mlm – Michael Dlouhy

Retention and Persistence

Retention

05-28-2013

It has been said by many leaders in this industry, “MLM is the Great Equalizer.”

Regardless of background, experience or education,
anyone will succeed if they JUST DON’T QUIT.

PERSIST in WHAT? Gathering new leads, introducing
products and opportunity, making phone calls, sending
emails, posting on blogs and social media, etc.?

Yes, but what did we mention last week that ALWAYS
comes first?…

RAPPORT comes first, second, third, fourth, and always
forever!

The biggest struggle I hear repeated by most leaders is
RETENTION – keeping their distributors and customers.

When do we STOP building Rapport? When a person finally
buys our product or joins our Team? When a distributer
sponsors their first person? When a distributor
achieves a leadership pin level?

I told You last week that my sponsor quit and his
sponsor quit. This happened with my first MLM back in
1974, and again with my current MLM.

So, why did I hang around when those whom I knew, liked
and trusted left? In both cases my up-line leader BUILT
know, like and trust with me – and NEVER STOPPED.

This also been said by many leaders, “The fortune is in
the follow-up.”

Is follow-up all about product and skills training? NO!
The main thing is Rapport, Rapport, RAPPORT!

Now, how do You Build Rapport? There are 3 simple
elements…

1. SMILE – mentally and physically forever and always.
This HABIT will lift Your sprit when it needs lifting –
just talk with someone.

2. SHUT UP & LISTEN – Yes, just STOP TALKING. Ask
questions, give positive feedback, be curious, probe
deeper.

3. PASSION – find out what someone really cares about
most. (“I’m just curious, what do You like to do in
Your free time – weekends, holidays and vacations?”)

These 3 make follow-up and Building Rapport so easy and
physically un-demanding – the other person does most of
the talking! Plus, at the end of the conversation, they
will tell You how much better THEY feel because of
talking with You! (And YOU feel better too, but that’s
a secret.)

Yes, answer any questions they may have – but focus
mainly on the RAPPORT.

So, why do people quit (other than Your failure to
build Rapport with them)?

A deficiency in one or more of these 3:

1. A clearly defined WHAT. Knowing everything about
What they want – the look, sound, feel, smell, taste,
etc. of it.

2. A strong, passionate WHY. The Chief Aim in life that
drives the Emotional Feelings about what they want.

3. An unshakable BELIEF. They must FEEL they deserve
what they want, are worthy of it, and are in the
process of achieving it.

You see, folks get distracted or discouraged by
focusing too much on the HOW – and want a new tool,
script, skill, technique, sponsor, product or
opportunity – but not enough focus on the 3 things that
matter.

Beating the same old drum here, SELF-TALK is the device
for building the Strength of the Three.

Build the Three, and the HOW will take care of itself –
even the mistakes are good.

It’s perfectly okay to take a “recovery” day or two
after an exhausting weekend, week, month, etc. – as
long as the “recovery” days don’t string along into a
new Habit of Procrastination.

Ken Klemm – Florida, USA

P.S. The grass is always greener on the other side of
the fence… until it’s time to mow.

The Secret Opportunity

05-21-2013

(This is an excerpt. Read the full article HERE.)

It is useful for us, as marketers, to realize our
prospects Decide to Act (buy our product or join our
team) based on EMOTION, not Logic.

Thus we can stop wasting our precious time trying to
CONVINCE folks with Live Presentations, Audios, Videos, PDFs and Websites full of facts, figures, charts and colorful graphics…

At least not until AFTER they have already Decided to
ACT.

In his recent Big Al Workshops, Tom Schreiter asks us
to place these four activities in their proper order:
Ice Breaker; Presentation; Close; Rapport.

Rapport (Know, Like and Trust) is ALWAYS first. Then
the Ice Breaker (introduction), followed by the Close
(decision), and the Presentation is ALWAYS last.

Huh? What? That’s not what they taught us in sales
training!

Let’s see if my sponsor followed this formula when I
joined my first MLM, back in 1974…

I was in college. My sponsor was my best friend, a
fraternity brother. (Rapport.)

One day he approached me extremely excited, “We’re all
gonna be rich!” (Ice Breaker.)

