Are you an extremely outgoing, passionate individual? If you’re a go-getter, something like network marketing, also known as multi-level marketing (MLM), can scratch that itch.
Not only does network marketing introduce you to the fast-paced world of sales, but it can help you gain the fundamentals of starting an online business. While there is some controversy regarding MLM, these are in only specific cases.
So, how do you get into the exciting world of network marketing? Read on to learn more about network marketing, online network marketing courses, and other network marketing resources.
What Is Network Marketing?
Network marketing is a business model and strategy in which the crux of an MLM business comes from person-to-person sales. In the beginning, your success at an MLM company hinges on your ability to sell the products to friends and family.
Not only does network marketing introduce you to the fast-paced world of sales, but it can help you gain the fundamentals of starting an online business. While there is some controversy regarding MLM, these are in only specific cases.
So, how do you get into the exciting world of network marketing? Read on to learn more about network marketing, online network marketing courses, and other network marketing resources.
What Is Network Marketing?
Network marketing is a business model and strategy in which the crux of an MLM business comes from person-to-person sales. In the beginning, your success at an MLM company hinges on your ability to sell the products to friends and family.
Friends and family, and whoever else you can sell to, become part of your ‘network.’ Building your network is crucial to your future business plans and success.
A Note on Network Marketing, MLM Controversy, and How to Spot an Illegal Pyramid Scheme
Network marketing goes by many names, including pyramid selling. You may have heard of illegal pyramid schemes, in which specific individuals can make an obscene amount of money directly from the salespeople in the lower tiers. The act is dubious, but standard, single-tier network marketing is usually reputable.
The trouble is that illegal pyramid schemes can look legitimate. According to the Federal Trade Commission, you can usually determine if an MLM company is reputable by its level of tiers and a few other factors such as if an MLM manager offers you wild promises, urges you to overstock on inventory, and pressures you to get more recruits.
What Is Network Marketing Used For?
Network marketing has quite a few essential uses.
- Creating a business opportunity. Overall, many network marketing opportunities are legitimate ways to build a personal brand of your own. Although you are acting as an affiliate to a larger company, networking introduces even a rookie salesperson to the ins and outs of businesses. This could be a great personal development opportunity for you, as well.
- Selling products. In short, network marketing is ultimately about sales. Selling the product is the number one goal, and the more products you sell to people, the more successful you will be.
- Recruiting others to assist you in selling products. In the higher tiers, many network marketing companies give salespeople incentives to recruit others, sometimes friends and family, to sell a particular product.
Types of Network Marketing
There are a few main types of network marketing that constitute the practice.
Single-Tier Network Marketing
Single-tier network marketing is the most widely known and accepted form of network marketing. A person will sign on with a network marketing company’s affiliates to do business. There’s no funny business from a potential illegal pyramid scheme here.
In single-tier, you collect your money from sales without having to recruit others to join your network. Many famous companies utilize this model. If you have ever heard of a “Tupperware party,” that’s an example of single-tier network marketing. However, it’s not merely limited to face-to-face sales with friends and family. Single-tier network marketing occurs online as well, sometimes through pay-per-click traffic.
Two-Tier Network Marketing
Two-tier network marketing is where the brunt of the business opportunity lies with recruiting others to act as distributors of a product.
However, as with single-tier network marketing, recruiting people isn’t the primary goal, and it doesn’t ultimately affect your bottom line. Once again, your income derives from direct sales.
Multi-Level Marketing
If you have ever heard of Amway, Avon, and Young Living Essential Oils, these are the standard examples of effective and famous multi-level marketing.
As you can probably guess, multi-level marketing contains various tiers of marketing. These tiers can increase exponentially and have a heavier emphasis on recruiting potential salespeople, whether face-to-face or on social media. Recruiting is emphasized with MLM.
Learning Network Marketing
How does one start a business opportunity in network marketing? Luckily, network marketing is perfect for those who are new to sales, starting a business, or want a source of secondary income.
Let’s see what you need to learn effective network marketing, along with some resources to help you do so.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Network Marketing?
