This a topic that I know for a fact most network marketers eventually start looking into and as a result I believe it is very important to address. I can remember about a year after starting to build my business I ran out of people to talk to and I had to start researching network marketing recruiting systems.
- What were they?
- Did they work?
- How did they work?
- How much did they cost?
- Etc…
To be honest it was a very exhausting, frustrating, costly and a time-consuming process. One that many a home based business builder has ventured down and never returned from; because it became so overwhelming and expensive to figure out. Most people quit long before ever figuring this out.
So my goal in this post is to do my best to save you from all of the headaches I went through when looking at recruiting systems. I will explain what options are available to you and what I believe to be the best systems that will produce the best results for your network marketing business.
I will do my part of sharing what I know and saving you from going down a long, twisty and painful path, but it will be up to you to take my advice.
So let’s get at it.
What is a Network Marketing Recruiting System Any Way?
First let’s take a look at what a recruiting system really is, this is important because most people over complicate this and get it all wrong.
At its core it is simply a method or methods that you implement to bring prospects through your sales funnel with the intention of sponsoring them into your downline or bringing them on as product users, aka customers.
Not that I recommend doing this, but it could be as simple as picking up the phone book and cold calling people and to see if they are open to looking at a business opportunity and than pointing them to your website and scheduling a follow up call.
That IS a recruiting system no question, AND there are networkers who do use this strategy and they surprisingly successful at. The reason is in the end your success is simply a numbers game. The person who prospects the most people wins.
But like I said I do not recommend that method as I have done it and it is painful, but it makes my point in regard to how simple and basic a system can be. So don’t over complicate it and don’t let supposed “gurus” try to sell you on their over complicated and expensive system…
Which leads to my next point…
Warning – Watch Out For the Magic System
Most people when they think about recruiting systems they think it has to be some super techie wizard software program that will do all of the hard work for you.
Now while there are programs out that there that “claim” to be able to do this for you, they can’t!
They don’t work, they are a scam and they are simply telling you what you want to hear and will gladly take all of your money leaving you frustrated and broke.
OK so now that you have been warned let’s take a look at 3 types of systems that actually will work to recruit you new distributors…
System #1 – The People That You Know
The most basic system to have ever been created in network marketing is what is referred to as your warm market. YES the people you know.
It could be argued that not only is it the most basic method of recruiting it has also been the most powerful. There is no question that over the years it has created the largest and most stable downlines in the history of the industry.
Now I already know that some people who were reading this blog post immediately stopped as soon as they read “warm market”. They closed this web page, and they are Gonzo!
Those people are looking for that magic little pill that will just magically “poof” them to the top with little to no effort. They want instant success.
That my friend does not exist.
Some people do not like it but I am a straight shooter and will tell you like it is.
Whereas many supposed “gurus” out there will tell you what you want to hear in order to get you to sign up with them in their deal or to sell you on their fancy dancy program that they claim will give you instant success.
I recognize that many people do not like going to the people they know. The reason for this is they have been doing it all wrong, and as a result it does not work for them and they feel awkward doing it.
But if you set up a warm market system the right way it becomes simple, you will not feel awkward talking to your friends and family and it will work incredibly well.
How do I know this? Well…
Warm Market Prospecting Worked For Me
I know this strategy works as it worked for me. I created a 6-figure income by prospecting the people I knew.
I did not use any other methods starting out and I was able to create that type of income.
Why? Because as I said the warm market works IF you do it correctly.
There is most definitely a right way and a wrong way to do this. Unfortunately most networkers are trained the wrong way and are blowing their chances of success.
I was very fortunate that when I first got started in my home based business I worked very closely with Eric Worre and Randy Gage!
This was a HUGE deal for me as they are two legends in this industry and they are massive warm market experts, and they taught me how to do build my downline the right way from the beginning.
Don’t ignore this section my friend. Head what I just told you and implement the warm market as part of your recruiting blue print.
I am such a proponent of this strategy that I would go so far as to say that if you do not incorporate the warm market as part of yours and your teams business building plan you will never see success. It really is that important.
