To be successful in Multi-Level 
Marketing (MLM), one must 
first understand the initial 
premise on which it was 
founded, as well as the long 
range dynamics. Only by doing 
this can a marketer hope to 
achieve any permanent and 
long-lasting income from MLM.
Until a marketer fully grasps 
these fundamentals, they will 
be caught in a losing loop, 
never able to make it work for 
them.

First, MLM is not unique or original to online programs. Avon,
Mary Kay and many other offline companies used MLM long before
the internet was more than a glimmer in a computer whiz's eye.
And little has changed about it since those early days. The
basic dynamic is this: in any company that has a large,
wide-spread sales team, rather than having many sales people all
reporting to a few regional managers, it would be more effective
to change the traditional sales manager/salesperson structure
and make EVERY salesperson responsible for both bringing in new
sales people and training them. In return, the company would
reward the original salesperson with a portion of the commission
from their trainees. 

By doing this, each sales person in their normal course of
business will then have an incentive to not only sell the
product, but to bring in, train and motivate other sales people,
as well. Thus the responsibilities of a traditional manager,
i.e., training, is also spread evenly among the whole sales
team. Theoretically, this ensures that even with a massive
amount of salespeople, each one will receive personal attention. 

However, in transferring this concept to the online arena, a
certain amount of de-personalization has taken place and,
because of it, many people have signed up to various MLM systems
without being fully aware of this concept, while others have
focused so exclusively on the sign-up process they do not follow
up on it. As a result, it has become commonplace for "uplines"
to not even realize a very important part of their
responsibility (training, motivating) and completely forego it,
resulting in sign ups that are completely ignored, who then, in
turn ignore their own, few sign-ups... the end result of this is
a breakdown in the whole MLM system. Furthermore -- and far more
devastating -- is the long-range result, which is a pervuasive
attitude that "this is how it is." Thus, leading to the
generally mistaken belief that all MLMs are scams, that only a
very small portion of marketers ever profit, that the secret is
to get in early, etc., etc.

All of which is a huge mistake. 

Some cynics may say, "sure, sure-- right. Like anyone ever
succeeds with MLM." But, cynics by definition always see the
glass as half empty. To their credit, it's true that there WILL
always be people who ignore their downlines and forever struggle
to succeed in MLM. Just as there will always be cynics. The
important thing is that each person decide whether their glass
is half-empty-- or half-FULL. Because that's where it begins:
with the individual, making up their mind that they are going to
succeed with MLM. 

Because once they do, the rest falls into place.

Another important factor is understanding what the personal
long-range goal of any MLM marketer should be: To build a
strong, dynamic team under themselves, one that will become
self-perpetuating. This is not a one-shot, easy business. This
takes time and energy. But it can be done successfully in a
relatively short time (think months), once a marketer realizes
the objective. 

To obtain this object, one must simply follow these steps: 

1. Communicate personally with each and every sign-up

This is one of the single most important things you can do to
begin building a strong team. As soon as you learn that you have
a new sign up, begin by emailing them with a cheerful welcome
and thank you for joining your team. Give them your contact
information -- email, IM and telephone # -- and invite them to
contact you with questions. Also, include whatever personal
observations about the program/company that you've discovered
since joining yourself. And, last but not least, invite them to
tell you a little about themselves, their experience, etc.

Equally important (and sometimes very difficult for "seasoned"
marketers): do NOT pitch anything to them. Remember: you're
building a team, not just trying to make another sale. If you do
nothing but send a sales pitch, you will probably not only fail
at the sale, you will also alienate them, which is
counter-productive to your long-range goal. And, this, more than
anything else, is the primary reason so many MLM marketers fail.
Too much aggression, too early, only drives people away.

At this juncture, some will respond and others won't. For those
that do not, send a second email that is more to the point, but
still polite and cheerful. Something like, "hey Joe! Did you get
the welcome email I sent last Tuesday? I've been waiting to hear
back from you." This let's them know that you really do want and
expect to hear from them. If you still don't, then let it go,
but include them in any general downline mailings (see below).

2. Get to know each person on your team
 When you hear back
from them, they will most probably tell you something of their
experience; how long they've been marketing; if they have a
website, etc. Plus, they will ask whatever questions they may
have. Respond to this email as soon as possible. If they have
questions to which you don't have the answer, then find the
answer. Go to your upline or submit a ticket to the company's
support system. While they could do this themselves (and you
could just say, "do that yourself") this is also
counter-productive to building a team. It is better if you find
out and pass it on, not only because it will help build your
relationship, but because YOU will learn something about the
company, too. 

Also, if possible, in your response invite the person to call
you and provide your telephone number, as well as offering to
call them instead. You can get to know each other much more
quickly and successfully simply by picking up the telephone. (If
you don't have national or international telephone service,
consider getting it, as it is an integral part to working
effectively with your team and a very worthwhile investment in
your business.) 

