Does Paying It Forward work?

by Daniel Mcgonagle on October 30, 2009

I sent an email to my list recently offering to help people with whatever issues were of concern to them and one individual said he had trouble keeping people in his downlines even though he was Paying It Forward (paying the monthly fees) for people to join under his programs.

You can view the email I sent out by going here

This is known as PIF or Paying It Forward and it’s a terrible idea!

You may have even seen the emails stating,

“I will pay your way in, join here now!”

What these marketers are basically telling people is that it’s super-easy to get people to join your program when you offer to pay their way in, therefore it’s super-easy to replicate and duplicate this “easiest of downline building methods”.

In no way, shape, nor form does this brand you as someone who is an expert.

This method is basically telling people to use a “trick” to get people to join their program witohut really having to do any work.

This method doesn’t not build your business, does not practice good attraction marketing techniques and doesn’t really increase your cash flow.

This method also leads to high attrition rates because of the types of people who took you up on your offer of having their membership fees paid for them.

Who do you want on your team in your primary program, freebie-seekers looking for a quick way to make cash, or people who don’t need their membership fees paid since they’re already somewhat successful in what they’re doing?

How does a network marketer create an All-Star team of networkers in his/her downline?

Ask Murielle Monetalvo, who is building a MONSTER team for efusjon…

Or just consider the type of person you want on your team and how you can attract them to you….

Lets pretend for a minute that I’m a network marketing newbie and I see an ad that says,

“Ill pay your way in, learn my secrets for easy downline building and duplication, guaranteed”

First of all, as a newbie that’d appeal to me but as a team leader do you really want newbies with this mindset on your team?

It’s the newbies who need the most help and motivation to get a productive business going.
It’s the newbies who still need to overcome some mental hurdles like having a job mentality before they can truly grow their business.
It’s the newbies who desperately need to realize there are no shortcuts here, otherwise the successful types would have done those already

So let’s say you run an ad like this and fork over XXX dollars a month to fund these people’s memberships…

You’ve already shown them that you encourage very little effort on their part to join a business by removing the entry fee, but that also means you aren’t getting people on your team who are willing to invest in their businesses due to their inherent fears (of failure and of success).

Therefore you’re enabling them to continue their fearful, no-risk, take-no-action ways….

Everyone loves a freebie, but not many non-serious, non-motivated people invest in their businesses and marketing education.

When it comes to spirituality, Paying It Forward does work, but do you want your real-life business to be reliant upon karma?

It’s better karma to attract higher quality people with your message and content than it is to provide them with freebies, which only a small percentage will duplicate/Pay Forward.

The higher quality people WILL duplicate, but with less effort from you, due to their very nature.

Hope all this makes sense and serves you well.