There is one (1) book that I have read that has had more of a positive impact upon my internet network marketing success than any other. This book is 35 pages long, written by Ann Sieg, and is titled “The 7 Great Lies Of Network Marketing”.
Back on July 21, 2007, I was a frustrated network marketer. Why was I frustrated? Because I had done everything my upline had suggested that I do and I was no closer to business success than I was when I started in November of 2003. On that memorable day, July 21, 2007, I was surfing the Net and happened to see a banner ad (at the time I did not know what a banner ad was) and, being the curious type, I clicked on the ad. What happened for me after I clicked on that ad literally changed the way I look at network marketing and internet marketing forever. And, since I clicked on that ad, I have created more income from my network marketing businesses than I did in the previous 3 and 1/2 years of doing what my upline suggested that I do.
The first great lie in Ann Sieg’s book is “Everyone is your prospect”. I used to believe that everyone was my potential prospect. I did what my upline suggested that I do and I began by creating a physical, written list of each person whom I knew who lived in the United States. And, then I began to contact each person on my list. Then, after my list was exhausted I was taught to buy business opportunity seeker leads and contact them. I, literally, spent thousands of dollars buying leads and got nowhere.
After reading “The 7 Great Lies Of Network Marketing”, I learned that I needed to stop contacting my family and friends and everyone else whom I knew. I learned, for the first time, that everyone is NOT my prospect. I learned that when I went head hunting and was chasing people as though they were my prospects that I was doomed to failure because I was being viewed by the prospect as a nuisance. I learned that when prospects found me and sought me that I was destined to succeed because I was being viewed by the prospect as an expert.
The second great lie in Ann Sieg’s book is “This really isn’t sales. We just share products with people”. I can remember when I was calling leads saying these same things to my prospects. I wish that I still had these prospects names and telephone numbers so that I could call them and apologize for being ignorant and not knowing better at the time that I was ignorantly perpetuating this lie. After reading Ann Sieg’s book, I learned that if you are involved with network marketing and/or internet marketing then you are, in fact, in the sales business. I learned that learning and implementing effective sales and marketing techniques were mandatory for success. I learned that to consistently create sales of anything that I was promoting that I had to learn the connection between what a prospect wants and needs and how my product or service will satisfy the prospect’s wants and needs.
The third great lie in Ann Sieg’s book is “Anyone can do this”. I learned that a problem with statements like this one is that such statements imply that everyone, regardless of their current situation can jump right into network marketing or internet marketing and achieve the same results that more experienced salespeople and marketers achieve and as quick. I learned that the amount of sales and marketing skills that one has in the beginning will have a huge impact on one’s success in network marketing or internet marketing. I learned that the most valuable investment one can make in their network marketing or internet marketing business is an investment in oneself. There is no substitute for learning effective sales and marketing techniques and learning how to effectively implement them.
The fourth great lie in Ann Sieg’s book is “We’ll build your business for you”. This lie implies that a beginner can find an automated system that will do all of the work for them and that the beginner does not have to do anything to be successful. I learned that some people believe that the road to success is quick, easy, painless, and risk-free. The opposite is true. The road to success in network marketing or internet marketing is not quick, nor easy, nor painless, nor risk-free. But, the road to success is, also, not impossible. What is necessary is, again, to learn effective sales and marketing techniques and how to implement these techniques.
The fifth great lie in Ann Sieg’s book is “We have the best product ever”. I remember hearing this lie from my upline. At that time, the company I was promoting sold a discount dental plan. I thought, wow, at least now I am not promoting soaps, lotions, or potions. But, the problem was that I still was not being taught by my upline that the most important factor in running a highly profitable home business was not the product but, rather, the marketing. Ann Sieg says “You can make a lot of money with an awesome marketing plan and a mediocre product and you will never come close to making as much money with an awesome product and a mediocre marketing plan”. Effective sales and marketing is the most important function of any business.
The sixth great lie in Ann Sieg’s book is “You just don’t have enough belief”. Imagine, if you will, spending hours and hours on the telephone reading an approved script to leads (people who supposedly requested information about how to create additional income from home) and not sponsoring anyone nor selling a product to anyone. And, then, hearing your upline tell you that the reason you are not sponsoring anyone nor selling anyone is because you do not have enough belief in what you are promoting. Ann Sieg says if you had highly-qualified prospects to talk with everyday who understood what it is that you do, expressed an interest in learning more about what it is that you do, and were eagerly awaiting your response, do you think that motivation or belief would be a problem for you? To make this happen, Ann Sieg states that one is to stop worrying about belief and start concerning yourself with learning real nuts and bolts of how to successfully market a business: find the people who are looking for what you have, use an effective marketing system to automatically sell to them for you, and then spend your time working with the best ones.
The seventh great lie in Ann Sieg’s book is “The proven system”. Ann Sieg says that the real key to success in network marketing is getting the customer or prospect to come to you first instead of using faulty techniques and out-dated methods like making a list of everyone you know. When I began learning effective sales and marketing techniques after reading Ann Sieg’s book and after I began implementing what I had learned, I began, for the first time in my life, to experience what it is like to have people contacting me by telephone and by email asking me to tell them more about what it is that I do and how I do it and would I teach them how to do what I do. Learning how to get your customer or prospect to come to you first is the most valuable lesson I learned from reading this book by Ann Sieg.
If you would like to own your own copy of “The 7 Great Lies Of Network Marketing” by Ann Sieg, you may download it for FREE at:
http://www.StephenRayPorter.com.
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