Not many years ago, a hundred million viewers watched one of three TV channels. Today, those same people choose from hundreds of channels, plus cable. Plus millions more have defected to the Internet.
A handful of major newspapers once ruled the news and information roost. Today thousands of niche news Internet bloggers and upstarts like Drudge Report have stripped away millions of readers from the old majors.
What’s a marketer to do?
Niche markets and niche communities are the marketing buzzwords today – – people who share tastes, beliefs, world views, values and interests.
Who’s your primary community? Who are you seeking out and supporting most in your business? Reps or customers?
Next question: how do you find the ones who are looking for you, in today’s skeptical marketplace?
If I have a choice that I would vote for both.
I need customers to give me bread and butter while looking for my leaders.
But the idea of repeated income from one time hard work from finding customer is a myth.
Customer still drop out from the product consumption.
I still need to continue looking for customers.
In order to build this business, I need leaders, and need to spend time looking for them
Customers get my vote.
My goal is to reach the niche group who really wants to make a difference in the same areas I’m passionate about. These customers can turn into reps. I received a message today from a customer asking about my business and company. I’m not actively marketing for that company anymore. I could have told him the company(s) I’m with now and tried to recruit him but I don’t even know if he’s interested in joining a whole food nation group with the new school principles. I asked him some questions and offered to put him in touch with my sponsor with the first company. The point is that customers can and do become reps.
I started with this company as a customer and I became a rep so it does work.
Robin
http://www.Robin.WholeFoodNation.com
http://www.IKilledMydog.com
Dear Kim,
As previously mentioned, I am very active in BNI with one of my conventional businesses. I have to share an interesting discussion that took place during my training as a Director. This training was conducted in part by the BNI franchise owner. For you that may be unfamiliar, BNI is a closed referral group. This means only one seat per classification. One residential mortgage broker, one printer, one credit card processor, one finacial advisor, etc. The seat holder is supposed to be representing their primary income source…..their full time gig. With regards to Network Marketers, upon acceptance by each chapter’s membership committee, they can be inducted into that chapter. Again they are to be fulltime according to the guidelines. For example, we are currently considering an application from a Nuskin rep with their new device they are marketing.
Here’s were the discussion got heated and interesting. Some of the trainees sat in chapter seats as various things, but they were MLM businesses. Send Out Cards, Mary Kay, PrePaid, Arbonne, Melaluca to name a few. The man that owned the franchise in the 4 states represented made the point that most MLMers are promoting a business opportunity more than a product and that the need for team building for success was imperative. Therefore, they really are all sitting in the same chair, so to speak. I could tell that he was not a big fan of MLMers joining chapters, and his sentiments were shared by at least half of the participants. I have to admit that I could see his point. I had visited a nearby chapter as a substitute for one of its members that sold office decor who had to be absent. As the 60 second infomercials were delivered one by one, it became very apparent that at least one third of the chapter members were in Network Marketing companies. I felt like a fat tuna that had just been dropped into the midst of a bunch of hungry reef sharks. Wow, you could cut the tension with a knife. Not an atmosphere I would be eager to introduce my guests to.
Here is my point; the deceit so common among old school marketers has caused strong distrust in the business community for the MLMer just promoting a product. Therefore, as you have mentioned Kim, those of you claiming to be looking for customers only, better leave your business pitch at home in the freezer, or your credibility will be suspect very quickly.
Cold Cash,
Tom Doiron
Hi Kim…I choose customers, for the following reasons:
In my first biz that I started over 4 years ago, I concentrated on recruiting because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do. I convinced people to become reps that should only have been customers. My biz built very quickly, but within 6 months 95% of the reps were no longer working their biz. Over the years my commission check with this company has shrunk from 5K a month down to $1,500 a month.
About 2 years ago I found your site and blog, Kim, and what you teach has resonated with me. I find that I’m much more comfortable adding customers and now I’m VERY choosy about who I sign up as a rep.
Now I’m working my 2nd biz which I just began last month. I’m actively looking for and adding new customers to this biz, and I have not mentioned the biz opp to any of them … nor have any of them asked about that side of things. I believe that if someone wants to know how to do what I do, they’ll ‘raise their hand’ and ask. As time goes by I’ll ask these satisfied customers if they know anyone who might want to do what I do, because I love referrals.
I’m advertising for biz builders on sites that offer free advertising. No nibbles yet using that avenue, but I’ll experiment with other methods, too. And I’m exercising patience, realizing that this way of building my biz is slower, but hopefully steadier.
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely want to add reps and I know that when I get a good business builder things will grow faster and my checks will get bigger. But I’m willing to patiently wait until I find that person by building a satisfied customer base in the meantime, and always asking for referrals.
Achiever Karen
http://www.age-slower.com