What Exactly Am I Doing? (Understanding Your Job)

In the last post, we looked at the difference between a distributor and a salesperson. We saw that as Jamberry Nails independent consultants, there really is no pressure to sell and no need to alienate anyone ever in our business. We simply make people aware of our awesome product and make the product available to those who can't live without it.

In this post, we're going to explore the relationship between retail sales and recruitment.

There are companies all over the world that use direct sales as their method of distribution. And there are hundreds of thousands of independent distributors for those companies' products. Believe it or not, being an independent consultant who can actually recruit and train an army of independent consultants requires skill. Before you shriek in horror, let's be quick to point out that anyone CAN acquire the necessary skill set. But not everyone will. And companies pay those with that skill set boatloads of money to do it. Because an army of distributors move a lot of product. They move much more product than a few people who are wired for selling can move.

Those people with the skill set to recruit or sponsor new consultants and train them how to do the same are sometimes referred to as network marketers. The name isn't as important as the concept. The concept is to inspire normal people to do three things: 1) use a company's products and/or sell a little to a few regular customers, 2) recruit (sponsor) other people to do the same thing, and, 3) train those they sponsor how to inspire others to repeat the process over and over on down the line.

Retail. Recruit. Repeat. That's the process. That's your job. Many successful network marketers have perfected the process of network marketing as a profession to such high levels that the product is nearly irrelevant. In other words, they distribute the business opportunity before they introduce the product. There must be a reputable product to distribute. But that isn't as important as getting people to understand the limitless, residual value to them for distributing any product. It's hard to believe, but using some product and helping enough other people see the value in using it can lead to retirement-on-a-beach type income in a few short years!

If a company will pay a limitless income to a person to use its product and sponsor other users, then it makes sense to use it and sponsor others. As long as the product is legal and people will use it anyway, the business opportunity is hard to pass up. If a person can make a percentage of every product consumed in their team, and their team consists of thousands of people, large amounts of product are being retailed and lots of commissions are being paid. It doesn't matter what the product is.

Obviously, it would be helpful if the product is consumable, because there will be an ongoing demand from the distributors to keep using and an ongoing demand from the few regular customers a distributor might serve. That's why most direct sales companies sell vitamins or household products or health care products or makeup. It all needs used over and over. And it would help if the product does what it claims and comes at an affordable price. But it's easy to see how ambitious entrepreneurs could recruit a team of distributors who are more fired up about the business opportunity itself than the actual product being sold. If I can be paid for using toothpaste that I distribute, why would I go to Wal-Mart to get it?

But what happens when the consumable product isn't just some replacement for your normal skin cream or makeup or laundry detergent? What happens when you can't get the exact same product at GNC? What if the product is cutting edge, and totally ground floor, and not already on the normal market? What if the product was a totally revolutionary way for women to feel beautiful and unique and no one else had anything close to it?

You'd have Jamberry Nails! That's right. Not only do we possess one of the most helpful and in-demand products around, we have a compensation plan that rewards sales volume to a nearly infinite level downline in our team! So as Jamberry Nails independent consultants, we get an amazing business opportunity that rewards our work with the potential for limitless, residual income. And we get a product that intrigues women as soon as they see it!

Many network marketing professionals become multi-millionaires in a few years by introducing consumers to vitamins or skin care. Vitamins and skin care are okay. Lots of people swear by them. But how many women are standing in line for coffee and look at the person in line behind her and say, “Your face is soooo made up! Where did you get that mascara?” Every woman's face is made up. Or “You look so healthy and vibrant! What kind of nutritional shake are you drinking every morning?” That's not something outwardly noticeable. It could be difficult to get people excited about vitamins or lipstick or pet food. That's why they have to get people excited about the business opportunity first. Because the products are just normal old products that everyone has and thinks little about.

Jamberry Nails aren't like anything else! Jamberry Nails consultants do get asked where they got their nails done. And when the consultant tells the lady in line for coffee that it wasn't at a salon, that it only took twenty minutes, that any woman can have them for only 4 bucks, that it will last 2 weeks, AND that she is GETTING PAID to where them, that lady is going to want to know how. And this exposes the lady in line for coffee to the awesome opportunity that is Jamberry Nails.

Many network marketers recruit people to join their business team by going through a process: exposure, presentation, validation, recruitment. They expose potential partners (sometimes called prospects or contacts) to their business plan. When the contacts express interest, they usually go through some sort of presentation of the business plan. Once the presentation is over, the contacts are given time to validate or deliberate on whether the plan would be a good fit for them (sometimes called follow-up). When the contacts decide that it is a good fit, the network marketer sponsors the contacts. The new recruits are then taught a little about the product and how to repeat the same process with new contacts of their own.

If the first step in the process of professional network marketers is to expose people to the business opportunity, how much easier is that job when the business opportunity is flashing around on the tips of the consultant's fingers everywhere she goes? Nearly everyone she comes into contact with will see her nails. Women especially. And they'll ask about them. Networkers train their recruits in finding and inviting new contacts into the business. Sometimes it can be intimidating or awkward at first. In our business, exposure is easy! It doesn't take much training to flash your nails around in public and tell people you get paid to wear them!

So what happens when we're out and about and we're asked about our nails, or when we're hanging out with friends and they just have to have nails like ours, or we come to the realization that Jamberry Nails are the newest, bestest product to hit the market since sliced bread and want to take it fast and furious to the masses? In other words, what happens after we've achieved exposure? What's the next step between exposure and recruitment in our network marketing business?

In the next post, we're going to see an amazing way that Jamberry Nails enables us to present our business opportunity and our product in one simple step that takes all the pressure off us as marketers. And we're going to get started on our next step in the business – booking our launch party.