Training Part 2 - It takes Six Weeks

Six Week Multi-Level Marketing Training

I have spent a lot of time analysing the data across all our clients and I have concluded that you have 6 weeks to lock a new distributor into the business. The data shows that if a distributor has not made sales or started recruiting active distributors (I call this Distributor Activation) within 6 weeks their chances of resigning are greater than 98%. That makes the initial 6 weeks the most critical period for a new distributor. 

The second aspect that the data highlighted is that close to 70% of recruits never get activated. They purchase their starter kit, never make any meaningful sales, recruit a person who does not get activated and they don’t recruit anyone at all, and then they resign their distributorship.

Many companies are not able to access this data as their distributors are not required to achieve minimum volumes or pay an administration fee to remain active, but that does not change the facts. To me, this activation issue is one of the most serious problems facing Multi-Level Marketing companies.

If this is the case, and it is, you would think that all MLM companies would be making a concrete effort to train, motivate and activate their new distributors but that does not seem to be the case. All the emphasis is placed on recruiting. There are opportunity meeting mechanisms for coffee shops, home meetings, weekly group meetings, monthly company meetings, webinars, zoom scripts and meetings. If you want to join a Multi-Level Marketing company, there are a dozen ways to do it. 

Once you join, you receive your training manual and emails and, for the most part, are left to your own devices.

At this point, I would like to mention that most of the people recruited into a Multi-Level Marketing business are ill-prepared. Think about it. They started school at 6 years old where they learned to face the front, shut up and do what they are told. This conditioning continued for 12 years until they graduated from school. Some of these people move on to university or college where they follow a seriously narrow education path focused on one or other specialisation. At some point, they get a job where they are expected to do what they are told if they want to continue earning a salary. 

One day a distributor walks into their life. He or she tells them how wonderful the business is and paints a picture of eternal sunshine, beaches, big houses and fast cars. This poor sucker signs up and their many years of conditioning kicks in. They want to be told what to do, directed, trained and monitored but that is not what happens. They are expected to show initiative, do all their training on their own, be motivated to do the work and make things happen for themselves. The data shows that it simply does not happen. As a result, there are literally millions of people who have been burnt by the MLM industry. Churn in Multi-Level Marketing companies is ridiculously high and online blogs and sites highlighting the evils of the MLM industry are ubiquitous. 

Whose fault is this? 

Ultimately it is the fault of the company. They set the tone and my experience is that they are normally so busy with running the business that they don’t have time to focus on training their people properly. Their distributor network will do exactly what their trainers did. They will recruit new members by the truckload and hope that they find one or two self-starters in the process. This is simply not good enough.

Whose responsibility is it?

There is no way that the company can train, monitor and motivate new distributors. An average Multi-Level Marketing company could recruit thousands of new distributors in a month in towns across the country, if not the world. Yes, there are ways to provide some level of training online or via email, but nothing beats in-person one-on-one training. Therefore, the company pays downline commissions for recruiting and training a new distributor. Note! I did not say “For Recruiting”. I said recruiting and training. The sponsor convinced the new distributor to join and is therefore morally obliged to ensure their success. If the new distributor fails it should be despite the sponsor's best efforts and not because of their lack of effort. The company should set the tone with their front-line distributors and team leaders but then there should be a clearly defined expectation of what the sponsor is being paid for and what they are expected to do. 

The Six Week Plan

You have 6 weeks to activate a new distributor so it would stand to reason that you create a six-week plan. Each week should have a focus and there should be one key marketing activity that your new distributor needs to complete. Keep in mind that your new recruits are probably doing the business part-time so don’t overload them, simply provide clear, measurable activities and timelines. 

If you do your job right, your sponsors and their recruits will know what to do and it will be up to them to implement the training and then monitor their respective activities.