Does Network Marketing Work? This question is obviously an important one to answer before deciding whether or not to get involved with a network marketing business. Unfortunately I can't just easily answer yes or no. If we rephrased the question as "CAN network marketing work?" my job would be very easy and I would just finish this article with one word?"Absolutely!" and this article would be over. In order to actually answer the original question, we will need to look at both sides of the coin and examine why many people do not succeed with network marketing and how and why many people do succeed with network marketing.

Old Way of Network Marketing

Part of the reason that network marketing has such a bad reputation is because of the way it used to be done. Before the internet completely changed the entire process, people would go to big meetings and sit for 2 hours while being sold on what a great product and business this was. Then some of them would join the business and attempt to recruit others by nagging their friends and family until they finally agreed to attend one of the meetings. Then the network marketer would bring his potential recruits to the meeting and sit for 2 more hours watching the same presentation. Often after the presentation, the friends and family members weren't as excited as they were supposed to be and they ended up not joining right away. They tried to pass on the business without huriting anyones feelings by saying "I'll think about it". Then the member who originally joined would have to constantly follow-up with all their prospects by phone or in person and see if they were interested "yet". The work was hard and uncomfortable and the payoff generally wasn't good enough or fast enough to keep people working or motivated long enough to succeed.

Network Marketing Now

The internet has made it possible to pretty much maintain the same payment structure as the older network marketing programs, but has changed the entire way recruiting is handled. Now, many network marketing companies offer websites that you send your prospective traffic to and after taking a tour of the website, the company uses automated emails to follow up on your behalf.

Getting people that are really interested in your business is now easier than ever. There are now hundreds of ways to advertise your business without bugging your friends or family and without even ever calling or personally visiting anyone. For example ? there are websites that offer to advertise your network marketing program for you and you pay them about $3 for getting a visitor to come to your website and take your tour. Can you imagine if 20 years ago network marketers could have paid $3 to get people to come and listen to the presentations? Do you think they could have had better success? While the old systems relied heavily on your ability to get your friends and family to participate in the business, now many don't even tell their friends and family about the business until they notice their nice new cars and finally ask how they can afford it.

Why Network Marketing?

One of the main reasons I believe network marketing is such a great option for starting a business is because it has just as much profit potential as many other traditional businesses, but requires only a minimal financial investment and only requires as much time as you want to give it. Can you think of any other business that you could start with so litle risk, that would have the financial and time benefits that network marketing offers?

Another reason I believe that network marketing is a great business option is because when it's managed correctly you can leverage your time with the time of others. What other business can you start for such a minimal investment and have the ability to franchise your business to others get a profit from all the work they and anybody they recruit do? The more workers you have in your downline, the less work you actually have to do.

Then Why Do So Many People Fail?

Unfortunately many people do fail with their new network marketing business and when they fail, they generally do it pretty quickly. It is often said that about 95% of people who start a network marketing business fail. I believe the main reason people fail is because they had to high expectations and didn't understand what they were getting into. Unfortunately many network marketing companies advertise as get rich quick schemes which just is not the case. Network marketing is a REAL business and just like any other business, it takes time and commitment to succeed. I can generally tell very quickly during phone or email conversations if I'm dealing with someone that is likely to fail (AKA quit). When I get asked "I've been a member for 7 days...how long until I start getting checks in the mail?" I automatically know that this person has the wrong idea and isn't likely to make it. I of course try to explain that making money depends on their advertising effort and I try to teach them different ways to advertise. This is often met by dead silence for a while and then they may say something like "about how long do you think it will take until I start making money?" I am always still committed and willing to help, but after that I know their chances aren't very good.

When I get asked: "what would you recommend I start doing to better understand the business so I can advertise and promote it to others?" I know that this person understands that this is a real business. This is the attitude of someone much more likely to succeed.

A lot of people say that on average 95% of the people who start a network marketing business fail. But that is only if you accept that the word fail and quit can be used interchangeably. I don't accept that. Many more people just quit their businesses without even trying to succeed than actually try hard and fail. I would be willing to bet that if we separated the quitters from the people that actually gave it a real effort and failed, the failure number would be much much lower.

So after all that, I guess I should just answer the question. Hopefully after reading the above the answer will make more sense.

Does network marketing work? ? It certainly can and it does work very well for many.