But learn to do it the right way, learn how to get systems in place that work. Here is a good post to get you started on the right track today.!
OK let’s take a look at another system that literally became a game changer in our industry and has resulted in countless people being able to create serious incomes and businesses from the comfort of their home…
System #2 – Social Media is a Game Changer
One of the major misconceptions when it comes to people researching systems to help build their business is they think it has to cost money and have all kinds of bells and whistles.
As you just saw with the warm market, nothing could be further from the truth. And in fact when it comes to building a direct sales business simple is ALWAYS better.
If you have been around for any time at all I would wager you have heard the term “duplication” thrown around. It’s a big deal when it comes to whether you will have success or not.
A key component to your success is being able to have your downline be able to duplicate your activities and create their own success which in turn creates even more success for you.
This is done by keeping your business building activities simple. The more complicated and costly the activities are the fewer people will be able to do them.
Social Media Recruiting is Powerful & Simple
Back in the old days after you had run out of people in your warm market to prospect, your only real option was to get out in your community and meet people.
It was doable but it was far from easy.
But now thanks to the internet meeting new people to prospect has never been easier. You can literally sit down in front of your computer wearing your pajamas and within 60 minutes meet 10 – 20 new prospects for your business.
Talk about a game changer!
As I said earlier and stress again your success is simply a numbers game. The more people you meet and walk them through your sales funnel the more are going to join your team. It is as simple as that.
But once again there is a right way and a wrong way to go about this and yup you guessed it most network marketers are doing it all wrong and failing miserably.
Most people jump on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn and become spammy tammy’s.
They start spamming the heck out of everyone they know.
They paste their website links everywhere and harass the heck out of complete strangers.
They send hordes of unsolicited messages to people on a daily basis and in many cases get thrown in Facebook jail as a result.
Don’t do that!
Once you learn the correct process and get good at it, getting serious results by jumping on social media and prospecting for 60 minutes a day becomes second nature.
The system you want to set up is made up of 6 steps. I am going to cover them briefly and than point you to other posts on this blog that will go into greater detail on how you can get started with this method…
Step #1 – Pick Your Target Market
First thing you need to know is who are you targeting. On social media not everyone is your prospect. You want to get a very clear picture of who they are.
I recommend targeting people that you have things in common with. This will make it easier to market to them, related to them and allow you to be yourself.
So what are you interested in?
For me I am interested in business, entrepreneurship, internet marketing and personal development.
So my target market is people who also have those interests.
Step #2 – Your Profile
Next you need to set up your profile in such away that you are attractive to your target market.
I’m not talking sexy talk here!
What I mean is if someone with those interests came to your profile page (which they will if you do this right), they will find you to be an interesting person.
- Make sure you profile picture is a nice looking picture of just you. Smile in it.
- Make sure your cover photo is of you doing something fun, exciting, adventurous. Something you’re the prospect you are recruiting would want to be doing on a Monday afternoon instead of working their boring job.
- Don’t post any website links to your company.
- Don’t post any photos of your product.
- Don’t post the name of your company or product anywhere on your profile.
The reason for these last 3 are you do not want to let the cat out of the bag. You do not want your prospect to be able to figure out what you are doing on their own. It is crucial that they discover what you are up to by you controlling that process. By you sharing the sales material with them.
- Get rid of posts and don’t make any new ones that would turn your target market off.
Political posts turn many people off. Photos of you chugging beer with your buddies does not portray a professional image. Crude jokes turn a lot of people off, etc.
Step #3 – Time to Go Recruiting
Now you want to go out and join groups and pages where your target market hangs out. Go to where they are.
Become involved in the group. Which means:
Like and comment on other group members posts.
Answer questions people ask in the group.
And most importantly start making valuable, informative and entertaining posts within the groups. Post that are going to start to make you be seen as an expert on the subject in your prospects mind.
The more you start to engage and provide this type of information, the more people are going to take notice, become attracted to you and start to look up to you.
You are essentially creating what is known as “Influence”.
People with influence are people who recruit with ease. Prospects pay attention to people they look up to, people they admire. People who have influence with them.
