Secrets for Success TM
Touchard Interview
By Alan Rothman
(arothman@fea.net or mlmwriter@aol.com)

In interviewing celebrities, CEO's, top distributors, and people new to home businesses including but not limited to network marketing, I understand the frustrations and fears that people experience as they go through the growth curve of the learning process. This article covers an interview with Ron Touchard on the generic ways of being successful in Network Marketing.

Dealmaker Extraordinaire! 

Ron has the unique skill of being able to successfully work multiple programs simultaneously, and recruit and train large groups of people. He was recently featured as the cover story for Advantage Networker. He agreed to share some of his winning systems with AOL readers as to how to explode the growth of your organization.

Alan: What is your initial suggestion as to how to network for success?

Ron: Building any organization requires discipline. Those that can follow my 90-day plan of action will never have to work again the rest of their entire life if they pick the right company. 

Alan: You have my attention. What is the system?

Ron: You must be prepared to work eight hours a day, six days a week, and every week for three months. You must be willing to give up the little things in life in exchange for the things that are truly important to you! Working part-time requires talking to 2 people a day (10-15 hrs. a week). Working full-time means talking to 10 people a day (40-50 hrs. a week).

Alan: What are your favorite methods in presenting an opportunity to people?

Ron: I would suggest 1) Meetings, 2) Watching a video, 3) One-on-one presentations, 4) Conference calls, 5) Small group presentations 6) Phone Presentations and 7) Audio Cassette Presentations.

Alan: You sometimes talk about mass recruiting. Can you expand on what that system requires?

Ron: Mass recruiting is a numbers game. 1/3 will stay with you and help you become wealthy, 1/3 will consistently do a little business, and 1/3 will drop out. The goal of mass recruiting is to talk to 300 people a month. 

Alan: What systems would you use to accomplish this task?

Ron: I would use Newspaper ads, which should generate 30-50 calls a week, Postcards-mailing 200 every Saturday should generate 30 calls per week. For flyers-Handing out 100 per day should generate 25 or more calls a month. You could buy a mailing list of 1,000 names of opportunity seekers or business opportunity leads, or people looking for a home-based business and mail 1,000 cards a month. This should generate 30-40 calls a month. You should pass out at least 5 cassette tapes a day. I would also suggest sharing at least one video a day.

Alan: What are the advantages of flyers? 

Ron: It has a very low cost as compared to other forms of advertising. It has the benefit of controlled coverage. You can direct the flyer to select geographic areas that have the target market that you need for the products or services you are offering. You have more space available to tell your story. There is also a wide reach because you can circulate the flyer by hand or place it on automobiles. It takes approximately one hour to distribute 300 flyers in a parking lot. 

Alan: Where would be the best locations to distribute the flyers?

Ron: You want to pick active locations like popular shopping malls, sporting events, and other locations where there are massive numbers of people. You might also consider Universities, Colleges, Laundromats, Medical Centers, Dept. of Motor Vehicles, Race Tracks, Airports, and Conventions. You are only limited by your imagination. It is suggested that you hire a student or service, so that you can best utilize your time for more productive activities.

Alan: Is there one centralized location where people can secure all this information?

Ron: Yes. In my generic 5-hour audiotape and 120-page training manual called "Network to Success". 

Alan: Isn't it true that this material has been endorsed by some of the leaders in Network marketing?

Ron: Many leaders that are in the top 5 of their respective companies have found my material complete and very helpful to building a massive organization.

Alan: Do you have any suggestions for putting together a good classified ad?

Ron: 12 good advertising buzzwords would be: Discovery, Easy, Love, Guarantee, Health, Money, Results, Save, Proven, New, Safety and You. 

Alan: What have you found worked as a good headline?

Ron: I put together a sales ad with the headline, "Dare to be Rich!" It pulled a great response. Another good one that worked was, "Are you making what you're worth?" At least 80% of the success of any ad is the effectiveness of the headline. (Author's note: Ron's most effective was "Are you worthy of financial independence?")

Alan: What are the other keys to success in Network Marketing?

Ron: Picking the right company is 50% of being successful in Network Marketing! Getting in the right company at the right time, is the real key! Because if you get involved in the momentum, you get caught up in the momentum and you can not help but make money. The reason that picking the right company is so important is because of the devastating effect if the company goes out of business. It does not matter what you have done, how hard you worked, how many people you talked to, how many meetings you attended, all of that work is for nothing if you have picked the wrong company. There are two components to picking the right company. One, picking the company that stays in business for a long period of time. In this way, you can enjoy the benefits of the organization that you have built and get residual income for years and years. Second, getting involved with that company at the right time when it has a hook that will attract the masses to your opportunity because it stands far in front of the competition. 

Alan: Why do you feel so strongly on both components?

Ron: Let me give you an example. Let's say you get involved in Amway. That is a solid stable company that will stay in business. But if you have difficulty getting people to sign up in your organization, what good does it do you personally that they are an established company. In this example, component one was in place but component two was lacking. Let's use another illustration. If you get involved in a brand-new start-up company with a lot of flash and excitement, the ground floor opportunity. You come in and build a large group very quickly. However, the company was not properly financed and did not have quality management. Let's add that the owners had no integrity. The company goes out of business in six months. You failed again. 

Alan: What point do you want to emphasize to the readers?

Ron: 98% of start-up companies fail. Therefore, the risk is very high. 

Alan: Why do people still get involved with start-up companies?

Ron: Because there is usually a lot of excitement, it is easy to recruit people, and they are hoping that they are getting involved with that one or two companies that are going to make it with positioning that locks in a large check and a massive organization. But this philosophy fails 98 out of 100 times. All 98 companies think they are the one that will survive and look great but contain one or more seeds of destruction. 

Alan: What other choices are available to people?

Ron: They can get involved with an established company that has been around for years and is very solid. Most of the time, these companies are stagnant, and lack excitement, and it can be difficult to recruit as well as retain distributors. 

Alan: Is there an ideal solution?

Ron: To get involved with a company that has stayed in business at least 5 years so they are solid, stable, well-financed, have good management, have good products, but flat in sales. Something happens that creates a tremendous amount of excitement, and gives them momentum. 

Alan: What could cause that excitement?

Ron: The company could introduce a new product that creates a lot of excitement, or they could change their marketing plan, or they come out with a hot recruiting system, i.e. video or audio tape. In addition, if several key leaders known to the industry join the organization, this can also create the excitement. One or more of these factors could cause a stagnant company to go into momentum. Luck, timing and experience in the field and with management, can help but not guarantee that the training tools will be hot and effective. 

Alan: Are there situations in the industry that would meet this criteria? 

Ron: Yes. Probably, one or two that would qualify.

Alan: What should a distributor look for to assure the long-term viability of the company?

Ron: The owner of the company or the person in control of the money, or the person that controls the fate of the company must be genuinely concerned about every single individual that joins his company. When a company takes the distributor's hard-earned money to provide a distributor kit, supplies product and requests that the distributor start to put their time into his company it is important that they begin to hope and dream in the owner and the vision of the company. The owner or the person in charge must feel the awesome responsibility he has for every single person that has joined his company. There must be a love or passion for this company, absentee management will not work in this business. The owner must be driven to make sure the company succeeds, because failure is not an option with the thousands of distributors that have placed their faith and money in him.

Copyright 1999 Alan Rothman. All rights reserved.

Alan Rothman (arothman@fea.net) is an author, columnist, speaker, and consultant to the Network Marketing and Communications industry. For info, call 714-362-9233 or leave a message at 800-593-9234. Author of Power Networking, LocalNet, and Secrets of the MLM Millionaires.