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Nine out of 10 people who fill out a network marketing application will fail to build a viable business. Among that number will be people who do not take action and people who build a business yet experience a true business collapse.

The oft-quoted statistic allegedly from the Small Business Administration(SBA) that 9 out of 10 of all businesses fail within 10 years by comparison is not true.

According Brian Headd?s article from Small Business Economics 21:51-61, 2003: Redefining Business Success: Distinguishing between Closure and Failure, 66% of conventional businesses survive 2 years or more, 50% survive four years or more and 40% survive six years or more. Traditional small businesses do far better than the 90% failure rate quoted by people in the network marketing industry.

What is the difference? Is the network marketing model itself faulty? Many familiar sales models use the same business model as network marketing. Real estate sales are a prime example. Many top sales people across the automotive, pharmaceutical, travel and other industries have as their main responsibility to recruit and train sales people and in return are paid commissions based on the performance of their teams. It is not the model.

What is it then? Why do so many people fail in network marketing?

Working with people over the past 5 years and in speaking with other successful network marketers during the same time, I have been able to come up with 5 reasons:

1) The cost of entry is too low: The typical start up costs can range from 0 to $1500 dollars. Imagine the person who decides to open a traditional business and has to invest tens of thousands of dollars to do so. How might that person differ from the person who can put their business start up on a credit card? The person seeking to open a conventional business where the investment is high will develop a business plan. That plan will include a skills assessment, expected expenditures and projected revenues. If the prospective business owner realizes they have a skill deficit that is material to their business success, they will either set to work learning that skill before opening their business or they will provide funding and a plan to acquire that skill while they are in the planning stages and before they open for business. Now imagine the person who can simply put their start up costs on their credit card. For the majority of network marketers there is no planning beyond the initial start up. Most never ask of their sponsors or themselves what they may need to be successful other than the initial start op costs. They never ask what skills they lack. There are on-going business costs in addition to the start up costs and those costs can range from $100 to $500 dollars per month. Many do not make provision for on-going expenses. On-going business expenses tend to be regarded as expenses akin to the cable bill rather than investments in their business. The low start up, then, can be a stumbling block to success in business.

2) Lack of appropriate training: Unfortunately many companies and teams do not offer training beyond corporate events. In order to be successful network marketers must master a simple formula, the Inviting Formula, and they must use that formula 30 to 60 times per month. Without this formula many new and seasoned network marketers will invite the wrong prospects to review their information and find themselves disappointed by the results. The Inviting Formula is simple to learn and implement. Why is there so little training available in network marketing? I believe the reason can be found in the very reasons why people get started in network marketing. Take the wage earner who wants to fire his boss. He never wants anyone to tell him what to do again; he hates his boss and wants to be free. Take the corporate executive and the entrepreneur both of whom are tired of managing people and are looking to build a fleet of independent business owners that they never have to manage. Put both groups of people together in what is fundamentally a people business and what do you get? People who find that they have to do what they were trying to get away from in order to be successful and become free! YIKES!

3) Too many people are looking for the big income score and fail to appreciate the smaller sums of income they earn along the way. Most people get started in network marketing because of the big income claims. They want the six figures. If they don?t get ?em they quit. Here is a statistic that will knock your socks off. Anyone grossing $30,000 per year or more with their respective company is among the top 3% of income earners for their company. Here is another fact. The income earned through network marketing is tax-advantaged income. Income earned through a job is not. Anyone earning an additional $30,000 dollars per year in tax-advantaged income who fails to make significant strides in improving their wealth will never improve their wealth with $100,000 per year. Finally, the road to earning and keeping six figures and beyond is a 5 to 10 year process and there is no way around it. It is a process that requires growth and change in the areas of personal finance, emotional maturity, spiritual maturity, and personal association.