Step 4 – Make Friends
As you start to develop influence in these groups by providing this valuable, informative and entertaining information people will start to send you friends request and they will start to follow you.
As you are interacting in the groups and you start to develop relationships with certain people you can also send them friend requests.
A key point you need to implement in this process is anytime you accept or send a friends request make sure you send a personal message. Don’t just accept or send friend requests without sending a personal message. A DM or direct message that is.
Step #5 – Back on Your Profile
As your are starting to add more friends it is time to start working your profile.
To start you want to do the same thing you were doing in the groups but now also on your profile wall.
Continue to make posts your target market finds informative, entertaining and valuable (helpful). For every 10 posts you make, have 6 of them be these type of posts.
If someone comments on your post be sure to engage on that comment, reply to it, like it, etc.
You also now want to start sprinkling in lifestyle posts. These are posts and pictures of you living your life. The purpose of these are to help people get to know the real you.
By doing so you are developing a key component to the recruiting system, which is the Know, Like & Trust Factor.
People do business with people the know, like and trust.
Let them see who you are.
For every 10 posts you make, have approximately 3 of them be these sorts of posts.
And than lastly you can make business and/or product posts.
But not like everyone else is doing. You do not want to spam your company links, or ask people to join you in a business, or ask people if they want to make more money to contact you.
These don’t work and actually turn people off.
A Curiosity Post is Where the Magic is!
Instead, you want to do what is called a Curiosity post.
This is very much like a preview to a movie, you are giving them just enough to want to know more. To make them curious as to what you are up to.
If you are recruiting for your network marketing business, you could start out with a post along the lines of the following:
“Hey gang, pretty fired up. A buddy of mine has been building a part-time business on the internet and his part-time income has grown larger than his full time income, I have decided to give it a try, wish me luck”
That is it. Note you did not say the name of the business and you gave them no indication of what type of business this is. People will notice that and they will become curious. It will drive them crazy wanting to know what you are doing.
Now for every curiosity post you make you simply give an update on how things are going, or what you are doing today to build your business. But again without giving any of the details away.
Step 6 – Time to Recruit
Now it is time to start sponsoring people into your downline.
You do this by engaging with the people who are engaging with you, especially on your curiosity posts.
If someone comments on your curiosity posts and asks what you are doing, simply reply on their comment that you will “Send Them a Message”. This drives other people crazy with curiosity.
Now message the person who commented on your post. Simply say something like: “Hey I saw your comment on my post, if you’re open to taking a look at what I am doing I can send you some information to take a look at”.
That is it… if they reply that they are open get them some information on your opportunity and set a time to follow up with them.
That is really all there is to it my friend, if you find this system of interest I have lots of blog posts and training on how to do it in more detail on this blog, you can check them out here:
Network Marketing and Social Media
How to do Multi Level Marketing on Facebook – 2 Secrets Revealed
Now let’s take a quick look at the last network marketing recruiting system that I use and recommend…
System #3 – Attraction Marketing
Attraction marketing is really just a fancy term for Internet marketing.
With this method you are going to use internet strategies such as blogging, video marketing, social media, and email marketing to set up systems to recruit new distributors.
The same concept of becoming a person of influence applies with this method.
But instead of going out and actively meeting people you do it in a more passive manner.
For example you could have a blog that targets people interested in a home based business opportunity. You would create content daily on your blog that would help people in their research of the best opportunities, how they work and how to be successful.
Over time as you put out more content on this subject you start to get notices by the search engines and they start to rank you and as a result people start to find you and they start to follow you and take note of what you are saying.
Now of course your goal is to not just help these people but have them come to realize that out of all of the opportunities you are blogging on, the one that is the best option for them is the one you are in.
You want to be subtle in regard to how you go about doing this. But you want your prospect to come to realize that their best chance of being successful is partnering with you in your network marketing business.
It’s a Tremendous Recruiting System
There is no doubt this is a great strategy, BUT… there is a problem with it, a few actually.
The first is that it takes time to get any results. And when I say time I mean probably at the very minimum 12 months. Not many people will stick around for 12 months without seeing results.
So it is not for everyone.
