Family and Friends: The Coldest Market

December 23, 2007

Family and Friends: The Coldest Market

When starting your own home-based network marketing business, most people are trained in the traditional model of network marketing. This model involves making a list of 100 friends and family and targeting those people first. The traditional model calls this your “warm market.”

The idea is that you are likely to find fast success through targeting people who know you and presumably, trust you. These people, almost purely based upon their trust of you, will not only purchase whatever product or service you are promoting, but will join you in business based almost solely upon your recommendation and involvement. Once they join your business, they will then tap into their warm market and over time, you will have a successful downline that will allow you to earn a large residual income.

Great idea, right?

And for some people, the traditional model works. But not for all of us. In fact, with 97% of the people who start network marketing businesses failing, the truth is that this traditional model doesn’t work for the vast majority of people. What is the problem?

Typically it’s one of three problems or a combination of these:

1. No desire. Just because you want to run a network marketing business from home doesn’t mean your best friend or your cousin does. And simply because your friends and family may love, respect, and trust you, doesn’t mean that they will follow you blindly into business just because you did.

2. No money. Let’s be honest. Starting and running a network marketing business from home costs money. Even if your network marketing business requires little start-up, there are costs involved with running and promoting a business. Again, just because someone is in your warm market doesn’t mean that they necessarily will have the ability to start and maintain a business financially.

3. Skepticism. This one is bigger than you may think. People who know and love you are more likely to trust you and your opinions. But these people are also likely to be incredibly honest about their feelings with you. Your friends and family are more likely to not listen politely while you describe the benefits of your business, but rather are more likely to tell you immediately what they think about your network marketing business, especially if it’s negative.

In fact, with these problems, your warm market can turn out to be the coldest market for a new network marketer. And when you’re new and are filled with all the hope and enthusiasm in the world, finding out that your warm market is really frigid can, and does, discourage many new network marketers and they end up quitting within their first three months of starting their business. When this happens, it also justifies the skepticism of many members of the former network marketers so-called warm market. In other words, it’s a vicious circle that results in a constant flow of people in and out of the network marketing industry and helps to give our business a bad name.

So what is your alternative if you find that your warm market is actually cold? If you don’t want to end up in the 97% of those network marketers who quit, here are some suggestions:

1. Take aim. Figure out what is the ideal target is for not only potential business-builders, but also consumers of your product and service. When trying to determine what you target is for business builders, one idea is to look at yourself and figure out why you joined your network business. What made the business attractive to you? What is your own demographic? After you answer these questions, you can start by targeting people who have similar characteristics.

2. Be discriminating. Go ahead and make that list of 100 people, but rather than running blindly down the list, look closely at the list and decide who fits into your target market for business builders. Then look at the list a second time to determine if anyone on the list might be a good fit for your product or service as a consumer as opposed to a business builder.

3. Expand your horizons. The world is a big place! The number of people you’ve never met far outnumbers the numbers you have met. Many of these people you’ve never met may be perfect fits for your business. By expanding your horizons outside of your list of 100 people, you’ll find a much larger world of people whom may be perfect fits for your business or loyal consumers of your product or service.

4. Put yourself out there. With the internet and email, you can reach a worldwide audience. Market yourself and attract people to you, your business, and your opportunity. How you do this is too detailed for this article, but suffice it to say, that the right website can provide you with people that want to hear about your business opportunity as opposed to people that are listening to your business just because they happen to be your younger sister.

In the end, remember that although people have become successful under the traditional network marketing model, it’s just that - a model. It’s not the only way to become successful in this business. In fact, it may not be the best way for you. Only you can determine if the temperature of those you know is “warm” or “cold” as it applies to your network marketing business.

Suzanne Don de’Ville is a successful professional who runs her own home-based network marketing business. Find success with her proven, non-traditional network marketing system at http://www.home-business-for-women.com. Learn all the lies of traditional network marketing at http://dramaherb.the7greatliesofnetworkmarketing.com.

Tags : home-based business, network marketing