4) Low EQ, failed expectations, too much hype in the industry: Looks like I jumbled 3 different ideas into one point but they are actually all related. There is a lot of hype in the industry. Joe Smith the waiter to went from 0 to six figures in a year. Of course Joe Smith and his company forgot to mention that all of Joe?s family were involved in the industry of network marketing, that all were successful, and that Joe was working as a waiter just to figure out what his options were. That skills are required is just one of the ?inconvenient truths? of network marketing. The hype leads invariably to failed expectations. If people understand at the start that network marketing is really a business that requires a skill set fewer people would get started and more people would be successful. The organizations created would move from vertical sales organizations to consumer-based organizations as more people seek to become product users rather than business owners. Network marketing itself is an industry that attracts too many people who desire instant gratification. Daniel Goldman described the Emotional Quotient or EQ in his book Emotional Intelligence. He found that the greatest determinant of long term success was one?s ability to delay gratification.

5) Money In, Money Out: Many people treat Network Marketing as a Money in, Money out proposition. Imagine a black box. On one side of the box is the word ?IN? in bold letters. On the other side is the word ?OUT? in bold letters. It would be easy to think that just because you put money in, you should get money out. Investments rarely work out that way. See the trouble is that ?black box?. Something goes on in that black box that transforms inputs into outputs and therein lies the rub. As an illustration, I was on the phone with a prospect the other day. He said, ?I have been scammed so many times, what I need is a person who will work with me, show me the ropes, train me?are you that person?? My response was, ?yes, we have a training program that begins with our training manual. We have weekly calls and I will be meeting with you a couple of times per week and giving you assignments each time we meet. You won?t progress unless you do the assignments and attend the training calls?are you that person?? Stone cold silence. He never did answer my question. With my first company, I received motivational materials at a cost of $60 dollars per month but no training. In my second program there was training galore that I didn?t take advantage of. I thought my team?s system would build my business for me. When I realized that it wouldn?t, I had a choice, quit or continue. In order to continue I had to ask myself some questions, among them, What skill or skills do I lack? There are 2 skills required in network marketing A) the skill of inviting which has embedded in it the stills of listening, sorting and sifting and B) The skill of training which requires the skills of boundary setting and the skill of setting expectations. I lacked the skill of inviting. I learned my profession through experimentation, direct observation and practicing. I applied those same strategies to learning the skill of inviting and I went from sporadic checks to consistently earning multiple 4 figures per month.

First thing to do is get clear on Network Marketing & MLM. There is no difference between Network Marketing & MLM. They refer to the same thing. It is 2 different ways of expressing the same business model. By network marketing we refer to the fact that we work within a Network of people. By MLM we are referring to the different levels within our organization on which we get paid. MLM has a negative perception & connotation in the media. Network Marketing & MLM are the same thing. Today most people refer to it as Network Marketing.

Network Marketing is a Business Opportunity. You get an opportunity to start your own business and you need to relate to it as such. Most people who fail in Network Marketing because they do not relate to it as a real business. Most Network Marketing companies have a startup cost of $500 or less. Most businesses startup costs are $100,000 or more. The fact that Network Marketing business is a bargain should not be the cause of you treating it like it has no value. You need to be the same way as if you had invested $100,000.

Listen to Robert Kioysaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. He and Donald J. Trump have partnered up to promote Network Marketing.

It is a relationship business; it is about helping people build a business and focusing on customers for your products and services. Network Marketing really is an unseen business and it is all about referral sales. Its something we already do everyday but have not been getting paid for. For example: have you ever referred a good movie or a restaurant to a friend? Did you get paid? Well in Network Marketing or MLM you get paid for referring people to your products & services. Every time you refer someone and every time they pay for the service or product you get a percentage.

That is referred to as residual income. You acquired a customer once and then every time they use the service you get paid, month after month, year after year. Its the same as Jerry Seinfeld, he has stopped making his shows in 1998, yet every time an episode airs on TV he gets paid. Another benefit of this way of doing business is that you have an opportunity to build a team. You recruit others who want to join you as a business partner. Not only do you make money from your customers, you also make a percentage of your team’s customers. Now you are using the key wealth principle of leveraging your time. There is absolutely no limit to the number of people that can join you and no limit on the number of customers you & your team can have. Some companies have “Bonus Plans” in place where you get a bonus when a new Representative joins your business either through you or indirectly through someone you recruited.

Jean Paul Getty, The worlds first Billionaire and founder of Getty oil said “I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.”. This is the basic wealth principle. This how the rich make money and this is the underlying principle in a good Network Marketing company.

