Perhaps a better question is what kind of MLM Sponsor would you want? What would you expect that person to do? What would you expect that person to know? Answer those questions and become that person. Should that person be all about himself or herself, or should they be all about you?
What Is a Good MLM Sponsor?
The answer may surprise you. A good sponsor is not all about you. An MLM Sponsor should be all about the team. Sponsorship is not getting people to sign on to your Network Marketing company. That’s recruiting. MLM sponsoring begins the moment someone joins your organization. Do you have to like your sponsor? It certainly helps, because you should be working with that person. But if that person is just someone nice to hang out with, that isn’t helping you. The first thing they should do is make sure you learn about the MLM company. You can’t sponsor anyone yourself if you don’t know anything about the company. You must have access to all the training that’s available that teaches company policies, procedures and products. Your sponsor should make sure this happens for you. If you are not making this happen for your team, you are falling down on the job.
The Value Of An MLM Sponsor
In order to do this you must be aware of your own value. To be an MLM leader you must create more MLM leaders. You will not reach your income potential if you don’t have leaders in your organization. A leader’s time is valuable. Your time is valuable. The biggest disservice you can do your team is to try to do everything for everybody. You build leaders by providing your team the tools and resources they need, and then by observing how well each individual uses those tools and resources. Yes, some people take longer to reach their potential than others, but if someone expects you to do everything for them, you do not want to work with that person. This will waste your time and drag you down. Find a proven MLM leader in your company and look at their business card. Is their title “Nursemaid”, “Handholder”, or “Diaper Changer”? I didn’t think so. This does NOT mean you shouldn’t help people. But when someone needs help, they should meet you halfway. Good Network Marketing sponsoring is about learning how to help yourself so you can help others.
Your team should feel like they are part of an active, effective group. When people feel this way, they are motivated. There is a strange phenomenon that occurs in many types of business, MLM included. People will sometimes let themselves down. But they won’t let a team member down. Effective MLM leaders develop a sense of “team”. If you do web training, or if your team meets for training, don’t do it all yourself. Get your team involved. Company sponsored training events will require company certified trainers, but you should be able to augment this with your own training. Delegate some tasks and responsibilities to emerging leaders. Don’t forget that your success depends on how well your downline team does. The best thing that can happen to you is for your team to do better than you have done.
As an effective “MLM Sponsor”, your other job is marketing, and making sure your team has access to all the marketing tools and resources available. If you are an Attraction Marketer, your best team member may not be a traditional MLM marketer and vice versa. Unless you can provide a mentor for a person whose marketing focus is different, you are not helping that person succeed. The most effective Network Marketers use the best from traditional MLM and Attraction Marketing.
One of the Founders of the 21st Century MLM marketing movement, Mike Dillard, wrote a book called Magnetic Sponsoring. It isn’t long, but understanding Magnetic Sponsoring will give you a real head start in your MLM business.
