We know there are a lot of “systems” out there within all different business opportunities, and most of them are probably promoted by their leaders as “the system” to the road of success. And truth be told, there is no “perfect” system out there.

In this day and age where opportunities abound and an avalanche of information overflows wherever there is Internet access, the world has become an unfamiliar place for many network marketers. People are becoming more skeptical. While it’s true that only leaders make money in this business, and a solid leadership development system is the real key to the long-term success for a network marketer, one of the most important skills that is so vital to this industry yet seldomly taught properly is LIST-BUILDING.

Most systems out there pretty much teach either leadership and motivation (called rah-rah when overdone) or selling/retailing only, but just about none that I’ve come across actually teaches good, solid list-building strategies.

Every system that I have heard or been part of teaches new distributors this mehtod:

1) Take out a pen and a piece of paper
2) Write down the name and phone number of every person that you know
3) Call them

And this is as much list-building as it gets for them. The rest of the strategy involves starting a conversation cold with 1-5 people within 3-feet of you on a daily basis once that list runs dry. These cold contacts are to be pursued within 24-48 hours and the whole follow-up process generally lasts no more than a couple weeks max.

I have personally built to a somewhat successful level with a very reputable network marketing business using this method, yet I was stuck at that level for almost two years before I finally, beyond the shadow of a doubt, realized that this method is not a duplicatable, effective list-building strategy in today’s world. It might have worked in the past, but times have changed.

This age-old strategy could still work for a while, especially when a company is on the upswing of its growth. However, the network marketers who have switched opportunities a few times will tell you that their “lists” are not so fresh any more(they called the same ppl each time they jump to another opportunity), and going from one opportunity to the next can bring down their credibility quickly.

Now why is it so important to add an effective list-building component to a good training system? Well, in my opinion if you are a conscientious network marketer and truly care for the long-term success of the people you introduce to your opportunity, effective list-building strategy will go a long way to helping someone succeed in this industry. Company management teams and business philosophies change, comp plans can be reconfigured, yet at the end of the day we are still in a relationship marketing business… so it is essential that we teach others a strategy to effectively amass a list to build relationship with!!!

Within those two years when I struggled to maintain my level in the comp plan, I invested much time and money ($8000+) in educating myself about effective marketing strategies and list-building methods. This education process included late late late night reading of various manuals, viewing of video tutorials, testimonials, technical instructions, the works.

I came across many different “gurus” that sold their system as the solution to this common challenge of effective list-building. By and large they all teach the very effective yet basic strategy in Internet Marketing called lead generation, which is essentially the de facto list-building strategy of the Internet age. This simple yet powerful concept is very rarely taught by anyone in the network marketing world. Why? I have no idea. But one thing I know is that it is THE best list-building strategy to add to any MLM training system to make it near perfect.

My personal choice of a list-building system is called Magnetic Sponsoring developed by Mr. Mike Dillard out of Austin, TX.

What made it so exciting yet painful during this period was the fact that I was all alone in this journey that led to my discovery of Magnetic Sponsoring! My upline mentors were open but not participating nor helping with the investigation or implementation of the new strategy, and I wasn’t ready to instruct others on my team (i.e. downline… but I don’t like that term) to come along with me in this journey. After coming home from showing “the plan” or participating in team events each night was when the real work started for me. I knew very well that most people want to follow, not to lead, and to inject something of this magnitude requires me to blaze a trail and eventually seek help from the higher leadership within the system. But the help never came…

You know, I’m not the smartest guy out there, but fortunately for me I am very persistent and work extremely hard. The strategies taught in Magnetic Sponsoring and MLM Traffic Formula really propelled the retail end of my business quite nicely, generating 3-5 PAYING leads for a niche area of my retail business. It was then that I knew I have found something that was unique and powerful enough to make all the difference in my business.