I understand where you’re coming from by saying that 95% of industry sales come from people using so-called “traditional” methods. But that is rapidly changing. In fact, the main reason that is the case is simply because so many network marketers have never even heard of using the internet to build their business. It’s certainly not taught at hotel and home meetings by upline leaders. So the only way for most network marketers to find out that there is a whole other way of building their business is to get frustrated with their results and turn to sources outside of their upline/opportunity for help.

Now that being said, I do agree that “traditional” methods MAY work for some people in this industry. But those are people who enter this industry with a very large “circle of influence”, so to speak, and that non-duplicatable “X-Factor” that allows them to be successful. That non-tangible element some people have that has people drawn to them for whatever reason.

For example, I agree that professionals like attorneys, insurance agents, and general sales people usually do pretty good with traditional methods – simply because they have a large contact list of high-level people and they have the training to capitalize on these relationships.

But that’s not duplicatable. And on top of that, it’s highly inefficient. Just because some people manage to make it work, doesn’t mean that it’s the best way of going about it.

Leverage is key. And strangely enough, network marketing preaches this concept. It’s how they sell people on joining. But the ironic part is that they never teach any leverage when it comes to prospecting. There’s no leveraging when you pick up the phone and cold-call, or set an appointment with someone to visit their home and show them “the plan”.

So leverage is the main asset that internet network marketing brings to the table. I can harness the power of technology to build relationships with thousands of people per day without ever having to make a single personal phone call.

And that’s the secret to BIG money in this industry.

At the same time, you’re also absolutely correct that people will always fail at being successful in this industry. And I totally agree with you that it’s largely to do with their work ethic, behavior, etc. that you mentioned.

But I also believe that those issues are the same reason so many small businesses fail too – not just network marketing related businesses.

Truth is, many people simply aren’t cut out for building their own business. They never want to learn real marketing strategies, or get off the couch to achieve their success. So the network marketing industry attempts to capitalize on this fact by claiming things like “simply share your products with your friends/family – it’ll work” and everything else that detracts from the true reality:

We’re in sales, and we’re in business for ourselves.

…which means you need to learn real marketing tactics such as internet network marketing.

Bottom line, there will always be a high failure rate when it comes to owning your own business – whether that’s network marketing, a Subway franchise, or your own restaurant. But there’s no doubt that learning effective marketing techniques and leveraging those techniques through technology gives you an exponentially higher change of success.

And either way, I’d rather work smarter, not harder

What’s your thoughts?

But if the traditional mlm approach is not the way to go, why is it that 95% of industry sales are from companies that use the traditional approach? Fact is it does work, and has worked for a very long time. Yes, 95% of people fail at traditional MLM. But in my experience a very high percentage of people who use marketing oriented methods fail too. The real issue is why people fail. Or to put it another way………what is it about their psyche, their work ethic, their behaviour patterns that sets them up for a fall? Thanks for allowing me to comment.