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BUSINESS 2000:
Networking or Not Working!
By Dr. Denis Waitley
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As I travel throughout the world, lecturing on “The Psychology of
Winning” and how to become a 21st Century leader to multi-national
corporations and entrepreneurs, I’m often asked what I think of the
future of network marketing.
My answer is simple and straightforward. The two greatest trends in society
are buying and selling direct, eliminating the middle man,
and instant information access from companies and sources
with brand recognition based on quality and integrity. From now on we
must act self-employed and join a winning team where income is directly
tied to knowledge and effort.
I recently spoke at a dinner meeting in Hong Kong sponsored by Dell Computer
Corporation for its "Fortune 500" customers. Michael Dell, the
founder and chairman, is destined to be the Bill Gates of the next decade,
having amassed more success and personal wealth ($29 billion) at the age
of 35; more than Gates had at the same age. Dell is the richest person
in the world under the age of 40!
One of the most admired CEOs in America, Michael Dell has a philosophy
that is brilliant and uncomplicated. He sells high performance products
direct to the consumer and creates customer loyalty better than his competition.
Dell has taken the global marketplace and Wall Street by storm with record
earnings, stock performance and return on invested capital. At this point
in time, Dell is selling its computers at the rate of $25 million per
day direct via the internet, with no retail or indirect distribution.
He does this by personal branding and legendary personalized service.
It is no accident that Michael Dell is identified in prime time television
as the “person behind Dell Computers,” just as Dave Thomas has
been branded as the person behind the Wendy’s franchise.
Dell’s responsive, personalized service cannot be done on pre-programmed
website pages alone. There must be live, online service representatives
and telephone customer service agents available 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week to respond to individual client needs, with new computers or parts
delivered directly to your door in one or two working days.
Marketing in the new millennium requires trust in the product brand and
the person presenting the brand, plus an easy way to buy direct and to
be serviced in the future.
E-commerce has good and bad news for the consumer. The good news is there
is an infinity of choices of goods and services delivered directly to
your door via the web. The bad news is the choices are so abundantly confusing
that you are afraid to buy from any brand or company you don’t trust.
This is why all future business is a form of network marketing. The consumer
buys direct from a source he or she trusts based upon “word of mouth”
(a trusted friend) or “word of mouse” (a trusted e-company).
The electronic commerce revolution via the internet, has revealed that
companies are preparing to do almost as much business through their own
intranets, as they are on the internet. An intranet is a group of individuals,
or consumers, with the same goals and interests. The key is networking.
Unless you are networking, you may be “not working.”
People want the safety and assurance of brands and individuals they trust.
AT&T is networking. One of the leading stocks in terms of earnings’
growth during the last five years is a network marketing firm, Prepaid
Legal Services. Sara Lee has established a network marketing division.
MCI uses network marketing to expand its phone services globally. IBM
offers internet training through a third-party network marketing firm.
Even America Online is offering its services via a networking vehicle
called AOL Direct.
I recently gave a keynote speech to a billion dollar subsidiary of Citigroup,
the largest financial services firm in the world. Headed by my charismatic
friend, Joe Plumeri, that billion dollar subsidiary, Primerica, sells
insurance and mutual funds via network marketing.
While banks and fixed-based financial services’ firms anxiously
wait for walk-in business at their branches and struggle with bureaucratic
cultures trying to turn a brick and mortar hierarchy into a hybrid, online
service, a quarter of a million Primerica networkers sit across the living
room and dining room tables with families across the nation, becoming
“private bankers” to the masses in the comfort of their own
homes.
Primerica offers the Citicorp, Travelers and Salomon Smith Barney brands
of products directly to the consumer, using a combination of high tech
laptop presentations in a high touch, friendly environment.
All this is happening because the middle-man is being eliminated in the
sales process and the very nature of competition is changing because,
in a networked world, we can ignore geographic limits to our shopping.
Instead of “location, location, location,” the new slogan is
“direct, direct, direct.”
The global trend of restructuring organizations that can compete only
by eliminating layers of employees will accelerate as we move into the
first decade of the new century. Of the 6 million jobs eliminated during
the past decade, many will never be replaced.
Individual entrepreneurs are seizing the advantage from bigger companies
and also breaking the chains of command. People can communicate with others
easily, rapidly and globally. We’ve moved from an assembly-line,
skill-based, security-seeking society into an online, knowledge-based,
risk-oriented universe in which people are realizing that they are responsible
for their own destinies, especially those related to financial security.
When Stephen Covey, Tom Peters and I lectured throughout America recently,
we asked the business executives in the audiences in 168 cities what their
secret desires were. Incredibly, 70 percent of the nearly 200,000 individuals
indicated that they would like to own their own businesses to provide
additional financial security for their families.
This trend began more than half a century ago with franchises like A
& W Root Beer, and Dairy Queen, and then exploded into McDonald’s,
Burger King, Taco Bell and Domino’s, and branched into financial
services and personal services.
Those franchises that seemed so speculative a few decades ago, now seem
more secure than seniority in a blue chip company. Network marketing in
the new millennium has entered the mainstream and is destined to become
more prolific and popular than franchising. The franchise phenomenon lends
itself ideally to drive-through or walk-in businesses in regional or local
territories. It’s a capital intensive “cookie cutter” approach.
Network marketing offers individuals an opportunity to earn additional
streams of income part-time or full-time, without the large capital investment
and commitment to hiring employees normally associated with a franchise.
