Dan Kennedy said that it was impossible to draw a bell curve of success for Network Marketing.
Statistically, a very small number of people make money and a few people make a lot of money.
The vast majority make almost no money or spend more money than they make trying.
Dan Kennedy’s graph would be a flat line with 99% at near zero or below zero, with a sharp spike for the 1% who make decent money.
Dan was talking about people in network marketing companies and various industry statistics support that. Very few people make money. The ones that do can make a lot of money.
After attending hundreds of in-person BNI meetings, and hundreds of online networking meetings, my sense is that the Return On Investment (ROI) for participating in networking could look something like this:
What is your experience?
Let’s calculate your Return On Investment.
Time Calculation ~ Year
- Write down an estimate of how many hours per week you spend in networking meetings, in one-on-one meetings from networking, and preparing for meetings.
- Multiply by 50.
20 hours a week is 1,000 hours for the year.
Revenue Calculation ~ Year
- Estimate the total sales revenue that came from networking in network groups.
- Deduct all membership fees and other expenses to attend networking meetings.
Say you spent $200 a month on networking. That is $2400 for the year.
With revenue less than that, you are networking at a net loss.
Is your number positive?
Divide the revenue by the number of hours to get an hourly rate for your efforts.
Say you value your time at $100 per hour. A thousand hours of your time is worth $100,000 a year.
If your numbers suggest you would be further ahead as a Walmart Greeter, you have a problem!
To be clear, networking can be a lot of fun and there are intangible benefits.
It can be like eating ice cream and buying lottery tickets. Fun to do, even if the results don’t help your bottom line.
What To Do About It
Here are some things to consider if you want to increase your bottom line.
Are You In The Right Groups?
You will have a chance of success in a networking group where:
- There are qualified prospects interested in what you offer.
- There are people willing and able to refer you to people who could be clients and customers.
- There are people who would be good collaborators for you.
Going back to Dan Kennedy’s comments on Network Marketing, many networking meetings have a large percentage of people representing MLM products and services (even if they might not think of themselves as being in an MLM).
They tend not to be looking for service providers or be seriously interested in your MLM offer. At best, they could refer you to their network as a service provider.
Russell Brunson says you need to fish where the fish are.
If the prospects for clients, referrals, and collaborations in the group are slim, you are fishing in the wrong place.
Is Your Offer Clear?
If you are fishing in the right pond, are you using the right bait?
In other words, is your presentation leading to high-quality appointments?
If not, you need to refine your messaging.
Do You Have A Good Online Footprint?
Like it or not, many people will take a look at your online footprint before making an appointment with you or arriving at the meeting.
What they see will be a factor in the outcome of your meeting.
What is your online footprint:
- Do you have a good LinkedIn profile that reflects the reason for the meeting?
- Do you have a quality website that reflects the reason for the meeting?
- Do you have a positive presence on social media and possibly YouTube?
Do You Have An Optimal Mix of Promotional Activities?
Eric Loftholm, Dan Kennedy, and many others urge you to use multiple ways to attract clients.
While you still need to send a Fax to communicate with Dan Kennedy, his team uses ALL forms of media to keep him in front of millions of people.
Here are some things that could be on your list:
- Have a great website.
- Content marketing, like blog posts, social media posts, YouTube, and magazine articles.
- Webinars and workshops.
- Broadcasting video content and podcasting. You can get on other people’s shows.
- Email broadcasts and sequences. The 7+ figure markets send me emails daily, which is a clue to what they think works.
- Email newsletter.
- Direct Response marketing using printed materials delivered using the mail. You can start with a simple service like Send Out Cards.
- Email prospecting.
- Phone prospecting.
- Door to door.
- Social media prospecting, including sending messages through LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms.
- Attending conferences and live events.
- Participating and presenting in summits.
- Advertising on TV, radio, and print media.
- Have a booth at trade shows.
- Attending Networking Meetings
- More …
If attending networking groups is the only thing you are doing and you are not getting results, time to put more time into other areas.
Are Your Business Activities Balanced?
Given that the usual goal of networking is to get paid for projects, are you spending enough time delivering the work?
Doing great work fast will lead to more business and referrals.
Are you behind in your accounting and taxes?
Are there leaks in your business process that are costing you money?
If that is your case, your networking efforts will be like pouring water into a leaky bucket. Fix the holes!
What to Do About It
Here are some things you can do to improve the overall success of your business.
- Do an honest assessment of your networking ROI.
- Adjust your approach and mix of networking as part of an overall approach to promotion. If not working, either figure out how to make it work or reduce how much time and money you are putting into networking.
- Improve your online footprint, including social media platforms and websites.
- Exceed expectations in delivering your service.
- Aim for constant improvement in marketing and business processes.
Would you like to meet with me to look at what you are doing and recommend areas for improvement?
You can book an appointment at https://www.gregdixon.net/ or reply to this message.
Greg Dixon
Chief Enabler of Business Solutions