It is businesses in which anyone can invest a small sum of money and through sheer tenacity achieve staggering levels of financial reward and personal freedom. But it requires education based on market tested results. The biggest reason why people fail in Network Marketing or MLM is the lack of training. Before joining you must find out what training the company provides and what training & support the person that is recruiting you will provide. Ask them “Are they willing to hold my hand, go shoulder to shoulder and take me through step by step until I am successful”?

Network Marketing does not have giant signs or large offices, yet according to the Direct Selling Association (DSA) over 13 million people in the U.S. are working in the network marketing / direct selling industry.

They usually offer reasonably priced products and services that people consume in a short time. Generally the commission structure is less up-front then the direct sales companies, but it has a benefit that most direct sales companies do not have and that is residual income.

* It costs much less to get involved with this form of business, a few hundred dollars.

* Allows more people to become involved.

* Builds Residual Income.

* Leverages the time of others.

Network marketing is all about sales and distribution, but a different kind of sales. It’s more of a soft sale or recommendation then the hard closing type that you’re accustomed to with the typical salesman or saleswoman in the direct sales. It is also a recruiting business. Network Marketing does not mean No work Marketing. You consistently need to be speaking to 5 – 10 new people per week. You need to share with them the opportunity for them to be in your business as a representative. The more people you talk to the more success you will have. Unless you are willing to speak to people you can not succeed.

The best approach by far in network marketing is a consultative sales approach. This is used very successfully today. What makes it even more successful is when you are offering services that your customers already use and are able to save them money. Over $30 Billion worth of products & services go through Network Marketing annually.

The 5 keys to evaluate a Network Marketing Company:

1.Credibility of the Company

2.Products & Services of the Company

3.Training offered by the Company & Recruiter

4.Compensation plan.

5.Are you allowed to sell your business or leave it your children

Credibility of the company

You want to be sure the company is credible & has integrity. Stay away from companies that are in business less then 5 years. Most Network Marketing companies fail in their first 5 years. Look at the people endorsing the company & owners of the company. Look at the track record & growth of the company for the last 5 years.

Products & Services

If you do not believe in the Network Marking Company’s products and services then you can not succeed with that company. The reason being you need to be true to yourself. If you do not believe in the products & services then how can you possibly authentically refer them to your friends? If you do not feel good about it don’t do it. Remember the example of a good movie or a restaurant.

You then need to evaluate the ease of the sale. Ask yourself the following:

“Do you need to get people to change their spending habits or do they already use product & services you offer” …Ease of change

“Do people need to spend more money? …Cost Savings

“Will they automatically stay a customer month after month or do you have to resell them?” …Customer retention

“What’s the future trend?” …Longevity of Products & Service

Training

This is very important. When you get a new job the company trains you. They usually have someone work with you for a week. It should be the same with the Network Marketing Company. What is the training already in place. Do they have online training, Training manuals, Regional Trainings. How much time is the person recruiting you willing to spend with you.

Compensation Plan

You want the time to understand their compensation plan. When you are evaluating a job, do you ask “How much I will make this year and how much in the future?” Well you want to do the same when looking at the Network Marketing company. Ask the person recruiting you to put a plan together and see how much you can make in your first month, first 6 months, first year and so on. Find out what it takes for you to get qualified to start making money, different promotion levels and the money associated to them. See the detailed Compensation Plan. If you get numbers like up to $3,000 or up to 10% then in my experience you should realistically count on half (50%) of those numbers. I am sure some people get the full 100% of those numbers but during the evaluation of a company you should look at 50%.

Selling the business

If you are investing your time to build a business then you should be able to sell it to someone else or pass it of to your children. Find out if there are any limitations put on you by the Network marketing Company. There may be a small fee but a good company will allow you to sell your business.

