At a certain point in your network marketing business – after a week, a month, or a year or so – you will have exhausted your immediate circle.

You’ve hit up all the ladies in your Tuesday tennis group; you’ve worked your neighbors, and your kids’ teachers tell you that though they love what you sold them, they really don’t need anything right now – nor do they want to host another party for you or pass out any more of your material.

You’re stuck.

Instead of waiting for your current customers to run out of whatever you’ve sold them or have people finally ask more about your network marketing business you’ve got to break out of your tiny circle of influence.

You need to push through to that next level to reach people you haven’t tapped before about your network marketing business. There are two main ways to do this:

1. Look for “friends of friends,” or
2. Find “strangers.”

Let’s talk about the first method – getting referrals.

You may think that all your friends know the same people, and to a certain extent, that’s true. The guys in your bowling league all know each other, your neighbors all know each other, the teachers at school all know each other.

But I bet you know at least five people they don’t… and vice-versa.

Think of the party game, “Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon.”

If everyone knew only the same people, that game wouldn’t be possible. Either it would only take one degree to reach Mr. Footloose, or it wouldn’t be possible at all. The same goes for the people you know, and the people THEY know.

Think about your college roommate, your next-door neighbor’s baby sitter, your husband or wife’s co-workers.

These aren’t people in your direct circle, but they’re in that next ring.
So how do you get to these people and possibly expose them to your network marketing business? You ask.

Ask your neighbor to introduce you to their baby sitter; ask your college roommate in the next town over to introduce you to her neighbors, ask your spouse’s workmates to broker an introduction with their spouses and neighbors.

Tools online like Facebook (facebook.com) and LinkedIn (linkedin.com) make this very easy, as you can see who your connections are connected with.

On LinkedIn, you can even request an introduction to a particular person. The key is to see each person in your current network as a bridge leading to many more circles. All you have to do is cross that bridge!

Speaking of

Let’s move on to the next network marketing business builder…

Go Online

Reach over 2 billion people – and mostly for free?

The internet removes time and geographic boundaries, and allows you to reach individuals you never would have had access to. If you’re not using the internet as a sales channel for your network marketing business, you’re making a huge mistake.

Many network marketing companies have already realized that the future of their business is online, and they provide tons of resources to enable web-based sales. These resources might include:
-Capture Pages.
-Catalog Pages the website that has the most info about your network marketing business and where people can sign up.
-A Product page where products can be bought directly.

If your network marketing business offers these tools, set everything else aside and get up and running RIGHT NOW.

Each day you are not online is a day a competitor is stealing your potential customers.

Go claim your slice of the World Wide Web immediately, and then come back and finish reading.
If your network marketing business doesn’t offer a complete suite of online sales tools, it’s still possible to make this channel produce for you. Here’s how:

1. First, check out the web-based sales policy for your network marketing business. You may find that you are not allowed to sell via a website, or that there are other restrictions. It’s better to find those out now instead of building your own website, only to find out you’ve violated a sales agreement.

2. Start small. You don’t have to take over the whole web in a day! Try creating a simple site where you can gather information, pre-sell your offers or products or post sales material about your product then move on to something bigger.

3. Keep in contact. A blog where you post regular tips, specials, and other information and resources related to your network marketing business is a great way to get people coming back for more. Become an expert in your field, and you’ll be the one they turn to when they need to buy.

Working your network marketing business online isn’t that much different than the way you’ve been working up until now.

The same principles of customer service, integrity, and honesty work just as well – if not better – in a virtual world. It’s just a new channel and a new opportunity, one you can’t afford to miss out on for your network marketing business.