Network marketing lead generation is the key to MLM business success. Without effective and ongoing lead generation your business is destined for failure. Personally I'm not a fan of buying network marketing leads... at any price.

Buying Network Marketing Lead Lists Doesn't Work

This is one of the biggest myths in network marketing coaching. When you join a business you are advised to buy network marketing leads... and purchase as many as you can afford to be successful. You are rarely successful with these leads because:

1. You don't know how old the leads are. The lead could have opted in months ago... so long ago that they've forgotten doing it. And long enough ago that their interests may have changed.
2. You don't know how the leads were generated. Did the lead fill out a form stating interest in a network marketing business opportunity? Or were they entering a contest to win a free iPod? The quality of leads from the latter list is clearly dubious.
3. Worse still is how many times has the lead been sold? If you're the 9th person to call the lead, how excited will they be to receive your call? And MLM'ers wonder why they get abused on the phone when cold calling leads.
4. Last, but certainly not least, you didn't generate the lead. The lead doesn't know who you are, they have no relationship with you and they don't trust you. So how likely are they to take your recommendation and want to buy something from you? "Not very" is an understatement.

Effective MLM lead generation comes from applying attraction marketing principles. You will have targeted and pre-qualified prospects entering your sales pipeline when they are attracted to your message, rather than being chased by you.

Remember the basic tenet of attraction marketing is that teaching sells. So if you're targeting network marketing business builders, then teach your prospects how to build an MLM business.

This will attract business builders to you and start establishing that relationship of trust with them. Once they trust you and begin to feel like you will help them, your credibility goes up. When your credibility is high enough, prospects will take your recommendations and buy from you.

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Many of us learned about the sales funnel when we took marketing classes in business school. It's time to dust off the principle and apply it to our work as Internet marketers.

Lead generation is a process and should be part of an overall marketing strategy. You say you "just have a home based business," so why do you need a plan? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Developing a sales funnel is the most effective way to plan out your marketing strategy for lead generation. The sales funnel typically consists of the qualifying steps that prospects take before they become customers. At each step the prospect is invited to take the next step. As a prospect takes each step, they are pre-qualifying themselves for the next step. Thus, the prospects that go all the way through the funnel and eventually become paying customers are indeed very well qualified. It's magical when it happens!

Because I use Attraction Marketing fundamentals, I design each step in my funnel to build my relationship with the prospect and increase the trust between us. Here are the steps in my funnel:

1. The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing e-book by Ann Sieg. This is a free download. I always start with a free product because I must give value to my prospects to start the trust-building process by providing solutions to their problems.
2. Ann Sieg has just released a brand new eBook called The Attraction Marketer's Manifesto. It's 75 pages and chock full of detailed information about attracting pre-qualified prospects to you using a variety of online marketing methods. Giving away more valuable information for free helps to increase the level of trust with your prospects.
3. For the prospect with little money and limited computer skills, I recommend they start with the 30-day Marketer as it emphasizes using free marketing tools. The 30-day Marketer teaches you how to build a presence on the internet with a free blog and Facebook. And then you'll learn how to generate cash through affiliate marketing.
   
4. If the prospect resonates with attraction marketing and wants more information, then they are invited to buy The Renegade Network Marketer. It's only $67, has a 90-day money back guarantee, and has a plethora of tools in the Back End.
5. Although the Renegade System is fabulous, some feel overwhelmed with all the tools and just don't know where to start. For them I recommend the 90-Day Marketer, which is step-by-step network marketing training for building a starter website, setting up email autoresponders, developing a marketing plan and starting Affiliate Marketing cashflow. This is a great next step for many prospects.
   
6. One of the tools that's recommended in the Renegade System is implementing Collateral Marketing. Send Out Cards fills the bill nicely as an automated system for following up with the prospects that are still in your marketing funnel. Cards and postcards that arrive in the traditional mailbox are more likely to get read and less likely to get thrown away… a powerful system. I have found Send Out Cards to be a wonderful addition to my primary MLM business because it's complementary and doesn't compete with my MLM.
7. Once a prospect has completed the 90-Day Marketer network marketing training, they are ready to fast track their lead generation. That's when I recommend Renegade University. This is actually a free site with hours of step-by-step video tutorials to teach the latest techniques in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Social Marketing.
8. If the prospect is truly committed to network marketing success, they will want to upgrade to Renegade Professional, a paid subscription ($39.95/month) to advanced training through Renegade University. This is where lead generation… and monetization move into overdrive. You will have more prospects coming in than you can follow-up with!
9. Last, I have my primary MLM business opportunity that I can offer a prospect that makes it all the way through my marketing funnel. Unlike traditional network marketers, I never lead with my MLM business… it's too big of a leap when you haven't built the trust yet in your relationship with a prospect.

These are the elements of my marketing funnel that I use for lead generation. As a prospect gets to each step in the process, they become highly qualified prospects for the next step in my marketing funnel. This is lead generation at its finest… prospects coming to you and paying you to be prospected.

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