Here's another one of my articles I didn't think to post on my blog back when it was published!

Is It Possible For An Internet Newbie Network Marketer To Successfully Build A Team Online, And If So, How?

I spent over a year uncovering and scrutinizing the evidence surrounding this controversial question. I am publishing my findings so that others may benefit from that research.


It’s 2:00 a.m., Jan 3, 2009, and I am just too wired to go to bed! Why? Because I just joined the twenty-first century! Let me explain . . .

As a career network marketer of 20+ years, my teambuilding was obviously done through “traditional” methods. When I started my network-marketing career, the internet wasn’t even a glint in Bill Gates’ eye!

If you are a traditional network marketer, you know the drill: Make a list of everyone you know, call them up, set appointments, show them a dvd, then call your up-line for a third-party testimony. Then when the prospective team member doesn’t join on the spot, try to check back with them the next day at the agreed-upon time. When you don’t reach them, continue to follow up with phone calls until your dialing finger wears out and you are forced to face the fact that they have quit answering your calls. People who used to be your friends would now cross the street rather than bump into you. (Congratulations! You have joined the NFL Club --“No Friends Left!”)

Thankfully, I had promoted past the point of having to continually find new team members myself. But I had grown weary of constantly trying to motivate members of my team who were weary of constantly trying to find more people to expose to the business opportunity. I was out of ideas for ways to suggest to them for finding more people to talk to.

I began to hear tantalizing rumors of online systems for lead generation and even sponsorship. But others vehemently declared these rumors were just myths, and that network marketing will only work “belly to belly.”

I felt that if there were that many rumors, there must be something behind them. It just made sense to me that the internet is the tool to use to reach more people! Where else can you contact hundreds or even thousands of people with a click of the mouse?

In fact, I just heard this on a Perry Marshall cd: “Ten years ago Faith Popcorn wrote a book called The Popcorn Report. She said that the trend in the 90’s is “cocooning,” which basically meant that people don’t want to be bothered. If they were cocooning 10 years ago, then today they are locking themselves in a fortress! Some people hide behind their computer, reading their emails all day long, but won’t even answer their telephone. If you’re going to find a way to effectively sell to them, then you’re going to have to find a way to get invited, not as an unwelcome pest, but as an invited guest.”

I know this is the internet age, and I adamantly believe that the future of network marketing will be predominately online. After all, that’s the trend for everything else!

I believed there were probably network marketers using the internet to build their teams, and I was determined to find out for myself!

So the quest began. For months, I spent untold hours diligently searching and researching, seeking the true answer to the question “Is it possible to successfully build a team online in a network marketing company?” After many months of thorough investigation, I am convinced that I have found the answer: Unequivocally, “YES, IT IS!”

Not only did the results of my research prove to me that it is possible, but it is fast becoming a much-preferred technique to “traditional” network marketing methods.

Contrast a) all the time, effort and hassle involved in chasing a limited number of prospects, with b) sitting comfortably at your computer, reaching hundreds of people in the amount of time it would take to make a phone call or two! Sure, I know “it’s not as effective as being in the same room with someone.” But the sheer numbers more than make up for that disadvantage!

The auto-responders do a great job of building a friendly “relationship” with the prospect. If you’ve ever been on someone’s mailing list, you likely have experienced feeling like you almost know the person who’s been sending you those emails and newsletters.

And consider the fact that people are looking specifically for an “online business.” They know they don’t want to have to chase people, either!

Once it registered with me that my original question had in fact been answered, the obvious next question was: “How?” This triggered many more hours of research on my part, tracking down and analyzing the many “turnkey” systems that promise to build your team for you “on autopilot.”

While the systems I studied vary widely in specifics, all share the common goal of having the system do virtually all of the “prospecting.” The object is to save you from wasting any of your valuable time to find out if someone is a prospect or not. Anyone you talk to should have already learned about your business, qualified themselves, and either contacted you or requested a call.

While you may have some emails and phone calls to return from prospects and people who join your team online, your main work is to drive lots of traffic to the lead capture pages of your system. The more traffic the better. Don’t be alarmed – if you select a good system, the tutorials included with it will teach you everything you need to know to do that successfully.

A fringe benefit of many systems, that I heartily endorse, is a way to make money from prospects who do not even join your business!

After several months of studying various systems, I finally recognized that I was suffering from “analysis paralysis.” I decided it was time to stop researching and start testing! I narrowed the field to the three systems I was the most impressed with, and spent a week analyzing and comparing the three. I forced myself to make a decision, and selected one to test. I spent this evening getting it all set up & personalized.

And I did it myself! Yes! I, by myself, was actually able to follow all the instructions in the video tutorials to “plug into the system” and get it up and running without a hitch! Those who know me, with my woeful lack of computer skills, probably won’t be able to believe that, but I swear it’s true! And I didn’t even have to find a teenager to help me! (Although if I had, I would probably have been typing this at 9:00 pm 1/2/09 instead of 2:00 a.m. 1/3/09!)

If the fact that I did it by myself doesn’t speak volumes for the people who put the system together, and wrote the tutorials, I don’t know what would! All the instructions were crystal clear, easy to understand and easy to follow! No tiny little detail was omitted.

Not only did the video tutorials walk me through every single little step, but I even acquired a few skills that will come in handy outside of the system itself! For example, I have had an auto-responder system for months, but hadn't yet learned how to use it! I quickly and easily learned how to use it tonight from the tutorial video of my team-building system! It was really very simple once I had someone showing me, in the video, and walking me through the steps of actually using it!

I am ecstatic to finally have my 21st century online team building system up and running! I have tested it, and it is operating like clockwork! Now I am going to apply the techniques for generating traffic that I have learned in my months of research, with the help of the tutorials in the system, and throw open the floodgates! Hallelujah!

After I sleep in, that is!



Linda Gracy is a career network marketer and team-building coach. She and her husband now spend their time helping others achieve financial independence through network marketing. To see which online team building system she selected as the best among the many that she analyzed, go to http://www.InternetTeamBuildingSystem.com