Hitters.”

Interestingly, those watered-down phone chains seemed to be a real plus. Because the program was so “hot” that potentials needed to speak directly with the launchers, the inefficiency of the system was more than offset by their sense of extreme urgency. Besides, if you became a top break-away, (thus potentially moving to “Heavy Hitter” status), then your 10-case purchases, coupled with your recruiting potential, usually entitled you to be the first connection in your own phone call chain, at which point, you could hear everything. People competed heavily for the chance to host a phone call chain. We were booked nearly non-stop from morning until the wee hours.

We all ordered cases of everything. People had to buy from us with cash or checks, as we couldn’t take charge cards, but we really didn’t do much retail in those days. I had cases of product in my garage, but my checks more than made up for it. I was making over $100,000 a year in my “spare time,” which had to be very carefully planned. We placed a very high premium on the trainings and meetings. I remember that in 1987 and 1988, I flew out nearly every single weekend, even on Thanksgiving afternoon. I flew over 100,000 miles in less than a year with Delta alone.

In the 80’s, if you made over $10,000 a month, you virtually became the Julia Roberts of MLM. People were as in love with the status as they were with the lifestyle. I remember a time, in 1988, when I gave serious consideration to the need for a bodyguard. It was an exciting, celebrity kind of existence. Somehow, I found it glamorous that I couldn’t remember where I was when I woke up on Sunday morning. In December, when I got an unsolicited custom-made fur coat gift from a secret admirer along with three flower arrangements, all in the same day . . . I was finally speechless.

Let’s fast forward to the present. Now, we often have budding superstars in our organization who we haven’t met, or even heard about, until we “see” them on “Office to Office,” our business management system on the website. We do company-wide Leadership University calls, where proven leaders train on products, how to make money quickly, and how to handle all aspects of the business . . . while the entire field tunes in simultaneously from the comfort of their own homes . . . with great acoustics.

We all create our self-replicating websites, which replace most of the need for person-to-person meetings or mail-outs. With the “branding” assistance most companies provide and the way we train our new recruits to “almost instantly” replace an income, times have changed indeed.

People don’t tend to follow a “personality” in the business now, because the power has been shifted from the individual to the marketing systems. People can pick up one of my “cards,” call a pitch on a tollfree line, and leave a message that they want to hear about my opportunity ― all without my direct involvement.

It becomes very important now to provide personal leadership, getting a new recruit fully integrated with the systems, and helping him or her develop a 2-5 year business plan for income freedom. Of course, in today’s marketplace, there are many more MLM companies than before and the failure rate (as much as 95%) is still as high as ever ― so embarking on a MLM career without expert mentoring is not for the faint of heart.

It’s probably harder today to make big money constantly without a great sponsor. There are many “trainers” and “experts” who, for very high fees, offer to coach you out of mediocrity, which brings me to this question: “How do you make big money in today’s market?” Today’s approach de-emphasizes your talent and focuses on systems, many of which supposedly can work, with or without your active participation. Another question to consider: “How do you manage to keep your organization happy, plugged in, responding, growing?” I’m going to maintain that you actually do it much as you might have done it 20 years ago, only with a twist.

First, you appreciate your organization tremendously, and send written cards and notes of congratulations as they progress. Resist the impulse to just dash off an email. Make it an old-fashioned “thank you.”

Next, you resist the impulse to flood their in-boxes with multiple unsolicited group email messages (don’t you just hate it when you see six listings with a FWD on it and a huge address listing?)

You plan some real live get-together retreats with your leaders, and you do whatever you can to help them feel special (limos are a nice touch – we rented seven for our last large leadership retreat).

Educate, educate and educate, ― hold nothing back ― give everybody in your company everything you’ve got in the way of ideas, because in actuality, very few people will do exactly what you do with it anyway.

Invent methods for non-technological people to use technology without having to understand it (ie, how to, and why to, use a self-replicating website when you don’t have a computer at home).

Treat this business as a real business. The days of a little giggling mom saying she has made over $5000 a month and doesn’t have a clue about the compensation plan are OVER. We have evolved to a very sophisticated operation in MLM today, and you need to respond to that.

Most of all, be prepared to invest time and money in yourself for a period of time, so that you can learn the ropes and do this thing. You will be so glad you did. You can, as one of our moneymakers did, change your income from an accidental few thousand a month to a consistent $10,000 a month in a solid, long-lasting business by using support systems like our Boot Camps.

If you have been circling the tent on MLM for a while, it is time to get going. With all of its imperfections and risks, MLM is the last chance at the brass ring that the average person has. As I look around at all the phenomenal evidence of monetary success that I see, I’m very glad that I persevered. I have to pinch myself even now when I think of the lifestyle that over $8 million in income this decade has brought, and I would not have missed it for the world.