Baseball and Network Marketing

With the advent of another baseball season upon us it reminds me of just how much network marketing is like baseball. In baseball you have guys who hit .300 making millions of dollars. Quite the same as a closing rate of 30% can earn you millions of dollars as a marketer, especially in the network marketing business. So basically baseball players and marketers are getting paid to loose 70% of the time. That's a sobering thought but one that can frustrate the average network marketer into quiting. So how do we look at this in a different light to improve our mindset on this matter.

We have to like in baseball look at this as a numbers game, because honestly that's all it is, that really all baseball is. That's why you see tons and tons of books, newspapers and magazines spend so much time on statistics in baseball. In baseball people have even invented new mathematics to support a player's worth, Bill James calls is saber-metrics for example. The worth of a baseball player is measured by his production over a period of time in numbers. So if we take that and really use it for our own mental well being in our network marketing we would be very much more mentally fit for the endeavor we are undertaking.

First thing we have to realize is that it is extremely rare that a player hits .300 from their first day or months playing baseball, whether that is in the big leagues, minor leagues or youth leagues. We much learn a skill set over time. The key here is over time, specifically repetition over time. No one makes it to the big leagues, hits .300 on his first day of playing baseball. Network marketers, just like ball players must practice over time. And the next key here is that every attempt is really just practice, its the practice of failing 70% of the time! As we practice our average may start at .100 gradually move to .200 and then to .300 or better, but it is the practice of failure. So how many attempts do we take? Ask yourself this, does a ballplayer ask or tell himself I will take 600 at bats this year and if I don't hit .300 I'll quit? No, there is no idea of quiting or a goal that he has to make to keep practicing, they love the game so they keep on playing whether they are hitting .100 or .300. Now granted the may or may not stay in the big leagues, but that does not mean they quit. Take a look at how many minor league teams there are in the country. Point is they keep on playing, practicing and failing most of the time. We as network marketers can do the same but we must keep practicing.

The amount of practice time we may have to put in as network marketers, scares a lot of people away. Again how many at bats do you think major league players take before they hit .300. Yes the answer is thousands, once again thousands and yes they still may not hit .300. But doesn't that make you feel better about our craft, isn't that better than working a job with a set salary for life. If we are going to step into this arena and ask for the millions of dollars we want to generate, it seems to me that a thousand or even ten thousand prospecting calls, presentation calls and closing calls is a very small price to pay. In addition we have very little threat of injury, due to being thrown at by a 90 mph fastball over a thousand times!

So the next time your feeling a bit frustrated about not growing your network marketing down-line think of two things. One baseball it keeps most things in perspective and two this article and the web site that can help keep everything in perspective in your network marketing growth. I do love baseball and network marketing, I did not make it the big leagues because I did not learn this lesson until I was introduced to network marketing. I am grateful for that because I believe I can change more lives for the better as a business growth specialist than I could as a ball player. Whether you take the next step in following up to my web site or not, good luck in all of your pursuits and remember to "Root, root, root for the home team at the Ole' Ball Game !"