Magnetic Sponsoring Tactics: A Review

As I've matched the solutions offered in the Magnetic Sponsoring system against some other available options, I've found 3 major pitfalls that should not be overlooked.

First off, I feel the recommendations given within the training limit creativity and therefore personal branding. Magnetic Sponsoring instructs students to stick to strict design guidelines, including specific background colors, fonts and font sizes, just like the examples above. This doesn't encourage individuality or personal branding among distributors and cases the resulting lead capture pages and sales letters to have a generic look and feel. Over recent months, I have noticed that consumers are becoming more and more desensitized to this type of design, so all I can conclude is that the system is teaching students an older way of design that is not as effective in meeting the needs of today's more savvy consumers.

One of the main marketing recommendations, Google Adwords, also requires additional money to be spent. Most often, the reason people join a home business in the first place is to make money. But by this point, a distributor has spent on their opportunity itself and any fees associated with it, in many cases physical product, and if they've purchased Magnetic Sponsoring then they've paid either the $39 for the mini workbook or up to $500 for the full course. That could mean up to $1000 or more that a distributor has spent before seeing any results and even before marketing is taken into account. Not the best route for many distributors who have limited funds to work with. Having personal experience with Google Adwords, I can say that it can be draining on the pockets without yielding results, especially in this industry where keyword competition is at an all-time high. While I did see some references to article marketing, in general I didn't see many alternatives given for advertising aside from Adwords.

Finally, the program doesn't seem to encourage much personal interaction between distributors and their potential customers. I am a fan of automation, and feel that in order to run business smoothly, one must automate as many tasks as possible. But initial interaction during a sale isn't one of them. Magnetic Sponsoring encourages the use of auto-responders throughout the sales process; this is even apparent in the kind of interaction that exists when one first signs up for the 7-day bootcamp, before the program is purchased. One of the most important aspects of the sales process is building a relationship with one's new prospect. Magnetic Sponsoring uses a series of automatically distributed emails made to look personally written, but not personal interaction itself. No video or audio messages from the actual distributor, no phone numbers or personal emails to contact in case of questions. It's a very efficient way to close sales, but also very cold.

So the bottom line - do the tactics discussed in the Magnetic Sponsoring system really work? Well, my opinion is that in their most basic form the answer would be yes. Lead capture pages, sales letters, auto-responders and Google Adwords have all been proven to work for a variety of opportunities, products and services. However, taking a closer look I feel that those pitfalls could create problems for many, less experienced distributors. If you're been around the block for a while and people know your name, personal branding is still important but not necessarily as much so as it would be for a distributor who is brand new to the industry and hasn't made a name for themselves yet. Those pitfalls would work against a newbie more so than a seasoned Network Marketer.

But there is hope if you are a newbie and would still like to give the system a try. As I said, the Magnetic sponsoring tactics do work in their most primitive form. You might just have to reshape them a bit to fit your own needs. I suggest injecting a bit of your own personal brand into the mix. The image above shows an example of a more customized sales letter. It still has many of the basic elements that the Magnetic Sponsoring system suggests, but with some customized elements such as header image thrown in. Other ways to personalize your sales letters and lead capture pages include changing the backgrounds to textured images or perhaps even with your logo branded in, adding video & audio of yourself with a personal message, adding a mini FAQ section, photos of you with your family etc. It's a great way to help potential customers get to know you while answering their questions.

Also beware of pushy sales copy - words and phrases that repeatedly tell the viewer to "act now" or go overboard on emotion such as "killer product" or even phrases that add scarcity such as "today only." While these can be great add-ons to marketing copy, going overboard with them can be a big turn-off. Despite what the gurus sometimes tell us, customers don't like scarcity. I've seen it said in forums that it looks like a cheap trick and doesn't do any more to encourage them to buy. It seems pushy.

As with any marketing, remember that you're human, and you're talking to other humans. Those cold, hyped up catch phrases and headlines are not working as well on today's more savvy consumers. Inject a little bit of personality into the tactics taught by Magnetic Sponsoring, use only what's right for your particular situation, and you can't go wrong!

I have seen the term "attraction marketing" used quite frequently in conjunction with the Magnetic Sponsoring system. In many aspects, it is more about drawing prospects to you rather than chasing them down. But upon doing more research on this concept, I'm more inclined to put it in the same field as programs like Pay It Forward 4 Profits.

Looking at the chart above, attraction marketing suggests that you pull prospects into your funnel through a series of actions while building a relationship or trust. That sounds like Pay It Forward's concept of offering smaller (but still good quality) products and information to prospects before hitting them with your major opportunity (the higher-ticket program). I don't really see how that relates to Magnetic Sponsoring based on the training I saw, but I'd welcome comments and opinions on that!