Help Your Downline Avoid the Blame Game

As a network marketing leader, you’ll have the privilege of helping your new downline team members get off to a good start. Some will step out and do well right away. Others will face challenges that you can help them overcome.

When working with your downline, you’ll find that some will get discouraged because nothing they do seems to bring results. This is especially true for those who are fairly new to the business. The path of least resistance (normal human behavior) is to blame the technique or method used.

Here are some comments you might hear….

“We advertised on Google Adwords and nobody signed up. Google Adwords don’t work.”

“I tried giving out our full-color opportunity brochure, and nobody signed up. Giving out opportunity brochures doesn’t work.”

“I posted on several different message boards for a month, and only two people contacted me and neither one signed up. Posting on message boards doesn’t work.”

“I put up a web site but didn’t get any visitors. This online network marketing stuff doesn’t work.”

When you hear this from your downline, understand that they are disappointed and puzzled as to what they need to do. You, as their leader, should try to help them accept responsibility for their results and discover for themselves how they can make it work. Many successful [tag-tec]network marketing leaders[/tag-tec] have been sponsored by all of the above methods.

Let’s look at those excuses again. Immediately after are examples of how we as leaders can respond and make things work better.

“We advertised on Google Adwords and nobody signed up. Google Adwords don’t work.”

Help your team member find some detailed training about how to properly use Adwords. There are some good resources available. Most of the time people just jump in and give it a spin, because it seems so easy. It isn’t that simple – you have to know what you’re doing. I had one guy sign up last year and start advertising in Adwords, despite my advice not to go that route just yet. He promptly spent $400 in advertising, sponsored nobody, and quit.

“I tried giving out our full-color opportunity brochure, and nobody signed up. Giving out opportunity brochures doesn’t work.”

Talk to your downline member about who they gave these to, what they said to them, and most important – did they follow up? Lots of people just hand out stuff indiscriminately and never check back with anyone they give it to. Teach your downline that followup is a key to success.

“I posted on several different message boards for a month, and only two people contacted me and neither one signed up. Posting on message boards doesn’t work.”

Help them learn how to properly present themselves on message boards and how to use signatures. Many people just start posting and make it very obvious they are there for one reason – to recruit. This does not work.

“I put up a web site but didn’t get any visitors. This online network marketing stuff doesn’t work.”

You know that a web site has to be promoted in the right places, and it can take quite a while to start getting any visitors. Your downline team member may not realize this. Some people think “if you put it up, they will come”.

The bottom line to all this – help coach your downline. Lead them to understand that there are many ways to successfully promote a network marketing business, but all methods require some advance planning and study before they can be used effectively. Help them get past the excuses and avoid the “blame game”.