Maximum Exposure Use these techniques to successfully reach your entire market.

The secret to successful network marketing lies in the wordsthemselves: "network" and "marketing."Networking, the simpler to define, is creating groups ofinterconnected individuals who help each other--a situation you canperpetuate by simply speaking about your business. Marketing offersa more complex definition; its techniques vary and offer thenetwork marketer more choices: Do you want to spend hundreds ofdollars or none at all? Do you want to use cold-calling or promoteyour business through referrals only?

The following six helpful hints--culled from interviews withrepresentatives from five network-marketing companies--all add upto one thing: marketing magic.

Share Your Product

Sometimes, simply sharing your product solicits bigger sales.Sharing makes use of samples, literature, and audio and videotapes. "The more time you have to share with people, thebetter your business is going to be," says Don Gibbons, vicepresident of U.S. sales for Relív. He recommends thatindividuals be ready to talk to people at any given opportunity.When opportune moments arise, even the shyest salesperson canproffer a catalog or a sample and get results.

K.K. Cummings, who joined Sterling Health in November 1995,shares a similar philosophy. She credits her success--after justone month in business she had 47 people in her downline--to merelysharing the opportunity. Cummings uses audio tapes to introducepeople to Sterling's nutritional products. She gives them toeveryone--bank tellers, the mail carrier--asking them all the samequestions: Do you have a cassette tape player? Will you listen tothis tape?

The key to success in this type of sharing lies in thefollow-up. When Cummings gives someone a tape, she gets their nameand phone number in exchange and, after a few days, makes afollow-up phone call. While she answers questions and gathers theiropinions on the material, she often also collects orders."It's not a hard sale," she says. "The wholeidea of the audio tape is to let it do the work for you."

The Value of Advertising

With advertising, it's not what you spend, but how you spendit; if properly planned, a little advertising can go a long way.Buttons, business cards and posters are all inexpensive, yeteffective, means of marketing your message. Donna Payton ofShaperite Concepts knows this well; it's advice she continuallygives her downline of more than 10,000 distributors. Payton joinedShaperite in September 1993; several months later, her husbandfollowed. Now, the twosome and their downline generate $1 million amonth.

Payton advises her downline to obtain business cards orcirculars printed on bright paper with simple and clean messages,including each representative's name and phone number. Sherecommends that the cards be placed in restrooms, under windshieldwipers--anyplace imaginable. Payton has even hired local kids topass the circulars--or impact cards, as she calls them--around.Payton receives three to six calls per day using this method.

Signs offer the same results--the presentation is just a bitbigger. Payton recommends placing signs in cars and on people'sproperty (always obtaining permission first). Buying the signs inbulk will save money. Payton finds simple messages work best, suchas: Never Diet Again, All Natural, Affordableor Satisfaction Guaranteed. A single sign Payton placed onVasco Road in Byron, California, also generated three to six phonecalls a day.

For the shy, buttons offer a chance to market productpainlessly. Payton uses provocative phrases on her buttons, likeI Lost My Job and I Lost My Boss or I Lost It. I'm SoExcited. Ask Me Why. The key to success using this technique ismuch like the oft-stated Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. Knowwhat you'll say if someone does approach you.

Have Your Own Web Site

Who needs door-to-door sales when your own site in cyberspacewill bring customers to you? Some network-marketing companies, likeShaperite and Relív, bring sales into the Technology Age byproviding their distributors with Internet access. A map of theUnited States, located on Shaperite's own Web site (http://www.shaperite.com), links toeach distributor's home page. Click on a particular location toobtain a listing of the home pages for that area. Web sites cost$49 per year, including site construction, with distributorschoosing their site's design from a half dozen options. Sitesalso post sales information, as well as the distributor's homeand e-mail address and phone number.

Maximizing Your Use of the Telephone

"When my telephone rings, that's money calling. SoI'm never going to dodge the phone, I'm going to answerit," says Cummings, who has three phone lines and twovoice-mail systems so she'll never miss a call.

