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Network Marketing Strategy: The Most Forgotten Element

Network marketing strategy requires one element over all. If you have this, you have time. Time to mess up and recover, time to learn the business. Believe it or not, we haven’t talked yet about it yet.

I’ve failed several times because of this item, and I’ve seen countless other people fail as well. And not just in the network marketing business, but in nearly any business. In many cases, this element will rescue your business when you make a bad choice, and will allow you to accelerate when you make a good one.

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What is this Strategic Element?

Here it is:

Money. Cash. Dough. Coin. Benjamins. Presidential Flashcards.

Money is the blood of business, they say, and it's true of network marketing strategy and business plans as well.

Here’s the deal. You have a small business – micro, really. You have very low costs. You work from home and you make your house payment with a job or some other way, let’s say. But you’d like to make a killing, earn some serious cash.

You need to have some money you can commit to your new business.

You will do yourself a huge favor by deciding what you can spend every month on your network marketing business. If you have a credit card, I would be hesitant to rely on it for your business, since you can fill it fast, but paying it off may take a long time.

Why do I call this network marketing strategy? By knowing what you can spend, you can decide to get leads by advertising. You can decide which ads you can afford. Or, you will realize that you can’t advertise, and you need to learn to do it for free.

Why didn't my upline tell me?

Very seldom do sponsors teach this stuff. It's easy to see why.

If your sponsor comes to you telling you you need a bunch of money to sign up, and then says that the best network marketing strategy says that you need to spend some money every month, would as many people sign up?

Many would not. Some would - do you know who?

Business people. People who know what it takes to run a business. They know you need to have some money for marketing, operations, and so on.

No Cash? Time to learn

Let's look at the opposite side of this for a minute. Let's say no one talks to you about network marketing strategy, about an MLM marketing plan or any of that.

How will you feel if you spend 6 months in business, and have nothing to show for it? Or, if after 6 months you only have a large debt to show for it?

Don’t get depressed if you have a debt that prevents you from starting out strong – so did I. I decided that I would learn to overcome this propensity to spend when I haven’t planned, and to spend on non-essential items for my business.

Below I offer you a brief primer on how I make spending choices for my business.

When to Spend

When you spend ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I have cash to pay for this expense?

2. If not, do I really need it to run my business?

3. Will this expense actually earn ME any money?

Don’t ask yourself if it is a write off; that comes later. Any expense takes money out of your pocket, regardless of whether you get some of it back at tax time. You will have to make some hard decisions, but over time, they will get easier.

Spending Example #1 of Network Marketing Strategy

I had the opportunity to go to a training on how to make my business better and more profitable. It cost about $250, plus some travel, let’s say.

I could get the money. To decide if I should go, I asked myself the questions above, and got some answers:

1. Do I have cash to pay for this expense? I did.

2. If not, do I really need it to run my business? I decided it no, I didn't need this to run my business right now. More about this in the next question.

3. Will this expense actually earn ME any money? Yes, if I act on it. But I still have to act on the last training I had.

Then I added a few questions related just to this item - and you can do this with anything, just to be more specific.

4. Am I using all the training I have already bought? No. I can still improve what I am doing right now without more training.

Why would this training be different? I couldn't see any difference or special angle to network marketing strategy in it.

5. Do I know someone who will attend that I can get a basic summary from, so I know if I want to attend next time? Yes. And getting a review of any product before you buy it helps.

About that last one, I have to say I love training. I have an MBA, and I still think about getting another degree. I didn’t want to get the training for free, I just need to know if it is worth the money.

Spending Example #2 of Network Marketing Strategy

I had an opportunity to buy a subscription for an advertising elated service. I could pay about $60 per quarter, or $200 for a year. I was mulling it over. I wasn’t sure – you know, since I hadn’t used it, I didn’t know if I could really see how valuable it was in 90 days. I subscribed for one quarter and looked into it more. If it worked, this service could actually bring me more exposure and more sales.

One day, the company sends me a notice that they had a server problem. To make up for it, they offered a lifetime subscription for the one-year price, $200. Since I was already using the service, I could see that it would definitely put money in my pocket, and I pulled $200 out immediately. I knew it was worth more than that. And, I had conserved my money to be able to take advantage of this service.

You are faced with the same kind of decisions daily. You have to focus on decisions that will bring you three things:

1. Product Sales

2. Sign-ups

3. Leads

Conserve your money, and use it to increase all of the above. That will keep your business growing, and your income increasing, and that's good network marketing strategy.

