Top Down, or Bottom Up?

OK. In any network marketing business you need to sponsor and recruit new people. 

You are at that stage whereby you cannot have a great business if you only recruit people and don't sell your product, and you may only ever have a small business (ie no residual income opportunity) if you merely retail product yourself and don't get round to building a team of like-minded distributors to work alongside you.

In network marketing you need to tell people about both the business opportunity and the product. So what approach do you take? Promote the Business first - build a team? Or Promote the product - make some sales?  Well, you choose... it is your choice, after all, you are the one who is running your own business. But don't forget: you will need to do BOTH (Recruiting AND Retailing) to be truly successful. Otherwise, it is like (to paraphrase what I heard a great networker once say) "Rowing a boat with just one oar"  You work hard, and end up going round in circles - busy going nowhere fast.

Ignoring sales for the moment, and looking briefly at just one part of the process, therefore, ie recruiting and sponsoring into your business, you must decide first on taking either a Top Down, or Bottom Up approach:

Top down (or Business first):  is where you show your prospects about your network marketing business opportunity. Educate them to the idea of earning an additional or even a substantial income, and provide them with details on this. Be honest and upfront. Tell them how much it will cost them (including any "hidden" additional costs that you may have discovered existed along the way).  They need to know that they can afford to join you in the business, and that the costs incurred will be recouped from the business if they learn their business well and operate it accordingly.

It is important to remind your prospect that a business only works for you, if you work for it. If you do nothing, that is what you are likely to get. No-one should be misled into thinking that joining a team will bring instant rewards or even eventual success, if that person does not work at their business.  So you are working "Top Down" and explaining the business before the products to them.

Bottom up (or product first): Show all your prospects only the product at this stage.  You do not need to share the business opportunity as the product itself should be what sells the idea to the prospect.  If they like the product, if they can see its potential, if they have also researched the market and you can show them how it fills a need etc. then they will want to be part of the business that provides this product for themselves.

Whether you take the Business First, or Product First approach depends not only on how well you know your subject area,  but also on how well you know the prospect whom you are approaching.  What you really need to know is, "What is it that they need to know?"  If you can provide each individual prospect with the information that they need to make their own choice (based on their personal preference for the product first or business first approach) then you are on the way to building your own team, whilst helping others make their own decisions about working with you.