List building is an interesting subject that I have seen debated in Forums. I have
had positive and negative comments about the "List" from my Uplines and Administrators.

The rule of thumb is that a person who sees or reads messages and Ads about an
opportunity 7 times will become more aware of the company or product. Statistics
have proven that a percentage of people will join MLM programs when exposed
to multiple Autoresponder messages.

However in my case it has rarely happened. I remember I joined a program a couple
years back and it was step by step plan to build a downline. I joined a list of Affiliate
programs and a "List" provider with a monthy subscription fee. I followed the "plan"
and spent hours researching the documents the Admin provided about list building.

Spending Money and Buying Leads

I was totally ready and was paying for 90 "fresh" leads a month. There was nothing
could stop me. The "leads" were fed into an Autoresponder and I was on easy street
to getting my first paycheck. About 3 months later, after giving it a fair trial...nothing!

OK, let's sit back and have a look at this. I am shelling out about $150.00 a month
and have a back load of leads in my Autoresponder and I am promoting everywhere
the "plan" told me to but with zero results. Meanwhile the people on "top" were
boasting how their "coffers" were overflowing with money. 

Suspicion set in and wondering if this was all just window dressing to entice people,
like me, into their money trap. "You can do it...I have already made a quarter million in the
first two months." I fired off an e-mail to the Admin and asked him what gives?
The answer I received was, "What is your problem, you have a big list there. I don't
see your point." I replied that my point was $500.00 down the tubes and no payday,
plus another month rolling around and I was expected to shell out another $150.00.
I don't think so!



No such thing as...let me put a couple people in your downline to help you get started
since I am making thousands of dollars a month.  The thing that puzzled me was that
not one person in my Autoresponder answered any broadcast message that I sent
or joined one of the programs. 

Learning A Lesson

As I pointed out in my previous articles, you learn by your mistakes. Doing a bit of looking
around in Forums and getting some feedback from Uplines in my other programs, the
consensus was that buying leads is a complete waste of money and offers of "free"
prospects is a waste of time. I learned that the hard way.

When a person subscribes to my Autoresponder, I send them a welcome message and
if they don't respond in two days I know they aren't interested. I still send weekly
broadcasts because some of my "Active" subscribers are recent members in my downline
and I send them updates and the latest news. These are people that joined my biz but
still were automatically subscribed to my Autoresponder.

Meanwhile, I am not tuned into my e-mail inbox waiting for a confirmation message to
appear that one of my "leads" has joined my biz, because it will be like me winning the
big one on the lottery but then again...you never know when it will happen.



On the flip side of the coin there are experienced Marketers who use their Autoresponder
like a big funnel and send endless messages and occasionally get signups but for me when 
people subscribe and get the information about the business that's all I am concerned with.
I am not going to "hound" them constantly.

In my next article, I'll discuss using Autoresponders with Blogs. I welcome any comments
about people's experiences with Leads.