Anywhere from six months to a year to nail everything. But this also depends on a lot of factors such as business plans and how well you market and sell the products.
To be successful in networking marketing, you are going to need to dedicate your time. It isn’t like earning a qualification, and all of a sudden, you’re an expert. You could potentially work hard in network marketing and not succeed. That’s the usual risk of having a promising business opportunity.
The consensus is that it takes up to a year to start returning profits. While this may be discouraging to some, you can eventually nail down a winning formula that works for you.
How to Learn Network Marketing: Step-by-Step
Let’s see how to break into network marketing and its various business opportunities that promote personal development and business plans. Unfortunately, due to some controversy, many steps to succeed in network marketing involve accurately vetting companies and products.
- Find the right company to work with. This is crucial. You need to be extremely vigilant, as not doing your due diligence could result in being involved with an illegal pyramid scheme. However, there are notable companies, like Avon, who offer network marketing business opportunities. If you aren’t sure, choose a big name brand. Regardless of what you choose, make sure to do detailed research on the company, its finances, as well as its reputation.
- Research business owners. Along with researching the company itself, before committing to anything, look up the company’s CEO. Look for any red flags, like legal trouble. If they seem relatively clean and reputable, go for it.
- Research the products you will sell. The company’s products will be your primary source of income in network marketing. Therefore, you should once again do some deep digging into the products themselves.
- Create a personal business plan. Now that you have the company’s backing and the products, it’s time to map things out. What do you intend to sell? What is your end game? Are you going to push your product exclusively on social media, or will you be a classic door to door salesperson?
- Get leads. Sales are all about leads, which refer to someone interested in what your company sells. Getting leads will be crucial to your success. The fastest way to get leads is most likely through social media channels like Facebook and Instagram. This is also where close members of your pre-existing network come in. Friends and family will likely lend a supportive ear to your sales pitches.
The Best Network Marketing Courses and Trainings
Since network marketing is a hands-on sales technique, it’s no surprise there are multiple classes, courses, and training resources for those interested in multilevel marketing.
Online Network Marketing Courses
What better way to learn network marketing than by tapping into a massive network of professionals teaching people all over the world? Many massive open online classes (MOOCs) offer a ton of business opportunities to everyone.
Certified Network Marketer (Network Marketing & MLM Mastery)
- Provider: Udemy
- Length: 4 hours
- Prerequisites: None
- Cost: $25
In this quick but comprehensive network marketing course, the International Direct Selling Educational Institute (IDSEI) oversees your education in network marketing basics. The IDSEI shows you what to do and what not to do, showing you common pitfalls that first-time salespeople encounter at the beginning of their business opportunity.
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It’s a best selling course on Udemy and has had over 25,000 students enroll.
Network Marketing – Mastering Online Strategies For MLM
- Provider: Udemy
- Length: About 2 hours
- Prerequisites: None
- Cost: $20
If you aren’t too keen on going door-to-door and trying to sell to people, taking to social media is a fantastic idea. In this course offered by Matt Hall, students learn the most effective ways to harness social media for your selling purposes.
Hall covers all of the leading social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. YouTube primarily for passive income, Facebook for more active MLM business, and Instagram for overall network marketing.
Through this medium, Hall shows participants how best to acquire leads and business opportunities for even the most inexperienced salesperson.
What results is a greater, more comprehensive knowledge of what goes into building your virtual network beyond friends and family members.
With over four sections and nine lectures, Hall shows you proven techniques that he had used to acquire a large number of business prospects and leads.
Network Marketing 101
- Provider: Udemy
- Length: 5 hours
- Prerequisites: None
- Cost: $20
Another marketing hit from Udemy, this course is perfect for people who have no prior knowledge of marketing, sales, or business.
Even if you aren’t aiming to make network marketing a large part of your income stream, the lessons contained within inform students enough to succeed in other business areas. The course particularly emphasizes showing value to your customers on social media and how to create passive income.
