To start an mlm business, you need to have a business plan that works, and then follow it to a tee. There are 6 steps to a successful business plan for an MLM business. Read on to find out what they are.
1. Decide on your product, and find your market.
The two are closely related. You may already be using an MLM product that you are excited about. Great, then locate the strongest benefit of your product, and find out who will be looking for those benefits. For example, if you are using a health and wellness product, your market will be people who are likely to have health challenges. If you have not made a product choice yet, do some market research. Look for strong, emergent trends in people’s needs, and for products that can meet these needs. To stay with our example, the large population of aging “baby boomers” represents a strong trend, and they are likely customer for health and wellness products. The best approach is to look for trends that are affecting you, so you can relate to your customers.
2. Decide what mlm company is going to supply your products.
There are several points you want to consider. First, the company needs to offer a valuable product or service that people would want to purchase for the sake of the benefits alone, even if there was no business opportunity attached. If the only way your customer gain a benefit is by selling the business opportunity, run.
Second, your company should have been successful in business for at least 10 years, and be growing steadily. Startups in this industry come and go very quickly. You will be investing a lot of time and money into your business, and you will be in it for the long haul. Third, your company’s compensation plan must allow you to sell your products with a profit. This brings us to the next step.
3. Determine if you can become profitable quickly.
Look at your company’s compensation plan and find out how much profit per customer per month you can make by selling the product. In most cases, your best bet is to sell your product to retail customers on an auto ship, because you will receive the largest commission from these sales. The longer you can keep your customers, the higher you overall return, and the more you can spend on marketing and advertising.
4. Allocate resources to marketing.
This may come as a surprise to you, but it is mandatory that you allocate some resources to learning how to market. The training that your company is offering is aimed at getting hold of your “warm market”, your circle of family and friends. This will work well for your company which has already thousands of distributors, but it is not a viable option for you. You need to learn how to gain access to large numbers of prospective customers.
5. Gather testimonials, build you personal story and craft a compelling message to your market.
Testimonials and your personal story are powerful ways to communicate with your potential customers. Gathering these testimonials does not cost you any money, and not much time. Listen to other distributors in you company, ask them for testimonials from their customers. Stay on top of company news on the benefits of your product. As you are collecting these items, begin to write a message to your potential clients, that delivers a compelling benefit statement. As you are engaging in this first step of building your marketing campaign, you will also build confidence and leadership. These are the qualities that will make your customers want to buy from you.
6. Learn telephone skills to talk to prospective customers
The telephone is one of the least expensive and most effective ways to contact large numbers of people. Although the internet has become a major source of information, the phone still gives you a great way of making personal contact. MLM is a people business, and your customers are looking for that personal touch and leadership that you can convey over the phone. The phone continues to be the secret weapon of most successful MLM leaders. And, contrary to what is often heard, it is not difficult to master.
Putting it all together.
As you can see, starting an MLM business is about treating it as a business from day one. And that means to plan for coming into profit quickly, and to allocate resources for marketing.
For more detailed information on MLM marketing and free training opportunities, visit me at my blog.
Kai Druhl – 641.469.3292