MLM & Networking – Growing your MLM Business through Networking Events

A common problem people come up against in MLM or Network Marketing is what to do when your warm market list of friends, family, work mates etc is exhausted.

When you first join a MLM Business you will be encouraged by your upline to “build a list”, this is a list of all the people you know, friends, family, relations, work colleagues, ex school friends and so on. Then you will be encouraged to contact all of these people to introduce your MLM companies’ products or services & the business opportunity. However sooner or later, no matter how big your list is, you will run out of people to contact, so what do you do then?

Networking events are the next step in helping you to grow your business. Basically these are meetings where business owners or employees, on the instruction of the business owner, get together & help each other find more business. They are usual held in hotels or business centre’s & early in the morning. Usually there will be only one person from any particular business sector allowed to join any particular Networking Group. To find groups in your area, just do a Google search e.g. networking Bristol, business groups London, business club Manchester, etc.

The Networking Organisations will hold meetings either locally or all over the country depending upon the size of the organisation. The large organisations will have meetings in most large Cities or Towns, in larger cities there may be several different meetings on different days of the week. Usually the meetings are held weekly at the same venue & will have a list of regular attendees who will be members of that particular group. Some Networking Organisations will insist that attendees are present at least 3 out of every 4 meetings, some will even insist that a substitute must be sent if the member cannot attend.

As I said earlier the meetings are usually held very early in the morning; 6.30-07.30 & will be finished before 9am. Breakfast is usually taken either before the meeting or during a midway break. Some Networking meeting are held in the evenings, but in the main they are breakfast meetings & will generally follow a set format such as;

Welcome & Apologies for Absence Format of Meeting & Special Welcome for any visitors Any Good News Members “60 Secs” –Members will introduce themselves, their business & then ask for referrals. Breakfast – if not already taken before meeting. 10 Min Member presentations – usual done rota system, each member will expand on details of their business. 10 Min Brainstorm – a member will have the chance to get help from the group with any problem they might

have. “Contributions or Referrals” – Members will pass business referrals or introductions to each other. Visitor Contributions – visitors will be asked if they enjoyed the meeting or if they have any referrals for the

members. Any other Business Next week’s agenda. Close

Obviously each Networking Organisation will have their own formats but they will be similar to above. The whole idea is for everybody to get more business either from the other members directly or from people referred to them by the other members. In the context of MLM, Networking is a way to add people to your list; in general people do not like “cold calling” so introductions or direct business from other networkers is a great way to build MLM businesses. However one thing to bear in mind, “Networking” is an art & it has to be learned in order to get the best from it, I will discuss this “art” in another article.