Affiliate programs are great and can make you some good money. I like to think of affiliate programs as network marketing “lite”. Most affiliate programs only pay 1 or 2 levels deep and more often than not relied more on my personal efforts. What they are missing is “leverage”. You know, OPE (other people’s efforts) and OPM (other people’s money). As I understood this better, it was natural for me to graduate to Network Marketing.

Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) is a field for people with tremendous determination and diligence coupled with a prolific social network. Along with these you also need to have some key skills to make that winning sale. Sales in general require some basic selling skill sets and it’s no different with MLM.

Following are the basic skills for MLM:

Listening:
Patient listening is critical for effective MLM. You need to listen carefully to your prospective customers. This is a very good way of collecting feedback from your customers. Design your strategies only after analyzing the feedback you receive. This way you should be able to meet your customers’ expectations most effectively. Your patient listening to the customers and incorporation of their feedback will benefit your customers and they will appreciate that you listened to them. This will help you build a loyal and long-term clientèle with regular feedback from them.

Handling questions:
If your customer gives you a list of what they want in your company’s products, then nothing better than that. But, this is rarely the case. Customers generally resist expressing their views openly. You will need to extract the information from them by establishing effective communication. You need to be sensitive enough in your approach so that your customers open up without hesitation and give you the feedback you need to take the next step. The analysis of feedback will help you strategize further to convert prospective clients to actual ones.

Handling objections:
If a customer objects to one of the unalterable features of your company, then you need to reply very politely and empathetically. Think well before replying and never ever agree with the objection. Just show that you understand the problem and give a sound reason why the objectionable element exists.

Once you’re certain you have patiently heard and resolved the questions from your prospective customers, you are ready to invite them to join the group.