The only downside to network marketing is that a business that is easy
to get into is easy to fall out of. Network marketing is like a joining
a fitness center. They make it fun and easy to join, and when the work
begins, people - who expected the machines to sculpt a beautiful body
in the first few weeks – give up in discouragement. Like every other
business, network marketing is effort and focus-intensive. Treat it like
a hobby and it pays you like a hobby.
Treat it like a serious business investment, and it pays you serious
money.
In investigating a home-based, network marketing business that could
give you additional financial security, it doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to establish criteria. You should look for a company strong
in five major categories:
First and foremost, proprietary Products or Services that
enjoy the brand recognition as the top of the line or among the best from
any source. Companies offering consumable products have an advantage in
building a base of loyal consumers who become life-long users not easily
enticed by competition offering price-only advantages.
The products must be of the finest quality, with strict quality control
standards which is accomplished more readily if the products are developed
and manufactured in-house; not licensed from another producer. A consumer
product company with a line of products will have more staying power than
a single or limited product line. This lesson has been learned by pharmaceutical
firms who merged into larger, diversified companies when single products
could not sustain long term growth.
When you are considering a network marketing company offering services
rather than consumable products, make certain the service is one that
you currently utilize as part of everyday living and that the company
offering the service has diversification plans and the financial muscle
to compete with the well-branded companies offering competitive services.
This is especially critical in high-tech services which are obsolete in
weeks, rather than decades.
Second, Leadership. To succeed globally, there must be
a talented visionary at the top. The most successful companies have visionaries
at the top like Jack Welch at GE, Bill Gates at Microsoft, Donna Karan
at Donna Karan International, Michael Dell at Dell Computer, and Dr. Andrew
Grove at Intel.
Many network marketing companies are founded by marketing entrepreneurs.
It will be important for you to do your homework when investigating new
network marketing opportunities to ensure that you find one whose leader
is the genius behind the products as is Bill Gates of Microsoft, Michael
Dell of Dell Computer and Dr. Andrew Grove of Intel. There are some networking
companies whose emphasis is on how much money can be generated from a
so-called miracle concept or miracle ingredient, without the solid foundation
of a visionary with a long-range business plan and supporting research
at the very top.
Third, when I consider a business opportunity, I look for Financial
Strength and a minimum of three years of successful business operations.
Look for a company with a record of dramatic, yet steady, growth, that
has successfully navigated the early building phase where many new companies
fail and is currently entering the momentum stage where fortunes are created.
If you feel compelled to get in on the ground floor of a start-up network
marketing company, do your homework. Do an internet and media search on
the company. Check with Dun & Bradstreet and the Better Business Bureau
in the company’s corporate locale.
Check for complaints, litigation and make sure you check the background
of the founders and key executives in the company to determine their previous
track records.
The Fourth key factor is Technology. In the new century,
companies on the cutting edge of technology will rule the global economy.
Look for a company poised to be a dominant factor in e-commerce. Ask yourself
these questions: How comprehensive, creative, functional and consumer-oriented
is its website? What kind of downline management programs are online?
Can you find out instantly where every meeting is being held, how each
person in your downline is progressing weekly, how to track your own product
orders and income, and can you download sales presentations and important
data from the company’s data bank? How sophisticated and practical
is the company’s voice mail, fax dispersal, e-mail, telephone, video
and satellite conferencing? Is the company prepared for “real time”
video streaming? Are the company’s marketing tools and meetings “second
to none”?
Fifth, and finally, look for an Innovative Marketing program,
with a responsive distribution system, a generous compensation package
and solid marketing services, support and training. Look for a compensation
plan that allows all distributors an opportunity to succeed and succeed
early. Resist the temptation of joining any networking company that talks
about the multi-millionaires at the top and focuses on hyping lifestyles
of the rich and famous. In building a downline that stays with you, it
is more important that everyone can experience success, not just a few.
Network marketing can be the best of both worlds. It offers entrepreneurs
an opportunity to use relationship power, where position power used to
rule. It enables individuals of integrity and ingenuity to succeed based
upon their own efforts, with pay based upon direct performance, eliminating
the time in rank and feudal system of career advancement in the past century.
It brings us into the era of giant killers! Today, you never get your
hand stamped to get back in the dance. Your only security is the continuing
value of your service and relationships. If you can’t adapt to rapid
change, you’d better find a rich person who will adopt you. If you
wait for walk-in or drive-through business, you’ll be out of business.
Unless you’re online, you’ll be in a breadline.
If you can’t be trusted, your cover is busted. And, unless you are
networking, you soon may be not working!
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With over 10 million audio tapes sold in 14 languages, Dr. Denis Waitley
is the most-listened-to voice on personal and professional development.
He has mentored and counseled leaders in every field from Apollo astronauts
to “Fortune 500” top executives, from Superbowl champions to
Olympic athletes. He is the author of several N. Y. Times best-selling
books including “The Psychology of Winning,” “Seeds of
Greatness,” and “Being the Best.” For information on his
entrepreneurial behavioral assessments, seminar programs, keynote presentations
and new products, visit The Waitley Institute’s website at http://www.deniswaitley.com
or call 1-800-waitley.
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You will find support by visiting her web
sites: for prospecting, TheNewEntrepreneurs.com;
for training and resources, NetworkMarketingInfo.com;
to reach Rene, Yarnell.com.
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