3. Provide support
 The main idea behind supporting your team
is to genuinely help them to succeed. How this is achieved,
depends very much on a particular situation. It can be a group
support, such as emailing them with the latest sales ideas and
tactics on a weekly basis, as well as with any company news,
passing along whatever tips or tricks or bit of information
you've found helpful. If this seems too much like "helping the
competition," remember that when "Refferal A" gets a sale or
sign-up, you get a commission just for being his upline. Sure,
we'd all love to get all the sales and sign ups ourselves, but
that isn't very realistic. 

Plus, ask yourself this important question: do I want to work at
this all the time, forever, for the rest of my life? OR do I
want to eventually be able to sit back and simply cash the
checks? When you're building a team, what you're doing is
building an income from their sales and referrals. And if you do
it successfully, you will eventually be able to 'live the dream'
as so many programs promise. 

As a team builds, a marketer may even create a special opt-in
list just to contact their downline more efficiently. Other
effective ideas include coordinating conference calls for the
whole team. Or, taking advantage of the online web conferencing
offered by hotconference (http://www.hotconference.net/) which
is both VOIP and online at once and allows members world-wide to
join in by either speech IM/type, with no connection fees other
than their own internet connection. These ideas are often used
once groups grow larger (50-100 members) but are very effective
tools. 

Having group meetings IS an effective way to work with your
team, once it begins to build. Plus, they can invite their own
new sign ups to join these meetings, which is another way that
you can support them effectively.

4. Follow up
 Besides responding to requests, as mentioned
above, it is also important to continue contacting members, even
when they do not respond. Not responding does not necessarily
mean non-participation. There are some who are more outspoken
and others who are more passive. Being passive won't help them
succeed but as long as you are offering your best, you know your
job is done.

5. They're YOUR Team
 As a team begins to grow, many
marketers either feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of such
a large team or mistakenly believe their job is done. Neither is
the case. But the job does change as an MLM marketer progresses.
It is very common, at some point, to feel all they are doing is
supporting their downline. Many marketers at this point fail to
understand that this is actually a very good milestone. It means
they have reached a level at which they can and should forego
actively bringing in their own sign-ups and focus on helping
their team bring in THEIR sign ups. 

WHY? 

Because (and, of course, assuming the MLM system is at least 3-5
levels deep), the entire idea IS to create a team that is
self-perpetuating; the marketer's first sign ups should be
training their own sign ups and supporting them, and developing
their own teams. All of which are UNDER the initial marketer
(you). When a marketer reaches this point, it is actually a very
good moment. But too often, marketers do not recognise this
moment. Instead, they keep building a team, sometimes until it
is gargantuan and quite impossible to support at all. I've seen
marketers create teams of 300-400 people... and keep right on
building it, mistakenly believing this is the path to success.
It's as though they are caught in a dance that they cannot end.
And, because they only focus on bringing in more people (rather
than supporting those they've already brought in), it is a
self-perpetuating dance they are doomed to break down. 

Rather, it is better to teach their downlines to do the same
dance... so they can then take a breather. 

6. Be Realistic

BUT: do NOT sit back (another classic mistake) and think you can
now retire. A marketer can cut back on their work at this point,
but never rely completely on their downline to do everything.
Keep involved, follow up. Because, for any number of reasons
(everything from a changed personal situation to an act of God)
people will, despite your best efforts, drop out. A wonderful,
healthy downline left untended is like a garden that is not
looked after properly. In a single season, all that's left are
weeds. So stay in close communication with your most successful
members and when someone drops out, take up the reigns to make
sure their downline still receives the same support, either from
you directly or from someone you've come to trust.

7. Empower Them

A huge part of all this success is passing on everything you
know to your downline. But many, many marketers hate to do this.
They dispise telling others what they perceive as their
"secrets" to success. 

Only the truly successful MLM marketers understand that their
downline's success IS their success. That when their downline
makes money THEY make money-- and that doing everything in their
power to help them succeed IS the smartest thing they can do.
Anyone who witholds any kind of information is only shooting
themselves in the foot and guaranteeing, again, a perpetual
dance. It's the ego saying, "I have to be the best." But it's
humility that will win.

 By now it is obvious that one of the chief characteristics
needed to be successful in MLM marketing is the ability to
communicate and work with others. To inspire, to entreat, to
coordinate, to lead. This may seem like a daunting task to
anyone who considers themselves shy or withdrawn. But that is
also part of the journey. Some of the shyest people in the world
are the most successful online marketers... afterall, so are
some of the biggest movie actors and greatest writers. Being
outgoing is something we must all learn. Understanding and
overcoming that is just another part of the job. And something
anyone can master when they try.