A highly respected generic trainer and international best selling author for the network marketing industry, the following interview with John Kalench offers specific insight for chiropractors considering joining a network marketing program.
Does it really matter what company you choose to go with?
Yes it does. First of all, there is a distinction. Whereas many people in the industry perceive their company to be the opportunity; in reality, their company is a vehicle, a vehicle that they should carefully choose based on their preference, their personality, what they are attracted to products or services and people associated with that company. It’s kind of like when you buy a car. You are pretty much attracted to specific makes and models, colors and amenities within that vehicle. That’s why there are so many choices out there. Opportunity is really through network marketing, because network marketing provides the infrastructure for you to drive your vehicle, so you must be excited and even passionate about the vehicle you drive. You must like driving it, you must feel proud to drive it, you must feel enthusiastic in driving it, you must feel confident in driving it, that it’s safe, that it’s everything that allows you to express yourself and feel good about your business and what it is that you’re doing. In reality, the opportunity is provided by network marketing because it provides you the infrastructure to drive your vehicle. If you didn’t have network marketing, there wouldn’t be the opportunity.
How do you feel about representing more than one MLM product line or company at once. Is that ever a good idea?
My personal and professional opinion is that it does not work. That doesn’t mean that a very small and select percentage of the people couldn’t make it work. There are some people that have a philosophy that they don’t believe in putting all of their eggs in one basket. And they want to diversify their income because it makes the industry so volatile. But the fact is that if you align yourself with a company that you really believe in and you are passionate about if you are able to direct and focus your energies on that company, you are able to accomplish so much more than trying to diversify. There is only a very small percentage of people that can work different programs at the same time in harmony and make those programs successful; not to mention that it puts out a mixed message if you’ve got more than one company that you are trying to build and you’re prospecting. Which hat do you have on at that particular time? When you’re prospecting, you’re talking to a particular company and they’re not interested, so you say, “Well, let me change hats here.” That sends a mixed message. This system is driven by the power of duplication, and if you went out there and are promoting more than one company, more than likely you are going to end up with a network of people that are not loyal to one company either.
Even if one company would have a certain line of nutritional products that you prefer and then the other one might have something else that you prefer?
I’ve just never seen it really work. It’s only a very small percentage of people who are very experienced, who know how to change those hats quickly, they don’t mix and match they don’t try to pick bricks from one house to build another. They are very seasoned, so maybe the more seasoned and knowledgeable that you become, you may be able to position yourself to do that. I’m not saying it’s something that is not possible, I’m just saying it’s something that is not being done out there overall.
What are your thoughts on becoming involved with multiple companies to broaden the scope of products to offer patients?
With chiropractors who are looking at network marketing as something to subsidize their existing practice, they’ve already got people coming in to their practice and they’re showing the people these products and possibly the opportunity behind it. It might make more sense to someone who has that type of retail outlet, so to speak, to have more than one company or product line represented, because they really want to service their customers or clients or patients those products. Maybe there is a company that offers what another company doesn’t. In that particular case, it might be something that could work. But the normal channels of network marketing of building a network are different from what a chiropractor would do.
Do you feel that it would jeopardize relationships for a chiropractor to approach patients about representing their product line? Is it ever appropriate or best to avoid this situation?
I would think if a chiropractor first approached the patient with the opportunity about a particular product, it might be something that would compromise their relationship. If he shares the products with a patient who is excited about those products and in conversation finds a very subtle way to plant the seed that there is an opportunity associated with that, then it might be appropriate. But the fact remains that people are coming to chiropractors for something other than a network marketing opportunity, so there is always a fine line the chiropractor needs to be aware of.
What do you think about approaching other doctors and health care professionals?
I think it is the most natural and logical way to approach your peers and to approach people who can relate to you on your particular level. I have known many doctors, whether chiropractors or medical doctors, who market their network marketing products through their practice and have built large networks through their patient basis. Most of them have done it via their associates.
Do you think it is smarter to choose a company that isn’t known to the general population? For example, products from company such as Amway may result in patients projecting opinions of the company onto the doctor.
I think the products or services chiropractors are offering to patients and others should be very relevant as to how that serves the purpose of the chiropractor as well. If a chiropractor is really attracted to a network marketing company that offers services not really related to his practice, I don’t think it is wise to even bring it to the attention of his patients or even his colleagues. Possibly his colleagues, but I think there needs to be a common thread that ties the products and services the chiropractor offers to the patient together in some way.
