It’s been over 17 years (2005) since I entered the network marketing arena and my life took a crazy detour into the world of entrepreneurship and deep personal development.

 

I also experienced more negativity than any human should ever have to endure! LOL

The good news is that my story in this industry has a happy ending.

I haven’t had a real job since 1996, became a 6-figure earner in direct sales by 2010, generate not one, but three full time incomes with my home business.

I am now the proud investor in 3 other traditional businesses in Colorado, Utah and California, and I’m the co-author of a book with Jack Canfield! 

Wanna laugh? Ok, here’s just a few…

Have you ever invited your friends over for some beers and very smoothly (yeah right, I meant awkwardly) transitioned to showing them your business presentation?

I have! 

Have you ever tried to prospect your bartender after you’re way too ‘buzzed’ and have him respond with, “I don’t like pyramids” ?

Doh! I have.

Here’s a good one…

Have you ever talked someone’s ear off for the WHOLE 2-hour plane ride, not even realizing they wish you would just shut up and leave them alone?

Yep. I have! 

And that’s about as much as I’ll reveal, because I’m starting to get really depressed.. lol! 

The point is, I’m about to cast some heavy stones at some networkers, but I just wanted to let you know that I’ve made mistakes too…

That doesn’t mean we should be going easy on those that are committing some MAJOR prospecting mistakes on Social Media though. 

In my day, my fumbles happened offline and there is thankfully no record.

Unfortunately, today…

The Internet Never Forgets and It’s Ruining It for Everyone Else

Unfortunately, network marketers today are being taught online prospecting methods, which include the wrong message, at the wrong time and most definitely in all the wrong places!

There is a VERY fine line between prospecting on social media and spamming people.

I’m sorry to say that most network marketers have been turned into human spam bots by their up-line and companies. 

‘Disposable distributors’ tasked with the job of spreading the word about their company’s products or opportunity, at the expense of the individual’s reputation and risking the suspension of their social media accounts.

The WRONG Way to Prospect and Recruit

 

“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” 

There are millions of distributors out there who still haven’t yet figured out that building a business is not about finding the right copy/paste FB messages to send to strangers.

It’s about actually caring about people, becoming a person of value and being someone uniquely positioned to help someone with their problems.

Again, critical:

“Uniquely positioned to help someone with their problems.”

Any fool can copy and paste a message into the Private Message function on Facebook.

What sets you apart from the rest of the desperate reps hitting people’s inboxes with their new “ground floor” opportunities and side hustles?

Now this doesn’t mean, prospecting online doesn’t work. I know some very skilled recruiters who are excellent at online prospecting, but just like offline prospecting, they’ve devoted the time and effort to learn this very difficult skill and have mastered it.

And if that’s the strategy you want to deploy, you need to do it right or else!

But if you’re still a little fuzzy on whether you are a spammer or not, here’s a guide of sorts…

Top 5 Warning Signs That Your Prospecting Efforts are Actually SPAM

1) You first private message to a stranger on social media includes any info, your story or a link to join your opportunity.

2) You get angry replies (and mostly none at all) via private messaging and/or you have been reported as a spammer.

3) You post links to your opportunity or website in the comments section of other people’s social media posts. 

4) You compulsively want to talk about your company or products, without anyone asking you to share.

Finally… this one is the most important one…

5) You engage in interactions online, with a hidden agenda, hoping to transition the topic to something that would get people interested in your opportunity, without caring about knowing the other person.

This last one for me is a big one but could also be controversial.

After all, #5 is the very definition of prospecting (online or offline), which even when done right… can still feel awkward, result in people getting angry at you and very un-leveraged, which is why most people eventually decide to stop prospecting all together.

But here’s the interesting thing…

“When I Stopped Prospecting People, My Business Started Growing!”

I can’t tell you how relieved and at peace I felt, when I once again, was able to go out with my friends, visiting a family member’s home or be in a public place without having to feel anxious about prospecting everyone anymore.

Just enjoying being normal again, was incredible, after two years of being taught by my upline that “everyone was a prospect” and approaching every conversation with a hidden agenda, I was free!

 

That’s because it wasn’t until I STOPPED prospecting, that my business actually started growing!

Weird, right?

At this point, you may be asking, “then how the hell did your business grow?”

Well before I answer that, I have to say that there are people who are very skilled prospectors and recruiters who completely disregard the issues I mentioned above.

They knowingly and without shame, approach every interaction with a stranger as a prospecting opportunity.

Getting yelled at or cursed out by prospects is no big deal, as long as some people say ‘yes.’

And just like doing it right offline, there’s a way to successfully do it online as well.

After learning and becoming very good at prospecting, I decided that I didn’t want to build my business this slower way.

The problem with prospecting in general, as it’s normally taught, is that the mindset going in, is still about what YOU want people to do and about manipulating people into doing what you want them to do.

In other words, it’s about YOU, not them… until I found a better way.

A Leveraged Alternative to 1-on-1 Prospecting, Which Won’t Make You Feel Like a Cheap Sales Man

Now, I am not trying to be high and mighty about all this prospecting stuff, because I’m not.

If it came down to feeding my family with ‘stone cold’ prospecting tactics or my kids starving, I choose stone cold prospecting every time, without remorse.

But the reason I was able to quit prospecting was because, with the help of some extraordinary online mentors, I eventually discovered an online recruiting strategy, which…

Enabled me to recruit more people in 1 Day, than the most skilled recruiter in the world can do in 1 month.

I was able to passively generate leads, customers and new reps – even when I was outdoors having fun with friends and family.

(Hence why I didn’t have to worry about prospecting them!)

Rather than spending hours spamming or private messaging people on social media, I learned how to legitimately get Facebook and other networks to actually help me attract the people who are most interested in what I have to offer, using the Facebook ads platform! (i.e. going legit!)

In fact, every day for a few years now, I’ve awoken to an email inbox full of notifications for new leads, new customers, new team members and commissions I earned while I was snoring…

This strategy is called ‘Attraction Marketing’, which is an internet marketing strategy designed for networkers and people in direct sales…

You see, if your business depends on you being on social media, sending private messages or commenting on people’s posts all day, you are NOT doing internet marketing… despite what you may have been led to believe.

Online prospecting and internet marketing are NOT the same thing!

 

Internet marketing is a passive strategy, having shared blog posts and Facebook ads working for you, even when you are not working. Yay!

I needed that. I think we all did.  

And hey, if you want to discover how we do it, I actually reveal the entire strategy I’ve used for the past 7 years, in a free 10-Day Online Recruiting Bootcamp available here.

You’ll also get more details about the Attraction Marketing ebook, which goes into the nuts n’ bolts of our recruiting & selling formula.

Now if traditional prospecting online or offline is your thing and you want to stick to that, by all means, go for it.

My friends, Eric Worre, Ray Higdon, Todd Falcone and Tim Sales are all about that stuff.

(And they do ‘attraction marketing’ too!)

For me, there was simply a certain way I wanted to live my life and that was more important.

I would much rather make a ton of money in my business first and then have my friends and family beg me to give them my time and finally tell them my secrets on how I did it.

So much better than trying to convince my friends and family to join a business that isn’t making any money.

So which would you prefer? Well let’s freaking DO THIS! 

Chat soon, 

The World Is Yours, M!