Warm market recruiting or cold market recruiting?

I was visiting a network marketing forum last night and someone asked if anyone had a good "memory jogger". There ensued a lengthy and somewhat passionate discussion about the value of warm market recruiting. Frankly, I was surprised by what some folks said.

A good number of participants felt that warm market recruiting was not the way to go. In fact, some felt it was a bad idea. It was "old school," "too hard," and "unlikely to find leaders". They felt that online lead generation was the way to build the business today and they wouldn't approach their warm market.

Most of the participant agreed with what I believe: warm market has worked in this industry since the beginning, many fortunes have been made that way and continue to be made that way. Warm market is easier than trying to teach people how to generate leads online, let alone asking new distributors to recruit those leads. Warm market is a place everyone can start. Cold market is great but it should come later. And online lead generation can be excellent but it's not a sinecure and it's not for everyone.

I responded (below). One thing I didn't mention is that we start people in their warm market so that when they recruit someone in the cold market, they know what to do to help those people recruit in their warm market. This is important because it allows new people to recruit new people and teach them how to recruit and help new people.

By the way, if you would like one, here's a memory jogger I have used (I don't recall where I found it).

Here is my post on the subject:

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"I was an attorney for twenty years and have been full time in my network marketing company for the last eight years. I have recruited hundreds of professionals, mostly from warm market, and built a six-figure residual income from scratch in just a few years.

We start everyone on our team with warm market, and if they're lucky, they never have to go into the cold market. (Professionals tend to know a lot of people). A memory jogger is an excellent tool. The yellow pages is also excellent. The white pages can also be used.

The cold market is harder (even when they contact you). In the warm market, they may not respect you in your new business (and that's why we use third-party) but they trust you. They'll probably look at what you have. Will they be any more likely to get started? No. Will they be any more likely to be a leader? No again. But neither will they be any less likely.

Why assume that because they are your uncle they wouldn't be interested or they wouldn't be very good. Is someone a poorer prospect because they know you? Doesn't that sound silly?

I understand the value of getting someone to raise their hand and express interest before you expose them. That's good and I do it, too. But that doesn't mean approaching someone who hasn't expressed interest isn't a viable method of operation. You could argue that it takes more work or it's a longer process or that it's finite compared to the cold market, which is infinite, and these are valid arguments. But they don't negate the value of a warm market.

I can't understand why anyone would choose to not share their business information with people they know. Would you tell them about your new shoe store or donut shop? Of course you would, even if they don't wear shoes or eat donuts. You'd do it because you were proud of your new business and because even if they aren't interested in anything you have to offer (product or opportunity), (a) they might know someone who is, and (b) their interest might change over time.

A lot of people tell me that had they known me when I was practicing law, they would not have approached me. They would either have been intimidated or they would have assumed my success as an attorney meant I would have no interest. Well, that would have been a mistake because I was interested. (I made a lot of money as an attorney but had no time.) I would have been on their warm market list but if they pre-judged me or believed "warm market doesn't work" they would have lost out on a very big, and very productive organization.

You too are on someone's warm market list. If they thought warm market doesn't work and didn't approach you. . . wouldn't that have been a mistake?

Warm market works and everyone can start there. And they should. If anyone doesn't agree, please send your warm market list to me."