FOCUS
Automated
Communications
Tools
Events
Recruiting
Systems
Running a network marketing company incurs some serious chaos. It is an opportunity to change thousands of lives forever in ways that are not possible in any other profession. And yet…
Thousands of distributors have their favorite products, favorite new product ideas, compensation suggestions, event preferences, competition they want you to protect them against and of course the everyday drama the egos of humans create.
And then there are the dozens of departmental distractions. Legal, finance, human resources, manufacturing, supply chain, international market expansion, events, marketing, shipping, customer service, digital experience, IT platforms, regulatory bodies, associations, travel, travel and more travel and ….dealing with ownership.
To top it off the CEO and or President of a network marketing company is the Chief Sales Officer, Chief Field Development Officer, Chief Keynote Speaker, Chief Flesh Pressor and Hugger, Chief Recognition Officer and Chief Communicator. Everyone wants to hear from and get a piece of whomever is running the company.
And in the end most people running the company do not even own it. It is a job. One they can be fired from. Most end up feeling like a pinata where instead of being beaten with sticks you are being pulled apart piece by piece.
The upside is this position is the only position in the company where you can actually make the differences that matter. You are in control. You can make the decisions that move the needle providing the owner does not try to do your job for you. In that case, it is an empty, less fulfilling role.
Growth requires FOCUS, extremely committed, relentless focus on what matters for growth. It is so easy to chase the urgent needs and wants of others. Others rarely understand exactly what is required for growth. It is the CEO’s role and responsibility to be the keeper of focus, focus on the mission, focus on the chosen strategy, focus on the growth metrics that matter.
Perhaps the most misunderstood growth factor of network marketing is recruiting. Recruiting IS the unique growth strategy that defines network marketing. Without recruiting we are just another direct selling opportunity…a linear and earned income option. People might as well drive Uber or get a part time job. Those things are a lot easier than enrolling and maintaining customers in a direct selling business.
The rule that defines network marketing is “Everyone, every customer, every member, every prospect can build a community of customers and a sales team. Everyone can recruit others from day one. Everyone”. This rule was created in 1946 with the direct selling company California Vitamins and their legacy product Nutrilite multivitamin. Rich Devos and Jay Van Andle were California Vitamins sales leaders. They left to start Amway. They later bought California Vitamins. Today Nutrilite is the number one multivitamin brand in the world. Amway does over 8 Billion a year in sales, the number one network marketing company by a factor of 2 and has held that position for over 30 years. Why? A focus on recruiting. Amway distributors are the best recruiters in the profession.
Recruiting is not illegal. Being the best recruiting company is not illegal. Recruiting a lot of people is not illegal. And there is NO legal standard for what percentage of your members are customers vs distributors regardless of what the FTC would like you to believe. I am not suggesting most of your members ought to be distributors. In fact, just the opposite. I am suggesting that the way you get the most customers is by recruiting the most distributors. Very few network marketing CEO’s get this. They are lost in the chaos.
Everytime you acquire a customer you acquire potential long tail income. Retention of course determines how much income each customer is worth. But customers do not grow your business. I know how that sounds but if you study your metrics you will see that it is true. Until you put money on the table, customers just buy. They may tell others but they do not include a LINK with their story. Only distributors are motivated to do that.
Every time you recruit a distributor you bring in a group of customers…at the very least you bring in a far better customer than if you had just acquired a customer. Run the metrics. Distributors as customers order more every month and stay active far longer than just customers…even if they never recruit anyone themselves.
The real customer centric companies are those that focus on recruiting.
How do you focus on recruiting while staying compliant. Just be compliant. It is not hard. Use a well prepared, transparent and accurate IDS and avoid all the hype and materialism.
And keep this mantra in front of everyone on your team. If the project, incentive, special, communication or staffing does not fit in these six activities it must be a lower priority.
Focus Facters. Each of them are deserving of their own study.
Read The Four Year Career to learn how and why network marketing really works.
