Does Cold Market Duplicate?

Some great comments on the last post about the Internet and duplication.  If you haven’t already, it’s well worth your time to read them.  This raised some questions on what I recommend on display ads and other cold marketing recruiting.  So let’s explore that.

The first question is whether or not they work.  They do, when applied properly, by knowledgeable people.   But if we can get you to ask the wrong question – then the answer doesn’t matter!  Which leads us to the most important question:

Do these techniques duplicate?

And sadly I don’t think they do.  At least not on a large scale, down many levels.  Now I come to this answer reluctantly, because I’m very proficient in marketing and have used the kind of strategies with much success in my other businesses.  But I don’t use them to build my network any longer…

Back in the day, I probably did cold market techniques better than most.  I recruited with display ads, classified ads, and mailed sales letters, cassette tapes and card decks.  I sponsored a lot of people.  Created lead campaigns for my teams.  Taught a few of my leaders how to do it all.  But didn’t really have much duplication on the lower levels.

This time around when I started building in the field again, I wanted to test advertising again.  And of course this time there were all of the Internet options as well. (Which we discussed in the last few posts.)  So I did test some ads, mailings, and other campaigns.  And once again, some of them worked.  But they didn’t duplicate at the level I was looking for, so I don’t use them any longer.

I do have people on my team testing different approaches quite a bit.  But the best duplication I see is still with the lines doing warm market, home meetings and hotel opportunity presentations.

I realize some of you think I’m out of date and missing out on all that’s available.  Feel free to check in below with contrary opinions.  But I did want to answer the questions on what I was doing and why.

-RG

13 thoughts on “Does Cold Market Duplicate?”

  1. Randy:

    I think we can all agree that warm market is best. However, once you run out of warm market you need to hit the cold market and , in my opinion, is where many network marketers fall on their face. It’s not their fault. They aren’t taught how to execute the cold market properly. My experience with the cold market is that it is very duplicatable. Most people are open to taking a look at the products and/or the opportunity, especially in the current economy. I’ve done most cold market activites and just today signed a contract for radio advertising. When done right, they work. It’s the person who gets on a social networking site like Facebook and sells his products and opportunity hard or spams people or creates a group only to turn it into a presentation. That is failure with a capital F. My experience is that you should set yourself up as a base of knowledge for the products/opportunity you are offering. If you do that correctly, people will come to YOU. Then it is up to you to build trust and integrity with those “cold market” people you attracted. Cold market can be a lucrative and fun method to expand your business and duplicatable. Thanks for the great post Randy.

    Reply

    1. You said:

      “I’ve done most cold market activities and just today signed a contract for radio advertising. When done right, they work.”

      The point was about duplication and most downline distributors would not be able to do or even pay for a radio ad.

      Randy is talking about duplicating efforts and bottom line results down several levels deep.

      It can be done online and offline. They do not have to be mutually exclusive nor should be separate from each other.

      It’s great you can do a radio ad. I could too, but we are in a leveraging business that involves leveraging the time and efforts of others as well as yourself.

      Yes bottom line is that radio ads do work. But they do cost money and they are not duplicatable. A radio ad leverages YOUR money and time, and is simply a form of traditional marketing with a MLM or NM product the way you are doing it.

      As long as you are making money right? Maybe…but what about your downline? MLM is as much about them making money as it is about you making money. Otherwise you are just a another guy just selling stuff.

      Reply

  2. You are right that it is tough for your downline to use the internet
    or even the older media to get folks involved. As I see it there are at least two
    big reasons for this. !. Your prospect is remote from you. They are not
    under your ether like they are in person. 2. People just do not know how to
    use media other than the spoken word effectively. So, now you have a
    sharp learning curve in two complicated areas to deal with all at once.
    Pretty daunting for most of us.

    Reply

  3. I look at this issue slightly differently.

    To me, the duplication is how we teach our downline to present the opportunity, and it’s not how we teach them ‘to find people’ to present our opportunity to. I don’t care how someone in my downline finds prospects to talk to about our business, as long as they do so. We all come into this business with different skill sets. Some of us are proficient online, some like to talk with large groups, some are comfortable creating a blog and having folks find them, some may have skills for radio advertising, etc. Regardless of which method of finding prospects works for them, the key to duplication is that they know how to present the business to the folks that they contact.

    I don’t think it’s necessary for everyone in my downline to find people through a home meeting, or a hotel meeting, or online – even it that’s what works for me. Instead, they should find a method that works for them, one that they enjoy, and use that method over and over and over. They then must duplicate the method we teach on how to present the business to those prospects.

