Attraction Marketing for Baby Boomers

The 'New School'
Attraction Marketing is the approach being taken by 'new school' network marketers (details below).

The 'Old School'
I tried the 'old school' way of doing network marketing when I was first introduced to an MLM company twelve years ago. I was a total flop! There were people then who were making it work and I take my hat off to them, because they worked so darn hard at it! For me though, the 'sharing' thing with family, friends etc. sucked, big time! It wasn't that I didn't 'believe' in the products, because I did. I thought the people in my upline were great and very supportive. And yes, the company was obviously going places too. But when it came down to it, all that didn't help one bit because I just loathed the whole 'prospecting' thing and all the ways I was being encouraged to do it! And all the talk about self-development...well, I knew then that that was not the missing link, the magic bullet for success!

Retirement Looms!
So I continued on with my 'real' career, kept using the products and put network marketing onto the 'back burner' of my life. However, I reached the point at the beginning of last year (2008) where I started to think about retirement. I was a Senior Lecturer in counselling at a university and the workload pressure was HUGE.

What About Ongoing Lifestyle?
Being a single woman now I needed to think about my options for maintaining a descent lifestyle after I 'retired' from career No. 3. Well, I was still using the products, which really worked for me, my immediate upline had become a dear friend, and the company was doing very well. So...

The Bad News
I started to thinking about network marketing as a possible 'after retirement' option again. Maybe things had changed a bit. I started to do my research (an obsessive- compulsive thing with academics!) on the internet, and then in April I came across an article called The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing. My heart sank and I thought, "oh shit, just when I was thinking that this might be an option for me to keep me above the breadline, now I'm going to read how network marketing is a total disaster!"

The Good News
Fortunately, that turned out not to be the case. The article was about all the things that sucked about the 'old school' network marketing methods. Well, I totally identified with that! But now there was a 'new school' of network marketers using this brilliant new approach called Attraction Marketing. "Now your talking" I thought! "This may be something that I can do...yay!"

More Research!
So before I retired, I spent nine months in my spare time (read midnight to dawn!) reading all about it'

More Bad News - The Economy!
Well, initially I became rather nervous about retiring and launching into the unknown at such a crap time. Maybe bad timing? But then I realised that actually it was 'perfect timing', because baby boomers and pre-baby boomers like me would be looking for some way of repairing the damage caused by the 'collapse of the known financial world'. We need vehicles that will give us options and choices, rather than feeling trapped by a cruel world.

Belief and Hope
After many more hours of research, by the time I retired on Jan 2nd 2009, I was totally sold on the belief that I could use the new approach. Better yet, I now had real hope that it would bring in the level of income that I would need to maintain my lifestyle, maybe even travel a bit - bonus!

Jumping in the Deep End!
Well, now I'm doing it full time! I will be using my Squidoo lenses to share all with you!

So that was my story and now let's look at the Attraction Marketing approach, to see how it is so different from the 'old' way of doing things.

Attraction Marketing Story...

Attraction Marketing - The Big Difference
The No.1 critical difference between the 'old school' way of doing network marketing and the 'new school', Attraction Marketing way, is that in the old way network marketers were 'chasing prospects' to join their company, whilst in the new way, people come to you. Now is that a relief or what?!

A Tragic Tale
The old approach was all about getting out there, speaking to all and sundry (the numbers game) and telling people about the 'brilliant' company, 'to die for' products, and 'better than the rest' compensation plan. It was called 'sharing'. However, in today's marketing savvy environment, people just don't buy it. It feels like 'pitching' to them, and they get really turned off by such an approach. Apart from anything else, it's just not respectful to bombard someone with information about something that they may have no interest in whatsoever.

A couple of months ago I was talking to my hairdresser (as one does!) and I was telling her about my plans and, when I told her the name of the company I'm with, she recognised it immediately. Apparently, one of the mothers at her daughter's pre-school is a distributor with the same company and, according to my hairdresser, all the other mums duck for cover whenever they see her in the distance. Guess why? Yep...she has worn out her welcome by trying to push the products and 'business opportunity' under their noses. True story...and sad that the 'old ways' are still being used. This just makes for a lose/lose situation.

Enlightenment!
Finally, some very bright people in the field realised that they had got the whole thing back-to-front. They 'got it' that business in the 21st century is all about building and fostering good relationships, not only with your customers but also with your potential customers. Big 'light bulb' moment! Relationships first! Partnership possibilities follow!

Help from Other Sources
Not only that, but the really smart people realised that the 'net' was missing from network marketing - the internet, that is. Major breakthrough! Why flog yourself to death chasing after people one-by-one, when you could go on the internet and attract hundreds, thousand, millions even, of people to you just from one Blog, or website.

But that wasn't all, there was also the emergence of Web 2.0 and that has also helped - Big Time. That is, all the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. These are places where people go to meet, communicate, share, give and receive feedback...build relationships.

The Evolution
Gradually, over the past eighteen months to two years (yes, it's still very new!) the leaders who have adopted this approach have been developing their understanding of just how powerful an approach Attraction Marketing is, when combined with the internet and social networking sites. Network marketers use these tools and resources to communicate with people and provide them with sound, useful, information. Then, if somebody wants to take it a step further, and approach the person who has been providing them with useful stuff, well, it's the beginning of what could become a very beautiful partnership! Definitely a win/win situation!

So that's the basic difference - one way you are chasing after people - demoralising and exhausting. The other way, you provide worthwhile, genuinely valuable information, primarily through tools and resources online, and those who are really interested to take it further will come to you. Now that's a respectful way to approach a potential business partner or team member, don't you think?

And The Best Part...
The best part is that we baby boomers/pre-baby boomers have a lifetime of experience and so many skills and strengths developed over the years to draw upon. And this means that we can pick and choose the tools and vehicles that are a 'best fit' for us and utilise our individual combination of skills and talents. For example, Facebook and Twitters are great for those who love to chat, share what they are doing, make new friends. Articles and e-zines (online magazines) are great for people who love to write and webinars (online seminars) are brilliant for people who love to train. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Everyone brings their own uniqueness to the adventure. And what I'm finding is that it is so much fun! And these are all the things I will be telling you about in my future lenses.

So for all the above reasons - the advent of the internet, Web 2.0 and Social Marketing and the development of the Attraction Marketing approach - I believe now is a great time to consider the possibilities of online network marketing.

Coming Attractions!
In Lens 2, I'll tell you the 3 'must have' systems that are absolutely critical to your success as an Attraction Marketer and share the one's I chose. I'll also warn you about the No.1 challenge that everyone, but everyone, has to face and tell you how I overcame it myself.

I highly recommend that you check out the FREE ebook 'The 7 Great Lies Of Network Marketing.' In it you'll discover, as I did, some of the biggest myths that have caused the vast majority of mlmers to lose money and waste years of effort.
The 7 Great Lies