When I asked how he replied, “I can’t tell You. It’s a
secret.” (The Close – Curiosity. Dammit, I was IN! I
just wanted to know how we were going to do it. Being
in a fraternal order, I trusted the secret would be
revealed at the proper time.)

His sponsor, another close friend and frat brother,
reinforced this excitement and secret stuff. I was yet
unaware they were following a proven, duplicate-able
system.

By the time I saw the Plan (The Presentation), I was
BEGGING for it!

Now, here’s a piece of real GENIUS: At the end of the
presentation, I was STILL not permitted to join!

I had to see the presentation a SECOND time along with
guests I invited to see it with me. Then, and only
then, would I be permitted to join.

I did not know enough about the company, products, or
compensation plan to screw things up! I had to resort
to, “I can’t tell You. It’s a secret.”

Before long, I was traveling the East Coast by
Greyhound Bus toting my blackboard and overnight bag to
reveal “the secret” to friends of friends of friends.

Not long after I joined, my sponsor quit. Later on his
sponsor, my other friend, quit.

But by then, my up-line leader had become a close
friend. (Rapport, again!)

Now, this exact method will not work today in 2013.

Shoot! For one thing, we have much better presentation
tools. In 1974 we did not even have whiteboards! (Back
then I used any available chair to prop up my
blackboard. I did not want to tote an easel on the
bus.)

In many ways, this story is similar to my current MLM
experience…

My sponsor and his sponsor quit, and my up-line leader
has become my best friend.

The biggest difference is we all met on-line and built
Rapport over the telephone.

Today we have built a Team on three continents –
without leaving the house, and without ever ASKING
anyone to join!

No buses. No chalkboards.

So, how do You build deep rapport with folks You meet
on the street or on-line?

THAT secret is revealed in Michael Dlouhy’s book,
“Success in Ten Steps,” and the skills are taught by
Mentoring For Free – to anyone who demands them at no
cost.

Ken Klemm – Florida, USA

P.S. When You don’t ASK, nobody tells You, “No.”

Mentally Fit – The New Fitness for 2013

2013 Bald Eagle Light Show 12-29-2012

Most people’s New Year’s Resolutions have something to do with getting their bodies into better shape.

But the NEW fitness is MENTAL Fitness. After all, everything begins with THOUGHT. All HABITS are wired in the BRAIN, not the muscle.

We build ourselves over entirely every eleven months, so we can say we are really only eleven months old at any time. If we build the same defects back into ourselves year after year, then we have no one to blame but ourselves for our condition.

We are the sum total of our own thoughts. Unfortunately, in school we were not taught HOW to think – only WHAT to think.

The volunteer organization Mentoring For Free was founded to help the MLM industry more than eight years ago with the motto, “Where You Learn HOW to Think, Not WHAT to Think.”

When Tom “Big Al” Schreiter examined the Mentoring For Free System before it launched he said, “This will change the Industry.” When he looked at the keystone in the system, the 30-Day Mental Cleanse, he said, “This will change the WORLD.”

Tom Schreiter is well known for saying, “MLM is a Personal Development Program with a Compensation Plan attached.”

So, whether You are building an MLM business, or striving to be a better spouse, parent, friend, neighbor, whatever… the 30-Day Mental Cleanse can help You seize Ownership of Your Mind.

When You Own Your Mind, You OWN YOUR LIFE!

The only cost for this program is the investment of Your time.

When You request Michael Dlouhy’s free e-book “Success in 10 Steps” via the form at Mind.MichaelDlouhy.net, I will personally send You an invitation to the 30-Day Mental Cleanse program – no strings attached.

Your Friend and Servant,

Ken Klemm – Spring Hill, Florida

P.S. FREEDOM Means Seizing Ownership of Your MIND.

2 Little Words That Scream, “Network Marketing Scam!”

Word #1: probably the biggest scam ever run on people in MLM network marketing is the powerline.

The worst thing you can ever do building your business is to create fear of loss. It’s the worst way to build your business. Oh, yes, it definitely works – to get people in. But you have a totally false business, because you’ve got a bunch of people, and none of them ever does anything.

Word #2: Many companies that do a powerline – or even a binary or a matrix – focus their promotion talk on spillover. Now, I have met people who have gotten spillover, definitely. BUT – none of the people that were spilled over on them ever did anything! Why?