The Twelve Power Secrets for Network Marketing Success

By Rod Nichols

My first book, Successful Network Marketing for the 21st Century was an industry best seller for several years and helped tens of thousands of network marketers build successful businesses. However, I always felt there were some key knowledge missing from that book and so, over the last three years, I’ve been working on a new book and today I’m happy to announce that The Twelve Power Secrets for Network Marketing Success has been released through Unlimited Publishing. This is the best book I’ve written on network marketing, as it is packed with millions of dollars worth of ideas for building a large and lucrative network marketing business. In the following article, I’d like to give you a great overview of the book. The information in this article alone could help a fledgling or struggling network marketer turn their business into a money maker, so imagine what the book could do. Please enjoy the article, put the information to work and do as I have and build a lifetime stream of residual income, so that you can have both financial and time freedom.

Here are the twelve power secrets for network marketing success:

Power Secret One: Select the Right Company

During my nearly 29 years of network marketing, I’ve selected the wrong company a number of times. Not that the company was bad, although there were a few that were, but rather they weren’t a good fit for me. Even if a company is growing rapidly, has an amazing product, solid compensation plan, and great marketing materials, it doesn’t mean that it’s right for everyone. The questions you have to ask are: Does the company have the same values as mine? Are they marketing in a way that is suitable to my personality? Do they offer a product or service that I can get passionate about? Is the compensation plan suited to my abilities, time commitment, and talents? Once you answer these and other questions, you will have a better feel for whether a company is right for you and although selecting the right company doesn’t guarantee success, it does drastically increase the odds. The key is to do your due diligence and make a good selection.

Power Secret Two: Pick the Right Sponsor

One of the biggest mistakes I see made in network marketing is picking the wrong sponsor. Typically one of two things happens. Either a person gets sponsored by a friend, family member, or associate, who doesn’t know anything more about building a successful network marketing business than they do. The second option usually happens after a bad experience with the first option and so they begin researching to find a big hitter to sponsor them. The problem with being sponsored by a big hitter is that they don’t always have time to work closely with new people. After all they probably have thousands of people in their network, all needing some level of attention. The key here is to be sponsored by someone who is serious about building a big business and is willing to dedicate the time to help you succeed. It’s also important that your sponsor have similar values and be someone you would enjoy working with very closely. Again, picking the right sponsor doesn’t guarantee success, but it sure helps.

Power Secret Three: Develop Purpose, Goals, and Objectives

Over the years I’ve trained and coached tens of thousands of network marketers and have found that most don’t really know why they are in business. It’s critical to long-term success to have a solid “why” or purpose for being in business. It might be to have more time freedom to enjoy your family or to secure your financial future, so you can give your time to ministry or charity work. It might be to become the largest contributor to a charity or ministry. Whatever your purpose, it needs to be vibrant enough to keep you going during the tough times. Once you have a solid purpose, then you must determine what needs to happen in order to achieve that purpose – these are called goals and are the stepping stones or road signs along the way toward your purpose. Goals need to be written and reviewed daily. Often goals are too big to determine what to do on a daily basis, so you should break them down into manageable activities called objectives. Start each day by reviewing your purpose, goals, and objectives, then start working on the highest priority objectives and you will quickly reach your goals and achieve your purpose.

Power Secret Four: Right Attitudes and Beliefs

Many people fail in network marketing because they don’t have the right attitude. They treat their business like a hobby, working at it whenever time allows, rather than treating it like a business and scheduling regular time for business activities. I’ve also encountered many people in network marketing businesses, who show signs that they believe that what they are doing isn’t quite on the up and up, which makes it difficult for them to talk with people. It’s critical to success in network marketing to build belief in three areas: First, is believing in the network marketing industry (if you are struggling in this area, order my book The Ideal Business, by visiting my web site at www.RodNichols.com and clicking on Store). Second, is believing in your company and the products/services. Third, is believing in yourself as a network marketing business owner. If your belief is not strong in all three areas, success will elude you.