When you don’t have two dimes

Okay, now for a work-around. If you don’t have any money, you can usually substitute labor for money. Not always, but sometimes. I’ll give you an example.

Work around #1: Be an Organizer

Let’s say you want to be in a trade show, but you don’t have any cash. Organize a group of distributors to go to the trade show, and split up the cost. Everybody pays a share, and everybody gets either their own leads or a share of the leads (you decide on which one). You get a share because you organized it and you will manage it, as well as filling in if someone can’t make it.

You can also use this with card deck, newspaper, magazine, and many other forms of advertising.

By doing this, you directly increase your recruiting efforts and move more product. Taking action like this is network marketing strategy at its best, building your business.

Work around #2: Become an Expert

Did you know every community has groups, clubs, and organizations devoted to improving business? All of these clubs need people to speak at their events. If you know something of value, you can speak to these groups. When people like what you say, they will ask for more information on your services and products.

Hint: That’s called a targeted lead. Usually, the organization will also let you set up a display of your services or products for people to look at after your presentation.

Once again, this is direct network marketing strategy at work. You spend your time speaking about a relevant subject, not a blatant pitch to join your company. You give good advice, that people can act on in a subject you know.

Work around #3: Create some cash

Could you sell a few things in your garage or attic to bring in a few dollars? Then you could use that to advertise. I once heard of a man who made sweet potato pies for restaurants to make a living. He could move any time, and didn’t need a job - but he could have also used the income to build a business.

How to plan for your money and your business

Now you have some ways to determine if you should spend the money, and how to avoid using it in your network marketing strategy actions. Let’s talk a bit about how to plan for expenditures.

1. Long term commitments

First, plan to meet long term commitments like renewal fees. These days, you can commit to many items, such as:

- The annual fee, $10-100 per year depending on your company

- Auto-ship for $100 a month or so

- Company website for $20-50 per month

- Phone system with an 800 # and voice mail for $30 per month

- Office rental fees, $500 per month

- Programmed lead-purchase program for any amount you want

Maybe you have more. These just come from the company directly. You may also have long term commitments from other places, such as:

- Long term advertising purchases

- Your car payment, if specially purchased for your business

- Non-company website fees, $300 per year

- Internet tools like an autoresponder

- Pay Per Click (PPC) fees

- Your cell phone

- And who knows what else

2. Short term expenses

These don't recur, but you may be planning to do them soon:

- Fees for meetings coming up

- Trainings you have already signed up to attend

- Short advertising campaign costs (ads in the newspaper)

- Trade show fees

- Company clothes with a logo on it (cool!)

- Gas to get to the meetings

- Airfare to fly to a training

- Hotel for the training

- And anything else that comes to mind…

3. Miscellaneous

- Whatever we may have forgotten. Perhaps marketing materials, magazines, DVD’s from the company.

- And so on…

You have to make a list like this. Once you have your list of current expenses, I recommend you sit down and ask the questions above about every item on the list. If it makes you money and you can afford it for months on end, at least 6 months, keep it.

If not, start looking for an alternative, or cancel it altogether.

Tough Choices

I know, it’s tough. But remember what I said above: How will you feel in 6 months if all you have for your network marketing strategy is a maxed out credit card?

Look, MLM companies also have a business plan. For them, you are also a customer. When you buy a DVD, they make money. When you come to a training, it helps them grow. I’m not saying don’t do these things, I’m saying you need to budget for them and plan, like a real business, instead of going broke.

By the way, a funded proposal can really help you here, or any product you can sell regardless of your opportunity.

One more item for your budget: An Emergency Fund

One more thing and I’ll wrap it up. I keep a small emergency fund. I recommend you do, too. I recommend $1,000. You can use this when you have no cash, but you have a fantastic opportunity. Other than that, forget about it. My fund helped me take advantage of the item above in example 2. Yours can help you as well.

Finishing up

Okay, I got a little long winded. Sorry!

Putting together a basic mlm business plan for your network marketing strategy can really help you focus and work on what matters. Take a few minutes to think about this and jot down some answers. You can then refer back to them later and see what matters most to you and your business. Take a few minutes every year or six months to track your progress and make adjustments. When you track your progress, you get further.

Good luck!

Side note: New Ebook Coming

After writing the three pages on network marketing business plans, and MLM marketing plan, and now network marketing strategy as it relates to budgeting and having your cash flow set up properly, I find I have left out some things.

Since these subjects can get very large, I'm going to compile these pages into an ebook where I can offer more space and some blanks, maybe even help you with the math.

Watch for this new ebook soon, about network marketing business plans.

Thanks!

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