Because the promise of “spillover” creates a welfare mentality. What happens when you tell people, “Oh, get in NOW, and you are going to get spillover!”

They’re afraid of losing something for nothing. So they do get in now – and then they sit and wait for all that spillover to make them rich.

Isn’t That A Wonderful Business Plan?

It’s like joining a binary because you can get a position that already has $1 million volume in the strong leg. The reality is, you don’t make a dime, unless you build the weak leg, But people get so worked up about losing that “$1 million position”, they join – and never do anything, and never earn any income.

So never forget those words, powerline & spillover. Anytime you see them, their purpose is to promote the welfare mentality. Something for nothing, something for nothing, something for nothing.

The fact is, you are in network marketing. Network marketing is a business that takes work. It’s net-work marketing, ok? it’s not net-free marketing. It’s not net-spillover marketing. It’s not net-zero marketing, it takes work. Anything you do that promotes the “something for nothing” mindset will not work. End of story.

But you will draw in a bunch of couch potatoes who are convinced that you are going to build it for them. Matter of fact, you can even give them your bank account number, and you’ll just pass the money directly to their account. They don’t have to leave the couch. They can stay on the couch, drink their beer and watch a football game. No problem.

Use Those Two Words As A Tip

Whatever company or whatever distributor is saying them to you, that is not the company or the person you want to depend on long-term. They will not be successful. Keep on looking. There are lots of good companies & MLMers out there. Keep looking, and you’ll find the right mentor.

“Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum!”

If that “heavy hitter guru” you’re talking to looks at all like this buckaroo, you may want to re-think the opportunity.

At the end the first chapter of Success In 10 Steps, you’ll read the story of Michael Dlouhy going to the lady’s ranch in Texas. She invited a number of MLM leaders to her ranch to talk about her new MLM company and get feedback from people on her ideas. She wanted their advice.

What happened was, virtually all of them saw an opportunity to benefit themselves. It became about them, not her. Certainly, again, greed & ego reared their ugly heads.

One of the beautiful features of network marketing is a commission structure designed to reward people who help others become successful. That is terrific. However … in MLM, as in any other business, a lot of people will put a lot more focus on their own personal gain than they do in yours. And there’s nothing particularly wrong with that. It’s pretty much human nature to do what is in your own self-interest. That’s how life works.

However … when you are willing to damage someone else in order to satisfy your own greed, that is a totally different story. Ethical people will not do that. It’s important for your success that you choose people in your life who scrupulously avoid hurting others in their dealings.

And this story Michael tells about his Texas visit features a bunch of people who were not THAT scrupulous group of people. It’s a very worthwhile point to make with your prospects, again and again and again. It resonates with them.

Richard Dennis

YOU Are The Message!

I did a conference call a couple days ago which, in my opinion, is very important to your success in MLM. This call is not about any product or service or company. This call is about YOU.

You really need to listen to it:

How To Get What You Want By Being Who You Are

Also, thanks to Roxanne Green for finding this article, which helps to expand the scope of the podcast above:

A Good MLM Blog Tip

Take care,

Richard Dennis

Use “Success In 10 Steps” To Boost Your Confidence

A lot of what determines success or failure is NOT the obvious stuff that you see and are concerned with.

Studies have shown that whether you’re talking to someone on the phone, or in person, their impression of you & what you say is based ONLY ABOUT 8% on the words you use!!

The other 92% is your body language and the sound & qualities of your voice. I’m sure it’s easy for you to understand that if you sound uncertain, no one is going to follow you. To be successful, you must sound and look like you know exactly what you are doing.

That is one of the reasons that this blog is so useful to you. The more time you spend learning about the intricacies of Success In 10 Steps, the more certainty you will have when you talk to a prospect. And as you study & gain the ability to direct them to a specific page that answers their question, you look to them like someone who really knows what they are doing.

And when they see you that way, it’s a big key to their desire to work with you.

This is something you just cannot afford to shortcut. So open a new text file. Read Success In 10 Steps again, and take notes by chapter. Write down what strikes you as really memorable, really useful, and note the page it’s on. Talk about it out loud. Tell what you really like. Again, write down your notes.

The better you get at this, the more confident you will sound when you speak with a prospect. When they can hear in your voice that you are certain you know what you’re talking about, you are in good shape.