Power Secret Five: Treat it Like a Business, Not a Hobby

What does this mean? Most people who enter the network marketing industry have never run a business, so they don’t know what it means to treat it like a business. The keys are to first have the right attitude and second the right actions. Network marketing is one of the very few businesses that can be built while still employed at something else. The great part is that you keep your current income, while building another stream, which eventually will replace the first source. However, in order to do that, you must do the things that successful business people do. You must be consistent and persistent with your business and work on the most productive activities every day. Finally, you need to make a long-term commitment to your business. I have to laugh when someone says they’ll give it a try for six months or so. I’ve owned businesses, both network marketing and traditional, for many years and I’ve yet to find one that would produce a full-time income within six months, while building it on a part-time basis. Yes, some people earn big time income in network marketing within their first six months, but it’s because they put in a more than full-time effort or already had a massive circle of influence. For the average person, like me and probably you, it’s going to take some time and effort to build your business, but if you do it right for the next few years, you’ll never have to worry about money again.

Power Secret Six: Have a M.A.P.

If you were going to drive your car from Seattle, WA to Orlando, FL, would you just jump on the nearest highway and start driving, in hopes that some day soon you’d reach Orlando? No, that would be ludicrous and yet, that’s how most people build a network marketing business. It’s a journey and you need a M.A.P., which stands for Marketing Action Plan. This plan will guide you from where you are right now to where you want to go in life. It should include your purpose, goals, objectives, marketing strategies, and a daily plan to implement those strategies. That way, you are always on track toward your goals and purpose.

Power Secret Seven: Become a Master Prospector

If you were wandering through a field and stumbled across a goldmine, you would immediately buy the lot, purchase digging equipment, and begin to mine the gold. Well, you have stumbled across a goldmine and it’s in your network marketing business. The key is to prospect for the gold nuggets among your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, congregation members, people out on the internet, and people you meet out in public. There is a direct relationship between the quantity/quality of prospecting and the amount of money you make, so become a master prospector and watch your income sky rocket.

Power Secret Eight: Treat Different People Differently

If you are treating everyone exactly the same, then you’re missing the boat with 75% of them. There are four basic personalities and although we operate at times in all four, every person functions primarily in one of the four. By understanding the characteristics of each personality, you can better communicate and present to prospects, plus train and support those in your network. Understanding and recognizing the different personalities will increase your sponsoring and retention ratios.

Power Secret Nine: Become a Master Presenter

There is an old saying that says “facts tell and stories sell.” If you want to become a successful network marketer, you must become an excellent story teller. At first, you will tell the stories of successful people in your upline and later you’ll share your own success story. People love to hear stories and will better retain the information you’re presenting. Effective story telling is one part of becoming a master presenter and by becoming one, you will move yourself into the ranks of the top performers in your company.

Power Secret Ten: Become a Savvy Internet Marketer

The basis of network marketing is building networks of people who buy and sell products/services. What better place to build a network of people than on a natural worldwide network called the internet? According to Internet World Stats, which you can view at www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm, as of 2006 there were a little over one billion people on the internet worldwide and that’s up from 101 million in 1998. As you can see, the internet is growing rapidly and is the place to build a network marketing business. However, it’s easy to get lost or overwhelmed on and by the internet, so the key is to learn how to be a savvy internet network marketer. First, you want to have an effective lead capturing web site with autoresponders that follow-up on your prospects. Second, you’ll need an effective database or contact management system that helps you remember to follow-up personally with qualified prospects. Third, you want to have an excellent online presentation system including web site based presentations in flash or video and live webinars. Fourth, you’ll need to have a pass-coded training web site that takes your new associates through some basic training. From there you’ll want to learn about funded business proposals (check out my new funded business proposal system www.the2percentplan.com/plus), pay-per-click advertising, and social marketing. Becoming a savvy internet marketer will add a number of effective business building weapons to your arsenal and help you build a large and lucrative business.

Power Secret Eleven: Develop Leaders

When I joined the industry in 1979, I was taught that if a person could fog a mirror I should attempt to sponsor them. Well, it’s one thing to sponsor a bunch of people and it’s something completely different to develop leaders. Leaders will duplicate, causing expansion of your network without any effort on your part. Leaders will attract other leaders and potential leaders, so learn how to identify and sponsor leaders, plus how to train and develop them. Once you’ve developed several organizations that have at least one leader, you will have a solid base for building a long-term walk-away residual income.