Customers continually call Cummings because she encourages themto do so. She advertises every other week in the classified sectionof USA Today and also in the MLM Insider. Havingvoice mail, according to Cummings, maximizes the leads generated byher advertisements because people can always reach her--callersnever receive a busy signal, and always have the option of leavinga message.

Sell from a Soapbox

Speaking engagements, like leading a discussion group on networkmarketing to local groups and organizations, not only educate yourcommunity but may generate leads for you as well. At least twice amonth, Donna Larson-Johnson, a 10-year veteran of ArbonneInternational, a network-marketing company which sellspersonal-care products, preaches about what she practices. The key,according to Larson-Johnson, is not to use the speaking engagementas a commercial, but rather as a chance to educate people on ageneral subject. "You weave in information about what you dobriefly--just enough to generate interest," she says. Forinstance, she will speak on topics such as "AlternativeCareers You Can Work From Home." At the end of thepresentation, though, she hands out samples, adding, "I'dlove to hear your views on the product."

Larson-Johnson mostly gives generic presentations on thenetwork-marketing industry, arranging speaking engagements bycontacting the heads of clubs, religious organizations and localgroups. "Even if I don't get something directly fromit," she says, "it gets our name out there and educatespeople."

Be a Jack of All Trades

The key to network-marketing success lies not only in the"one bright concept," but in mixing new marketing methodswith tried-and-true practices of the past. "The way that youmarket your product has to be a seven-course meal," saysLarson-Johnson. "You can't just have dessert. Make sureyou have a nice balance."

Kirk Elmquist of Springfield, Missouri, is vice president ofAHP, a network-marketing company that sells environmental systemsand services; he recommends his distributors follow a six-stepprogram to success, using such familiar methods as newspaperadvertisements, one-on-one interviews, mailing video tapes topotential clients, allowing customers to "try before theybuy," and networking with peers. The sixth step is called the"three-foot rule," where whomever comes within athree-foot proximity of you should be told of your product and itsopportunity. "Any one marketing method might generatesales," says Elmquist, "but our most successfuldistributors do all six."

AHP

AHP (Always Helping People) incorporated in 1981 and soldhousewares, cookware and crystal until 1988, when it began to sellwater-filtration devices. Now the company and its 3,000distributors sell various environmental devices, such as water- andair-filtration systems and magnetic fluid-conditioning systems.

To become an independent distributor, entitling you to buyproducts wholesale and receive quarterly newsletters and technicalsupport, there is a $30 application fee. Call (800) 749-2040 formore information.

Arbonne International

Arbonne International began offering skin-care, health andbeauty products in 1980. Currently, Arbonne has more than 26,000representatives throughout the United States and 12 countries.Starter kits cost $75 and include literature and products (with aretail value of over $233). For more information, call (800)ARBONNE.

Sterling Health

Sterling Health began in 1994 with three employees and oneproduct--grape-seed extract. Started by Al Dewayne and Bill Spires,the company now has 20,000 distributors and sales of 20 million. A$3 start-up information pack details their policy and procedures.Call (801) 377-7444 for more information, or use theirfax-on-demand at (801) 373-0037.

Shaperite

Shaperite offers over 45 nutritional, weight-loss and body-careproducts. Begun in 1989 by Greg Martin, sales exceeded $50 millionin 1995. Currently, they have 75,000 distributors. A start-up kit,available for $29.95, includes video and audio training tapes,literature and printed materials. Call (800) 776-9898 for moreinformation.

Relív International Inc.

Relív International Inc. offers nutritional supplements,weight-management products, and isotonic sports drinks through anetwork-marketing structure. You can become an affiliate bypurchasing the $40 distributor kit, which includes registration,order forms, and a 12-month subscription to their magazine,Relív Lifestyle. Call (314) 537-9715 for furtherinformation.