Sometimes, the most important people for your business are NOT your prospects! In fact, you need to have a good number of people you talk to on a regular basis that arent prospects and probably never will be.
When I first came online, I met an awesome girl, Stephanie Deneke (youve probably heard me talk about her before without her I probably wouldnt have a business). Shed been around the industry for a little bit, and I was a noob.
She gave me ideas on how to run my business, kept me up-to-date on stuff, and was basically my informal coach. And the funny part is, months after our relationship began, I joined her MLM because she was such a good friend and she had helped me so much!
Its imperative that you find yourself an informal coach. It has to be someone who is your friend. In fact, you probably shouldnt even have the attitude that the person is your coach, but rather someone you talk to just because you like that person.
First of all, it will help you get a foot in the door. If you hang out with a few people who have been around for a bit, they help you get actively involved in the network marketing community instead of being on the outside looking in.
Youll be able to meet lots of new people through your connections. Stephanie has introduced me to many people I now stay in touch with on a regular basis.
These people help me stay informed on what is going on. Whether its a new training, a product, new marketing strategy, or just something funny that somebody did, I usually know about it because somebody will tell me.
The best part of having other plugged-in marketers to connect with is that you can bounce ideas off them, ask them questions, share marketing strategies, and work together for success.
Then, when you start to build a list, it opens a whole new world for you if you know people.
One thing that Ive done is to cross-promote Facebook groups with other people. This means that you promote someone elses Facebook group to your Facebook group and they promote yours to theirs. Then, overnight, you can have several hundred new people join your group!
First, you have to have networked and know people that you can do this with (you could do this with people you dont know, but somebody you are friends with will most likely be willing to reciprocate).
Then, they should have relatively the same size group as you. Its not really fair if your group has 100 people and the other person has 2,000.
Another idea is that you can do this with your email list. You promote somebody elses blog, or even a capture page to your list. Other people will be willing to do this with you if they see you just got them 25 leads overnight.
Later, when youve been around for a while, you can do joint ventures with other marketers.
For example, Im coming out with a product next month. Ive talked with several marketers that I know and have networked with. Many of them agreed to help me promote my product, and in return, for every person they refer they earn a commission.
So how do you find people like this to network with?
For starters, dont pitch! Marketers who pitch can never build relationships with other marketers because people find them annoying. Instead, find people that you have something in common with. The best is when you are in the same company because then you know there wont be any pitching.
Get involved in conversations. Talk with people on Facebook. Send them personal messages. My favorite is to chat on Skype because its non-invasive.
Provide something in return. Looking back on how my relationship with Stephanie began, I guess the only thing I could really offer her was to be a friend because I didnt know anything about the industry. Thats the least you can offer!
I guess the point is, good things happen when you try to network and build relationships with people. Most people Ive signed up began because I was trying to simply build up my connections.
Then, when you find people that are already in your business, or you just really like them, continue to cultivate the relationship even if you believe that they wont join you. In the long run, they will be much more useful than any single prospect ever could be.
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