Is it wise to choose a company that is more exclusive to health care professionals?
I still think it’s very important that a chiropractor selects a company for the reasons they feel good about the company and the people behind it, the products and the services, and the plan even if the name is out there. I still think that you should choose based on what you feel, not on what the perception is.
What do you say to a chiropractor who currently buys products from traditional distributors rather than a marketing network?
If they are comfortable with the quality of the products from the marketing network, they then have the additional benefit of building a residual passive income as a result of offering these products to patients. I think all chiropractors realize that the success of their practice largely, if not wholly, relies on their ability to be there and see patients. If they are not there, revenue does not come in and they still have overhead. I think chiropractors are very aware they are swapping time for dollars their time is what generates dollars. Without their time, they are not generating dollars. They have fixed costs, whereas with network marketing they are able to actually leverage their time to generate additional dollars with or without their efforts. It all depends if a chiropractor sees the value of building a residual-based income that uses less time in the future to generate more dollars as a result of the residual income. There is a choice the doctor will eventually make to start representing products that he or she not only believes will serve patients well, but will also allow him to build a residual-based income so he can start leveraging his time.
Why do so many people in network marketing fail before they have a chance to succeed?
I think there are a number of reasons. When you look at network marketing, a strong percentage of people who get into this industry really don’t come from successful backgrounds. They are not people who have invested a tremendous amount of time and money in their education, such as chiropractors have. They are not people who have built businesses in the past and been successful in past enterprises they have undertaken. Most of the people who come into network marketing don’t have a history of success, or haven’t worked for themselves. They’ve been told what to do and have no idea what it takes to build a business. Because of the easy entry a matter of less than $100 or $200 to get started the possibilities are enormous that somebody who really applies themself can make a six-figure income within 24 months. However, when you have that type of incongruency as far as potential being so great and ease of entry being so small, you end up attracting a whole bunch of people who just get caught up in the possibilities and who have no idea in reality what it takes to build a business. So that’s one reason why so many people fail: it’s so easy to get in and it’s so easy to quit when things don’t work.
Another reason they fail is most of the people who get into the business, as I’ve said, look at the company they are with as the opportunity. They feel they must invest their time and energies learning as much as they can about that company, its services, products and compensation plan so that they can communicate it to people. But they neglect to invest any time, energies or monies into learning the industry. So, consequently, when they go out there to the real world and they are trying to communicate their opportunity to people, they are really talking about their company. When it comes time to explain the opportunity, when it comes to the public’s general perception, it is still not a favorable one, so they get a lot of objections about the industry and the method of doing business and they are not prepared to address those issues. So they get discouraged very quickly and don’t understand the importance of the value of the balance so you can articulate and communicate to people where you have this unshakable faith in the industry, where you perceive yourself as a professional, to communicate that way and then people are attracted to you.
It amazes me how many people who are in network marketing don’t really believe in network marketing. They believe in the company and products they are associated with, but they still have a queasy uncomfortable feeling about the kind of business that they are in. In fact, they hold their opportunity, called network marketing, in the closet, like it is some kind of skeleton. Yet they are trying to tap into the power of it and it was Goethe, the great German poet of the 18th Century, who once said “What we do not understand we can not possess.” A good question to ask people is, “How many people are in network marketing that do not really understand network marketing?” Most people don’t. They are in it, yet they don’t understand the power of it. My words of encouragement to students at my seminars, workshops and in my materials are to encourage people to become a student of the industry, because if they learn as I have learned, if they get to the point where they know what I know, they would not only understand network marketing, they would love it! They should communicate that and articulate it so people will be drawn towards them and want to learn more about the industry.
Upon graduating from Chapman College with a B.S. in business, John Kalench has created a diverse and successful career. Upon learning about network marketing in 1979, he built three highly profitable distributorships, and was CEO and controlling stockholder in his own network marketing company. Since then, he has created an independent training company for the entire network marketing industry and has taught and lectured throughout the world. He is perhaps best-known as the author of “How to Be the Best You Can Be in MLM,” a book many consider to be the how-to benchmark of the MLM industry. He also wrote two other books and has more than 750,000 copies of his books in print. For additional information, contact Mr. Kalench at Millionaires in Motion, Inc., 6821 Convoy Ct, San Diego, CA 92111 or call 619-467-9667 or fax 619-467-9504.