Power Secret Twelve: The Ultimate Power Secret

This is actually the most important of the power secrets. You can effectively use the other eleven and without the ultimate power secret you will still only enjoy marginal results. This is the difference between a double A battery and 220volts of electricity. In fact, the ultimate secret is the real power behind every success. Think about your computer. You could have the latest, greatest, and most powerful computer made by man, but if you don’t plug it into the wall and power it up, the computer is useless. Once you plug into the ultimate power source, amazing things will begin to happen – leaders will be attracted to you and your business, your marketing campaigns produce better results, and you suddenly know exactly what to say to a prospect. This is the culmination of all the power secrets for network marketing success.

Everything you need for massive network marketing success is contained in these twelve power secrets. However, failure or success is truly in your hands and is dependent on what you do with this knowledge. Obviously, I couldn’t include all of the information in each power secret or this would have been a very, very long article, so if you’re serious about building a large and lucrative network marketing business, you might want to pick up a copy of my new book by visiting www.RodNichols.com (store). However, even with all the information, it’s still up to you. Knowledge is power, but only when put into action, so the question is whether you are ready for success or not? If you are, then put this knowledge into action and in a few months to a few years you’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor – financial and time freedom.

With so much noise out there on the internet on what network marketing tools one needs to grow their business it can be confusing on what to use and who to listen too.

Below we will point out the most important tools you will need to build a long-term profitable network marketing organization.

Network Marketing Tools #1: Yourself.

Your personal network marketing experience and your reasons for joining a network marketing business is your best allie.

Only you know your personal desires for why you want to achieve financial freedom through network marketing or MLM. Everyday you will need to tap into your “why” factor in order to stick it out until success is reached.

Network Marketing Tools #2: Keyword Generation Tool.

One way network marketers advertise their home based business is by placing PPC or pay-per-click ads on the major search engines such as google and yahoo.

In order to find those keywords that have a low cost per click charge and get a lot of searches per month with little to no competition you will need a keyword generation tool in your tool bag. Google’s external keyword tool is a good free way of finding good keywords.

Network Marketing Tools #3: Blog.

Blogging is the newest phenomenam since the invention of computers everyone and their mother is doing it. It is also a way of getting free targeted traffic to your network marketing business.

Writing articles about network marketing and posting those articles to several article directories per day is a great way of getting immediate traffic even if your blog is not search engine optimized.

Network Marketing Tools #4: SEO Website.

Having a website that is desinged to rank on the first page results for a particular keyword in your niche is a tool for the serious network marketer who truly wants to solve the long term problem of never running out of leads.

One technique for getting on the first page results is to increase your link popularity or by having quality one way links that point back to your website. Do this by writing original quality content then submit those articles to ten different article directories everyday for a year.

By the end of the year you will have 3,650 one way links to your website(365 X 10). This will be one of the many factors that will determine your search engine ranking. Read a few books on SEO before getting started.

Network Marketing Tools #5: Ad Tracking Software.

Your job as a network marketer is to get quality traffic at the least cost possible. If your not tracking your ads you don’t know what advertising is bringing in money and which is costing you money.

Track everything whether it be articles, PPC, or ezine advertising. By tracking your marketing you can increase the amount of money for the advertisements that are bringing in the dough and shut off the ones that are stealing your money. Tracking software is a must have.

Network Marketing Tools #6: Social Media.

This is a free tool involving myspace, facebook, youtube, and twitter. For myspace and facebook all you need to do is set up an account with a link back to your network marketing business start inviting new friends on a daily basis and make comments on your friends’ page.

Their friends will see your comments then they will click thru to your page and possibly on to your network marketing opportunity website.

For youtube subscribe to other people’s videos and make quality videos for your business and in no time you’ll be recieving free traffic. On twitter follow someone and ask them to follow you in return.

Net Marketing Tools #7: Autoresponder.

Not everyone who visits your website is going to join your network marketing business immediately, so you’re going to need an autoresponder to follow up with those leads.

It takes at least seven marketing messages before a prospect even notices what you are doing. You will need to stay in constant contact with the list you generate and eventually over time the right ones will join your network marketing business.

All of these tools are an important aspect of growing your network marketing business for the long term and should not be shrugged off.

To learn more about network marketing tools and to get a free report follow the link in the resource box.