    Mike

    Reply

  4. Well, if the recipe for success in MLM duplication is “getting a large group of people to do a few simple things, over a consistent period of time” then ALL things that DO NOT follow this recipe will probably not duplicate, even if you think they’ll “work”.

    Many things in marketing do work… But not many duplicate!

    MLM has been around for more than 60 years now and strategies and techniques have evolved from stealth presentations, to forced meetings, to preacher like motivators and rah rah rallies, to high-end corporate style guru presenter that could “close” anyone to buy anything!

    We now have people like Randy Gage, Eric Worre and Art Jonak just to name a few that are bringing MLM into the business mainstream in a very powerful way. Yet, oddly enough, the drop-out rate and success ratios have not change a bit in 60 years!

    95% of people joining MLM will quit, period! Whatever the techniques, strategies and even good hard core “even-an-8 year-old-can-do-this” duplicable methods used, only 5% of human beings are cut out for this business. Is it because they can’t do it?

    Is my opinion that there are millions of excuses out there why it should or would not work for people. And only just a few “reasons” why it should work!
    For me it all comes down to who you ARE, what you THINK and what you DO.

    Randy Gage could have never become what he has become in MLM without personal development. I think your success in life and business lies in the person you become when you reach a certain degree of development. I also believe only 5% of the population actually goes through this self-training…Thus the rates of successful entrepreneurs and millionaires in the world.

    So you can use whatever techniques, teachings, methods or strategies you want… Only those that have reached a certain degree of personal power will succeed in this business long term.

    MLM is simple and sometimes flat out easy! Growing up, changing who you are, master your thoughts, become a better person, believe in yourself, become a leader… That’s not easy and surely not easy to duplicate!

    But hey! 5% of people proved this MLM thing to be worth it, so why not take action and follow your dreams! You might end-up changing for the better!

    Live with passion!

    Adrian Bolosin

    Reply

  5. Most people can’t duplicate radio, newspaper, card decks, mailings or even adverising on the internet (PPC). What they can duplicate is telling their story to their warm market. People can also duplicate creating a new warm market by joining facebook or going to a local business luncheon. It is all about building and growing relationships with others. People join people. Thanks Randy for all you do.

    Paul

    Reply

  8. I think everyone has forgotten the REAL premise of the concept of working the warm market. One of the biggest mistakes we all seem to make is thinking only of ourselves in all activites. Yes, we all run out of warm market people. Yes we can join internet groups, local business groups, etc. etc. to add to our own personal warm market. BUT the part no one has shared or stated on the subject is .. when you sponsor a new person you move out of YOUR warm market list INTO their warm market list. The fact of the matter the real reason for joining and getting involved in any new social group.. running ads, card decks, radio advertising etc is for one purpose ONLY….TO FIND SOMEONE WITH A WARM MARKET. Then the home meetings, the calling friends and family , hotel meetings etc all are where you start FOR THEM. Again… everyone runs thru their personal warm market .. but EVERYONE can constantly have a NEW warm market list to work when they stop seeing just themselves and see that the new rep has the list and they have a dream … help them get thru their warm market list . While you are doing that you are training all the right things.. how to use the tools your company has to expose a new person to what they offer, how to make the first call to route them to that tool, how to do a follow up and how to use 3 way calling for credibility and team work. See to me, we are not training this part of the equation to see the big numbers. Lead calling, working the social networking angle, even going out and setting appointments with business people in the community are ALL not duplicatible for the average person. talking to their warm market…friendss and family IS. What we can and should train is how to see past ourselves and “see” where the next warm market list is always found. Then the systems we all have work and are duplicatable when someone really wants to see success. Plus we are all only looking for 6 to 10 REAL business partners aren’t we? That want the bigger money.. have the bigger drive and determination? We usually want more from and for the majority rather that keep looking for the REAL partnering “race horses” that can run like we can. The old statement help enough people get what they want and you will get what you want is true. Get thru you own warm mrket.. finding those that want something.. hepl them get their “group” started so now you have a new warm market f=group to work with..people they knoe but you did not.. duplicate the process of helping them call theru their warm market.. WOW.. new people you did not know.. new warm market lists.. constant steady and all helping you sort thru to find the ones tht really want what you want.. Along the way there are those making what they want, are happy , still growing, developing etc. If we can teach the BASICS.. How to work the warm market.. and see the NEXT group pf people’s list as the next warm market.. we win. We can duplicate.

    Reply

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