One of the biggest challenges for anyone in network marketing is to get people to take those first steps. I have heard the analogy many times of how starting your network marketing business is like a plane taking off. It takes a lot of effort to get off the ground but once you are in the air it is much smoother. Likewise if you stop working completely once you have your business moving it will come down just like a plane will. The plan is to launch your business with more effort at first and then do what is needed to maintain it while enjoying the benefits of residual income. 

So, how do you help your new business people understand how to start? Well, first of all you work with people who are willing to put forth effort and then you show them by example. If you are prospecting on a regular basis, following a proven system, staying in touch with them and your other partners, getting on training calls, using your companies products and keeping up with company news you are setting a good example. If your team members see your efforts bringing you success they are more likely to accept your coaching. 

If you are doing all of the above and still people are not working then ask them what is holding them back. Here are the 3 most common answers to this question.

1. I don’t have anyone to talk to. 

Often it is not that people don’t have anyone to talk to but that they are not comfortable talking to people they know. This can be for several reasons. One is the people they know may not understand the concept of starting a business and are not good candidates for network marketing. These people may still be good customers if approached correctly. By correctly I mean asking them if they have an interest in what you are offering and if so then sharing only as much information as they need to make a decision on their own. This is called permission marketing and is another whole subject. Until a network marketer learns the skill of permission marketing he or she will not likely be successful finding solid customers or business partners. 

The other main reason new people don’t think they have anyone to talk to is they are intimidated and don’t think they know enough or are successful enough to approach others. This is actually the way they should think and they should be depending on their more experienced team members to do the talking to their potential business partners. 

If someone truly does not have good prospects then you can teach them to do business leads, advertising or other cold market techniques. This costs more but can be less intimidating because people are coming in wanting what you offer. 

2. I don’t have time. 

Guess what, I don’t have time either but I make time because I have strong desires for the long term benefits I know investing my time now will bring me. If your new people are not finding the time they either don’t have a strong enough reason for building a business or they don’t really believe it can work. You can’t really control how your people think but you can ask them so questions such as: 

Is what you are doing now working for you? 

What is the reason you decided to build a network marking business to begin with?

If you don’t build a network marketing business what will your life look like in say 5 or 10 years?

A strong compelling why won’t be enough without skills to back it up but it has to be there for people to start. 

3. I can’t get myself organized.

This is a bigger problem than many realize. Not being organized is a huge reason for procrastination. I like to sit down with my new people and help them set up a system for keeping track of people they talk to and help them get business materials arranged so they are easy to get to and get out. I teach my new people to make up packets in advance so all they have to do is hand them to someone or drop them in the mail. I want them to have e mails made up with links to websites, blogs and webinars so they can simply copy this info into an e mail and not have to search for it each time. 

These are the main reasons I see and things I like to handle with my new business partners so they know how to start. As a network marketer you can’t control people but you can guide them in their business and teach them how to start. 

Not everyone is cut out to build a business. Some people simply will not take the initiative to work for delayed gratification and as network marketers we have to accept this and move on. Madalyn