Richard Dennis

Marketing Insanity – A True Case

It’s worth your time to take a look at the section on “Marketing Insanity” on page 17 of the Success In 10 Steps ebook by Michael Dlouhy. I was talking with a husband-and-wife on a 3-way call the other day. They’re in a company selling water filters. Their basic product is a $4,000 sale.

And they tell me, “But you can buy it over time!”

Boy! Hope springs eternal in network marketers, doesn’t it? They KNOW they can make this thing work. “Heck, they can buy it over time. This’ll work.”

So here’s the deal, which is what I told them:

“FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS?!!!!!!!”

Are you kidding me? You HAVE to be a salesperson. You HAVE to be a salesperson to do that. A $4,000 product is a sales business. They can call it network marketing if they want, but let me ask you a question:

Does your new rep go on autoship for $4,000 a month?

I didn’t think so.

Here’s what I told them:

“Success In 10 Steps is a great tool, but it won’t work for you. You can’t use this ebook to find people who’ll spend $4K. Our system is perfect to build a relationship business, but that’s not what you have … you have a SALES business. You need to run ads to find salespeople.”

Again, it’s a $4,000 product. And THEY bought it, because it’s something they really believe in and they wanted. But they are the exception. You need REALLY targeted leads to sell that product. You sure as heck aren’t going to buy MLM leads and sell any $4,000 water filters. There’s no way you can recruit those people, because they won’t buy the product.

There was a time when it was pretty standard in MLM to advertise for salespeople, but not so much anymore. Traditionally, salespeople haven’t done that well in network marketing, for a lot of reasons. Most of all, salespeople can’t train anyone to do what they do, and so what they do is not duplicatable.

What you want in network marketing is a lot of people, with each one doing a little bit. That is the model that works. You can build a big business with that model.

The standard for MLM has always been lotions and potions and vitamins. Outstanding nutritionals & personal care products that get raved about and used up and bought over and over. That is the type of product that creates residual income.

And I would go so far as to say that any product that doesn’t create residual income – people on autoship who buy automatically every month – is NOT an MLM product.

Feel free to argue if you want. But the #1 reason for doing MLM is to create an income that goes on whether you are working or not. And that ONLY happens with people on autoship.

It’s simple. No autoship = No network marketing.

That water filter customer never goes on autoship. So not only is there NO residual income, but you also must be a pretty good salesperson to sell a $4,000 product.

I’m not a salesperson. I cannot do it. Almost everybody out there cannot do it. Can you work and work and work and find someone who can?

Sure. That business has been going for awhile. Here and there, they find a salesperson. But man, what a tough way to build a business.

So it’s really helpful to know where this stuff is in the ebook because when that topic comes up – and it will – you need to be able to direct people to the source that explains their situation. That’s way better than you trying to do it yourself.

That is what I think.

Richard Dennis

PS – I would LOVE to hear your comments on this one …

“Success In 10 Steps” – Almost A Marketing Mistake

Did you know there’s no saltwater in saltwater taffy?

Taffy has actually been around for nearly 1000 years, which is pretty amazing. In Atlantic City, back in the 1880s, a lot of shops sprang up when they first put up the boardwalk. One guy sold several things in his shop, including taffy.

One day, the ocean arrived and inundated his shop. After the water receded, he surveyed the damage. Lots of stuff was ruined. But the taffy tasted fine. In a moment of marketing genius, he decided to call it “saltwater taffy.”

A lot of great marketing can happen by accident. The “Success In 10 Steps” ebook by Michael Dlouhy, so popular to so many MLMers now, was originally titled “The 10 Biggest MLM Marketing Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them.”

Many of the ideas were the same as in the final book, but the big focus was different. As Michael & I talked about the book, I realized that the focus really needed to change. The 10 biggest MLM marketing mistakes was a good idea, but not for THIS book. So the title became “Success In 10 Steps.”

Aren’t you glad? That other much longer title would be much more of a challenge to get into your ads.

I appreciate you!

Richard Dennis
1-850-997-1241 Call anytime.

The biggest struggle I hear repeated by most leaders is RETENTION – keeping their distributors and customers.

This also been said by many leaders, “The fortune is in the follow-up.”

The biggest struggle I hear repeated by most leaders is
RETENTION – keeping their distributors and customers.

This also been said by many leaders, “The fortune is in
the follow-up.”