And there is a great chance it is not for many people on your team. I highly recommend that with your team you focus on the first 2 systems we discussed today.
This 3rd option is for the very very serious people who will put the time and work in no matter what. It is for people who will still focus at least 70% of their time on the first 2 systems, and the remaining 30% on this method.
It does not duplicate well. BUT once it starts to work, once you get traction with it and you start to generate leads it is a game changer. A recruiting system like this is by far the most powerful method of building a large organization.
As I said there is quite a bit to getting going with this method, much more than I will be able to cover in this blog post. But again I do have lots of training on this blog on how to do it, so if you are interested in exploring it more you can do so here:
Examples of Attraction Marketing
My Attraction Marketing Secret Revealed
The following link will show you an actual Attraction Marketing training platform that provides you with websites and prebuilt funnels that I do recommend:
The Best Platform to Learn this Strategy From
Time For Action
Now it is time to get into action my friend.
My advice is to definitely use the first two systems we looked at today. Get your whole team doing them.
And than for those of you who are super drivers slowly start learning and implementing how to do Attraction Marketing.
Let me know if you have any questions, drop them in the comment box below and I will do my best to help you out.
Cheers to YOUR Success
Robb Corbett
P.S. since you are researching this topic it is clear to me that you understand the importance recruiting plays when it comes to having success in your business. If you can get good to great at it you will create tremendous success no question.
I have put together a FREE prospecting boot camp to help you learn all of the skills required to be successful in your business. The sign up is on the side of the blog. Get signed up now and let’s turn you into a prospecting and enrolling machine starting today!
How do I apply all this to traffic? I don’t need to recruit for commissions but I do want to “recruit”: traffic to my site. I am really stuck on how to do this for a gift site. I have social media but I can’t seem to gain any followers. Thanks in advance, Brianna
Hi Brianna, the Attraction Marketing methods would be more geared towards what you are looking at accomplishing. Good luck!
Hi Robb
You clearly know what you are talking about in this domain.
Like many people I know, I have been subject to attempts from friends and acquaintances to recruit me into their network. In most of these cases, the products they were selling were common household consumable items. Looking back I think these attempts were mostly unsuccessful and those individuals who were aggressively pushing these systems started to get negative reputations in the community. I guess they had not been well trained. It was all very direct and in-your-face, not at all an approach that relied on firing up someone’s curiosity.
I suppose the skill is in recruiting in your warm market without causing it to chill.
You underscore the importance of working with mentors, following the guidance of experts. This is clearly key to success. I had a quick look as well at your other pieces on Attraction Marketing. You give some excellent advice on writing different kinds of posts. These are very powerful concepts.
Best regards
Andy
Hey Andy, no question man, the old school, offline warm market tactics were very difficult. And the problem was back then that peoples only real option was to try and recruit friends and family and if they were unsuccessful doing so they became desperate as they did not have any other options. All of that has changed in recent years with the internet and social media. There are numerous strategies people can implement now, which makes building the business much simpler and in my opinion it makes network marketing an even greater business model then it ever was. Cheers man.
Interesting page. I have a tiny bit of experience with network marketing. I just decided it was not a form of business I wanted to pursue. But I love it, though! Haha… I find it extremely interesting to read about and I respect those who are successful building in the network-marketing model of business a great deal: I know that it is a tremendous accomplishment. And if I come across the right product or service for me, I am not averse to becoming a client/customer with a network-marketing company.
I believe 100% that traditional-model type business owners could learn a tonne from successful self-employed business owners in the network marketing space. After all, when it comes down to it, all businesses regardless of model require some form of network marketing! A self-employed financial professional needs to make the phone calls, send the emails, and make the in-person visits to prospective clients. And the only other way for that person to attain more business is through referrals. And that is most definitely network marketing. Do you have any advice, Robb, for a traditional business owner/salesperson on how to better and more effectively attract and close business with strategies and tactics that are ‘new-age’ and unconventional?
Hey Tyler, thanks for dropping by man. The methods outlined in this post would work for any business model. I have people I am close to who are realtors and use these same methods and so could the financial planners you mentioned, as any business could.