Along with technical business aspects, the course also assists students with creating realistic business goals, business plans, and more to help in the process. This excellent intro course mixes both tried and tested knowledge with new technology and business strategies.
Free Network Marketing Courses
There are also quite a few free network marketing courses available if money is an issue. We can’t all drop a hundred dollars on a course in a subject we don’t even know we will stick with. That’s why these are great options for development.
How To Choose An MLM Company Right For You
- Provider: Udemy
- Length: 1 hour
- Prerequisites: None
- Cost: FREE
This is an excellent intro to all things MLM and network marketing. For those curious but not dead set on network marketing, this free tutorial allows you to dip your toe in the water.
A significant aim of the course, to better help you pick out a reputable company, is crucial in MLM marketing. As outlined in its step-by-step guide, choosing an excellent and reputable company is perhaps the biggest signifier of future success.
This free network marketing course shows you what to avoid and what to seek in a potential employer. Once again, is the CEO embroiled in a legal scandal? How are the company’s reviews online? There’s even a 10-minute video discussing the controversy surrounding the concept of MLM business.
Eric Worre’s Youtube Channel
- Provider: YouTube
- Prerequisites: None
- Cost: FREE
Eric Worre, a network marketing professional, has a great YouTube channel that plainly and easily outlines all of the things you need to know about network marketing. Eric Worre often hosts guests on his channel to get different points of view on the field of network marketing and marketing in general.
His lectures and videos are valuable insights into the world of making money in various ways. His videos on effective recruiting are crucial to succeeding in the business world. This series of lectures is perfect for both beginner salespeople and experienced ones.
Network Marketing Books
If you aren’t interested in taking online classes and would much rather learn in more conventional ways, there is no shortage of network marketing books to peruse and gain insight from. Below are a few of the bestselling books on MLM on Amazon.
Go Pro: 7 Steps to Becoming a Network Marketing Professional by Eric Worre
We already covered Eric Worre’s YouTube channel. Now it’s time to see if his MLM book has the knowledge you need to succeed. It’s the number one bestseller in the MLM section on Amazon with nearly 3,000 ratings.
In his seminal work, Worre delves into his personal past with network marketing, spanning over 20 years. He uses his own business journey to outline how anyone can succeed in multilevel marketing. This is a pretty quick read at 160 pages and contains a lot of useful info.
Your First Year in Network Marketing: Overcome Your Fears, Experience Success, and Achieve Your Dreams! By Mark Yarnell & Rene Reid Yarnell
Once you are finally on the road to success or still learning the ropes, there are a few crucial things to do. This is where the advice of Mark and Rene Yarnell comes in.
They have outlined in their book all of the crucial factors of taking potential first-year successes in network marketing and multiplying them. Along with solid business advice, the Yarnells delve deep into different emotional tips for marketing.
It’s not always easy facing rejection or facing fears, especially in the world of sales. It can be harsh, but this book outlines excellent ways to deal with rejection, stay enthusiastic, effectively recruit, and stay the course.
Building an Empire: The Most Complete Blueprint to Building a Massive Network Marketing Business by Brian Carruthers
Brain Carruthers’ tale is a tried and true multi-level marketing success story. He increased his distributor network to over 400,000 people and continues a successful business to this day. In Building an Empire, Carruthers gives eager salespeople an inside look into what they need to be a resounding success not only in network marketing but in the world of business.
Carruthers has faced a ton of adversity in 20 years of experience. He shows the reader how to diversify your business, recruit effectively, and, most importantly, get leads.
He truly does lay out a realistic blueprint for succeeding in multilevel marketing.
Should You Study Network Marketing?
Network marketing offers a ton of business opportunities as well as personal growth for many. If you are someone who wants a chance at a potential new career, as well as personal development, network marketing may be an excellent option for you.
Beware of anything that may reek of an illegal pyramid scheme. The Federal Trade Commission gives guidelines based on what to look for. If you are careful, prudent, and observant, you won’t have to worry.
If you believe you can break into sales, then what’s stopping you from learning network marketing?
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