I know everything about the consequences of the current economic downturn - I think you could consider me a victim. Having spent about 12 years of my life in the golf retail business, running three stores and putting 50-60 hours a week to those who don't think of anything at retail, in early 2008, this was quite unexpected. The combination of worsening savings, high fuel costs, overhead costs from three locations, and increased competition with online sources that we’re poorly prepared for competition, reducing costs has become the main task of the owner.
Do I even have to say that all three stores were closed before 2008?
Owning a business has always been something that I had in my heart, but, like many others, I was so busy making a living and taking care of my family that it was put on the back burner. I did not have the opportunity to invest the funds necessary to start a brick and mortar business project - between renting premises, building materials, equipment and hired workers, which you could look at from 50,000 to 100,000 dollars before the door are open. Then come the marketing expenses.
Marketing has always been something that interested me, and something that I always felt was an area where most retailers were extremely inadequate, mainly due to the fact that most of them have absolutely no value. Usually this is nothing more than a sales pitch that cuts off most people, not allowing them to ever become customers.
I trained my employees to become valuable, and put our stores as a place to consult on all issues related to the golf business, thereby eliminating the price as the main problem and becoming consultants instead of sellers. I have always thought that this is the only way to develop any specialized retail business. Unfortunately, the owner did not choose the market in this way, using a rather outdated “discount retailer” approach.
In addition, the network marketing industry has dealt mainly with its own autonomous marketing methods until this time — cold calls, the pitching of family and friends, the terrible “3 foot rule”, the purchase of leader boards and other unpleasant actions. I had the opportunity to fill such sales in some (very) short periods with trading companies before I entered retail. Ironically, one of the things that attracted me to retail is the idea of a potential customer coming to you, and not pursuing them.
Enter marketing attraction.
Some very promising people in the network marketing industry, such as Ann Seig and Mike Dillard, saw the limitations of the old model of offline marketing methods and presented a completely different marketing school — one that builds around the concept that people like to buy but hate to sell. It is about offering value first and positioning yourself as an authority or an expert - good people are looking for and want to buy.
Think of online stores such as Amazon.com. Is there a more pleasant shopping experience anywhere? You get personalized recommendations, the ability to create wish lists, as well as positive and negative feedback on almost any product under the sun. That's all before you ever buy one thing! When you are ready to purchase, it can be as simple as a single click. Not surprisingly, they are one of the few companies that held their own, despite the terrible economy?
For me, such marketing was “attractive” to me, because it was largely second-kind. Any good retailer understands how important it is to always have value. We sent our relationship to strengthen relationships, positioning ourselves as leaders, so that we were never able to pursue customers.
Another reason retail professionals will be at home in network marketing is that we ourselves are starting. You cannot survive as a retail owner or manager, who is a time punch. No one is going to build your business for you, so long, odd hours are the norm.
This does not mean that you are building a network marketing business, with the exception of one powerful thing - you make your own hours. If you want to work in the middle of the night, the Internet is always open. This is the reason why many people do this to earn extra income — there are no fixed hours. This is your business, but since you do not have employees and work hours to worry about, you work when you choose.
Getting proper education in online network marketing is important, but “sales training” is an old hat for retailers. The beauty is that, using the marketing concept of monetization or affiliate marketing, you can really pay for your education and in many cases actually make a profit as well as learn. Affiliate marketing is, in essence, a business relationship with a merchant that allows you to refer to this business, as a rule, free of charge for you. This can be done in a business learning process and is an important part of many amusement marketing systems, such as the Ann Sieg Renegade System.
The fact that we sent our practitioners, students to handle clients, both personally and by phone, makes us unique as leaders in this bold new world. The difference here is that using online methods allows us to get many more people in far less time and at a much lower cost.
The tax savings that many retailers already know and are used to are also very much present in network marketing. Your office is your home, and this in itself provides many discounts.
These are excellent reasons for retailers to view network marketing as a viable business opportunity, but the current economic situation may be the most important factor. The economy is not expected to turn around for some time, which means more job losses and less discretionary spending on Americans. Discretionary spending is the lifeblood of retailing, so this fact does not bode well for the industry, especially for specialty stores.
The network marketing industry is entering a boom period that will only grow in size as more and more unemployed and unhappy employees are looking for online income-generating opportunities. This works in the interests of those of us who are already established in network marketing. We will have unique opportunities to become leaders in the right industry at the right moment to provide the much needed information about these opportunities. The low cost of entering and running a business makes it an attractive alternative nowadays, and with social networks growing more and more every day that will not change for quite a long time.
